To:

Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) Members

From:

Mark Biel, Chief Executive Officer
[email protected] or 217/522-5805 

Re:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update – State Public Health Officials Concerned About Rising Positivity Rates, Re-Opening Plans; Update on Phase 1B Vaccinations; ACC Tracker with State Vaccine Updates & COVID-19 Orders; Canada COVID-19 Information; Update on COVID-19 Cases  

State Public Health Officials Concerned About Rising Positivity Rates, Re-Opening Plans: Illinois public health officials reported today that while 70% of Illinois residents 65 years and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, not all of the metrics needed to advance to the Bridge Phase and on to Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois Plan have been met. 

The number of people being admitted to the hospital in Illinois due to COVID-19 continues to increase.  If new hospital admissions continue to increase, the state will not move any further to reopen businesses, entertainment, restaurants, large public gatherings, etc.  The number of new cases of COVID-19 has also seen an increasing trend as well.  Health officials continue to urge all residents to continue to mask up, socially distance, and avoid crowds to reduce transmission and bring the metrics back in line to transition to the Bridge Phase.

Update on Phase 1B Vaccinations: A total of 6,858,805 vaccine doses have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago.  Approximately 448,830 doses total have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities.  This brings the total Illinois vaccine doses to 7,307,635.  A total of 5,801,871 vaccines have been administered in Illinois, including 367,782 for long-term care facilities.  The average of vaccines doses administered daily is 109,358.  Yesterday, 137,445 doses were administered.

Please note that beginning April 12, the Governor has indicated that all Illinoisians over age 16 will be eligible to be vaccinated.  Several Illinois counties are already begun allowing people over 16 to be vaccinated.

Also, as a reminder, IDPH is now posting the weekly number of COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated from the federal government. Weekly allocations will be broken out into the number of doses allotted for long-term care, second doses, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Safety Net Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Illinois National Guard Vaccine Sites, Illinois Retail Pharmacy, Minority Health and Mobile Teams, Illinois Department of Corrections, dialysis centers, and local health departments. Both first dose and second dose allocation will be broken out by local health department. The City of Chicago receives its own allocation of vaccine and therefore is not included on the IDPH website. These data include vaccine allocated to the state and do not include vaccine that is part of the federal supply, which is directly distributed by the federal government. Data can be found at http://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccineallocations

Additionally, the state has updated its COVID-19 website containing current locations and other pertinent information on one webpage.

ACC Tracker with State Vaccine Updates & COVID-19 Orders:  The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has again updated its comprehensive COVID-19 Tracker (attached to this Update) with separate charts illustrating state vaccine plans, including documents detailing updated state specific orders and mitigation measures as well as executive orders and legislation relating to business liability. 

Canada COVID-19 Information: For those members who would like to receive information about vaccination protocols and COVID-19 restrictions in Canada, please reach out to Mark Biel at [email protected] to be added to the distribution list. Our friends at the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada have been kind enough to share their COVID-19 information with us.  In addition, here is Canada's COVID-19 immunization plan.  

Update on COVID-19 Cases: IDPH is reporting 1,244,585 positive tests of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 2,411 new positive tests per day since reported here 7 days ago on March 24.  In total, 20,313,050 tests have now been conducted in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 72,504 tests per day since March 24. 

The state’s average positivity rate over all 11 regions is at 3.3% for the last 7 days, which is a slight increase of 0.5%, but a 1.2% increase since March 13 when the state achieved its lowest rate yet since the pandemic began.  You can see where the various regions are at in terms of their positivity rates, hospitalizations, and other metrics at this link

Unfortunately, IDPH is reporting a total of 21,301 deaths, an average increase of 24 per day since March 24.

You can also check where these cases are occurring at the State of Illinois COVID-19 website which also contains more information on this outbreak.

Also, IDPH has a case breakdown of the number of positive cases in Chicago and each county relative to the number of fatalities.  The IDPH website also now includes a breakdown of the cases under each zip code in the state.

For information on other states and countries, John Hopkins University has developed this website that provides invaluable resources at a one-stop location detailing testing and tracing trends, timelines of COVID-19 policies, vaccinations, and interactive maps.

 

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Tel: (847) 544-5995
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