Staunton Star - Times - Published in the Interest of the Staunton Community for Over 143 Years

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on Friday reported 17,462 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 183 additional deaths since reporting last Friday, Oct. 29. Of Illinois’ total population, 66 percent has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and almost 61 percent of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On Wednesday, Nov. 3, IDPH adopted CDC’s recommendation for children ages 5 to 11 years to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine for children ages 5-11 years is a smaller dose (10 µg), a third of the dose for individuals 12 years and older (30 µg). The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is administered as a series of two doses, three weeks apart, for all eligible individuals.

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,712,986 cases, including 25,948 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. As of Thursday night, 1,257 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 282 patients were in the ICU and 148 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4 is 2.5 percent.