coronavirus illinois

Illinois Coronavirus Updates: 4 Ways to Get Vaccinated in Chicago, 2 Regions Lift Mitigations

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Chicago's top doctor revealed new details about the city's vaccination rollout plan on Thursday.

Meanwhile two Chicago-area counties can now move to Tier 1 mitigations under Illinois' coronavirus response plan, health officials announced.

Here are the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic across the state of Illinois today, Jan. 21:

Illinois Reports 4,979 New Coronavirus Cases, 123 Additional Deaths Thursday

Health officials in Illinois reported 4,979 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, along with 123 additional deaths attributed to the virus.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Thursday's new cases brought the statewide total number of confirmed cases to 1,086,333 since the pandemic began. The fatalities reported Thursday lifted the death toll to 18,520.

In the last 24 hours, Illinois officials said 99,036 test specimens were returned to state laboratories, putting the state at 15,083,685 tests performed during the pandemic.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate on all tests was 5.4%, while the positivity rate for unique individuals tested is at 6.5% - both down slightly from the day before.

As of Wednesday night, 3,281 patients in Illinois were hospitalized due to coronavirus. Of those patients, 662 were in intensive care units, while 358 were on ventilators.

Chicago Looking to Bring Back Indoor Dining 'Very Soon,' Top Doc Says

With Chicago's numbers trending in the right direction, city health officials are hopeful the city will soon drop to a lower tier for coronavirus mitigations, allowing some indoor dining to resume.

Chicago started to ease some of its coronavirus restrictions this week as the region moved down to Tier 2, but indoor dining remains suspended across the city until it reaches Tier 1.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Thursday that the city's metrics are close to meeting the state's guidelines to enter Tier 1.

"We like every single region around the state needs to have adequate ICU capacity, which we have, we need to have declining numbers of COVID patients in the hospitals which we clearly have we're doing very well, and we need to have a sustained positivity rate under 8%," Arwady said. "I can tell you that that we're right around that 8% mark and we've been there for the last couple of days in the way that the state is measuring it today. [Wednesday], the day before we were right at 8%. Everything's moving the right way so I anticipate that in the next day or two, we may start to be below that mark. You've got to be below it for at least three days so I don't have a magic ball."

Repeating her optimism from earlier in the week, Arwady said restaurants could begin reopening "very soon."

"We're seeing excellent progress with COVID numbers here in Chicago, our rates are down our positivity is coming down," she said. "We're looking ahead to potentially, hopefully very soon, being in a place to start some careful reopening of restaurant dining and I know how much interest there is in that. That's because we are broadly bringing COVID under control, and the work that we're doing through vaccine is to make sure that the vaccine is one more tool in bringing our city post COVID."

Read more here.

AMC to Open 42 Movie Theaters Across Illinois by Next Friday

AMC Entertainment announced 42 movie theaters across Illinois will resume operation by Jan. 29, with some reopening as soon as Friday.

Seven AMC theaters will reopen throughout the state Friday after state officials announced most Illinois regions could leave Tier 3 coronavirus mitigations, the company said in a release.

On Jan. 29, 35 additional AMC locations will reopen under enhanced health and safety mitigations, according to the movie theaters.

Read more here.

Chicago's LEGOLAND Discovery Center Reopens Friday

Chicago's LEGOLAND Discovery Center announced its reopening Friday as the city enters Tier 2 COVID-19 mitigations.

The city attraction has introduced enhanced cleaning and safety measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, according to a release.

LEGOLAND workers will sanitize high-frequency touchpoints, play areas and LEGO bricks prior to each playtime throughout the day, the attraction said. All guests ages two and older are required to wear a face covering while inside and reserve playtime online for a maximum of two hours, the website read.

These Are the 4 Ways You Will Be Able to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine in Chicago

Chicago's top health official on Thursday said that there are four ways in which residents will be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19, revealing new details about the city's vaccination rollout plan.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady detailed the four ways at a news conference at one of the city's "points of dispensing" vaccination sites.

The four ways people can get vaccinated in Chicago will be, according to Arwady: through their medical system or health care provider, through pharmacies, through a dedicated vaccination location like the points of dispensing sites, or through their employer.

Read more about each way here.

2 Chicago-Area Counties Can Resume Indoor Dining; 1 Region Moves to Phase 4

Two Chicago-area counties can now move to Tier 1 mitigations, state health officials announced Thursday, allowing them to reopen indoor dining at restaurants in a limited capacity while another Illinois region will be moving to Phase 4.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Region 7, home to Will and Kankakee counties, can now enter Tier 1.

The region had been the only one in the Chicago area still under Tier 3 mitigations this week. Most of the Chicago area is now under Tier 2 or Tier 1 mitigations.

In addition to Region 7's progress, IDPH also reports Region 6 can enter Phase 4 beginning Thursday.

“I am excited that 10 out of our 11 regions have moved out of Tier 3 mitigations,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a statement. “However, this does not mean we can let our guard down."

Read more here.

Gov. Pritzker Reschedules COVID-19 Update

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, originally set to deliver an update on the state's coronavirus response Thursday, has moved his news conference to Friday.

Pritzker was originally going to give the update at a news conference at 12 p.m. at the Thompson Center in Chicago, according to his public schedule, but was moved to Friday late morning.

Illinois Reports 4,822 New Coronavirus Cases, 107 Additional Deaths Wednesday

Health officials in Illinois reported 4,822 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, along with 107 additional deaths attributed to the virus.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Wednesday's new cases brought the statewide total number of confirmed cases to 1,081,354 since the pandemic began. The fatalities reported Wednesday lifted the death toll to 18,398.

In the last 24 hours, Illinois officials said 86,121 test specimens were returned to state laboratories, putting the state at 14,984,649 tests performed during the pandemic.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate on all tests was 5.5%, while the positivity rate for unique individuals tested is at 6.8% - both down slightly from the day before.

As of Tuesday night, 3,284 patients in Illinois were hospitalized due to coronavirus. Of those patients, 722 were in intensive care units, while 379 were on ventilators.

Read more here.

Chicago Could See Return of Indoor Dining Next Week, City's Top Doc Says

Chicago started to ease some of its coronavirus restrictions this week as the region moved down to Tier 2, but indoor dining remains suspended across the city until it reaches Tier 1.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady says Tier 1 could be in the near future, with the city potentially meeting the required metrics by the weekend.

"So here in Chicago, our number of COVID cases in the hospital is going down well, our ICU capacity adequate and our positivity had come down. And so really, as of now, still in restaurants and bars, there is no indoor service - that's allowed in the next tier, which we may possibly be able to move toward as early as, you know, possibly over the weekend, early next week, depending where this number goes," Arwady said Tuesday.

Read more here.

Chicago Reveals New Details, Tentative Dates of COVID-19 Vaccine Plan

The city of Chicago released new details about its coronavirus vaccine distribution plan on Tuesday, including tentative dates for when each of the next phases might begin, with a goal of opening vaccinations up to all Chicagoans over the age of 16 by the end of May.

Chicago is currently preparing to enter Phase 1B of its vaccination plan along with the rest of Illinois Monday, opening up doses for frontline workers and those over the age of 65.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady announced in a livestream on Tuesday that the city will tentatively look to enter the next phase, Phase 1C, on March 29, followed by Phase 2 on May 31.

"I want to be very clear that any dates we provide are purely speculative based on how much vaccine we get," Arwady said. "Right now here in Chicago we're getting 34,000 approximately first doses… per week and that is not even enough to be able to vaccinate 5% of the people who are going to be eligible in Phase 1B."

Read more here.

COVID Vaccination Sites Open in Cook County to Aid Completion of Phase 1A

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced the launching of four state-supported coronavirus vaccination sites, as health officials aim to get through the first phases of the vaccination process.

The sites will be operated with the assistance of the Illinois National Guard, according to a press release. Vaccinations began Tuesday at the sites, and shots will be available for health care workers who are part of Phase 1A in the state’s vaccination plan.

“Illinois is moving forward with an aggressive vaccination plan that centers equity and focuses on communities which have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Standing up these sites is a pivotal first step of a plan that coordinates our 97 local health departments statewide, who operate clinics already and will open up more as vaccine supply grows.”

Those looking for information on vaccinations are encouraged to visit the Cook County Department of Public Health’s website.

Here's a list of locations open for health care workers who still need to be vaccinated.

What Are Illinois' COVID Tiers and Phases? Here's a Breakdown

Most of Illinois' 11 regions moved between tiers and phases of the state's COVID-19 reopening plan on Monday when officials announced a change in the criteria needed to loosen restrictions.

What exactly are the state's tiers and phases - and how do regions move between them? Here's a breakdown:

Phases 4 and 5 are part of the original "Restore Illinois" plan that Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled last year at the outset of the pandemic. Tiers 1, 2 and 3 are "resurgence mitigations" that were implemented as the state's cases and deaths spiked amid a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall.

All 11 of the state's regions were placed in the most restrictive Tier 3 on Nov. 20, suspending indoor dining across Illinois and closing down museums and casinos, among other mitigations which lasted through the holiday season. Pritzker announced earlier this month that regions could begin to lift those most stringent restrictions on Jan. 15 if they met the criteria.

On Monday, Illinois officials announced that the state is launching multiple health care staffing contracts to help increase hospital staffing, thereby increasing the number of “staffed” beds available for coronavirus patients. That change means the hospital bed availability metric used in determining a region's tier or phase will now include ICU beds, but not medical or surgical bed limits, in the region.

As a result, the majority of Illinois’ regions were able to lift some of the mitigations in place as they moved into different tiers or phases of the plan.

Read the full breakdown here.

Chicago-Area Doctors Say These Supplements Can Prevent Severe COVID-19 Cases

Doctors at DuPage Medical Group are advising patients of a protocol that won’t prevent them from getting coronavirus, but can decrease their risk of severe COVID-19 in adults who are not pregnant or breastfeeding.

“It’s based on data," said Dr. Mat Philip, a physician with DuPage Medical Group. "There's a lot of data on the benefits of aspirin and vitamin D, in terms of preventing severe COVID, and so we've started rolling it out to our patients."

The therapeutic consideration consists of a regimen of daily supplements. For the general public, the recommendations include taking one baby aspirin, a multivitamin and 1000 IU of vitamin D every day.

“We've tried to keep it as simple as possible because they could be on this for two months or three months,” said Dr. Philip.

If someone in a household gets COVID-19, the other household members are considered high risk and the regimen changes. It still includes a baby aspirin and a multivitamin, but the dose of vitamin D is doubled to 2000 IU, and a dose of 2-5mg of melatonin should also be added at bedtime.

Read more here.

Drive-Thru COVID-19 Vaccine Site Opens at Lake County Fairgrounds

Appointment-only drive-thru COVID-19 vaccinations began Tuesday at the Lake County Fairgrounds in north suburban Grayslake, county officials said.

Under Phase 1A of Illinois' vaccination plan, doses are currently only available to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Phase 1B, which will center on residents aged 65 years and older and "frontline essential workers," is slated to begin next Monday, Jan. 25., Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced.

In order to receive the vaccine, which will be administered by the Lake County Health Department, an individual must register on the AllVax Portal and have a confirmed appointment, according to a news release.

When the Health Department receives a shipment of vaccine doses, officials said, a number of people who are eligible to receive the vaccine are notified to schedule an appointment. 

Anyone who lives or works in Lake County can register on the portal to be notified when it's their turn to be vaccinated.

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