Public health officials are again urging Americans to reconsider their travel plans as winter holidays near. (WTTW News via CNN)
Illinois health officials reported 7,216 new and probable cases of COVID-19 across the state on Sunday and 115 additional deaths, among them 28 residents of Cook County, including one man and one woman in their 20s.
More than 1,000 Illinoisans have died of the coronavirus in the past week, at a time in which the U.S. has repeatedly set single-day records for COVID-19 fatalities.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized an emergency rollout of what promises to be a strongly protective vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech.
States will start getting the vaccine Monday, U.S. officials said Saturday. Still, it will likely be months before the vaccine is widely available.
“We’re only able in these early weeks to service and provide the vaccine for health care workers and those in long-term care facilities,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday afternoon. “That means that an awful lot of people are still going to be needing to wear masks and socially distance and they’re gonna need to follow the mitigations and treat it as if the vaccine doesn’t exist for them because it hasn’t been manufactured yet to supply it to them.”
The first doses of the vaccine could be distributed to all 34 Chicago hospitals by the end of next week. Statewide, vaccines will be prioritized for health care workers and long-term care residents, who could receive them by Christmas.
READ: 7 Things to Know About Illinois’ Plans for a COVID-19 Vaccine
At least until Wednesday, Chicago is under a stay-at-home advisory which encourages residents to leave their homes only for essential trips like grocery shopping or doctor visits.
The increase in cases since Thanksgiving and extremely full intensive care units means that order is unlikely to be lifted — and state restrictions are likely to remain in place.
Under Tier 3 of Illinois’ plan to reduce a surge in coronavirus infections, indoor gatherings in people’s homes have been limited to members of the same household.
State health officials are again urging residents to forgo traditional celebrations this year.
“The safest way to enjoy the upcoming holidays would still be to be virtual. We can gather and celebrate with people in our household who we normally live with,” Illinois Department of Public Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Wednesday.
Full coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic from WTTW News.
Since January, the pandemic has infected 848,904 people in Illinois and has been linked to 14,291 deaths across the state, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which reports that 63,648 tests were processed since Saturday.
The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a percentage of total tests is 9.1%, according to IDPH — a week ago, it was a percentage point higher, at 10.1%. Test positivity across the state — the number of positive tests as a percentage of total tests — is 10.6%. That rate is higher both in suburban Cook County (13%) and Chicago (12.5%), IDPH regional data shows.
As of Saturday night, 5,073 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19, according to IDPH — a decrease of 87 from the previous week. Of those, 1,080 patients were in intensive care units and 612 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators, IDPH reports.
Note: This story was originally published Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. It has been updated with data released Sunday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
