CHICAGO (WLS) — Mayor Lori Lightfoot will speak at City Hall Tuesday to give an update on Chicago’s COVID-19 response.The press conference is set to take place at 1:30 p.m. and comes as Illinois reported the largest single-day increase of the year Monday, with 12,328 new cases.
The recent sure comes just as large family gatherings and crowded airports could sent numbers even higher.
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Right now, there are nearly 4,000 patients with COVID in Illinois. More than 800 of those patients are in ICU beds, which worries some health care workers at Silver Cross Hospital in southwest suburban New Lenox.
“We are nearing our capacity but we do have contingency plans in place to add ICU beds if needed,” Dr. Atul Gupta, medical director with infection prevention at Silver Cross Hospital. “We’re hoping not to get to that point.”
In Chicago and suburban Cook County, availability is better. Across Will and Kankakee counties only 5% of ICU beds are available.
Test positivity rate in Illinois is now at 7.1%.
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