A mass COVID-19 vaccination site capable of inoculating 6,000 people per day is set to open next month in a parking lot at the United Center, part of a local, state and federal effort to protect more older Illinoisans and people in the communities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, officials announced Friday.
The site is scheduled to open March 10, with vaccinations available to any Illinois resident who currently qualifies under state guidelines, including those 65 and older, health care workers and other front-line workers in essential industries, and as of Thursday, people with certain preexisting health conditions. Appointments will be made available first to those 65 and older.
Additionally, Illinois health officials on Friday announced 2,441 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 55 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,183,667 and the statewide death toll to 20,460 since the start of the pandemic.
The 7-day rolling daily average of administered vaccine doses is 68,988, with 102,670 doses given on Thursday, the second highest reported administered to date. Officials also say a total of 2,543,620 vaccines have now been administered.
Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
5:40 p.m.: City Council passes Lightfoot COVID-19 spending package despite objections over $281.5 million in federal funds previously spent on police
Mayor Lori Lightfoot got a federal COVID-19 spending package through the City Council on Friday, days after complaints from some aldermen about her earlier decision to use $281.5 million in relief money on Chicago police salaries prompted two members to delay the vote.
At the second council meeting of the week, Lightfoot’s ordinance passed 37-10, hours after the mayor welcomed opponents to vote against it if they didn’t like it.
Before the vote, Southwest Side Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, spent several minutes detailing the ways he said the Lightfoot administration failed to justify the hefty outlay for police expenses for COVID-19 costs over a 10-week period from March to May 2020.
After the vote, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, pointed to problems in Chicago neighborhoods that should be getting more attention and funding from City Hall. “I’d like to ask, what’s going on in our communities around violence, disinvestment and rent relief?” Sigcho-Lopez said.
Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, said he’s concerned federal auditors will find the coronavirus relief money wasn’t spent properly, and make the city pay it back.
The issue became controversial last week, when the mayor brought forward a plan to move $68 million in unspent relief money from the 2020 budget to the 2021 budget.
4:30 p.m.: Seeing rise in suicides among Black Cook County residents, city officials and mental health experts work on outreach
Mental health challenges among young and older Black Chicagoans were amplified in 2020 by the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 and trauma from police brutality.
With 97 Black Cook County residents dying by suicide last year, ranging in age from 9 to 84, according to the medical examiner’s office, city officials and mental health advocates say they have been working on ways to respond.
Dr. Wilnise Jasmin, medical director of behavioral health for the Chicago Department of Public Health, says the city has been planning an awareness campaign aimed at decreasing stigma around mental illness that will launch in late spring or early summer.
Using billboards and bus stop ads are among its efforts to increase awareness, says Jasmin. The city also plans to fund mental health response teams that will travel to meet patients and serve predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods.
One way local groups are helping is by training people to recognize signs of mental health issues. Late last year, for example, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Chicago offered trainings targeting faith-based communities.
“We have to be building the community support,” said chief operating officer Jen McGowan-Tomke.
4:25 p.m.: Will County has surpassed the 100,000 mark for number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered.
As of Thursday, the county has giving out 104,147 vaccination shots since efforts began in December, said Steve Brandy, spokesman for the Will County Health Department.
“It’s great to be above 100,000,” Brandy said.
The county also reports having 27,938 people fully vaccinated, Brandy said. It takes two doses of existing vaccines to be considered fully vaccinated.
Across the state, vaccination efforts have hit a snag as vaccine has been in limited supply. The Will County department is focusing on delivering second doses with limited appointments for first doses, Brandy said.
A vaccine clinic at Joliet West High School was not able to accept appointments much of the week due to decreased supply. The clinic will be open next week but focused on administering second doses to the thousands of educators and residents over age 65 who went through the clinic in the last three weeks.
County health officials this week also joined other counties in declining to expand vaccination eligibility in the state’s phase 1b to include those under age 65 with underlying health conditions. Phase 1b originally included those over age 65 and essential front line workers such as teachers, postal carriers, corrections officers, grocery store clerks, shelter and day care workers and public transit workers.
4:20 p.m.: US expert panel endorses Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine
U.S. health advisers endorsed a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson on Friday, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-to-use option to fight the pandemic.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to quickly follow the recommendation and make J&J’s shot the third vaccine authorized for emergency use in the U.S. Vaccinations are picking up speed, but new supplies are urgently needed to stay ahead of a mutating virus that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.
After daylong discussions, the FDA panelists voted unanimously that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks for adults. If the FDA agrees, shipments of a few million doses could begin as early as Monday.
4:15 p.m.: Lake County health officials: Goal of vaccinating 80% of population by late summer attainable
In the wake of a record day of COVID-19 vaccinations in Lake County Wednesday, and with community transmission of the disease dropping, public health officials continue to urge caution.
The Lake County Health Department reported 8,294 people were vaccinated in the county Wednesday as the supply of vaccine grows and more locations are available to administer the inoculations.
As more people are vaccinated, Mark Pfister, the department’s executive director, said Friday the county’s positivity rate is now 3.4%, down from 9.9% on Jan. 2, and as of Monday there were 10.1 per 100,000 new cases of COVID-19, or approximately 70 more outbreaks countywide.
Since vaccinations began in December, Pfister said 110,586 doses have been administered. Though people reach maximum immunity two weeks after their second dose of vaccine, when asked if they can remove their masks, his response was simple.
“Not yet,” Pfister said. “Community transmission is down, but it’s still there. We still have to wear our masks, socially distance and continually wash our hands. While people are doing that, the number of cases of influenza have been minimal.”
3:25 p.m.: Where are you in the Illinois vaccine line? We charted out who is eligible and who is not.
With around half of Illinois’ population eligible to be vaccinated for COVID-19, the report card for the state’s effort is mixed. Now in the second part of phase 1b, those older than 65 as well as people from a range of occupations — police officers to grocery store workers to some in manufacturing and more — are eligible to receive the vaccine.
When Illinois enters phase 1c, the Illinois Department of Health estimates 900,000 more essential workers will be eligible. That will include large groups of restaurant workers, construction workers, accountants, lawyers and other types of workers.
IDPH didn’t provide estimates on workers by industry, so the Tribune looked at the number of Illinois employees in the sectors identified by the state using the same Bureau of Labor Statistics data set the state said it used.
The Tribune charted all of the vaccine groups by phase to give a little more context to just who might be next in line. —Jonathon Berlin, Kori Rumore and Jemal R. Brinson
12:50 p.m.: Doctors fighting COVID-19 push back against stigma of seeking mental health treatment: ‘We’re humans, just like everyone else’
Chicago emergency room doctor Meeta Shah wiped down her face shield and stethoscope as she rushed from one patient to the next, some of them very sick with COVID-19, some of them dying.
At home, she worried about how to keep her husband — also an ER doctor — and her two young children safe from the virus: Shower at work? Stop hugging the kids?
“It just really started to feel like a lot. It felt like my mind was loud, all the worry was so loud and I just wasn’t sleeping as well as I should,” said Shah, 43, who works at Rush University Medical Center.
“One of my friends always said, ‘I don’t understand why people don’t just talk to a therapist. There’s no shame in it.’ So I just started talking to somebody, and it was really a nice outlet.”
Doctors have long faced daunting obstacles to receiving the most basic mental health services, with studies showing that many avoid therapy and counseling due to intense stigma, as well as fear that they will be penalized by supervisors and state medical boards.
But now, with COVID-19 adding to their stress, doctors are increasingly pushing back against a “grind” workplace culture that celebrates stamina at the expense of self-care, as well as state medical boards that ask intimidating questions about mental health.
12:06 p.m.: 2,441 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 55 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Friday announced 2,441 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 55 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,183,667 and the statewide death toll to 20,460 since the start of the pandemic.
Officials also reported 92,256 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide test positivity rate was 2.5% for the period ending Thursday.
The 7-day rolling daily average of administered vaccine doses is 68,988, with 102,670 doses given on Thursday, the second highest reported administered to date. Officials also say a total of 2,543,620 vaccines have now been administered.
—Chicago Tribune staff
10:55 a.m.: White House says United Center parking lot could distribute up to 6,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine per day
The United Center parking lot will become a mass vaccination site capable of distributing 6,000 doses per day as part of a joint effort by local, state and federal government health officials to increase inoculations in communities hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a White House announcement Friday.
The site is expected to be up and running in the next two weeks, the announcement from the Biden administration said. The announcement does not, however, make clear who will be eligible to receive a vaccination at the site or how appointments will be made.
Illinois and Chicago have been working to boost vaccination rates among Black and Latino residents in particular as members of those communities continue to receive doses in smaller numbers than their share of the overall population.
10:38 a.m.: House to vote on $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package; arbiter says minimum wage hike a no-go
Democrats are ready to shove a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package through the House on Friday, despite a setback that means a minimum wage boost is unlikely to be in the final version that reaches President Joe Biden.
A near party-line vote seemed certain on the measure, Biden’s first crack at his initial legislative goal of acting decisively against the pandemic. In the year since the coronavirus has taken hold, it has stalled much of the economy, killed half a million Americans and reshaped the daily lives of virtually everyone.
The relief bill would provide millions of people with $1,400 direct payments. It contains billions of dollars for vaccines and COVID-19 testing, schools, state and local governments, the ailing restaurant and airline industries and emergency jobless benefits while providing tax breaks to lower earners and families with children.
10:24 a.m.: Want pre-COVID-19 life back? Vaccine digital ‘passports’ may open society, allow travel — but equity is a major concern.
Violet light bathed the club stage as 300 people, masked and socially distanced, erupted in gentle applause. For the first time since the pandemic began, Israeli musician Aviv Geffen stepped to his electric piano and began to play for an audience seated right in front of him.
“A miracle is happening here tonight,” Geffen told the crowd.
Still, the reanimating experience Monday night above a shopping mall north of Tel Aviv night was not accessible to everyone. Only people displaying a “green passport” that proved they had been vaccinated or had recovered from COVID-19 could get in.
7:02 a.m.: Bloomington District 87 likely to increase in-person learning after spring break
District 87 expects to increase the number of days students are attending school in person after spring break.
Students currently participating in the hybrid model meet in person two days a week. Superintendent Barry Reilly told the school board at its meeting Wednesday that is likely to increase to four or five days of in-person instruction after students return from spring break, possibly March 29.
Pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students in McLean County Unit 5 who had been taking hybrid classes returned to full-time in-person learning in early February. Junior high and high school students with hybrid schedules have continued their current routine in Unit 5.
Reilly said details are still being worked out and the switch depends on COVID-19 pandemic factors continuing to move in the right direction.
“Our positivity rates ... are very good,” he said, with less than 3% of people testing positive for the coronavirus.
“In addition, we’re getting more and more staff through the vaccination process,” said Reilly. That process is expected to be completed by the end of March, he said.
6:55 a.m.: Poshard Foundation awards grants to 42 food pantries
The Poshard Foundation for Abused Children last week hosted a virtual press conference to announce the organization’s latest round of grants to 42 Southern Illinois food pantries.
“For 22 years, the mission of our foundation has been the protection and healing of vulnerable children, particularly the abused, neglected and abandoned,” Glenn Poshard, co-founder of the foundation, said. “If the coronavirus has taught us anything over the past year, it’s this certainty: It’s difficult to heal a broken spirit if the family and the children are hungry. We have never before witnessed food insecurity at this level.”
With this $100,000 distribution, the Poshard Foundation has given nearly $175,000 in grants to Southern Illinois food pantries since the pandemic began.
Foundation co-founder Jo Poshard added that they heard from food pantries that were not included in the first round of funding. The additional food pantries extended the reach of the foundation to include pantries from Centralia south to Cairo, and from east to west in Southern Illinois.
“As the pandemic started last year, we began thinking, ‘How can we help?’ How do you go about healing when you have a family and children who are hungry? We felt that was a good place to start,” Jo Poshard said.
The Poshard Foundation reached out to food pantries and asked them to submit a plan on how they would use the funding to help children and families. Jo Poshard said the pantry volunteers came up with creative ways to not only feed children, but also adults who might need help.
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