IDPH encourages Illinois residents to get vaccinated before celebrating Thanksgiving

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Friday 1,797 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 10 additional deaths.

“With COVID-19 cases and other respiratory viruses circulating in many areas of the state, the Illinois Department of Public Health is urging Illinoisans to take precautions and celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday safely without spreading the virus to family and friends,” according to a news release. “In addition to being fully vaccinated and boosted for COVID-19 and the flu, IDPH encourages the public to get tested before attending holiday gatherings, especially if you’ll be visiting someone at high risk for severe COVID-19; to stay home if you are sick; and practice good hand hygiene. In addition, holiday hosts are urged to ensure gatherings are well-ventilated.”

As of late Thursday, Illinois had 1,070 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 116 were in intensive care units, and 37 were on ventilators.

For Thursday, the state administered 24,459 vaccines. More than 1.7 million people in Illinois have received the new bivalent booster dose since it was authorized.

“As we prepare to celebrate all that we are thankful for this season, I want to encourage all Illinoisians to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their loved ones,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a news release. “With respiratory illnesses such as RSV, the flu, and COVID-19 leading to increased illness and hospitalizations, I strongly recommend using all available strategies to stay healthy and safe. These strategies include COVID-19 testing, especially if visiting someone at risk for severe disease, enhanced ventilation, good hand hygiene, staying home if sick, and getting up to date with both the COVID-19 bivalent booster and the flu shot. All of us at IDPH wish Illinois residents a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.”

Case rate per 100,000: 15.3 (down 0.2 from Thursday)

Percentage of ICU beds available: 18%

COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admissions (seven-day rolling average): 104 (up 5 from Thursday)

Weekly deaths reported: 48 (down 4 from last week)

Illinois has seen 3,850,508 total cases of the virus, and 35,389 people have died.

County-by-county update: As of mid-April, the IDPH will provide a county-by-county update focusing on the case rate per 100,000 people, the percentage of ICU beds available, a rolling seven-day average of COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admissions and weekly deaths.

The definition of a COVID-19-diagnosed hospital admission is as follows: the seven-day average of daily number of hospital admissions given a diagnosis of COVID-19 as measured using the Illinois Syndromic Surveillance System.

Illinois collects all emergency department and inpatient visits through syndromic surveillance from all acute care hospitals in Illinois in near-real time. Data is presented with a three-day lag to allow time for diagnosis to be reported.

Vaccine update: As of Friday, the IDPH reported a total of 29,777,575 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed statewide, with 25,182,372 vaccines administered.

As of Friday, 8,400,974 Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, or 65.94% of the population. Illinois has a population of 12,741,080 people.

CDC numbers:

Among Illinois residents 5 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,914,738 (74.8%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,862,978 (82.7%)

Among Illinois residents 12 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 8,470,115 (78.2%)

At Least 1 Dose: 9,360,965 (86.4%)

Among Illinois residents 18 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 7,815,966 (79.3%)

At Least 1 Dose: 8,644,539 (87.7%)

Among Illinois residents 65 and older:

Fully Vaccinated: 1,857,152 (90.9%)

At Least 1 Dose: 2,007,720 (95%)

There can be as much as a 72-hour delay in reporting from health care providers on vaccines administered.

In northern Illinois, here is the percentage of the population fully vaccinated by county:

Chicago: 69.43%

Suburban Cook: 73.62%

Lake: 71.44%

McHenry: 66.62%

DuPage: 76.32%

Kane: 67.10%

Will: 67.45%

Kendall: 70.50%

La Salle: 58.89%

Grundy: 58.24%

DeKalb: 56.95%

Ogle: 57.37%

Lee: 59.25%

Whiteside: 52.20%

Bureau: 57.18%