As the state’s vaccine supply increases, federal, state and local authorities are expected to announce on Friday that the United Center’s mass vaccination center will open on March 10, several sources told ABC 7.
With the Bulls and Blackhawks still playing at the United Center, the arena itself will not be used. Instead, parking lots will be used for drive-through and walk-up vaccinations.
FEMA and the US Department of Defense will take the lead in administering the site, with a particular focus on vaccinating minority populations who have been relatively slow in obtaining doses.
5,000 to 7,000 injections can be administered daily, which is significant when you consider that the city of Chicago currently receives about 8,300 doses per day.
“What you’re seeing here is essentially increasing the city’s vaccination rate by about 50 to 70%, which is very, very significant.” said Prof. Hani Mahmassani, director of Northwestern Univ. Transport center.
However, Mahmassani said that if the goal is to reach more people in more areas of the city, a large central location may not be the best use of resources.
“Instead of having a facility that vaccinates 7,000 people, I think it would be more effective to have seven facilities, each vaccinating 1,000 people a day,” said Mahmassani.
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The teams cleared snow from the parking lot on Thursday night in preparation for the arrival of heavy equipment.
“They are ready and ready to do whatever it takes to get people in and out and get their vaccinations,” 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett said. “You have very good transportation with the expressway, the trains. You have two train systems, the Green Line and the Blue Line, buses. You also have a community that is used to having traffic.”
Governor JB Pritzker’s office said in a statement on Thursday: “Governor Pritzker believes that the Biden government’s efforts to launch high-capacity vaccination sites across the country are essential for equity and he appreciates robust collaboration with the president and his team. Our partners in Cook County and the city of Chicago are also essential to our collective success, especially as we work together to ensure that we are ready to use the growing supply of vaccines in the fairest way possible. “
More details on the United Center website are expected to be released Friday.
The United Center website is one of several federally administered mass vaccination sites planned across the country. There are already others in California, New York and Texas.
Earlier this month, the Chicago public health commissioner said the city had completed planning and guided tours of the United Center, as well as Wrigley Field and McCormick Place. But so far, there is no word on whether additional space in Chicago will be used.
More details about the site, including how people can schedule appointments, are expected when the formal announcement is made on Friday morning.
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Illinois announced that more than 130,000 doses of the vaccine were administered on Wednesday, the biggest one-day increase reported so far and a 36% increase from the previous record of 95,375 reported on February 12.
The state reported that 109,220 doses were delivered to providers in Illinois on Wednesday. Although it is below Tuesday’s record of 276,440, it is still higher than what the state has received in recent days.
Still, several county health departments say it may take weeks before they can expand the vaccine’s eligibility to people under 65 with underlying diseases, despite state guarantees that supplies will increase substantially soon.
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A long line stretched outside Northlake’s West Leyden High School on Thursday, where 2,000 people were receiving their first vaccine. There are 500 more on the waiting list. Jemma Cabral, 41, was among the lucky ones. She received hers at 9:15
“I am a two-time cancer survivor,” said Cabral. “I had a stem cell transplant, so I mean, even if it was years ago, I still get sick easily. So it was important for me to be vaccinated.”
Under Illinois rules, Cabral is part of Phase 1B plus, which now includes anyone over 16 with a pre-existing condition. Thursday was the first day that people like her could be vaccinated. Except that vaccines are still so scarce that no public health department in the area is expanding eligibility yet.
“It’s not just Chicago, it’s Cook, and DuPage and Will and Evanston,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago Department of Public Health. “We are not at a point where we will be able to move on. If we open up, we would make people happy for five minutes and then frustrate them because they would not be able to make appointments.”
Cabral got the appointment because the West Leyden clinic is run by Albertson’s. Participating supermarkets and pharmacies receive their vaccines directly from the federal government and can choose to distribute them to all those who fall under state rules.
“I was a little concerned when I put my birth date on hold to say, not eligible. But not really, it was very good and easy to fill, ”said Cabral.
Governor JB Pritzker is encouraging public health departments to expand eligibility as quickly as possible, saying that by mid-March, the state will be receiving 100,000 doses a day. This is almost double what happens now.
In Chicago, where public health officials say nearly half a million doses are still missing to cover phases 1A and 1B, no expansion is expected until at least the end of March.
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The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,884 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 32 deaths on Thursday.
IDPH reported a total of 1,181,226 COVID-19 cases, including 20,406 deaths.
As of Wednesday night, 1,463 patients in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19. Of these, 334 patients were in the ICU and 168 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
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In the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 91,292 samples for a total of 17,895,829 since the start of the pandemic.
The preliminary positivity of the seven-day state test from February 18 to 24 is 2.7%.
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A total of 2,693,345 doses of vaccine were delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago, with 445,200 additional doses allocated to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered to Illinois to 3,138,545.
IDPH said vaccine delivery numbers are reported in real time and vaccine delivery numbers take up to 72 hours.
IDPH reports that a total of 2,440,950 doses of vaccine have been administered, including 295,909 in long-term facilities. The seven-day moving average of vaccines administered is 66,274.
Deaths reported on Wednesday include:
-Adams County: 1 woman 80 years old
-Christian County: 1 woman from the 80s
-Cook County: 1 man 20 years old, 1 man 50 years old, 2 men 60 years old, 4 men 70 years old, 2 women 80 years old
– DeKalb County: 1 male, 60 years old
– DuPage County: 1 man from the 80s
-Jersey County: 1 70 year old man
-Kane County: 1 male 60 years old, 1 male 80 years old
– Kankakee County: 1 man from the 80s
-Lake County: 1 man from the 90s
-Logan County: 1 woman, 80 years old
– Madison County: 1 woman 30 years old, 1 man 80 years old
– Monroe County: 2 women from the 80s
– Pike County: 1 man from the 80s
-Randolph County: 1 woman 50 years old
– Rock Island County: 1 woman from the 90s
-Whiteside County: 1 man from the 80s
– Will County: 1 male 60 years old, 1 male 90 years old
– Winebago County: 1 male 70 years old, 1 male 80 years old
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