The daily average of new cases of COVID-19 has increased by 70% in April compared to the March average, while hospitalizations have grown by 32%, according to data from the Department of Public Health on Friday. Illinois.
Combating this worrying trend was a 23% decrease in the average daily virus deaths in April compared to March, while the state reached another record on Thursday with 164,462 shots of COVID-19 vaccine in its arms . One in five Illinois residents is completely vaccinated.
New COVID-19 infections shot up to 4,004 on Friday, the highest since Jan. 29, with 21 more people dying from respiratory disease.
The seven-day average for vaccines administered is 118,336 a day, a figure that should increase significantly if Illinois wants to avoid another bottleneck on Monday when inoculations are opened to all residents over the age of 16, said a logistics expert.
“I don’t know if we’ve fully achieved the logjam,” said Hani S. Mahmassani, director of the Northwestern University Transportation Center. “Come on Monday, I think all bets are off.
“There are probably more people who are now eligible (than) we’ve vaccinated in the last four months. And all of these people want to be vaccinated at the same time.”
Eligibility is currently limited to people 65 and older, essential workers such as firefighters and priests, and people with serious medical problems. Frustration was high in February and for much of March, especially among the elderly who were unable to find appointments, but there has been natural light in recent weeks, with approximately one million doses a week from the federal government.
Mahmassani estimates that between Monday and Tuesday there would be between 3 and 3.5 million people who would be jumping into the fight against the vaccine.
“Unless we increase the vaccination rate, I think there will be a couple of weeks of intense frustration that I hope doesn’t turn into a vaccine rage.”
Noting that the state has a significant inventory of doses that are not yet administered, “I think we should at least reach the seven-day average at 150,000” compared to the range of 110,000 to 120,000, Mahmassani said.
Governor JB Pritzker addressed the ebb and flow of COVID-19 metrics at an event Friday when asked about reopening more activities and businesses in the state.
“I want to turn around and ask the virus when we can open things up,” Pritzker said. “This virus is so unpredictable, but we’re going in the right direction.”
He noted that the number of hospitalizations, a measure that is key to easing pandemic restrictions, continues to rise.
Complicatedly, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows that one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine supplies will drop about 85% next week, related to manufacturing issues.
Expressing concern about the increase in new daily cases, DuPage County Health Department Executive Director Karen Ayala warned that “our residents may have a false sense of security due to the availability of the vaccine. .
“While the number of people vaccinated is increasing every day, the fact is that the pandemic is not over yet and we still have about 400,000 residents eligible to be vaccinated in our county,” he said.
The federal government has administered 8,841,285 doses of vaccine in Illinois since distribution began in mid-December and 6,871,645 shots have been administered.
To date, 2,665,722 people have been completely vaccinated, 20.9% of Illinois ’12.7 million population. Vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna require two separate doses several weeks. On Wednesday, 154,201 shots were fired.
The state positivity rate for COVID-19 cases is 4.2%, based on a seven-day average.
The total number of cases statewide is 1,273,200 and 21,476 Illinois residents have died since the pandemic began.
In April, the daily average of new cases stood at 3,179, while in March it was 1,867. This month, the daily count of people dying from COVID-19 reached 20 compared to 26 in March.
And in April, average daily hospitalizations have averaged 1,613 patients, up from 1,216 a day in March. Hospital patients with COVID-19 reached 1,808 as of Thursday night.
Laboratories processed 101,737 virus tests in the last 24 hours.