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(WSIL) -- The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported 59,312 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, including an increase of 316 deaths since December 10, 2021. 

As of Thursday night, 3,783 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19.  Of those, 787 patients were in the ICU and 353 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators. 

A total of 18,475,621 vaccines have been administered in Illinois. Of Illinois� total population, more than 70% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 63% of Illinois� total population is fully vaccinated according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Thursday the CDC advisory panel endorsed receiving the Moderna of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine over the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The recommendation followed a discussion of the latest evidence on vaccine effectiveness, vaccine safety and rare adverse events, and the abundant U.S. vaccine supply.  ACIP reaffirmed that receiving any vaccine is better than being unvaccinated. 

The rise in cases comes as the virus continues to surge across the state and across the country. According to IDPH data, the state has seen more than 6,000 new cases every day except for three in December.

On Jan. 22, 2021, the state reported more than 7,000 new cases of the virus. Since then, the state had not reported more than 6,000 new cases of the virus in one day...until Dec. 1, when the state reported 6,119 new cases of the virus.

The numbers we're seeing now in the state are starting to look similar to what we were seeing last winter.