The Illinois Department of Public Health reported on Thursday that the first cases of COVID variant B.1.351 have been confirmed in the state, in a resident of Rock Island. The state is currently reporting 22 cases of variant B in the UK 1.1.7.
Doctors say it’s very likely the South African variety has already spread across the state.
“The concern is that, as I mentioned, some of these variants are showing up more frequently, suggesting something is going on that gives them an advantage over other versions of COVID,” said Dr. Mary Hayden, Chief of the Infectious Diseases Division of Rush University Medical Center.
Both variants appear to be spreading faster, health officials said, and could lead to more cases of the virus or even another wave.
“The South African variant is a bit more problematic. It reduces the vaccines’ ability to generate the antibodies that would suppress it. But it doesn’t eliminate it completely,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy. and infectious diseases.
Doctors said vaccine manufacturers are starting to adjust doses to keep up with mutations. Still, they reminded the public of the urgent need to wear a face mask, stay socially aloof, limit personal gatherings outside the household of any size, and get vaccinated when it’s your turn.
Meanwhile, health officials in Illinois reported 2,825 new COVID-19 cases and 102 deaths on Thursday.
The total number of cases in Illinois now stands at 1,155,833, with a total of 19,841 deaths, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past 24 hours, laboratories reported 96,525 specimens for a total of 16,918,910.
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As of Wednesday night, there were 1,954 patients in Illinois who were in the hospital with COVID-19. Of these, 448 patients were in the ICU and 227 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilator.
The seven-day statewide preliminary test positivity from February 4-10 is 3.9%.
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A total of 1,929,850 vaccine doses have been delivered to healthcare providers in Illinois, including Chicago, with an additional 456,100 doses assigned 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 vaccine distribution numbers are reported in real time, and vaccine delivery lags by as much as 72 hours.
IDPH reports that a total of 1,549,108 vaccine doses have been administered, including 226,974 in long-term facilities. The seven-day rolling average of the vaccines administered is 56,094.
Chicago and counties in the region will not expand eligibility for 1B
While the state is generally expanding who is eligible to be vaccinated in Group 1B, the city of Chicago and not any of the collar countries will follow suit.
“We administered the vaccine as soon as possible,” said Toni Preckwinkle, president of Cook County. And now we are in the same situation as LA County, where we will be temporarily closing some locations because we have exhausted our current vaccine supply. While other parts of the state may be ready to move to the next stage, Chicago and Cook County are not. “
“Expanding that space would really result in our caregivers, our seniors, our front-line workers being vaccinated with even bigger problems, and we think our audience is frustrated enough already,” said Mark Pfister, executive director of Lake County Health. Department and Community Health Center.
“We don’t have enough supply with current Phase 1b eligibility. Now it will be much more difficult to meet demand without a significant increase in vaccine availability,” said Sue Olenek, director of Will County Health Department.
“DuPage County Health Department is still working to understand the Governor’s announcement. Illinois Department of Public Health said they will update their vaccination plan with additional details this weekend. We are currently focusing on vaccinating the 270,000 people who are are already in phase 1b, in addition to health workers in 1a who have not yet had a chance to get vaccinated, ”the DuPage County Health Department said in a statement.
“We have not made a decision at this time,” the Kane County health department said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Governor JB Pritzker and IDPH expanded Group 1B to people over the age of 16 with comorbidities and underlying conditions as defined by the CDC. Additionally, Illinois will also prioritize individuals with disabilities, all effective Feb. 25, even as IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike acknowledged that delivery remains a problem.
However, the governor insisted he remains optimistic that supply will 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,” said Pritzker. “It will be a big development in the vaccine world, and it will help us immensely to get everyone vaccinated.”
The risk categories covered by the enlargement include:
-Cancer
-Chronic kidney disease
-COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
-Diabetes
-Heart disease
Immunocompromised condition due to solid organ transplant
-Obesity
-Pregnancy
-Lung disease
-Sickle cell disease
In a statement, the governor’s spokesman said that the supply of vaccines has already started to increase and that “the most medically vulnerable in our state should be eligible for vaccination as soon as possible,” in part because “this group has a disproportionate share. of the vulnerable people of color. “
But not among those included in Group 1B are electricians, who were considered key workers at the start of the pandemic and who worked in hospitals, airports, airfields, water treatment plants and even helped build a makeshift hospital on McCormick.
“We haven’t missed a moment and we’ve been working every day,” said Donn Finne, IBEW Local 134. “We’ve had many COVID-19 cases running through our membership, and we’ve had deaths in our membership . “
Finn said Local had had 134 several talks with the governor’s office and thought they were making progress on a conference call Wednesday, but they weren’t.
“You tell me 12,500 electricians aren’t one of them, since we’ve been doing our job since day one, I don’t believe it,” he said.
Pritzker said he understands their frustration, but supplies remain a major issue, even though he said Illinois has administered the 5th most vaccines nationwide.
“We undoubtedly have a long way to go to get everyone vaccinated, but that’s something everyone in Illinois should know that things are moving in a positive direction,” Pritzker said.
Local 134 said that should include their members, a union that helped the governor get elected.
Gov. Pritzker visits Elgin vaccination site
Pritzker provided an update on vaccination efforts at the Elgin Mental Health Center in Elgin on Thursday morning.
The Department of Human Services vaccination site in Elgin is home to many patients and has dozens of staff. Thursday morning, 50 patients and staff received their second dose of the COVID 19 vaccine.
The expansion could nearly double the number of people currently eligible for the vaccine at a time when supply is low, but the governor expressed optimism that federal government supplies will increase significantly in the coming weeks.
“My government 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 Thursday include:
– Clay County: 1 woman in her 80’s
– Clinton County: 1 woman in her 80’s
– Coles County: 1 man 1960s
– Cook County: 1 man in the 30s, 1 woman in the 40s, 1 man in the 40s, 1 woman in the 50s, 4 men in the 50s, 6 women in the 60s, 6 men in the 60s, 7 women in the 70s, 7 men in the 70s, 7 women in the 80s, 7 men in the 80s, 4 women in the 90s, 2 males in the 90s
– DeKalb County: 1 90s female
– DuPage County: 1 woman in their 40s, 3 men in the 70s, 1 woman in the 80s, 1 man in the 90s
– Greene County: 1 female 50’s
– Grundy County: 1 male 1960s
Jefferson County: 1 man in his 80s
– Kane County: 1 man in 60, 1 man in 70, 1 woman in 90
– Knox County: 1 female ’80s
– Lake County: 1 man out of 50
– Lawrence County: 1 man 1960s
– Livingston County: 1 man in his 80s
– Logan County: 1 90s female
– Marion County: 1 man from the 1970s
– McLean County: 1 male 1960s
– Monroe County: 1 man in the 70’s, 1 woman in the 90’s
– Moultrie County: 1 male 70s
– Randolph County: 1 man in his 70s
– Sangamon County: 1 female 70’s
– St. Clair County: 1 female 50er, 1 female 90er
– Stephenson County: 1 man out of 80
– Tazewell County: 1 woman in the 40’s, 1 woman in the 50’s, 1 man in the 70’s, 1 woman in the 90’s
– Vermilion County: 1 male 70s
– Washington County: 1 female 90’s
– Whiteside County: 1 man in the 60’s, 1 man in the 90
– Will County: 1 man 50er, 1 man 60er, 3 man 70er, 1 woman 80er, 2 woman 90er
– Winnebago County: 1 90’s female
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