McDonough County's COVID cases fall 26.4%; Illinois cases plummet 13%

Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK
·3 min read
Phlebotomist April Aymong prepares a sample to be sent for COVID-19 testing at Salem Health Laboratory in Salem, Oregon on July 12.
Phlebotomist April Aymong prepares a sample to be sent for COVID-19 testing at Salem Health Laboratory in Salem, Oregon on July 12.

McDONOUGH COUNTY — COVID-19 cases are down across the state, including McDonough County. However, the county has reported 64 cases and two deaths in the latest week.

A week earlier, McDonough County had reported 87 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 8,067 cases and 100 deaths.

Illinois reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 30,762 new cases. That's down 13% from the previous week's tally of 35,371 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Illinois ranked 20th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 14.2% from the week before, with 781,487 cases reported. With 3.81% of the country's population, Illinois had 3.94% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 13 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

​ Across Illinois, cases fell in 68 counties, with the best declines in Cook County, with 11,438 cases from 13,394 a week earlier; in Kane County, with 1,251 cases from 1,771; and in DuPage County, with 2,368 cases from 2,814. ​

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases​

Within Illinois, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Calhoun County with 654 cases per 100,000 per week; Saline County with 575; and Christian County with 486. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Cook County, with 11,438 cases; DuPage County, with 2,368 cases; and Lake County, with 1,809. Weekly case counts rose in 32 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Kendall, Whiteside and Fulton counties.

In Illinois, ​ 84 ​ people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 70 people were reported dead.

A total of 3,594,415 people in Illinois have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 38,966 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 92,112,922 people have tested positive and 1,033,556 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Illinois's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Aug. 7. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 3,448

  • The week before that: 3,330

  • Four weeks ago: 3,169

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 72,801

  • The week before that: 72,098

  • Four weeks ago: 67,603

Hospitals in 24 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 24 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 33 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The McDonough County Voice: McDonough County reported 64 COVID-19 cases and two deaths last week