COVID Infections Rising, Pritzker Says Vaccinations Will "Overcome the Surge"
The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate has risen from 2.5% on March 11 to 4.5% Monday. Governor JB Pritzker said Monday increasing vaccinations is the way to beat the latest surge in cases.
In a little over three weeks, the state’s COVID-19 positivity rate has risen from 2.5% to 4.5%, and Governor JB Pritzker said Monday increasing the number of vaccinations quickly is the best way to curb the growing positivity rate.
Infection data since March 2. Source: IDPH
“We’ve seen this before. We’ve had two [surges], we’re now seeing a rise in cases here, but these things come in waves,” Pritzker said at an event in Champaign Monday. “I am hopeful that with the rising number of vaccinations, we’re averaging over 100,000 a day, the increasing number of people who are fully vaccinated at the same time that we’re dealing with this surge, I’m hoping we can sort of overcome the surge for the very first time.”
On March 11, the state reported a 7-day rolling positivity of 2.5%. On Monday, the test positivity had grown to 4.5%. The rate rose steadily over the past three weeks, which Pritzker blamed predominantly on fast-spreading variants of the disease.
Pritzker urged the public to continue vigilance until they can receive the vaccination.
“I want to warn everybody, I think we’ve all seen that this virus is unpredictable,” Pritzker said. “Nobody thought about variants when we were talking about this four months ago or five months ago. And now, here we’re seeing this fast rise of cases because certain variants spread more quickly. We’re trying to deal with that new situation as best we can.”
The Chicago Tribune reported this weekend that the Cook County Department of Health was considering reinstituting bans on indoor dining as cases continue to rise in that county. The latest suburban Cook County positivity rate is 5.1%, according to IDPH.
Suburban DuPage and Kane counties have the highest positivity rate among the 11 regions in the state’s “Restore Illinois” plan at 6.5%.
The state reports about 18.7% of the population is fully vaccinated.