ICU Beds Scarce In Will County: IL Health Officials

WILL COUNTY, IL — With increasing cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19, Region 7, which is made up of Will and Kankakee counties, is down to 9 available ICU beds, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Hospitals in the region are at 93 percent ICU capacity.

At Silver Cross hospital in New Lenox, 89 patients with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized, and two people are awaiting COVID-19 test results. There are 17 patients with COVID-19 in the ICU, and 11 are on a ventilator, according to hospital data.

Patch reached out to AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet for more information on hospitalizations at that location, but did not receive a response.

Region 7 has the second-lowest number of ICU beds available in the state; only eight ICU beds are available in Region 5, which includes southern Illinois. That region has 79 ICU beds total, compared with Region 7's 133.

In the Chicagoland area, region 11, which is the City of Chicago, has 49 ICU beds available; region 10, which is suburban Cook County, has 49 ICU beds available; region 8, which is Kane and DuPage counties, has 38 ICU beds available; and region 9, which is Lake and McHenry counties, has 14 ICU beds available, according to IDPH data.

According to Illinois health officials, cases of the coronavirus have jumped 17 percent over the last week, while hospitalizations are up 26 percent and deaths have surged 46 percent.

On Friday, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced more than 49,000 new cases of coronavirus and an additional 266 deaths since the previous week.

As of Dec. 12, the test positivity 7-day rolling average was 7.8 percent for Will County and 9.4 percent for Kankakee County, according to IDPH.