Increased testing continues to push COVID-19 count higher – The Southern

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Gov. JB Pritzker says during a news conference Saturday in Chicago that the increased number of cases of COVID-19 in Illinois is directly a result of increased testing.

SPRINGFIELD Illinois COVID-19 confirmed case count grew by nearly 2,500 again Saturday as a sustained increase in testing continues to drive the number upward.

It really is a function of doing more testing, Gov. JB Pritzker said of the increased positive case count at his daily briefing on the virus Saturday.

There are now 58,505 confirmed cases in Illinois in 97 counties, including 2,559 deaths.

But the state reported another 15,208 test results, meaning about 16 percent of those resulted in positive cases. That number has gone down in recent weeks from a consistent appearance in the 20s to more frequently appearing in the teens. They had spiked, however, in the two days prior to Saturday.

There have been just less than 300,000 tests conducted in Illinois since the outbreak began, and the state has tested more than 10,000 residents daily for more than a week.

We're doing more and more testing, that is a very good thing, Pritzker said. It's a very good sign, because more testing leads us to be able to keep more people at home who may have come in contact with those people so that we can have fewer infections across the state rather than more.

There were also 105 more deaths related to the virus reported in the past 24 hours, and 4,717 COVID-19 patients were still hospitalized as of midnight Friday, according to Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. There were 1,250 COVID-19 patients in intensive care beds and 789 on ventilators as of midnight as well, according to IDPH.

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Increased testing continues to push COVID-19 count higher - The Southern

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