As the state’s vaccine supply grows, federal, state and local officials are expected to announce Friday that the United Center’s mass vaccination site will open March 10, several sources told ABC 7.
With the Bulls and Blackhawks still playing games at United Center, the arena itself will not be used. Instead, the car parks will be used for drive-through and walk-up vaccinations.
FEMA and the US Department of Defense will take the lead in administering the site, with a particular focus on vaccinating minority populations that have been relatively slow in obtaining doses.
Anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 photos could be taken daily, which is significant when you consider that the city of Chicago currently receives approximately 8,300 doses per day.
“What you’re looking for here is, in essence, increasing the vaccination rate for the city by about 50 to 70 percent, which is very, very significant.” said Prof. Hani Mahmassani, Director, Northwestern Univ. Transport center.
However, Mahmassani said that if the goal is to reach more people in more areas of the city, a large central location may not be the best use of resources.
“Rather than having a unit that vaccinates 7,000 people, I think it would be more effective to have seven facilities that vaccinate every 1,000 people a day,” Mahmassani said.
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Crews cleared the snow parking lot on Thursday night in preparation for the arrival of heavy equipment.
“I’m ready and ready to do whatever it takes to attract people in and out and get their vaccines,” 27th Ward Ald said. Walter Burnett said. “You have a lot of good transportation by highway, trains. You have two train systems, the Green Line and the Blue Line, buses. You also have a regular community to have traffic in it.”
Governor JB Pritzker’s office said in a statement on Thursday: “Governor Pritzker believes the Biden administration’s efforts to launch high-capacity vaccination sites across the country are key to equity and appreciates the strong collaboration with the president and his team. Our partners in Cook County and Chicago are also critical to our collective success, especially as we work together to ensure that we are prepared to use the growing supply of vaccines in the most equitable manner possible. “
More details on the United Center website are expected to be released on Friday.
The United Center site is one of several federally run mass vaccination locations planned across the country. There are already others in California, New York and Texas.
Earlier this month, the Chicago public health commissioner said the city had completed planning and made trips to the United Center, as well as Wrigley Field and McCormick Place. But it is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
More details about the site, including how people can schedule meetings, are expected when the formal announcement is made on Friday morning.
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Illinois said more than 130,000 doses of the vaccine were given Wednesday, the highest one-day increase reported so far and a 36 percent increase from the previous record of 95,375 on Feb. 12.
The state reported that 109,220 doses were delivered to Illinois suppliers on Wednesday. Although it has dropped from Tuesday’s record of 276,440, it is still higher than what the state has received in recent days.
However, several county health departments say it could be weeks before they are able to extend vaccine eligibility to people under 65 with basic conditions, despite assurances from the state that supply will increase in substantially soon.
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A long line stretched outside West Leyden High School in Northlake on Thursday, where 2,000 people received the first vaccine. There are another 500 on the waiting list. Jemma Cabral, 41, was among the lucky ones. He received hers at 9:15 in the morning
“I’m a double cancer survivor,” Cabral said. “I had a stem cell transplant, so I mean, even though years have passed, I get sick easily. So it was important for me to get vaccinated.”
According to Illinois rules, Cabral is part of Phase 1B plus, which now includes anyone over the age of 16 with a pre-existing condition. Thursday was the first day people like her could be vaccinated. Unless vaccines are still so rare, not a single public health department in the area is expanding its eligibility yet.
“It’s not just Chicago, it’s Cook, and DuPage and Will and Evanston,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s Department of Public Health. “We are not at a time when we are able to move forward. If we opened it, we would make people happy for five minutes, then we would frustrate them because they wouldn’t actually be able to receive meetings. “
Cabral took his appointment because the West Leyden clinic is run by Albertson. Participating grocery stores and pharmacies receive their vaccines directly from the federal government and can choose to allocate them to all those who apply in accordance with state regulations.
“I was a little worried when I went to put my birth date on hold to say it’s not eligible. But actually no, it was pretty smooth and easy to fill out,” Cabral said.
Governor JB Pritzker encourages public health departments to expand eligibility as soon as possible, saying that by mid-March, the state will receive 100,000 doses a day. It’s almost twice as much as it is now.
In Chicago, where public health officials say there are still nearly half a million short doses to cover phases 1A and 1B, such an expansion is not expected to come until at least the end of March.
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The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,884 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 32 deaths on Thursday.
IDPH reported a total of 1,181,226 COVID-19 cases, including 20,406 deaths.
On Wednesday night, 1,463 patients in Illinois were reported to have been hospitalized with COVID-19. Of these, 334 patients were in intensive care and 168 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
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In the last 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 91,292 specimens for a total of 17,895,829 since the pandemic began.
The seven-day preliminary positive test nationwide between February 18-24 is 2.7%.
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A total of 2,693,345 doses of vaccine were delivered to Illinois providers, including Chicago, with 445,200 additional doses allocated to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered in Illinois to 3,138,545.
IDPH said vaccine distribution numbers are reported in real time and vaccine administration numbers remain at up to 72 hours.
IDPH reports that a total of 2,440,950 vaccine doses were administered, including 295,909 at long-term facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered is 66,274.
Deaths reported Wednesday include:
-Adams County: 1 woman of 80 years
-Christian County: 1 woman in the ’80s
-Cook County: 1 man for 20 years, 1 man for 50 years, 2 men for 60 years, 4 men for 70 years, 2 women for 80 years
-DeKalb County: 1 man of 60 years
-DuPage County: 1 man of 80 years
-Jersey County: 1 man aged 70 years
-Kane County: 1 man of 60 years, 1 man of 80 years
-Kankakee County: 1 80-year-old man
-Lake County: 1 man in the 90s
-Logan County: 1 woman of 80 years
-Madison County: 1 30-year-old woman, 1 80-year-old man
-Monroe County: 2 females from the 80’s
-Pike County: 1 man of 80 years
-Randolph County: 1 woman aged 50 years
-Rock Island County: 1 woman from the 90’s
-White County: 1 man of 80 years
-Will County: 1 man of 60 years, 1 man of 90 years
-Winnebago County: 1 man of 70 years, 1 man of 80 years
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