For the second day in a row, one in all Illinois’ well being care areas has zero accessible intensive care unit beds amid a surge in COVID instances and hospitalizations.
In response to the newest figures from the Illinois Division of Public Well being, Area 5, comprised of 20 counties within the southern tip of the state, has zero of its 87 staffed ICU beds accessible for admission as of Wednesday.
The area has seen its ICU mattress availability stay under 10% for greater than a month, and hospitalizations have remained elevated even after a gentle upward development in these numbers started to degree off at first of September.
Previous to that, hospitalizations had elevated dramatically within the month of August, reaching a peak of 164 on Sept. 1. As of Tuesday, that quantity has dipped barely to 159, however stays far above the place it was through the downturn of hospitalizations that occurred after the COVID vaccine grew to become extra extensively accessible within the spring.
The area’s positivity fee has additionally remained persistently excessive, having been above 10% since mid-August. The quantity stays the very best within the state, sitting at 10.2% as of Sunday.
ICU mattress availability has been a problem all through the state throughout a current upswing in COVID instances, with all 11 of the state’s well being care areas seeing lower than 25% availability of ICU beds.
General, 537 COVID sufferers are presently in intensive care items throughout the state, taking on roughly 17.2% of the state’s ICU beds total, based on IDPH knowledge. Of these sufferers, 305 are presently on ventilators.
General, hospitalizations are on a downward trajectory, with 2,229 sufferers presently hospitalized due to COVID within the state. That’s down greater than 100 from the two,333 that have been hospitalized on Sept. 6, indicating that hospitalizations could also be leveling off amid the pandemic.
