Illinois tells residents to only leave home for 'essential trips' and to work remotely for the next three weeks as states begin to ramp up COVID restrictions AGAIN

Illinois health officials are telling locals to work from home for the next three weeks and to avoid going out except for 'essential trips' as the state reels from another record rise in daily COVID-19 cases. 

On Wednesday the state announced 12,657 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus, setting a record for the highest single-day report of new cases for the second day in a row.  

The state now has 523,840 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10,434 deaths and 364 probable deaths. There were 145 new deaths reported Wednesday, the most in a single day since late May.

Hospitalizations also broke a record with 5,042 patients hospitalized on Wednesday - the most since the beginning of the pandemic. Of those patients, 951 are currently in intensive care units, and 404 are on ventilators.

The state now has a case positivity rate of 12.4 percent from November 3-10. 

Illinois health officials are asking locals to work from home for the next three weeks and to avoid leaving the house except for 'essential trips' as the state reels from another record rise in daily COVID-19 cases. Gov. JB Pritzker also stressed that private gatherings indoors are a reason behind the staggering surge. Pritzker pictured at a coronavirus briefing Tuesday

The Illinois Health Department issued new recommendations on Wednesday urging residents to stay home and only leave for essential trips ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday

On Wednesday the state announced 12,657 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus, setting a record for the highest single-day report of new cases for the second day in a row. The state now has 523,840 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 10,434 deaths and 364 probable deaths

The Illinois Health Department issued new recommendations urging residents to stay home and only leave for essential trips ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

'For the next three weeks, work with your employer to plan to work from home unless it is necessary for you to be in the workplace. We ask employers to make accommodation for this. Our goal is to reduce transmission as we head into the holidays so businesses and schools can remain open,' the recommendation states.

'Essential activites' that people can leave their homes for include work, grocery shopping and limited travel and gatherings. 

'In our current situation, with a rising prevalence of the virus, attending even small gatherings that mix households, or traveling to areas that are experiencing high rates of positivity, is not advised and is potentially dangerous,' officials said.

A view of patients lined up outside a COVID-19 testing center in Niles, Illinois on October 21

Gov. JB Pritzker also stressed that private gatherings indoors are a reason behind the staggering surge. 

'We all want this to be over. But we need to gird ourselves for winter because it’s not over yet. We have potentially months of the fight ahead of us — but as hard as that sounds, yesterday, we were given some real hope,' he said Tuesday. 

The new recommendations come after Pritzker said the health department was looking to add restrictions on a regional or posssibly statewide level. 

At the moment every region of Illinois is under additional 'Tier 1' coronavirus mitigation measures, which has shut down indoor dining and bar service and limited gathering sizes. 

On Wednesday 'Tier 2' restrictions took effect in Kankakee, Will, Dupage, and Kane counties and southern Illinois, as per WGNTV. 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered that all bars and restaurants across the state must close at 10pm starting from Friday

Statewide, hospitalizations are creeping back up as is the case count

NYC data shows how the hospitalization rate and death rate is not increasing despite the surge in cases

Areas across the country are battling a resurgence of the virus. 

On Wednesday New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed a 10pm curfew on restaurants, bars and gyms starting Friday as the statewide positivity rate rose to 2.9 percent. 

New York will also have a 10-person cap on parites at private residents. 

Cuomo was dismayed during his coronavirus briefing saying: 'It is really getting much, much worse by the day.'