Illinois COVID Update: IL reports 1,249 new coronavirus cases, 22 deaths

ByJessica D'Onofrio, Craig Wall, and Eric Horng WLS logo

Sunday, February 28, 2021

United Center to host federal mass vaccination site

Since the Blackhawks and Bulls will continue to play at the United Center, its parking lots are being converted into a federally-run mass COVID-19 vaccination site.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,249 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 22 deaths on Sunday.

IDPH reported a total of 1,856,696 COVID-19 cases, including 20,516 deaths.

As of Saturday night, 1,265 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 303 patients were in the ICU and 150 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 66,500 specimens for a total of 18,136,253 since the pandemic began.

The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Feb. 21-27 is 2.4%.

A total of 2,740,105 doses of vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago, with an additional 443,700 doses allocated to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered in Illinois to 3,183,805.

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

IDPH reports that a total of 2,705,934 vaccine doses have been administered, including 315,416 at long-term facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered is 79,140.

Illinois announced 79,266 vaccine doses were administered Saturday.

United Center COVID vaccine site

The United Center's parking lots will soon be federally-run mass vaccination sites, officials announced Friday.

As the state's vaccine supply ramps up, federal, state and local officials announced a United Center mass COVID-19 vaccination site will open March 10.

WATCH: Gov. Pritzker confirms new mass vaccination site

Gov. Pritzker confirmed Friday that United Center will become a new mass COVID vaccine site.

FEMA and the U.S. Department of Defense will take the lead on running the site with particular focus on vaccinating minority populations which have been relatively slow in getting doses. The staff at the arena is also experienced in dealing with large crowds and traffic.

Illinois residents who are currently eligible for the vaccine from every part of the state can come to the site. Illinois seniors aged 65 and over will have exclusive access to appointments first, followed by all other eligible groups in the state's vaccination schedule.

Information about where and how to make appointments will be available in coming days. Demand is anticipated to be high.