Officials urge Illinoisans to take up new COVID-19 booster doses

Illinois health officials are urging residents to receive the new COVID-19 boosters.

“These new bivalent vaccines are designed to offer extra protection against the omicron variants, which are now the dominant strain of the virus,” Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a Friday statement.

IDPH expects an initial shipment of 580,000 doses within the week, while the city of Chicago expects to receive 150,000 initial doses.

Meanwhile, Illinois is seeing a small uptick in COVID-19 cases.

There were 26,127 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 reported last week, a 7.5 percent increase from the prior week. There were 70 deaths reported last week.

The new cases bring the state’s total to 3,696,385. There have been 34,747 deaths.

The seven-day average for new cases on Friday was 3,732, up 261 from the prior week. The seven-day average for daily deaths is 10, down two from the prior week.

The seven-day rolling average case rate per 100,000 people is 29.3, up 2.1 from the prior week.

As of Thursday, 1,263 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, down 25 from Wednesday and down 47 from the prior week.

Of the patients in the hospital, 154 were in intensive care units, down 14 from Wednesday and down four from the prior week. Twenty-two percent of Illinois’ ICU beds were available, up 1 percentage point from the prior week.

There were 46 patients on ventilators, down eight from Wednesday and down 13 from the prior week.

Thirty counties are now at a “high” community level of COVID-19, the level at which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people mask indoors in public spaces. Sixty counties are at a “medium” risk level.

Cook County continues to be at a “medium” level of community, with a week-to-week decline in both cases and hospitalizations, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. It too requested residents receive booster vaccines once they arrive in the city this week.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, nearly all COVID-19 cases in the Midwest between Aug. 28 and Sept. 3 were BA.4, BA.4.6 and BA.5 omicron variants. The region includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Illinois vaccinators have administered 23,248,758 COVID-19 vaccines, including 4,754,536 booster doses. The seven-day average for doses administered is 5,397.

About 60.7 percent of total doses administered went to white Illinoisans, while 15.1 went to Latinx residents, 11.3 percent to Black residents and 7.2 to Asian residents. About 2.9 percent went to those identified as “other races” while 2.2 percent are “unknown.”