The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Thursday that the first cases of COVID variant B.1.351 have been confirmed in the state, in a Rock Island resident. The state currently reports 22 cases of the British variant B 1.1.7.
According to doctors, the South African variant has most likely already been distributed in the state.
“What is worrying is that some of these variants, as I said, are popping up more frequently, indicating that there is something to them, which gives them an advantage over other versions of COVID,” said Dr. Mary Hayden, Head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Rush University Medical Center.
Both variants appear to spread faster, health officials said, and could lead to more cases of the virus or even another surge.
“The South African variant is a bit more problematic. It reduces the ability of the vaccines to cause antibodies that will suppress it. But that does not completely eliminate it,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy, said. and infectious diseases.
According to doctors, vaccine manufacturers are starting to adjust doses to keep up with mutations. Yet they reminded the public of the urgent need to wear a face mask, keep social distance, restrict gatherings outside the household of all sizes, and be vaccinated if it’s your turn.
Meanwhile, Illinois health officials on Thursday reported 2,825 new COVID-19 cases and 102 deaths.
The total number of cases in Illinois now stands at 1,155,833, with a total of 19,841 deaths since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past 24 hours, laboratories reported 96,525 samples for a total of 16,918,910.
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As of Wednesday night, it was reported that 1,954 patients in Illinois were in the hospital with COVID-19. Of these, 448 patients were in the ICU and 227 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary positive test of seven days across the country from 4-10 February is 3.9%.
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A total of 1,929,850 doses of vaccine were delivered to suppliers in Illinois, including Chicago, with an additional 456,100 doses allocated to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered in Illinois to 2,385,950.
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The IDPH says that the distribution numbers of vaccines are reported in real time and that the number of vaccines lags by as much as 72 hours.
IDPH reports that a total of 1,549,108 doses of vaccine were administered, including 226,974 at long-term facilities. The rolling average of vaccines administered over seven days is 56,094.
Chicago and Provinces Will Not Extend 1B Qualification
Although the state can generally expand who can vaccinate in Group 1B, the city of Chicago and none of the county districts will follow suit.
“We administered the vaccine as quickly as possible,” said Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle. “And now we’m in the same situation as LA County, where we’ll be temporarily shutting down some sites because we’ll run out of our current vaccine supply. not. ‘
“Expanding the space would cause our healthcare providers, our seniors, our vital workers in the front to have even more problems getting vaccinated, and we think our public is already frustrated enough,” said Mark Pfister, CEO of the Lake County Department of Health, said. and Community Health Center.
“We do not have sufficient supply with the current Phase 1b suitability. It will now be so much more difficult to meet demand without a significant increase in vaccine availability,” said Sue Olenek, executive director of Will County. .
The DuPage County Department of Health is still working to understand the governor’s announcement. The Illinois Department of Public Health has announced that it will update its vaccination plan with additional details this weekend. We are currently set to reach the 270,000 people already in phase 1b, in addition to the health workers in 1a who have not yet had the chance to be vaccinated, “the health department in DuPage said in a statement.
“We have not made a decision at this time,” the Kane County Department of Health said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Governor JB Pritzker and IDPH expanded group 1B to those over 16 with comorbidities and underlying conditions as defined by the CDC. In addition, Illinois will also prioritize people with disabilities, all effective on February 25, even if the director of the IDPH, dr. Ngozi Ezike, acknowledges that supply is still an issue.
However, the governor insisted he would remain optimistic, but that supply would increase in the coming weeks, especially as Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is expected to be approved by the end of the month.
“It’s a single dose vaccine,” Pritzker said. “It will be a great development in the world of vaccines, and will help us tremendously to get everyone vaccinated.”
The high risk categories covered in the expansion include:
-Cancer
-Chronic kidney disease
-COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
-Diabetes
-Heart condition
-Immun-compromised state of a solid organ transplant
-Vetish
-Pregnancy
-Lung disease
-Cystic disease
In a statement, the governor’s spokesman said the vaccine supply had already begun to increase and that “the most medically vulnerable in our state should qualify for vaccination as soon as possible”, in part because “this group is excessively vulnerable people include. of color. ‘
But not among those included in Group 1B are electricians who were considered essential workers at the beginning of the pandemic, and who worked in hospitals, airports, airports, water treatment plants and even helped build a temporary hospital on McCormick place to build.
“We did not miss a partner and we work every day,” said Donn Finne, IBEW Local 134. ‘We’ve already had a bunch of COVID-19 cases through our membership, and we have deaths in our membership. ‘
Finn said Local 134 had already held several talks with the governors’ office and thought they were making progress with a conference call on Wednesday, but that was not the case.
“You tell me that 12,500 electricians should not be added, as we have been doing our job since day one, I do not buy it,” he said.
Pritzker said he understands their frustration, but the supply remains a major issue, although he said Illinois administered the fifth most vaccinations in the entire country.
“We have a long way to go, there’s no doubt about getting everyone vaccinated, but it’s something everyone in Illinois needs to know is that things are moving in a positive direction,” Pritzker said.
Local 134 said it should include their members, a union that helped the governor get elected.
Pritzker government visits Elgin vaccine
Pritzker gave an update on Thursday morning on the vaccination efforts of the Elgin Mental Health Center in Elgin.
The vaccination site of the Department of Human Services in Elgin houses many patients and has dozens of staff members. On Thursday morning, 50 patients and staff received their second doses of COVID 19 vaccine.
The expansion could nearly double the number of people currently eligible for the vaccine, while supply is low, but the governor has expressed optimism that federal government delivery will increase significantly in the coming weeks.
“My administration will work with all local public health departments in the coming weeks to fit these higher-risk individuals into their community vaccination plans,” Pritzker said.
The deaths reported on Thursday include:
– Clay County: 1 female 80s
– Clinton County: 1 female 80s
– Coles County: 1 60-year-old man
– Cook County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 40s, 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 4 men 50s, 6 women 60s, 6 men 60s, 7 women 70s, 7 men 70s, 7 women 80s, 7 men 80s, 4 women 90s, 2 men 90s
– DeKalb County: 1 female 90s
– DuPage County: 1 female 40s, 3 men 70s, 1 80s female, 1 90s female
– Greene County: 1 50-year-old woman
– Grundy County: 1 60-year-old man
– Jefferson County: 1 male 80s
– Kane County: 1 man 60s, 1 man 70s, 1 woman 90s
– Knox County: 1 female 80s
– Lake County: 1 male 50’s
– Lawrence County: 1 60-year-old man
– Livingston County: 1 80-year-old man
– Logan County: 1 female 90s
– Marion County: 1 70-year-old man
– McLean County: 1 60-year-old man
– Monroe County: 1 70-year-old man, 1 90-year-old woman
– Moultrie County: 1 man 70’s
– Randolph County: 1 70-year-old man
– Sangamon County: 1 female 70’s
– St. Clair County: 1 female 50s, 1 90s female
– Stephenson County: 1 80-year-old man
– Tazewell County: 1 40-year-old woman, 1 50-year-old woman, 1 70-year-old woman, 1 90-year-old woman
– Vermilion County: 1 70-year-old man
– Washington County: 1 female 90s
– Whiteside County: 1 60-year-old man, 1 90-year-old man
– Will County: 1 male 50s, 1 60s men, 3 men 70s, 1 80s female, 2 women 90s
– Winnebago County: 1 female 90s
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