Illinois COVID-19 Hospitalizations Down, Bucking National Trend: CDC

ILLINOIS – Data published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points to a summer increase in COVID-19 cases in Illinois and elsewhere around the country.

However, Illinois seems to be bucking that trend as data provided by the CDC shows that residents hospitalized with the virus have dropped significantly since the start of 2023.

The data shows COVID-19 hospitalizations were up 12 percent nationwide, and that emergency room visits and test positivity also increased in what health officials say is the greatest spike in COVID hospitalizations since last winter. Independent laboratories have also noted an increase in COVID-19 test positivity, CNN reported.

The CDC data for Illinois, current as of July 22, shows that only 128 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. That means that just 1.43 people per 100,000 residents were hospitalized with COVID-19 that week. According to CDC and Illinois Department of Public Health data, every county in Illinois is currently registering as a low community rate of COVID-19 cases.

The COVID totals for Illinois are a marked decline in hospitalizations after 1,607 people were hospitalized on Jan. 7 and there were still more than 500 people hospitalized with the virus at the end of April. Hospitalizations have continued to drop since then, statistics show.

Summer travel outside usual social circles, record heat that keeps people indoors and waning immunity are possible reasons for the uptick in cases. CDC data shows the number of Americans who are up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations is decreasing, and health officials say the low number of cases means people aren't developing enough antibodies compared to previous infections.

In Illinois, the CDC reports that 2.3 million residents, or 21 percent of the state’s population, are up to date with their vaccinations.

Importantly, the mild spike in cases is from an already low level of cases. Health experts expect the wave to be far less intense than in previous summers, and aren’t sure how long it will last.

Wastewater surveillance data suggests new COVID-19 cases are already leveling off, but much of the data public health officials have used to track trends was scaled back when the federal health emergency ended in May.

The last time so little data was available was in the early days of the pandemic, Caitlin Rivers, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN.

That makes it difficult to “know what lies ahead,” Rivers said. “So it may yet peter out.”

Rivers noted that it is encouraging the increase doesn’t appear to have been driven by the emergence of a new variant.

Some U.S. counties are seeing much higher rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Two counties in Texas saw a 250 percent increase with 14 new people hospitalized — a “high” rate given their small populations, according to the CDC classification.

Other areas with higher numbers of cases are in southeast Texas, northeastern Oregon, central Oklahoma, Hawaii County, and southern Nebraska, as well as in Mohave County, Arizona, and Colquitt County, Georgia.