The expansion comes as the Illinois Department of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed 2,022 new and probable cases of COVID-19 and 44 deaths.
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Multiple county’s health departments say it could take weeks to expand vaccine eligibility to people under age 65 with underlying conditions, despite state assurance that supply will increase significantly soon.
Gov. JB Pritzker said federal supplies to Illinois will increase to 100,000 daily doses by mid-March – nearly double what the state currently manages.
“I encourage all of our local health departments, especially those not yet on track for expansion, to move as quickly as possible to expand our reach in the face of ever-expanding federal supply,” Pritzker said.
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But in Lake County, less than a third of people over 65 are vaccinated.
The county adheres to CDC guidelines that say 60 to 70 percent of people at any current stage should be vaccinated before expansion unless supply exceeds demand.
“We’re seeing a big demand, and I can tell you that every day I get emails from people over 65 screaming for their vaccinations,” said Mark Pfister, executive director of Lake County Health Dept.
On the eve of the state’s 1B expansion, not even a single regional health department has announced when that move will take place.
“Really look to see what the situation is like in the next four to six weeks and then make a decision about how and when to expand into the next group,” said Chris Hoff, DuPage County Health Dept.
In Chicago it could be the end of March.
“I don’t want to create expectations that we simply cannot live up to, especially if we still have to focus on our elderly,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
There may still be some providers, including pharmacies, in our area that are expanding eligibility, but they must get 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 hospitalized with COVID-19. Of these, 338 were patients in the ICU and 172 patients with COVID-19 on ventilator.
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In the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 82,976 samples for a total of 17,804,537 since the start of the pandemic.
The seven-day statewide preliminary test positivity from Feb. 17-23 is 2.8%.
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A total of 2,584,125 doses of vaccine have been delivered to healthcare providers in Illinois, including Chicago, with an additional 445,200 doses assigned to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered in Illinois to 3,029,325.
The IDPH said vaccine distribution numbers are reported in real time and vaccine delivery lags by as much as 72 hours.
IDPH reports that a total of 2,310,929 vaccine doses have been administered, including 291,273 in long-term facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered is 58,141.
The deaths reported Wednesday include:
-Cook County: 1 woman 60’s, 3 men 60’s, 4 women 70, 3 men 70, 2 women 80, 1 man 80, 1 woman 90, 1 man 90
-DuPage County: 1 man in his 60s
-Ford County: 1 man out of 80
-Henderson County: 1 man 60er, 1 woman 70er, 2 woman 80er, 1 man 80er, 1 woman 90er
-Johnson County: 1 man in his 70s
-Kane County: 1 female 1960s
-Kendall County: 1 female 70’s
-Lake County: 1 man from the 70’s, 1 man from the 80’s
-LaSalle County: 2 women 90s
-Macoupin County: 1 man in his 60s
-McHenry County: 2 men’s 80s
-Monroe County: 1 female 70’s
-Saline County: 1 female 70’s
-Stephenson County: 1 male in 80, 1 female in 90
-Union County: 2 men 60s
-Will County: 1 female 70’s
-Winnebago County: 1 man in 60, 1 man in 80, 1 woman in 90
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