COVID-19 updates in Illinois: here’s what’s going to happen on Thursday

“I would ask people to be patient,” said Lightfoot. “It is the first opportunity. I think we have a lot of enthusiastic people. But let’s call the guys, we just need them to be a little patient today, while the phone lines and the online platform process their applications ”.

The location will be the largest in the state. It will have a “smooth opening” on March 9, said Dan Shulman, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. March 10 will be the first day the site will attempt to reach its goal of 6,000 vaccines per day. The site will be open seven days a week for eight weeks.

Meanwhile, Illinois has prepared two more mass COVID-19 vaccination sites to open on Thursday. The 1155 E. Oakton St. sites in Des Plaines and upstate Quincy, together, are designed to give injections to up to 4,000 people a day, once at full capacity, the state said. With these sites, the state has 18 state-sponsored mass vaccination sites.

Illinois health officials reported on Thursday 1,740 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 42 additional deaths, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,193,260 and the number of deaths across the state to 20,668 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Here’s what’s happening on Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago and Illinois area:

Illinois health officials announced on Thursday 1,740 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 42 additional deaths, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,193,260 and the number of deaths across the state to 20,668 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Authorities also reported 73,990 new tests in the past 24 hours. The positivity rate for the test across the state for seven days was 2.9% for the period ended on Wednesday.

The 7-day continuous daily average of vaccine doses administered is 78,942, with 93,302 doses administered on Wednesday. The authorities also say that a total of 2,993,543 vaccines have already been administered.

Registration for the United Center’s mass vaccination site opened Thursday morning, and at least 6,000 people have already registered by phone and online, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during an unrelated news conference after some problems with the site Zocdoc registration on Thursday morning.

Chicago health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in an online question and answer session that there was a “big race of people” when the record was made available on Thursday.

“Some people were unable to speak immediately in 20 to 30 minutes, everything was ready again and working perfectly,” she said.

“I would ask people to be patient,” said Lightfoot. “It is the first opportunity. I think we have a lot of enthusiastic people. But let’s call the guys, we just need them to be a little patient today, while the phone lines and the online platform process their applications ”.

Initial appointments at the drive-thru were all scheduled on Thursday morning, but direct appointments were still available, Arwady said.

Approximately 40,000 self-employed workers in Illinois lost access to unemployment benefits after a federal extension ended last month, and more may lose benefits soon.

The Illinois Department of Labor Security announced on Wednesday that an improvement in the state’s unemployment rate triggered the end of seven weeks of extended benefits for beneficiaries of the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. Among those affected are theater workers and people who are unable to work due to certain financial or health consequences caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

People who were receiving extension benefits received their last payments in the week of February 21, said Kristin Richards, acting director of the state unemployment agency.

Approximately 98% of American families who received a COVID-19 relief check in December will also qualify for the next round of payments sponsored by President Joe Biden, according to a White House official.

Biden said Americans were promised $ 2,000 in direct checks, but only $ 600 was approved in December. The president sees that promise as the cornerstone of his $ 1.9 trillion aid package pending in the Senate. His proposal offers $ 1,400 in additional payments that would be quickly eliminated based on income, so that the money would be better targeted at the middle class and the poor.

Under the current Senate bill, the Biden government estimates that 158.5 million families will receive direct payments, according to the White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. The official emphasized that almost everyone receives a check twice as large as in December, although 3.5 million families who received some payment from the December $ 900 billion package no longer qualify.

When will children be able to receive COVID-19 vaccines?

It depends on the age of the child, but some teenagers can roll up their sleeves in a short time.

The Pfizer vaccine is already released for use from the age of 16. This means that some high school students can get in line for these vaccines whenever they become eligible in their area, either because of a medical condition or when there is availability.

The Big Ten men’s and women’s tournaments in Indianapolis will allow a limited number of fans to participate in this season, the conference announced on Thursday.

Fans were not admitted to the games this year at full capacity, in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The Big Ten men’s tournament, which runs from March 10 to 14, will allow 8,000 fans at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the women’s tournament, which runs from March 9 to 13, will admit 2,500 to the smaller Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The conference said it received approval from the Marion County Health Department, and the decision was voted on by the Big Ten Conference’s Athletics Directors and the Council of Presidents and Chancellors.

Some people are experiencing delayed reactions to the first dose of the COVID vaccine, with their arms turning red, sore, itchy and swollen about a week after the injection.

The reactions, while unpleasant, appear to be harmless. But the condition of angry-looking skin could be mistaken for an infection, according to a letter published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The doctors said they wanted to share information about the cases to help prevent unnecessary use of antibiotics and to alleviate patients’ concerns and reassure them that they can safely get the second vaccine.

With 50 million Americans immunized against coronavirus and millions more joining the ranks every day, the urgent question in many minds is: when can I throw my mask off?

It is a deeper question than it seems – about a return to normalcy, about when vaccinated Americans can hug their loved ones, get together with friends and go to shows, shopping malls and restaurants without feeling threatened by the coronavirus.

Certainly, many state officials are ready. On Tuesday, Texas withdrew its mask mandate, along with all restrictions on business, and Mississippi quickly did the same. Governors in both states cited a decline in infection rates and an increase in the number of vaccinated citizens.

But the pandemic is not over yet and scientists are advising patience.

It wasn’t even 2 am when people started lining up outside a Little Village church on Sunday hoping to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

At around 8 am, dozens of umbrellas lined up over four blocks in one of the neighborhoods in Chicago hardest hit by the coronavirus while people waited for their turn, a change that many of them thought would never happen.

At the end of the day, more than 1,000 residents, mostly Latinos – many people gave up their place for parents and grandparents – received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Despite the city’s efforts to make vaccines available to all residents of the areas most affected by the virus, regardless of meeting other standards for vaccination, some Latinos are still having trouble getting the vaccine, while those in other hard-hit communities continue to wait that’s why.

Community leaders say hesitation about the vaccine plays an important role in preventing some Latinos from being vaccinated, even where it is available. But language and technology barriers are also discouraging people from seeking an appointment or even learning more about the vaccine.

Recently, a group of more than 40 community organizations called on the Chicago Department of Public Health to expand its high-risk neighborhood initiative to more communities and improve its approach to reaching Spanish-speaking Latinos and black residents alike.

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