Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 3,751 new cases, 81 deaths; Lake Co. Fairgrounds opens for COVID vaccines
Gov. JB Pritzker tours Lake County Fairgrounds mass vaccination site
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois health officials reported 3,751 new COVID-19 cases and 81 deaths Wednesday.
The total number of cases in Illinois now stands at 1,112,181, with a total of 18,964 deaths, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 80,124 specimens for a total of 15,633,443.
The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Jan. 20-26 is 5.6%.
The test positivity rate is a metric the state began providing in late October. It is calculated by using the total number of positive tests over the total number of tests. This is the metric being used to by state health officials to make decisions about mitigations.
Wednesday morning, Governor JB Pritzker visited a mass vaccination site at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake.
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"This site has been built not just to meet the current limited supply that's necessary, but also to grow as more and more doses come in from the federal government," Governor Pritzker said.
Six hundred people were vaccinated at the fairgrounds Wednesday. The drive-thru facility can service about 20 cars every five minutes.
"People are outside waiting in line. Once they come in it's only about a five minute process to get vaccinated. Then they leave, go outside the facility, we have a 15 minute line that is mandatory, that people have to wait for 15 minutes to make sure they have had an effects," said Mark Pfister, executive director of the Lake County Public Health Department.
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The governor pointed to a one-day record, with more than 53,000 vaccines administered statewide Tuesday, even as shortages continue to make it exceedingly difficult for people to get appointments.
"If you're not yet able to get a vaccination appointment, it's because there's simply not a national supply available to meet demand," Pritzker said.
The state expects vaccine availability to increase somewhat after the Biden administration announced it will bolster shipments to states by more than 15% starting next week. The federal government will also now provide three weeks advance notice about shipments, allowing for more efficient planning and scheduling.
"It's impossible, as you can imagine, to make appointments ahead of time if you don't know how many vaccine doses are going to be available that week," Pritzker said.
The Lake County Fairgrounds site will be able to vaccinate 1,000 people a day starting next week.
In Cook County, the Illinois National Guard will be assisting with vaccinations at Cook County Health Centers in half a dozen suburbs. There are more deployments planned throughout the state.
Officials said that beginning Monday, those guard-supported sites will take 1B appointments as will pharmacies at hundreds of Walgreens, CVS and Jewel locations.
Walgreens is providing vaccines at 92 sites across the state and appointments can be made on their website while Jewel-Osco will begin vaccinating eligible residents Tuesday, with appointments available on their website.
Governor JB Pritzker said there are plans to launch walk-in locations once the supply of vaccine increases. He also announced the creation of a new portal, coronavirus.illinois.gov, to provide the latest information on vaccines.
As of Tuesday night, 2,931 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 591 patients were in the ICU and 300 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
A total of 1,253,300 doses of vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago, with an additional 537,050 doses allocated to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered in Illinois to 1,790,350.
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IDPH reports that a total of 773,623 vaccine doses have been administered, including 117,983 at long-term facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered is 33,698 .
The IDPH says that vaccine distribution numbers are reported in real-time and vaccine administration numbers lag by as much as 72 hours.
The deaths reported Wednesday include:
- Adams County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- Cass County: 1 male 80s
- Clark County: 1 male 80s
- Cook County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 40s, 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 3 males 60s, 2 females 70s, 4 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 3 males 80s, 3 females 90s, 1 male 90s
- DeKalb County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 100+
- DuPage County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- Grundy County: 1 male 70s
- Hancock County: 1 female 90s
- Hardin County: 1 male 90s
- Henry County: 1 female 70s
- Jefferson County: 2 males 70s
- Kane County: 1 female 40s, 1 female 90s
- Kendall County: 1 male 70s
- Knox County: 1 male 50s
- Lake County: 2 female 90s
- LaSalle County: 2 males 70s
- Livingston County: 1 male 80s
- Logan County: 1 female 80s
- Madison County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s
- McHenry County: 1 female 50s, 1 male 60s
- McLean County: 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- Montgomery County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 80s
- Ogle County: 1 male 80s
- Saline County: 1 female 90s
- Sangamon County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
- St. Clair County: 3 females 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
- Stark County: 1 female 80s
- Stephenson County: 1 female 90s
- Tazewell County: 1 female 80s
- Vermilion County: 1 female 90s
- Wayne County: 1 male 60s
- Will County: 2 males 70s, 2 males 80s
- Williamson County: 1 female 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 90s
