Given that statewide values appear to be gradually improving, when could Illinois return to the table inside?
According to Governor JB Pritzker, the answer is not so concrete.
Illinois is currently under level 3 mitigation, but even if the state returns to level 2 mitigation, the indoor restaurant would still be suspended.
Only at level 1 can indoor meals be returned with capacity limitations, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health website.
“What we don’t want to do is yo-yo back and forth between Tier 3, Tier 2 and that wouldn’t open bars and restaurants in any way,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “We want to open everything up as soon as possible. We are generally heading in the right direction.”
Pritzker noted that while some values have declined, hospitalizations have risen in recent days to more than 100.
“It’s worrying,” the governor said. “It simply came to our notice then. I am the first to want to move the regions down to level 2 and level 1 and back to phase 4 as soon as possible, but we want to make sure that we have crushed this growing number of cases and a growing number of hospitalizations and that we do not have, as we do now, a very, very large number of patients with intensive care. ”
Pritzker said he intends to keep track of holiday numbers.
“We will get there, I think, soon and we want to see how the Christmas and New Year holidays go,” he said.
The comments come just a day after U.S. surgeon general Jerome Adams joined Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady to discuss plans to launch vaccines in Illinois. city and state.
During a press conference after visiting a hospital in Chicago, which he said reached capacity in his intensive care unit due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, Adams issued a blunt holiday warning.
“Even if you personally do not feel at risk for COVID, your actions can still have an impact on you, your family and your community in other ways that you may not think about,” he said after a visit to Saint Anthony’s Hospital. “That complete ICU is full because there are patients with COVID pushing it overhead. But that means if you have a heart attack, there may be no place at the end. It means that if you go into a wreck car on a frozen road, it may not have a bed for you.It means that if your sister or wife goes to work, there may not be space in the hospital for you.So it is essential to continue this holiday season to make things work. ”
Adams said that while Illinois “is fortunately heading in the right direction … the numbers are still not where we need to be.” He said that while the beginning of vaccines is the beginning of the end, residents must “remain vigilant.”
“Even if you haven’t done the safest thing we recommend you do and keep it in your household, things like quarantine now – because every person you interact with now is a person whose The bubble has seeped into your balloon and the potential to take your virus home to someone at Christmas – things like making sure you have plenty of ventilation in your home environment and making sure you have plenty of hand sanitizer and that people practice good hand hygiene, “Adams said.” Again, we want you to be as safe as possible. But if you can’t keep it in your household, we still want you to think about how you can have a safer holiday season. “I want you to have hope because a lot of people are wondering when this will end, and I want you to know that I’m actually incredibly optimistic about these two vaccines available now, that we have a finish line in sight.”
In the first full week of vaccinations, Illinois has delivered the most doses of COVID-19 vaccine compared to any other state nationally, officials said Wednesday.
In his coronavirus briefing, Pritzker said Illinois, including Chicago, has administered 1,3991 doses of vaccine since Tuesday night, most of any U.S. state.
“In terms of population, California is three times our size, and Texas is two and a half times our size, so they will outnumber us at some point this week,” Pritzker said. . “But the Illinois vaccine team went through it all in the first week.”
This week alone, Pritzker said Illinois received 23,400 doses of Pfizer vaccine outside of Chicago, 15,600 doses of Pfizer in Chicago and 37,050 doses of Pfizer reserved for long-term care vaccinations next week. In addition, the state will receive 174,000 doses of Moderna vaccine outside of Chicago and 48,000 doses that will go directly to the city.
However, state health officials reported 6,762 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, along with an additional 135 deaths attributed to the virus.
The latest figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health bring the state of Illinois to 918,070 probable or confirmed cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.
The 135 additional deaths on Wednesday bring the state to 15,547 deaths as a result of the pandemic, according to IDPH data.
The state positivity rate for tests was 9%, the same as the previous day, while the positivity rate for cases was 7.5%, up slightly from 7.4% on Tuesday.
The state saw the number of hospitalizations rise again on Wednesday, with 4,593 hospitalized patients. Of these, 953 are currently in intensive care units and 536 on ventilators.