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85% of Illinoisans 65 and older have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose

Eighty-five percent of Illinoisans 65 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, state health officials report.

That's one metric used to determine whether the state is ready to move to a Bridge Phase that will allow greater capacity in many businesses, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker said will happen May 14.

He anticipates a move to fully reopening the state by June 11, he announced at a news conference Thursday touting an effort to grant primary-care physicians statewide access to vaccine doses.

Meanwhile, Illinois Department of Public Health officials also announced Thursday 99,599 more COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered statewide.

The total number of vaccine doses administered throughout Illinois is now at 9,646,432 since the vaccines became available in mid-December, according to Illinois Department of Public Health figures.

Nearly 4.3 million Illinois residents and workers are now fully vaccinated, which the state considers to be someone two weeks removed from his or her final vaccine dose.

IDPH officials reported 40 more COVID-19 deaths Thursday and 1,778 new cases of the disease. Only 1.8% of the 96,296 test results returned resulted in a new case. That's the lowest single-day percentage since March 7, according to IDPH figures.

Sixteen of the deaths were in Chicago and the collar counties, and 24 were downstate.

The state's death toll is at 22,136 since the outbreak began, with 1,348,176 in Illinois having been infected.

Hospitals across the state are treating 2,055 COVID-19 patients, including 483 of whom were in intensive care beds, according to IDPH records.

IDPH records also show the state's seven-day average case positivity rate now stands at 3%, its lowest point since March 27.

Case positivity allows health officials to track the level of infection within a certain population and shows the percentage of new cases derived from a batch of tests. A seven-day average is used to account for any anomalies in the daily reporting of those figures.

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