COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to surge in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WREX) �� The number of people in the hospital because of COVID-19 continues to increase across Illinois.

As of Dec. 2, there were 2,582 people across the state in the hospital, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Of those, 534 patients were in the ICU and 221 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

Both of those numbers have more than doubled.

As of Dec. 29, there were 5,689 people in the hospital with COVID-19, IDPH says. Of those, 1,010 patients were in the ICU and 565 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

The rise in hospitalizations means less and less beds are available at hospitals. According to IDPH data, there's only 12% of ICU beds available across the state.

In Region 5, southern Illinois, there's only 9% of ICU beds available, per IDPH data.

Health officials have emphasized throughout the pandemic, and especially during the recent surge of the virus, that a vast majority of the COVID-19 hospitalizations are those who are unvaccinated.

Earlier this week, the state announced is increasing booster and vaccine clinics across the state to help meet demand driven by the omicron variant.

Increase of Cases/Deaths

With the increase of hospitalizations comes an increase of cases of the virus.

In the past week, Illinois health officials reported 128,246 new confirmed and probable cases of the virus. By comparison, from Nov. 26-Dec. 2, the state reported 42,559 new cases of the virus.

The rise of cases comes as the omicron variant, which spreads more easily than some other variants, continues to make its way through the state.

Health officials reported the first case of the omicron variant in the state earlier this month.

In total, the state is reporting 2,149,548 cases of the virus since the pandemic started.

The number of deaths in the state related to the virus also continues to increase. This past week alone, the state reported 386 new COVID-related deaths.

From Dec. 2-Dec. 29, the state has reported 1,286 deaths related to the virus. Since the pandemic began, the state is now reporting a total of 27,821 virus-related deaths.