State of Illinois Hopeful to Move to Bridge to Phase 5 Next Week, Full Re-Opening by July:  As of this week, over 60% of the state’s adult population and 80% of seniors have received at least one dose of vaccine.  Also, 55% of Illinois residents 16 and older have had a least one dose.  A little over 33% of the state’s population have been fully vaccinated.  Considering these numbers and other metrics, Governor Pritzker announced today that the state could begin the Bridge to Phase 5 as early as next week.  Once 50% of residents 16 and older have been fully vaccinated and stable or declining COVID-19 metrics are recorded during a 28-day monitoring period, Phase 5, or a full re-opening without capacity limits, could start by July.

In accordance with these timelines, the Chicago Auto Show has already announced their event at McCormick Place for mid-July and the Rosemont Convention Center will also be back in operation in July.  Other Chicago area businesses have also announced back to work start up dates.

OSHA Issues Guidance for Employers Considering Vaccine Requirements: On April 20, 2021, the OSHA released three new FAQs for employers who recommend or require employees to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

If an employer requires its employees to be vaccinated, adverse reactions to the vaccines are considered “work-related” by OSHA. Employers who require COVID-19 vaccines must notify OSHA within 24 hours of an employee’s inpatient hospitalization (or within eight hours of an employee’s death) resulting from an adverse reaction.

For employers subject to OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, if the adverse reaction meets other general recording criteria (e.g., days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, or medical treatment beyond first aid), the reaction must be recorded on the employer’s OSHA 300 log, even if it does not lead to hospitalization. For example, if an employee uses a sick day because of fever and chills following administration of the vaccine, the reaction must be recorded. On the other hand, if an employee merely requires over-the-counter medication to ease soreness at the injection site, the action need not be recorded.

Employers who merely recommend vaccination do not need to record adverse reactions or report hospitalizations due to those adverse reactions, even if the employer facilitates employees’ access to the vaccine.

Update on Vaccinations: The total number of COVID-19 vaccines for the state is 12,078,725.  A total of 9,546,833 vaccines have been administered. The average number of vaccines administered daily is 71,219, but those numbers are not completely accurate as pharmacy numbers are slow to report, supposedly due to a national system issue. As of yesterday, 96,415 doses were administered in Illinois.

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 1,346,398 positive tests of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 2,563 new positive tests per day since reported here 7 days ago on April 28.  In total, 23,007,188 tests have now been conducted in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 76,853 tests per day since April 28. 

The state’s average positivity rate over all 11 regions is at 3.3% for the last 7 days.  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 22,096 deaths, an average increase of 29 per day since April 28.

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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