Tuesday, February 23rd Data Update:

So the majority of numbers continue to look great. The one glaring omission is the vaccine availability, which I'm sure many of you are keenly aware of at this point in time.

Four weeks ago on Tuesday, January 26th, the state had 1,764,675 doses they had received and they had administered only 41% of those. Now we stand here on February 23rd with a total of 2,752,885 doses received, but 2,254,982 administered, or over 82% of the total.

That means we have received an additional 988,210 doses in the past 4 weeks, but have administered 1,534,987 doses over that same time period. In short, the supply must grow for us to be effective over the next month.

That being said, we are closing in on 5% of the population being fully vaccinated and over 13% receiving at least one dose. So while the state works on the supply chain issue, let's all commit to staying as safe as we can and being as nice as we can for the next month.

Overall, we are in much better shape than we have been in a while for bed utilization overall, ICU capacity, positivity rates, deaths, etc...

Monday, February 22nd Data Update:

Quick update before we all start the week. Testing was down last week as the frigid weather and snow affected both testing and vaccine distribution. Cases, positivity, bed utilization, and deaths all continue to decline. That's a good thing; however, that doesn't mean that we can ease up at this point as vaccines are still limited and currently in short supply.

I'm hopeful that by April 1 we will be in a much better place than where we are today as more avenues are developed for administration of the vaccine and more supply becomes available.

This is round 10 or so of the 12 round fight and what we do now still matters.

But take some comfort in knowing progress is being made on a daily basis and that the numbers right now look really good.

As of the 18th, the variant tracking in Illinois shows 42 cases of B.1.1.7 and 1 case of B.1.351.

Saturday, February 20th Data Update:

The numbers continue to drop. Less testing, lower positivity, lower deaths, and lower bed utilization.

Testing is sufficient based on the current positivity rate, which is lower than 3%.

Right now vaccines are scarce. Appointments are limited. Weather has not been our friend this week. But it will get better. Just hang in there and be patient. 9 of the past 10 days positivity has been below 3%. That's a major change from where we were even a few weeks ago.

Just taking things one day at a time as we enter the second year of this long journey. But the light is shining much brighter now and a great deal of hope for the Spring and Summer with the vaccines now being administered.

Friday, February 19th Data Update:

Vaccinations and testing showing some slight declines this week. Testing may slowly continue to as long as the positivity rate remains low. With that decline in testing, the positivity rate may rise slightly. So keep that all in perspective as we track the numbers for the next month.

Right now, we are in a good spot. Positivity at 2.74% this past week, down from 3.27% the week prior, and 5.38% just 4 weeks ago.

Every region under 5% for test positivity.

Deaths inching lower as well as we are down to 41 per day compared to 57 per day last week.

Currently 11.8% of the state has received at least one dose of vaccination. So one out of every eight people in the state will have had a vaccine dose by this weekend.

Yes, it is still hard to get an appointment in most counties for a vaccination. With Group 1B expanding starting next Thursday, this isn't going to get easier. But thank you for all the local and individual efforts to try to keep pushing the numbers forward on a daily basis. You're making a difference.\

Monday, February 15th Data Update:

5th straight day under 3% case positivity rate for the state. 52,389 tests resulted and 1,420 newly confirmed or positive cases for a daily rate of 2.71%.

All regions are under 5% for the most recent week of test positivity, which is a great sign. Vaccinations this week were up 28% over last week with an average of 66,320 per day. Still only 3.32% of the state is fully vaccinated, but 11% have received at least one dose.

Finally under 50 deaths per day. The more vulnerable we get vaccinated, the more this number drops, so thank you for all who have been tirelessly helping in those efforts.

Bed utilization looking good across all areas.

About a month ago I had posted that I felt the worst was over for the surge. That was based on the fact that we had over 9% of the state confirmed positive over the past 11 months, and likely a multiplier much greater than than in actual cases. Conservatively, I had mentioned over 30% as an estimate, though likely higher.

Every 10% we get vaccinated will be a major accomplishment. Realistically I'm hoping we can ramp this up and get to 50% by the end of June.

Keep being as safe as you can, even if you are vaccinated. There are many out there that still have not been able to have such luck, so let's make sure we get as many over that finish line in the next few month and limit the lives lost to this virus.

Saturday, February 13th Data Update:

Yesterday's numbers came in at 95,375 vaccinated, a single day high, 103,009 tests and 2,598 newly confirmed or probable cases for a daily case positivity of 2.52%, with 32 additional deaths.

10% of the state's 12.74 million residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Obviously if we can get to 95,000 per day being vaccinated, that would be great. The average for the week at 59,000 per day but incrementally improving over the past month with sites continuing to expand. I know it is frustrating to try to get scheduled.

The data for the state also shows the disparity that has been evident throughout this pandemic by race. We have to do better and expand modes of scheduling appointments.

The slight dip in testing is expected as less and less people are seeking out testing due to the decreased positivity. To put it in perspective, the last time we were at a weekly case positivity rate of 3.09% where we are today was on July 21st, 159 days ago in the middle of the summer. At that time we were only testing 38,000 people per day. Now we are testing just under 80,000 people per day, more than double that number.

Bed utilization is down. Deaths are down to 50 per day and incrementally dropping week to week.

Looking forward to continuing progress this week and the next. By the time we get into March we should have administered another 1,000,000 shots at least and hopefully our 10% number grows to 16% with 75% of those shots being first doses and the other 25% completing the second shot for those that have had their first.

Wednesday, February 10th Data Update:

Case positivity rate at 3.4% right on track with the average over the past 13 days. Good to see stable positivity and continued decreases in bed utilization and deaths.

Vaccinations are the focus right now and we are currently averaging north of 55,000 per day for the past week. That number still needs to increase.

The big news of the day is that the state is expanding vaccine eligibility under Phase 1B starting on 2/25. So if you are under 65, but have any of the following, you will be able to sign up for the vaccination: Cancer, Chronic Kidney Disease, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), Diabetes, Heart Condition, Immunocompromised State from a Solid Organ Transplant, Obesity, Pregnancy, Pulmonary Disease, Sickle Cell Disease.

That is a big list of co-morbidities and covers a great deal of individuals. I'm sure many of you are thinking...wait a minute, we are still having massive issues getting those in 1A and 1B scheduled, so how is expanding the list right now a good thing?

These populations are vulnerable and in need.

I hope we continue to expand access and remove the bottlenecks, meaning more vaccination supply, more mass vaccination sites being set up, etc...

I urge everyone to be patient. Yes, there are new sites being set up daily, but we still have supply chain and distribution issues to work through. Local health departments and retail sites are all working hard to expand access options. There are some great grassroots efforts out there to get people vaccinated. Let's keep working together.

Tuesday, February 9th Data Update:

All regions looking relatively good for positivity this past with a high region of 5.7% and a low region of 1.8%. As far as vaccination progress, Regions 2, 3, and 6 all showing at least 11% of the population having at least one dose. or some regions, the pace has been slower, such as Region 7 where only 6% have at least one dose.

Vaccinations steadily increasing, but we know we have to continue to eliminate the bottlenecks along with creating various modes for people to schedule vaccinations. Health equity continues to be a concern.

Monday, February 8th Data Update:

The trends continue. All in the right direction.

Vaccinations increasing.

Positivity and bed utilization decreasing.

Deaths steady/slightly down from last week.

Sunday, February 7th Data Update:

A look back at the past 9 months of this pandemic, from:

• The early days with limited testing, high deaths in long-term care facilities, and strapped resource utilization, to

• The summer months with low positivity and hope, to

• The epic second wave where testing was no longer an issue, but the virus spread rampant through communities and deaths peaked at close to 150 per day and hospital bed utilization was again pushed to the brink, to

• The first vaccinations and signs of hope

This has been a long journey.

Over 9% of the state has been confirmed as having the virus. But that number is likely north of 30% in reality. Closing in on 20,000 deaths and over 2,100 probable deaths. Over 16 million tests run.

Saturday, February Data 6th:

Nearly 75,000 vaccinations administered yesterday with a three-day average of 67,483. It was only a matter of time before some of the bottlenecks were worked out of the system. With more and more partners joining in, these numbers will continue to increase. From an inventory standpoint, local health departments showing 57.3% of the inventory while community partners (e.g. Walgreen's, Jewel, etc...) showing the other 42.7%. It does vary by county, so you may want to check your county's data page on the IDPH website for that information.

8th straight day of sub-4% case positivity coming in at 3.48% with over 105,000 tests yesterday.

Important numbers continue to decrease.

Friday, February 5th Data Update:

This is the end of a good work week of progress across the state. Positivity continues to drop as vaccinations increase. You can see the current 7-day positivity and percent of population vaccinated in the charts. At the regional level the correlation between those two numbers continues to increase.

7 straight days under 4% case positivity rate. The weekly totals come in at 3.38% case positivity this week compared to 4.62% last week, an improvement of 27%.

Deaths down this week to 54 per day on average from 78 per day on average last week, a 31% improvement.

Bed utilization/availability looking good across all regions at this point.

Vaccinations increasing steadily this week, up 27% over last week.

I'm confident with all of the efforts this will continue to rise. We are already showing progress with over 62,000 vaccinated the past two days.

Wednesday, February 3rd Data Update:

96,894 new tests run in the past 24 hours and 3,314 newly confirmed or probable cases for a daily case positivity rate of 3.42%, the 6th straight day under 4%.

For the past week positivity has decreased by 26% from 4.75% to 3.53% and deaths are down over 27% as well, averaging 59 per day this week.

Vaccinations hitting a single-day high over 65,000 yesterday.

In short...all good news.

Keep up the good work.

Keep trying to schedule your appointments to be vaccinated if you're in Group 1A or 1B.

 Tuesday, February 2 Data Update:

A dip in testing and vaccinations on Sunday due to the heavy snowfall around the area, but we should be back on track the rest of this week.

Overall trends:

• Moving upwards = vaccinations

• Moving downwards = positivity rates, bed utilization, and deaths

I do think that we are absolute worst the worst of it here in Illinois, but that all assumes that we continue to follow the rules and do the basics.

We really need these next few months to ramp up vaccinations.

Mitigation factors are being reduced in most regions and schools are starting to open back up. Let's make sure that we keep up the good progress.

The new variants are in at least 32 states, but soon to be all 50 as the virus doesn't recognize state borders. Yes, we could be in line for another surge and so February is extremely important in helping combat the headwinds we are facing with the variants.