As the statewide statistics seem to gradually improve, when could Illinois see the return of indoor dining?
According to Gov. JB Pritzker, the answer is not very concrete.
Currently, Illinois is under Tier 3 mitigations, but even if the state returns to Tier 2 mitigations, indoor dining would still be suspended.
Only Level 1 can return indoor dining with capacity restrictions, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health website.
“What we don’t want is yo-yo going back and forth between Level 3, Level 2 and that wouldn’t open bars and restaurants anyway,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “We want to get everything open as quickly as possible. We are generally going in the right direction.”
Pritzker noted that while some statistics have gone down, the number of hospital admissions has increased in recent days, by more than 100.
“That’s alarming,” said the governor. “So we’re going to keep a close eye on it. I’m the first to want to move the regions to Tier 2 and Tier 1 and back to Stage 4 as soon as possible, but we also want to make sure that we have this growing number of cases. and that we have suppressed a growing number of hospital admissions and that we don’t have a very, very large number of ICU patients as we do now.
Pritzker said he plans to look at the numbers during the holiday season.
“I believe we will be there 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 the Chicago Commissioner of Health, Dr. Allison Arwady, to discuss city and state plans for the introduction of vaccines.
At a press conference after visiting a Chicago hospital, which he said had reached intensive care capacity due to the coronavirus pandemic, Adams issued a blunt holiday warning.
“Even if you don’t feel personally at risk from COVID, your actions can still impact you, your family, and your community in other ways that you may not imagine,” he said after a visit to St. Anthony Hospital. “That full ICU, it’s full because there are COVID patients pushing it over the top. But that means if you have a heart attack, eventually there might not be room. It means that if you’re in a car accident on a icy road, they may not have a bed for you. It means that if your sister or your wife is going to give birth, there may not be room for you in the hospital. So it is critical that we continue this holiday season to help things do that work. ”
Adams said that while Illinois is “happily moving in the right direction … the numbers are still not where we need them.” He said that while the start of the vaccines is the beginning of the end, residents need to “remain vigilant.”
“Even if you didn’t do the safest thing we recommend and don’t keep it in your household, quarantine things like yourself right now – because every person you hang out with is a person whose bubble has now infiltrated your bubble and the potential for you to bring the virus to someone this Christmas – things like making sure you have adequate ventilation in your home, and making sure you have enough hand sanitizer and that people practice good hand hygiene, ”said Adams. 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 is tired A lot of people are asking when this will end and I want you to know that I am actually incredibly optimistic based on these two vaccines that are now available that we have a finish line in sight. ”
Within the first full week of vaccinations, Illinois administered the most COVID-19 vaccine doses compared to other states nationwide, officials announced Wednesday.
In his briefing on the coronavirus, Pritzker said Illinois, including Chicago, had administered 100,991 doses of vaccines as of Tuesday night, most of all states in the US.
“By total population, California is three times the size of Texas and Texas is two and a half times our size, so they will outnumber us this week,” Pritzker said. “But the Illinois vaccine team got past them all in week one.”
This week alone, Pritzker said Illinois received 23,400 Pfizer vaccine doses outside of Chicago, 15,600 Pfizer doses to the city of Chicago, and 37,050 Pfizer doses set aside for long-term care vaccinations next week. In addition, the state will receive 174,000 doses of Moderna vaccines outside of Chicago and 48,000 doses directly to the city.
Still, on Wednesday, health officials reported 6,762 new cases of coronavirus, along with 135 additional deaths attributed to the virus.
The latest figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health bring Illinois statewide total to 918,070 probable or confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.
Wednesday’s 135 additional fatalities bring the state to 15,547 deaths from the pandemic, according to data from the IDPH.
The state positivity rate for tests was 9%, the same as the day before, while the positivity rate for cases was 7.5%, slightly higher than 7.4% on Tuesday.
The state saw the number of hospital admissions rise slightly again on Wednesday, with 4,593 patients admitted. Of these, 953 are currently in intensive care units and 536 on ventilators.