Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 1,922 new coronavirus cases, 42 deaths, 7-day positivity rate sits at 3.2%

ByABC 7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Saturday, February 20, 2021
Cook County Health gives out 100,000th COVID vaccine
Cook County Health gave out its 100,000th COVID vaccine Friday, as delays caused by weather started to ease.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported 1,922 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 Saturday, with 42 deaths.

IDPH is reporting a total of 1,172,824 COVID-19 cases, including 20,234 deaths.

As of Friday night, 1,551 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 351 patients were in the ICU and 171 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

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The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Feb. 13-19 is 2.8%.

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Weather continues to cause vaccine delivery delays from the federal government. The state said it is in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies to understand the logistical challenges and if there is anything Illinois can do to expedite getting vaccine.

Moderna vaccine shipments to Chicago have not been delivered this week because of the winter storms in the region, causing appointments at clinics across the city to cancel or postpone vaccination shots, said Chicago's top doctor on Thursday.

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The White House COVID team said Friday that workers, whether packaging or shipping vaccines, were snowed in an unable to get to work. Road closures were a problem, as were power outages. Friday night, there are signs of improvement.

And amid the delays, Cook County Health gave their 100,000th vaccination to a 17-year-old grocery store worker.

A total of 2,256,975 doses of vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago, with an additional 445,200 doses allocated to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered in Illinois to 2,702,175.

The IDPH said that vaccine distribution numbers are reported in real-time and vaccine administration numbers lag by as much as 72 hours.

Moderna vaccines are shipped from Tennessee to Chicago, and Arwady said those shipments did not arrive Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

IDPH reports that a total of 2,060,706 vaccine doses have been administered, including 278,605 at long-term facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered is 59,190. On Friday, 77,813 doses were administered, marking the highest single-day amount of vaccines administered in Illinois.

Statewide, the Illinois Department of Public Health expected 365,000 doses from the federal government this week. So far, the state health department has confirmed they've received about 55,000 this week, significantly less.

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"Now the federal government obviously with the latest couple of days of terrible weather across the nation, they've had a difficult time actually distributing the vaccine to the states," Gov. JB Pritzker acknowledged Thursday.

Illinois is not alone. Across the country, 22 states have delayed or cancelled vaccinations this week because of the weather.

Chicago COVID-19 vaccine distribution improves among residents of color, Mayor Lightfoot says

Chicago has improved the percentage of COVID-19 vaccine administered to Chicagoans of color, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday.

Early in the vaccine roll-out, in phase 1A when the focus was on healthcare workers and long-term care facility staff and residents, only 18% of COVID vaccines were going to Black or Latinx Chicagoans. Now, data from the most recent week show that 50% of first dose COVID vaccine went to Black or Latinx Chicagoans, city officials said.

The deaths reported Friday include:

Bond County: 1 male 70s

Champaign County: 1 male 70s

Cole County: 1 female 70s

Cook County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 2 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s

DuPage County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s

Hardin County: 1 female 90s

Henry County: 1 male 70s

Iroquois County: 1 female 80s

Jersey County: 1 male 90s

Kane County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s

Kankakee County: 1 female 80s

Lake County: 1 male 80s

Livingston County: 1 male 80s

Logan County: 1 male 50s

Madison County: 1 male 70s

McHenry County: 1 male 70s

Ogle County: 1 male 60s

Sangamon County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 80s

St. Clair County: 2 females 70s, 1 female 90s

Tazewell County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 80s

Vermilion County: 1 female 70s

Wayne County: 1 male 80s

Will County: 1 male 60s

Williamson County: 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s

The video in the player above is from an earlier report.