New and probable COVID-19 cases again top 10,000 in Illinois, another 42 are dead

The daily count of newly confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois again topped 10,000 on Sunday and another government official was self-isolating after a staff member tested positive for the disease.

Illinois public health officials reported 10,009 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 42 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 487,987 and the statewide death toll to 10,196 since the start of the pandemic.

The state on Friday begin reporting probable cases as well as those confirmed by testing, but even before that the daily case count was setting record highs.

Also Sunday, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office said she’s self-isolating after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Preckwinkle is not experiencing any symptoms and is being tested, her office said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and some staff members briefly went into isolation late last week after someone at a meeting they attended last Monday tested positive for COVID-19.

Both the governor and the staff members subsequently tested negative and were released from quarantine. Under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, that is allowed because they had met with the person who became infected 48 hours before the onset of symptoms and therefore weren’t considered “close contacts,” the governor’s office said.

Pritzker had twice previously gone into longer periods of isolation after coming in contact with an infected person.

State officials on Sunday also said 90,757 new tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 10.6%.

Over 4,000 people are reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 833 patients were in the ICU and 368 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators, according to public health officials.

jvillagomez@chicagotribune.com

___

(c)2020 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.