State, National, Global COVID-19 Updates

Sept. 8, 2020

The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) announced today 1,392 new COVID-19 cases and seven deaths. The total number of cases in the state is 252,353 in 102 counties, with a total of 8,186 deaths. IDPH says that in the past 24 hours, 31,363 test specimens have been processed, with a positivity rate of 4.4%. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity rate from September 1 to September 7 is 4.0%. Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations in the past 24 hours increased from 1,484 patients to 1,504 patients. Of that figure, 343 patients were in the ICU, with 133 patients on ventilators.

On Friday (Sept. 4), IDPH said it cleared up a backlog of tests from a slowdown in its data processing systems that affected reporting of tests due to the large volume of testing occurring in Illinois. Resources were deployed to improve and upgrade the data systems, which are now fixed with significantly faster processing capacity. Although the slowdown delayed the reporting of some aggregate numbers (resulting in unusually large case and test numbers on Friday), it did not affect the reporting of positive or negative results to individuals in any way.

Today’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures show more than 6.2 million confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., with 188,688 deaths.

Today’s WHO Coronavirus Disease Dashboard shows more than 27.2 million COVID-19 cases globally, with more than 891,000 deaths. The Region of the Americas (includes the U.S.) continues to lead the world with more than 14.1 million cases and more than 494,000 deaths.