With statewide metrics seeming to improve progressively, when can Illinois see the return of inland food?
According to Governor JB Pritzker, the answer is not so concrete.
Illinois is currently undergoing Level 3 mitigation, but even if the state is re-mitigating Level 2, the indoor dining room would still be suspended.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health website, up to level 1 you cannot re-eat indoors with capacity limitations.
“What we don’t want to do is come and go between level 3, level 2 and that wouldn’t open bars or restaurants in any way,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “We want everything to be open as soon as possible. We’re generally going in the right direction.”
Pritzker noted that while some metrics have declined, hospitalizations have increased in recent days, rising by more than 100.
“That’s worrisome,” the governor said. “So we will monitor it very closely. I am the first to want to move the regions to level 2 and level 1 and return to phase 4 as soon as possible, but we also want to make sure that we have crushed this growing number of cases. and a growing number of hospitalizations and that we do not have, as we do now, a very, very large number of patients with ICUs. ”
Pritzker said he plans to see the numbers over the holidays.
“I think we’ll get there soon and we want to see how the Christmas and New Year holidays go,” he said.
The statements come just a day after U.S. surgeon general Jerome Adams joined Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, and the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, Dr. Allison Arwady, to discuss city and state vaccine deployment plans.
During a press conference after visiting a Chicago hospital, which he said had reached capacity in his intensive care unit due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, Adams issued a strong holiday warning.
“Even if you don’t feel personally at risk for COVID, your actions can impact you, your family, and your community in other ways that you may not think of,” he said after a visit to Saint Anthony Hospital. “This complete ICU is full because there are patients with COVID who push it over it. But that means if you have a heart attack, in the end there may be no room. It means that if you can in a car accident to icy road, they may not have a bed for you.It means that if your sister or wife is busy at work, there may not be room in the hospital.So it is crucial that we continue this holiday to do the things that work. ”
Adams said that while Illinois “fortunately is moving in the right direction … the numbers are still not where we need them.” He said while the start of vaccinations is the beginning of the end, residents need to “be alert”.
“Even if you weren’t doing the safest thing we recommend and keep it in your home, things like quarantining yourself, because every person you interact with now is a person whose bubble is has infiltrated your bubble and your potential bring the virus home to someone this Christmas – things like making sure you have plenty of ventilation in your home environment and making sure you have a great hand sanitizer and that people practice good hand hygiene, ”Adams said. “Again, we want you to be as safe as possible. But if you can’t keep it in your home, we still want you to think about how you can have a safer holiday season. I want you to have hope because there are a lot of people. ask 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 has administered the highest number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine compared to any other state nationwide, authorities announced Wednesday.
In his coronavirus briefing, Pritzker said Illinois, including Chicago, had administered 100,991 doses of vaccine as of Tuesday night, most of any state in the United States.
“By pure population, California is three times our size and Texas is two and a half times our size, so this week they will outnumber us in large numbers,” Pritzker said. “But the Illinois vaccination team quickly went above and beyond in the first week.”
This week alone, Pritzker said Illinois received 23,400 doses of Pfizer vaccine outside of Chicago, 15,600 doses of Pfizer in the city of Chicago and 37,050 doses of Pfizer reserved for long-term care vaccination next week. In addition, the state will receive 174,000 doses of Modern vaccine outside of Chicago and 48,000 doses that will go directly to the city.
However, state health officials reported 6,762 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, along with an additional 135 deaths attributed to the virus.
The latest figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health bring the total state of Illinois to 918,070 probable or confirmed cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.
Wednesday’s 135 additional deaths bring the state to 15,547 deaths as a result of the pandemic, according to IDPH data.
The state positivity rate for the tests stood at 9%, the same as the day before, while the positivity rate for the cases was 7.5%, slightly higher than the 7% , 4% on Tuesday.
The state saw its hospitalizations rise slightly on Wednesday, with 4,593 patients hospitalized. Of these, 953 are currently in intensive care units and 536 in ventilators.