7 more coronavirus cases confirmed in Illinois

ILLINOIS (KFVS) - The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced that seven more individuals in the state have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

According IDPH, the new cases involve a Chicago woman in her 40s and a male youth, a 70-year-old Kane County man, two 70-year old Cook County women, one 50-year-old Cook County man and McHenry County man in his 60s.

As of Friday morning, March 13, the number of cases now stands at 32.

IDPH said the vast majority of cases are recovering.

Approximately 94 percent of the cases are in isolation either at home or in the hospital.

At this time, there have been no deaths in Illinois blamed on the novel coronavirus.

“The virus is here in Illinois," said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “While it may not be in your community now, we anticipate it will be eventually. We all need to take action now by postponing large events and restricting visits to nursing homes to limit the spread. Guidance for this novel virus is changing day by day, sometimes hour by hour, but we want to empower people to think about what they can do to reduce their risk of possible infection, as well as spread of the virus.”

IDPH said approximately 29 percent of the state’s cases are travel associated, about 44 percent are a contact of a COVID-19 case and the remaining cases do not have a clear connection and could be the result of spread in the community.