For fourth consecutive day, Illinois sets record for new COVID-19 cases

Nov. 7--A day after Gov. JB Pritzker warned that the spread of COVID-19 could go exponential, public health officials reported a staggering 12,438 new cases across the state.

It is the fourth consecutive day that a record-breaking amount of new cases has been reported and more than 2,000 higher than Friday's total.

All 11 of Illinois' COVID-19 regions are under state mitigation measures meant to curb the spread of the virus, which Pritzker and public health officials say is in danger of spiraling out of control.

"We're definitely, potentially coming to a point where it could go exponential," Pritzker said on Friday. "If it does go exponential, then we'll be in a world of hurt. We're in a bad situation now."

The governor himself was briefly in isolation Friday after learning he and some of his staff were exposed to someone Monday who later tested positive for the virus.

But all later tested negative, according to the governor's office.

The state's seven-day rolling positivity rate is 10.3%.

Public health officials also reported 76 additional deaths, bringing the total to 10,154. More than 477,000 have now tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began.

As of Friday night, 4,250 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 813 patients were in the ICU and 367 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

In Region 3, which includes Springfield, the seven-day-rolling positivity rate spiked to 11.9% as of Wednesday.

In Sangamon County, positivity was 11%. The county reported a record 288 cases on Friday. Totals from the weekend will not be released until Monday.

Contact Brenden Moore: bmoore@sj-r.com, twitter.com/brendenmoore13.

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