Can you start expanding your social circle after receiving the coronavirus vaccine?
Illinois medical experts intervened.
At the same time, the state is expected to expand the requirements for those who meet the requirements for vaccines in phase 1B of the state filing this week.
These are the latest COVID holders across the state:
Coronavirus in Illinois: 1,246 new cases, 34 additional deaths, nearly 60,000 vaccines
Illinois health officials reported 1,246 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, along with an additional 34 deaths attributed to the virus.
According to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, Monday’s new cases bring the state to 1,175,655 cases of the virus since the pandemic began last year. A total of 20,303 deaths have been reported as a result of the virus.
The seven-day positivity rate rose slightly on Monday, with 2.8% of all tests returning with positive results, according to IDPH. This increased by 2.7% the day before. The positivity rate of the tested people remained stable at 3.1%.
As for vaccinations, the figures have continued to be affected by the bad weather that has limited new dose deliveries in recent days. A total of 59,748 doses of the vaccine were administered in Illinois on Sunday, with the seven-day rotating average now standing at 55,499 doses per day.
A total of 2,256,975 doses of vaccine have been delivered to Illinois providers, along with 445,200 doses delivered to pharmacies as part of a federal program to inoculate staff and residents at long-term care centers. Of those 2.7 million doses, 2,211,700 vaccines had been administered in Illinois as of midnight, including 282,820 for long-term care centers.
Phase 1B vaccine eligibility will be extended this week
Illinois plans to expand the list of people eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in phase 1B of its deployment, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday.
The state hopes to increase eligibility from Feb. 25, and will allow people with “high-risk medical illness” or comorbidity to be vaccinated. The list includes people with cancer, diabetes, obesity, pregnant women and those with various conditions.
Below is a list of what qualifies as a high-risk medical condition.
Chicago and Cook County do not expect to join the state to expand eligibility.
For a full view of where and how you can make an appointment in Illinois or where you can get information about vaccines in your area, click here.
More staff will return to Chicago public school classrooms Monday
Additional teachers and staff will return to the classrooms as the district prepares to accommodate more students in the coming weeks.
According to the CPS schedule, kindergarten through fifth grade teachers had to show up at school on Monday, a week before their students returned to face-to-face learning.
The move was part of an agreement between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union, after weeks of negotiations over a return to classroom instruction and vaccines for teachers.
The best document in Illinois says there is widespread vaccine availability months later
The top Illinois physician promised widespread availability of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents of the state, but said it would take months to supply itself to meet demand.
The comments of the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, in an opinion piece on the Chicago Tribune over the weekend, is presented amid complaints about shortages and difficulties in getting appointments. The recent explosion of the winter weather also delayed shipments and led to the cancellation of appointments.
“It will be months before our supply comfortably exceeds demand, an obstacle we have always been waiting for, and the same reason we have devoted so much time and thought to the prioritization phases,” Ezike wrote. “Everyone deserves their turn to get the vaccine, and it’s my promise in Illinois that we’ll get there, as effectively, quickly and equitably as possible.”
The lowest COVID-19 positivity rate since the pandemic began, Chicago’s leading paper says
Chicago’s coronavirus positivity rate is the lowest since the pandemic began, the city’s top doctor announced Friday.
“I am also pleased to announce today, that we are at 3.5% positivity in the city of Chicago,” said Commissioner Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. “This is the lowest positivity the city of Chicago has seen of COVID since COVID came to Chicago.”
Arwady noted that over the summer, Chicago’s positivity rate fell below 4%, but never to the level the city is recording as of Friday.
Chicago has an average of 323 new COVID-19 cases a day, Arwady said, down from more than 3,000 daily cases recorded at the peak of the virus. According to Chicago guidelines, the city’s daily count of cases is also below the limit set by a “high-risk area.”
Can you socialize once completely vaccinated? Expert response
After receiving the coronavirus vaccine, when is it safe to expand your social circles or see loved ones?
According to experts on NBC’s “Vaccinated Status” panel, the answer is a bit tricky.
“One thing we don’t know about the vaccine is whether or not people will continue to get viruses if they become infected,” said Dr. Richard Novak, head of the Infectious Diseases Health Division at UI. “The vaccine is very effective in preventing people from getting sick, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t become infected. We don’t know yet. And if they have the infection, we don’t know it decreases the amount of virus that comes out of it. your body “.
According to Novak, the duration of immunity given by the vaccine is still unclear.
“What we do know is that, in fact, immunity lasts at least the three months we’ve had in the study, and in fact, if we look at the levels of antibodies produced by the vaccines, it’s first greater than a natural infection “. Said Novak. “And the antibodies that the vaccine induces are more potent than the natural infection, and the trajectory of declining antibodies is quite slow, so the level of antibodies is expected to continue for at least a year or more, but not fem “. We won’t know until we complete the studies that are still ongoing. “
Similarly, grandparents have asked when they can see young grandchildren after receiving the vaccine, noting that children have been reported to be less susceptible to serious virus infections.
“We don’t want to risk the possibility of transferring the virus to the baby in a quiet, silent way,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. “The baby could be passed on to parents and other people in the household. So we still have to take precautions when we mix homes.”
But what if both people have been completely vaccinated?
Full vaccination is said to happen two weeks after a person receives their second dose of vaccine.
“To be honest with you, I think it’s pretty safe for two people to be completely vaccinated (that is, two weeks after their second dose), people who are completely vaccinated to expand their circle of friends to include other people who are completely vaccinated and moderately, “said Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director of Infection Control and Prevention at Medical University of Chicago. “I think it’s probably pretty reasonable. But I think it’s really important, for the most part, to keep wearing our masks.”
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