Elmhurst Hospital Marks Virus Milestone

ELMHURST, IL — We've been here before — thinking the pandemic is over, but it's not.

Those thoughts came over the summer, then for a time in the fall. Coronavirus cases were plunging. But then new variants surfaced.

Now, the number of patients testing positive for the coronavirus at Elmhurst Hospital is plunging. And no major new variants are on the horizon.

On Monday, the hospital achieved a milestone: The number of COVID-19 patients was in the single digits for the first time since October.

The hospital's caseload of nine coronavirus patients is far lower than the record high of 105 in January.

Of the hospital's coronavirus patients, six are unvaccinated and three are vaccinated, according to its report.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 286 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have died at the hospital, including five in the last two weeks.

Elmhurst's sister facility, Edward Hospital in Naperville, reported that it was treating eight coronavirus patients Tuesday. That's down from a record of 123 in January.

Since March 2020, Elmhurst Hospital has discharged 2,884 COVID-19 patients, 17 of them in the last two weeks.

Elmhurst Hospital serves an area far larger than Elmhurst. But the city's numbers are an indicator of what's happening. Last week, Elmhurst experienced 49 new coronavirus cases, according to the DuPage County Health Department. That was a decrease from the previous week's 59.

The city reached a weekly high of 599 in January.