The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on Friday, Dec. 17 reported 59,312 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease in Illinois, including an increase of 316 deaths since Dec. 10.

As of Thursday night, Dec. 16, 3,783 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19.  Of those, 787 patients were in the ICU and 353 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from Dec. 10-16, 2021 is 4.9 percent.  The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Dec. 10-16, 2021 is 6.2 percent.

A total of 18,475,621 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of 12:01 Dec. 17.  The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 66,816 doses.  Since Dec.10, 467,715 doses were reported administered in Illinois.  Of Illinois’ total population, more than 70 percent has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 63 percent of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On Dec. 16, the CDC endorsed its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation expressing a clinical preference for individuals to receive an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech) over Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) vaccine.

ACIP’s unanimous recommendation followed a discussion of the latest evidence on vaccine effectiveness, vaccine safety and rare adverse events, and the abundant U.S. vaccine supply.  ACIP reaffirmed that receiving any vaccine is better than being unvaccinated.

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,944,056 COVID-19 cases, including 27,117 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois since the pandemic began.  The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.