Note: Any news conferences from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot or other officials will be streamed in the video player above.
Hundreds of essential workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic in Cook County hit the picket lines for a one-day strike on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Illinois plans to receive its first shipments of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine as well as additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, state officials say.
Here are the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic across the state of Illinois today (Dec. 22):
U.S. Surgeon General to Visit Chicago, Discuss Vaccine Rollout
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is scheduled to visit Chicago Tuesday, stopping at Saint Anthony's Hospital during the morning hours with the city's and state's doctors, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady. There, he will discuss the vaccine rollout plan and observe vaccinations.
Adams, Ezike and Arwady are expected to address the media at 2 p.m. from the James R. Thompson Center. Watch it live in the player above.
Hundreds of Cook County Health Care, Sheriff's Office Employees to Strike
Hundreds of essential workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic in Cook County plan to strike Tuesday.
SEIU Local 73 - the union representing Cook County health technicians, service and maintenance workers, as well as employees of the clerk’s office and sheriff’s office - said in a statement Friday that its members would be holding a one-day strike, alleging that county officials have "refused to set bargaining dates… and walked out on negotiations" for nearly three months.
“Our members have put their lives on the line to keep Cook County functioning,” SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer said. “The complete lack of respect by Toni Preckwinkle and the managers under her supervision is shocking."
The workers include employees who work at Stroger Hospital as well as Cermak and Provident hospitals that are part of the Cook County Health System.
"We have respiratory therapists and healthcare workers working to save lives," Palmer continued. "We have election workers who made sure the presidential election ran smoothly. We have custodians sanitizing courthouses and public offices to keep people safe. We have office workers at the County jail, a hotspot for COVID, coming in every day. The least Preckwinkle could do is respect, protect, and pay these essential workers by bargaining in good faith and providing pandemic pay to all essential workers."
The union said its members want pandemic pay for essential workers, including an additional $5 an hour for all workers caring for coronavirus patients or in COVID-19 units, remote work where possible and personal protective equipment where it isn't, among other items.
A spokesman for Cook County Board President Preckwinkle said in a statement that contingency plans were in place "to ensure services are not disrupted" during the strike.
Illinois Expects to Receive Moderna, More Doses of Pfizer Vaccine This Week
Illinois plans to receive its first shipments of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine as well as additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, state officials said Monday.
Last week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker expressed concern about reduced shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, saying that the state had been informed the federal government was anticipating a reduction of nearly 50% in the number of doses it was able to deliver to states in the following two weeks.
Army General Gustave Perna, the COO of Operation Warp Speed, said officials were working hard to provide accurate numbers to states, but that he was forced to lower allocations of the vaccine because of limits in the amount of “releasable doses."
As of Monday, more than 63,000 Illinoisans had received the first doses of the vaccine, according to a spokesman for Gov. Pritzker. The provided number does not include vaccinations in the city of Chicago.
Unlike the first doses of Pfizer's vaccine, which were sent to Illinois' Strategic National Stockpile and then distributed to hospitals, the doses expected in the coming days will be directly shipped to hospitals.
Approximately 60,450 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are slated to be delivered Tuesday and Wednesday, the governor's office stated. A large portion of the aforementioned doses will be allocated to long-term care facilities, and will be administered by Walgreens and CVS through a federal partnership.
Those vaccinations will begin the week of Dec. 28, state officials said.
The remaning 20,000 doses will be directly shipped to hospitals with ultra-cold storage, which is necessary for the Pfizer vaccine, and will be given to health care workers.
Approximately 174,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine are expected to be delivered to hospitals on a rolling basis starting Wednesday and Thursday.
On Sunday, U.S. Marshals escorted the first vials of the Moderna vaccine from a Mississippi warehouse to the FedEx Corporate Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, where the vials were distributed. The first vials headed to 4,000 destinations nationwide.
Small Businesses React to New Coronavirus Relief Bill
Chicago-area business owners react to the new coronavirus relief bill and reveal whether they think it will be a lifeline. Chris Coffey reports.
Lightfoot Says Chicago Following News of New Coronavirus Strain in UK ‘Very, Very Closely'
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city's health department is following news of a new and potentially more contagious strain of coronavirus in the United Kingdom "very, very closely."
Lightfoot said the city has been monitoring the latest development prior to current reporting and said the city is prepared to "take all action that's necessary."
"We are following this very closely, we're digging down," Lightfoot said during an unrelated press conference Monday. "I don't think we know enough yet about what this potential new strain is, how it's transmitted, but believe me, we are following very closely, and we will take all action that's necessary to protect the public."
So far, British Airways will require travelers to test negative for the coronavirus before boarding flights bound for New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. Cuomo said at a press briefing that he also asked Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic to abide by the same requirements.
Moncef Slaoui, the chief science adviser for the U.S. government’s COVID-19 vaccine effort, said scientists are still working to confirm whether the virus strain in the United Kingdom spreads more easily.
Although that could be why it has become more prevalent in the U.K., Slaoui said in a briefing with reporters Monday that another possible explanation is that “seeding happened in the shadows” before scientists started looking for it.
Animal studies are needed to confirm that the strain spreads more easily. Slaoui said that process takes several weeks.
In the meantime, he said there is no evidence the variant causes more severe disease or is more deadly. He also said the expectation is that vaccines would still be effective against the virus strain, but that scientists are working to confirm that.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner and a board member of Pfizer, told CNBC Monday that the evidence does suggest the new variant transmits more easily. But, he cautioned, "it doesn't seem to have mutated the surface proteins of the virus in a way that they would slip past our vaccines or prior immunity. In fact, we don't think that that's the case."
Illinois Reports 4,699 New Coronavirus Cases, 98 Additional Deaths Monday
Illinois health officials reported 4,699 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, along with 98 additional deaths attributed to the virus.
According to the latest numbers from the Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois now has 905,069 probable or confirmed cases of coronavirus during the pandemic.
Monday's 98 additional fatalities bring the state to 15,299 deaths as a result of the pandemic, with another 1,228 deaths classified as “probable” COVID-19-related fatalities, according to IDPH data.
Over the last 24 hours, 86,454 test specimens were returned to state laboratories, according to IDPH data.
In all, 12,520,979 tests have been performed in the state since the pandemic began.
The state saw its hospitalization numbers continue to decline on Monday, with 981 currently in intensive care units and 546 of patients on ventilators.
Vaccinations to Resume at Suburban Hospital After Being Paused Due to Adverse Reactions
Officials at Advocate Condell Medical Center in suburban Libertyville say they will resume coronavirus vaccinations of staff members on Sunday after pausing the injections following reactions in four staffers who received the treatment this week.
The decision to pause vaccinations was made Friday after four individuals who received the treatment experienced tingling and elevated heartrates shortly after receiving the injection.
After consulting with infectious disease experts and state and federal officials, the decision was made to resume vaccinations, with officials saying that the four individuals who suffered adverse reactions were recovering quickly.
Pritzker to End Daily Coronavirus Briefings; Will Hold Updates ‘As Needed'
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that he and state health officials will no longer be holding daily coronavirus briefings, but will provide updates "as needed."
Pritzker said he and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike will end in-person COVID-19 updates because coronavirus numbers are "moving in the right direction."
"I’ll start with some housekeeping that might bring some relief to our tireless press corps this holiday season," Pritzker said. "We are moving away from daily press conferences, and instead returning to an as-needed basis."
Friday marked the 42th consecutive weekday coronavirus press briefing for the Illinois officials and the 155th since the pandemic began.
"I can promise you’ll still be hearing from Dr. Ezike and me often, as we provide regular updates on vaccine distribution, the status of our regions in the Restore Illinois plan, and general statewide COVID-19 trends," Pritzker said.
Friday also marked a major milestone in Illinois' fight against the coronavirus, as state officials report over 17,000 people in the state outside Chicago have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Pritzker announced.
Illinois' Top Doc Says 'We Did Not See the Significant Surge' After Thanksgiving
Illinois avoided a "significant surge" following the Thanksgiving holiday, the state's top doctor said Friday.
"I am really excited, I am really happy to say that we did not see the significant surge that we were very much concerned about in relation to all the reports that we saw of the large amount of travel for here in the state of Illinois," Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. "I think people know that in the Midwest, generally, while others on the coasts are surging, I think we had that a little bit earlier and are on the way down and I think all the mitigations that we had in place in advance of Thanksgiving have been helpful. So no, we did not see a surge following Thanksgiving."
Similar to Thanksgiving, state officials are urging people to avoid holiday gatherings and travel.
Pritzker Says Tier 3 Mitigations to Continue Through Holidays, Despite Decline in Some Metrics
As some regions in Illinois begin to reports coronavirus data below the state's requirements for mitigations, some are wondering if restrictions might be eased in their regions ahead of the holidays.
According to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the answer is likely no.
"As you know, a couple of weeks ago, out of concern for the idea that we would have a surge here, we basically stepped back from taking regions out of Tier 3, in hopes that we could bring the numbers down significantly across state," Pritzker said Thursday. "They're coming down, not by enormous numbers, but they're going the right direction. And we're very hopeful that things will continue in the right direction. But as Dr. Ezike said, you know, when you're still talking about 8,000-plus cases, for example, in a day, that means, as you were mentioning earlier, that as you project forward, that quite a number of people will still pass away as a percentage of that. And so just deeply concerned that we bring the numbers down to a level where, you know, we're we're seeing a much better numbers, even our positivity rates, although they've come down, still are not near the WHO recommended 5%."
Pritzker said Friday that while the numbers "seem to be heading in the right direction," state officials are "concerned the numbers have not come down as precipitously as we would have liked to have seen by now."
He has noted that potential holiday gatherings remain a concern across the state.
"They should know that we're following the science. As I said, when I talked about this a couple weeks ago, not just Dr. Fauci, but the whole, you know, raft of doctors that we rely upon for their good advice as we move forward with this novel coronavirus are saying that we need to be deeply concerned about the gatherings that people may have around the holidays," Pritzker said. "And so that's that's why we made the decisions that we did."
Pritzker acknowledged that such restrictions could be lifted after the holidays, however, if the area doesn't see a surge and regions remain below the threshold.
"It's certainly our intention as we get through these holidays to begin to look at, you know, without having holidays ahead, right after the New Year to get to reducing the tiers for various of our regions," he said.
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