IL Cornonavirus Cases Could Reach 3,400 By Next Week: Reports

CHICAGO — Available intensive care unit beds in Illinois hospitals continues to decline as the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases climb, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

On Friday, officials reported there have been 585 confirmed COVID-19 cases, five resulting in deaths, in 25 counties statewide.

IDPH reported 492 of the 585 confirmed cases are located in the Chicago metropolitan area. There were 411 cases in Cook County, 53 in Lake County, 10 in Will County, 8 cases each in McHenry and Kane counties and 2 cases in Kendall County, according to the IDPH website.

As of Friday, there were 712 empty ICU beds statewide — 113 fewer than the state reported on Wednesday. While the number of available isolation rooms and ventilators reported by IDPH increased slightly to 660 and 1,468, respectively, as hospitals cancelled non-essential surgeries and appointments to preserve supplies and increase available space, an expert said the demand for hospital beds to treat COVID-19 patients will likely exceed availability.

"There were another 163 cases today and it's expected to go up dramatically," Illinois Health and Hospital Association spokesman Danny Chun said. "The demands for bed are going up. We're not even close to being out of the woods. That's why the stay-at-home order is so important."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order requiring all Illinois residents to stay at home starting Saturday at 5 p.m. until April 7 with few exceptions in attempt to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The IDPH estimated that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases could jump to 3,400, and require 650 people to be hospitalized by next week, according to published reports.

"The problem is that with the lack of testing available we don't know where the real clusters [of infected people] are located," Chun said. "Without that we're still flying blind. The problem is spreading everywhere. It's going to be in every county. Every hospital is going to be effected. This is a once in a century kind of thing. We've never been through this and that's what's scary."