COVID-19 in Illinois is being updated: here’s what’s happening Wednesday

Illinois administered 82,449 doses of coronavirus vaccine, public health officials reported Wednesday, reaching a total of 2,900,341.

The number of Illinois residents who were fully vaccinated – who both received the required two shots – reached 906,490, or 7.11% of the total population.

Government JB Pritzker has announced that the state will open mass vaccination sites in Des Plaines and Quincy on Thursday. The sites are expected to administer 4,000 doses per day when at full capacity.

Chicago could also get another mass vaccination site. The Chicago Cubs and attorney Aurora Health said Tuesday they are working together on a plan to offer COVID-19 vaccinations at Wrigley Field.

Lawyer and the Chicago Cubs have confirmed that they are bringing the country’s third largest city a mass vaccination center to the ballpark in Wrigleyville, as hundreds of thousands of residents are still waiting for their first dose according to current requirements.

Meanwhile, residents 65 and older can make appointments Thursday for shots at the United Center, the city’s first mass vaccination site, which can vaccinate up to 6,000 people a day. The website will open next week.

Officials also said Illinois is expected to receive more than 100,000 doses of the recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week. Government officials said more than 90% of the supply of 83,000 doses is distributed to mass vaccination sites. The city of Chicago, which is getting its own vaccine, is receiving 22,300 doses.

Illinois public health officials on Wednesday reported 2,104 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 44 additional deaths. That brings the state to 1,191,520 cases and 20,626 deaths since the pandemic began.

Here’s what’s happening to COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois on Wednesday:

Filmmakers, TV networks and commercial advertising teams spent much less money and last year employed about half as many people in Illinois compared to 2019, thanks to a month-long production strike due to the coronavirus, but officials said Wednesday they are the local film industry see return. to the production levels of pre-pandemic.

“It looks like it’s going to be a very strong year in 2021,” Peter Hawley, director of the Illinois Film Office, told a virtual news conference. “We are on the same level as in our record-breaking 2019 year. We are almost exactly where we were (in) 2020 – which would be a gangbuster year for us – at this time before the pandemic. We have also started to see jobs coming back in a very big way. ”

According to Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, vaccines are not wasted. During a March 2 news conference, she said this is the question she gets the most.

After thawing the Pfizer vaccine before use, Arwady must administer the six doses in the vial within five days. For the 10 doses of the Moderna vaccine in one vial it is 30 days. She said there are many behind-the-scenes plans to ensure that all vaccines are used – from waiting lists to returning missed appointments at zocdoc.com/vaccine to vaccinating workers and volunteers at the Chicago vaccination sites at the end of the day.

“I want people to hear that there is no vaccine,” she said. At the city level, when we release the vaccine, we will push the vaccine that we used one day to sites that we think will use everything at the beginning of the day. The way we dispense the vaccine in Chicago and the way people only pull vaccine from the freezers week-by-week, we offer vaccine where people can say, ‘Here’s how many appointments I have for this week. And they need to show that they use 85% or more of their appointments every week. ”

This is just one of the questions COVID-19 readers sent us that we asked health and science experts. See the full Q&A here. Do you have your own pandemic question? Send it to the Tribune here. Get the latest Chicago COVID-19 information and updates from Chicago Tribune reporters and editors COVID-19 Facebook page.

Transportation workers, ranging from train operators to stock managers, could get COVID-19 vaccines at new distribution sites at O’Hare International Airport, and some airline workers could get the chance on Thursday.

A vaccination center at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel that is open to all transportation workers will be able to administer 2,500 vaccinations a week, said Matt McGrath, spokesman for the Department of Aviation in Chicago. To add capacity, O’Hare’s largest airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines, will operate separate airport vaccination sites for their employees and contractors.

All O’Hare sites administer doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine obtained from the Chicago Department of Public Health.

At the O’Hare Hilton site, Federal Emergency Management Agency staff will begin responding to first responders and security workers on Friday before extending access Monday. All employees at O’Hare and Midway airports, including those who do not work for airlines, are eligible, as well as employees of Metra, CTA and Pace, taxi drivers and drivers living or working in Chicago.

Two pharmacists from the Memorial Health System were fired after one of them brought COVID-19 vaccines home to family members and inappropriately mixed doses at Decatur Hospital in December, according to newly released emails from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

A pharmacist ‘took home doses at the end of the day and administered them to her family’, according to an email sent by federal officials on January 20 to Heidi Clark, head of the Infectious Diseases Division at the state health department. . According to the email, the pharmacist also “combined doses in the Pfizer vials to draw more vaccine than six doses”.

Angie Muhs, a spokeswoman for Memorial Health System, confirmed in an email that one of the pharmacists had diverted two doses. The family members of the pharmacist were not eligible for vaccines at that time, she said.

She did not want to answer a question about the other pharmacist’s involvement in the incidents.

Illinois administered 82,449 doses of coronavirus vaccine, public health officials reported Wednesday, reaching a total of 2,900,341.

The number of Illinois residents who were fully vaccinated – who both received the required two shots – reached 906,490, or 7.11% of the total population.

For the past seven days, the state’s daily average for vaccinations has been 84,202.

Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 2,104 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 44 additional deaths, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,191,520 and the death toll nationwide to 20,626. since the onset of the pandemic.

Officials also reported 80,854 new tests in the past 24 hours. The seven-day positive rate across the country was 2.9% for the period ending Tuesday.

President Joe Biden and Democrats on Wednesday agreed to tighten the upper limits on incomes on which people can qualify for stimulus control, a Democratic official said: a big concession to moderates as party leaders were willing to push their bill at $ 1.9 billion coronavirus relief by moving the Senate.

The official said the COVID-19 emergency relief measures planned by Senate Democrats are being unveiled, retaining the $ 400 weekly benefits, which have been approved in a version of the law. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal democratic talks.

The changes come with Republicans, who can unanimously oppose the legislation, and view the bill as too expensive a Democratic wish list, helping many who do not really need it.

In a 50-50 Senate, where Democrats must remain united, party members have insisted on focusing spending on the bill more closely on those affected by the pandemic and the consequent economic slowdown.

This pandemic affected everything, so it’s no surprise that it also disrupted our sleep.

We worry about everyone in our lives, we drink too much alcohol and coffee, and even when we are in bed, we often do not experience good quality sleep.

These are just some of the reasons why psychologist Michael Breus points out that it makes sense for people to have sleep problems. Studies have revealed insomnia and other sleep problems during the pandemic.

“We just can not handle this stress, and it naturally comes out in our sleep,” Breus said.

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