ILLINOIS (WAND) - Gov. JB Pritzker and health officials expressed urgency about the seriousness of a COVID-19 case spike in Illinois, saying the number of ICU beds available is low. 

There were only 1,100 of those beds available Monday in the entire state of Illinois, which has a total population of nearly 13 million people. In addition, Illinois had over 5,200 people fighting COVID-19 in hospital care Monday, which is 400 more than the peak seen in the spring. 

Deaths are rising rapidly and up 260 percent since the start of October, per the governor, when the state averaged 23 deaths per day. Two weeks ago, the state averaged 41 deaths per day, and that number spiked again by 98 percent to an average of 81 deaths per day in the latest update. 

Hospitals and their staffs have been stretched to their limits, Dr. Ngozi Ezike said, and people need to take personal responsibility. She is asking people to wear masks and following COVID-19 mitigation measures as case continue to rise in Illinois. 

Illinois can't wait until hospitals fill completely to take action, Pritzker said, as by then it will be too late. He said there would be unnecessary deaths from both COVID-19 patients and people with other ailments because there aren't enough beds. 

Pritzker said the state can't create new staff for hospitals that are "filled to the brim." He said every doctor who gets reassigned to a COVID-19 unit will be unable to do other important jobs, such as helping monitor newborns or attending to people with serious injuries. 

Illinois has over 11,000 total deaths from COVID-19. On Monday, the state announced 11,632 new confirmed cases of the virus and 37 more deaths.

As of Sunday night, the state reported 5,581 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19. Of that number, 1,144 were in the ICU and 514 were on ventilators. 

Every Illinois region is under mitigation measures as of Monday. Regions 5, 7 and 8 are under Tier 2 mitigations. Region 1 in northwest Illinois has been under tighter Tier 2 mitigations since October.Â