Coronavirus: IL Now Ranks 4th For Cases In The U.S.

Shannon Antinori
Updated ·2 min read

ILLINOIS — Even before today's tally of new coronavirus cases in Illinois, the state ranked 4th nationwide for cases of the illness. Illinois does not rank 4th in the nation for population — we actually come in at No. 6 — a point that was made to Gov. J.B. Pritzker Tuesday afternoon during his daily news conference.

The governor chalked the ranking up to the increase in testing in Illinois, which exceeded the 10,000-test-per-day mark last week and was over 16,000 tests per day in recent days.

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"As you test more people, you're going to have more positive cases," he said.

As of Monday afternoon, the U.S. coronavirus case count rankings were as follows:

  • 291,996 - New York

  • 111,188 - New Jersey

  • 54,938 - Massachusetts

  • 43,903 - Illinois (with the nearly 2,000 additional cases announced at the news conference, Illinois was at 45,883 cases)

  • 43,801 - California

California is the country's most populated state, followed by Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Illinois also suffered more loss Tuesday, with another 50 coronavirus fatalities, bringing the death toll to 1,983.

Pritzker said the percentages of ICU beds and ventilators in use are both down, thanks in part to an increase in capacity in Illinois. The percentages of ICU beds occupied by coronavirus patients continues to trend downward as follows:

  • April 6 - 43 percent o

  • April 10 - 40 percent

  • April 14- 40 percent

  • April 19 - 40 percent

  • Midnight last night - 34 percent

And as Gov. Mike DeWine in Ohio announced segments of the state economy will reopen beginning Friday, Pritzker said the situation remains different in Illinois.

"We are still climbing on our curve but we are still on this side of the peak," he said. On April 16, Pritzker announced a partnership between himself and DeWine, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Tim Waltz of Minnesota, Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Andy Beshear of Kentucky to work on the reopening of state economies in phases.

"We're all doing slightly different but important things to lift up (small businesses)," Pritzker said.

This article originally appeared on the Across Illinois Patch