Rush University System for Health

This article was first published in Block Club Chicago.

Hospitals are overwhelmed and understaffed, and health care workers are desperately burned out, state officials and hospital executives said Monday, adding unvaccinated Illinoisans are fueling the hospitalizations.

On Sunday, the state reported the highest number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began, with 6,294 people hospitalized with COVID-19 or a related illness, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Of those, more than 85 percent are unvaccinated, officials said.