Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months. But preliminary numbers suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019.

On the first day of winter, Cook County officials touted the benefits of spending time in nature, encouraging people to discover the nearly 70,000 acres of forest preserves this season — safely.

The advisory urging Chicagoans at stay home in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for 21 days, expiring the day before the first Chicago Public Schools students are set to go back to in-person class.

Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to spread more easily are causing alarm, but virus experts say it’s unclear if that’s the case or whether they pose any concern for vaccines or cause more severe disease. 

The president-elect took a dose of Pfizer vaccine Monday at a hospital not far from his Delaware home, hours after his wife, Jill Biden, did the same. The injections came the same day that a second vaccine, produced by Moderna, will start arriving in states.

As Illinois reaches another grim milestone in the number of COVID-19 cases, December is on pace to become the state’s deadliest month, an analysis of public health data shows. 

Much-needed doses are set to arrive Monday after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health.

The panel members are leaning toward putting “essential workers” next up because people like bus drivers, grocery store clerks and others who perform vital jobs that can’t be done from home are the ones getting infected most often. 

The pandemic in Illinois reached another sobering mark on Friday, whenhealth officials reported 15,015 total deaths linked to the pandemic and 886,805 infections. 

Vice President Mike Pence became the highest-ranking U.S. official to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday in a live-television event aimed at reassuring Americans the shot is safe

All Illinois hospitals and health departments promised the first round of the COVID-19 vaccine now have it, but state officials are worried future shipments will be smaller than expected.

Allergies are always a question with a new medical product, but monitoring COVID-19 vaccines for any other, unexpected side effects is a bigger challenge than usual. 

City officials shut down a 50-person party in West Town early Sunday for violating rules designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Chicago officials said Thursday.

The FDA’s green light for emergency use is expected quickly. Moderna would then begin shipping millions of doses, earmarked for health workers and nursing home residents, to boost the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history.

Gov J.B. Pritzker said the state's first vaccine shipments have been distributed to 77 hospitals across Illinois, and on Thursday, another 43,000 additional doses arrived in Cook, Lake, Madison and St. Clair counties.

Black and Latino communities are disproportionately getting sick and dying from the coronavirus, but a new analysis reveals additional disparities that are impacting families during the public health crisis.