By Jim Hagerty
Reporter

CHICAGO – Three Boone County residents are among the state’s latest COVID-19 fatalities, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported Tuesday.

Officials say the Boone County deaths include a man in his 20s, a woman in her 60s, and a woman in her 70s. Whether they suffered from pre-existing health conditions is not known.

Two of the deaths were announced yesterday by the Boone County Health Department. The department also reported that long-term care facility Symphony Northwoods near Belvidere is now a place of concern.

Two of Boone County’s seven COVID-related deaths have been Symphony residents. Two workers have also tested positive.

A total of 119 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by state officials Tuesday, 88 of which occurred in Cook County. Deaths in that county include two men in their 40s, 14 men in their 70s, 17, men in their 80s, and eight women in the 90s.

The Illinois death toll from complications of COVID-19 is is now 1,468. As of this report, state officials say 33,059 people have tested positive. Cases have now been reported in 96 of Illinois’ 102 counties.

As of Monday night, 4,776 people with COVID symptoms were in Illinois hospitals.

“Of those, 1,226 patients were in the ICU, and 781 patients were on ventilators,” Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said.

Ezike said 30% of hospital beds across the state are currently open. Of the ones that are occupied, 55% are being used by COVID-19 patients. As for ventilators, 60% are available. About half of the ventilators in use are being used to treat patients with COVID-19.

With about 40% of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Chicago, Cook County is Illinois’ outbreak epicenter. The virus has not overwhelmed the city’s hospitals like leaders feared a little more than a month ago, yet it has sickened more than 13,000 in Chicago and left nearly 600 people dead.

Winnebago County has seen 222 cases of the virus. Eleven people have died.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that Illinois is now “weeks away” from its peak in the pandemic, a new projection, one significantly different from early models that showed the state would see its greatest number of cases around April 15.