SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois on Monday recorded 6,190 new coronavirus cases, the lowest single-day total in more than a month, as deaths continue at a rapid pace.
State public health officials reported 85 deaths from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Newly confirmed cases dropped for the third day in a row to end a month with record numbers of infections, topping out at over 15,000 on Nov. 13.
But health officials are predicting the drop represents calm before a wintertime COVID-19 storm. Experts nationally are concerned about the millions of Americans who traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday, crossing state lines and mixing members of different families together in indoor celebrations.
Since the pandemic struck Illinois in March, there have been 726,304 confirmed cases and 12,278 deaths.
Hospitals continue to hustle to care for the sick. There were 5,849 inpatients on Monday, down from a high of 6,175 nine days ago. But the number of the more seriously ill is growing in terms of its proportion to patients overall. There were 1,217 intensive care patients and 715 on ventilators.
Meanwhile, the health crisis has been unrelenting on the economy. Businesses, particularly restaurants and bars, with prohibitions on indoor service have been buffeted. A Springfield restaurant has announced its permanent closure. The Springfield State Journal-Register reported that Fox Run owners blamed government’s “overreach of power” for its demise.
Fox Run was one of four restaurants under a circuit court’s restraining order for continuing indoor dining. The Sangamon County Health Department later reached an agreement with the other three eateries, which restored permits for take-out service. Fox Run was not part of the settlement but withdrew its request for a health department hearing, the paper reported.
