COVID-19 mass vaccination sites in Tinley Park, South Holland and River Grove will close Thursday as demand for the vaccine wanes and officials redeploy resources to focus on community-based vaccination efforts.

Liam Durnan has been on a yearlong caper, hiking all 350 miles of Cook County forest preserve trails. “When people picture the forest preserve nearest them, most people think of it being the picnic groves,” he said. “They don’t know how big this thing is. It’s just incredible.”

Flowers, candy and jewelry are all go-to gifts for mom. But this year, Cook County officials say the No. 1 gift can’t be bought in a store. “This year all your mother wants for Mother’s Day is for you to get vaccinated,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. 

With Chicago officials targeting July 4 as a date to fully reopen, suburban Cook County officials hope to have “a similar, if not identical reopening schedule.”

Cook County officials are marking Small Business Week, which runs through Saturday, with the launch of a new initiative aimed at supporting small businesses as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting Friday, restaurants in suburban Cook County can serve up to 100 people indoors or no more than 50% capacity, according to officials.

The Illinois Department of Public Health, the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Cook County Department of Public Health restarted administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Saturday, as officials said it is safe and effective.

Black and Latino residents of suburban Cook County, who are more likely to contract COVID-19 and experience severe illness and die, are getting vaccinated at a slower pace than whites and Asians, according to public health officials.

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine in suburban Cook County just got a little easier. Mass vaccination sites in Tinley Park and Matteson will accept walk-in appointments through Saturday in an effort to remove barriers to vaccination, according to officials.

The county has seen virus-related hospitalizations increase for 10 consecutive days; and for three days, the availability of intensive care unit beds has dipped below 20%, according to public health data reported Thursday.

More than 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in suburban Cook County. While the pace of vaccinations is ramping up, infections are rising, keeping contact tracers busy doing vital work to stop the spread of the virus, officials say.

Suburban Cook County residents ages 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Monday, and while eligibility in Chicago doesn’t expand until April 19, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said adults in Chicago are also “absolutely welcome” to sign up at any state-run mass vaccination site starting Monday.

Suburban Cook County health officials are extremely concerned with the rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations but are holding off on reimposing mitigations to curb the spread of the virus, at least for now.

New appointments at Cook County’s mass vaccination sites for those now eligible will open at 6 p.m. Wednesday online. 

The move comes a day after the city of Chicago loosened restrictions on outdoor businesses and social gatherings.  

Opening statements and testimony began Tuesday in the burglary trial of Glenn Whitmore, one day after the court selected its first jury for a criminal trial since March 2020.