The expansion comes as the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,022 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 44 deaths on Wednesday.
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Several county health departments say it could be weeks before they are able to extend vaccine eligibility to people under the age of 65 with underlying conditions, despite state assurances that supply will increase substantially.
Gov. JB Pritzker said federal deliveries to Illinois will increase to 100,000 daily doses by mid-March – almost double what the state currently manages.
“I encourage all of our local health departments, especially those that are not yet expanding, to move as quickly as possible to broaden our coverage in light of the growing federal supply,” Pritzker said.
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But in Lake County, less than a third of people age 65 and older have been vaccinated.
The county adheres to CDC guidelines that say that 60-70% of people in the current phase should be vaccinated before enlargement, unless supply exceeds demand.
“We see a huge demand and I can tell you that every day I receive emails from people 65 and older requesting their vaccination,” said Mark Pfister, executive director, Lake County Health Dept.
In fact, on the eve of state expansion 1B, no county health department has announced when this move will happen.
“Really looking to see what the situation looks like in the next four to six weeks and then make a decision on how and when to expand to the next group,” said Chris Hoff, DuPage County Health Department.
In Chicago, it could be the end of March.
“I don’t want to create expectations that we simply can’t meet, especially when we still have to focus on our seniors,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
There may still be some providers, including pharmacies, in our area that extend eligibility, but they must receive the vaccine directly from the state or federal government, rather than those counties.
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IDPH reports a total of 1,179,342 COVID-19 cases, including 20,374 deaths.
As of Tuesday night, 1,511 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of these, 338 patients were in intensive care and 172 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
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In the last 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 82,976 specimens for a total of 17,804,537 since the pandemic began.
The seven-day preliminary positive test nationwide between February 17-23 is 2.8%.
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A total of 2,584,125 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 3,029,325.
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 2,310,929 vaccine doses were administered, including 291,273 at long-term facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered is 58,141.
Deaths reported Wednesday include:
-Cook County: 1 woman 60, 3 men 60, 4 women 70, 3 men 70, 2 women 80, 1 man 80, 1 woman 90, 1 man 90
-DuPage County: 1 man of 60 years
-Ford County: 1 man of 80 years
-Henderson County: 1 man of 60 years, 1 woman of 70 years, 2 women of 80 years, 1 man of 80 years, 1 woman of 90 years
-Johnson County: 1 70-year-old man
-Kane County: 1 woman of 60 years
-Kendall County: 1 woman aged 70 years
-Lake County: 1 man of 70 years, 1 man of 80 years
-LaSalle County: 2 women 90
-Macoupin County: 1 man of 60 years
-McHenry County: 2 men from the 80’s
-Monroe County: 1 70-year-old woman
-Saline County: 1 woman aged 70 years
-Stephenson County: 1 man from the 80’s, 1 woman from the 90’s
-Union County: 2 men aged 60 years
-Will County: 1 woman aged 70 years
-Winnebago County: 1 man of 60 years, 1 man of 80 years, 1 woman of 90 years
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