Illinois continues to exceed daily records for new COVID-19 cases. As healthcare professionals, we understand that many in our communities are experiencing pandemic fatigue, giving rise to complacency. As the weather turns cold several activities, including gathering indoors without masks and distancing, are contributing to this surge.
We are better at identifying and treating this disease, and survival rates are improving slightly in COVID-19 patients since the start of this pandemic. This is good news, but has not changed the overall trajectory and danger of the pandemic. COVID-19 hospitalizations in Illinois have doubled over the last three weeks, a very dangerous trend. Analyses of IDPH data project that Illinois will surpass its ICU bed capacity by Thanksgiving, and deaths per day will peak mid-December. These trends affect not only COVID-19 patients; if hospitals are overwhelmed, care will suffer for those with other unforeseen emergent conditions, such as heart attacks, appendicitis, cancer diagnoses, and motor vehicle accidents, all common conditions. When hospitals hit capacity, if doctors and healthcare professionals lack hospital beds to treat people mortality will increase amongst all seriously-ill patients. While the news regarding the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine is encouraging, its approval and widespread distribution could still take months, and in the meantime thousands of Illinoisans will get sick and need hospitalization.
Immediate action will flatten the curve and prevent overwhelming our hospitals: Enforce universal masking: Reinforce the importance of wearing masks whenever leaving the home or interacting with anyone outside of the immediate household. Add steeper penalties for those who do not wear face coverings, and incentivize those who do wear face coverings. Incentivize businesses to enforce universal masking and turn away customers who do not follow the rules.
Emphasize no indoor gatherings, even in private homes, especially during the holidays: Epidemiologic data shows strong evidence that indoor gatherings transmit COVID-19. Everyone needs to avoid inviting others into their homes and attending gatherings in others’ homes. Gatherings of any size increase the risk of spread of the virus. Having a negative COVID-19 test does not mean someone is safe to attend a holiday meal indoors. This message is critical as we enter the holiday season. Families should explore other ways to gather, such as outside meals or meals using Zoom and Facetime.
Emphasize and simplify messaging on isolation and quarantine: Simplify messaging on quarantine, testing, and isolation. Anyone with symptoms or exposure must get tested. Anyone with NO symptoms but with exposure or travel to a high-risk location MUST quarantine for 14 days. If found to be COVID-19 positive, an individual must isolate for at least 10 days after onset of symptoms. Many of our patients struggle with the nuances of these terms and believe a “negative test” can substitute for quarantine.
Work from home: Support employers to allow as many people as possible to work from home. Illinois contact tracing data identify office and non-office workplaces among the top 7 reported possible exposure locations amongst those diagnosed with COVID-19. Prepare and highlight the threshold by which we can restrict indoor, non-essential business: No one wants to go through a shut down again. What we need is to ensure that people understand we will have no choice but to restrict indoor, non-essential business if cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. It is important to incentivize businesses to move to alternative models of commerce that avoid indoor transactions. Contact tracing data identify restaurants, bars, and business/retail among the top 6 possible exposure locations amongst those diagnosed with COVID-19.
County and state governments should require stronger surveillance and mitigation programming at all private and public grade schools and universities: Schools and universities remain sources of COVID-19 transmission. Our government needs to put immediate guidelines in place to regulate testing, quarantining and social distancing in all schools in our state.
As we head into a dark and long winter, the above actions could help slow the spread of COVID-19. A shelter-in-place order would bring severe economic hardship to many small businesses, but may be needed. At this perilous moment, we have choices: impose more restrictions, follow the rules and hopefully, avoid more economic and public health hardship, or face the most challenging winter of our lives. Urgent action now can not only save lives, but save livelihoods .
The governor’s office might wanna take heed of the call to “simplify messaging on isolation and quarantine.” Just sayin…
- Chatham Resident - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 5:10 am:
==Our government needs to put immediate guidelines in place to regulate testing, quarantining and social distancing in all schools in our state==
And they need to also offer rapid testing to all state employees back in the office too.
- Anon E Moose - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 6:57 am:
We know what the answer is — more testing until we have a vaccine. I can’t believe we’re not doing more testing. And wear the damn mask.
- The Dude - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 7:16 am:
Good decisions equates lives saved. Bad decisions equates to lives lost.
Anyone that has eating indoors at restaurant or bar is part of the problem and should be shamed. Same goes for having friends over to house. Shame.
You are the problem. Not government. Not me…you
- Concerned - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 7:37 am:
With the COVID cases rising, why is DCFS requiring their staff to return to the office when they have been successfully working remotely? Doesn’t this contradict what the Governor is saying we should do?
- Chatham Resident - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 8:03 am:
==With the COVID cases rising, why is DCFS requiring their staff to return to the office when they have been successfully working remotely? Doesn’t this contradict what the Governor is saying we should do?==
If there is another stay-at-home order this fall and winter, unlike in the Spring I think state employees already back at the office will still be expected to come back to work. If we are actually told to stay home and have remote, work-at-home projects, I would not be surprised if we will have to go unpaid or at least minimum wage during the duration of the order.
- Former Downstater - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 8:07 am:
Rep. Mike Halpin posted last night about his recent COVID diagnosis-
“State Representative Mike Halpin
As many people know, I woke up on Election Day with fever and chills. I also had some fatigue and headache over the course of that day and subsequent days. Today I received test results confirming a positive for COVID-19.
I am feeling much better today, and will continue to self-isolate as advised by my doctor.
I am fortunate to be able to look back and know when I was exposed, and who I came in contact with in the days following, before I began exhibiting symptoms. When I was exposed, I was wearing my mask and maintaining social distance, but as our medical professionals have been telling us since the beginning of this pandemic, these things minimize the risk but do not eliminate it. Fortunately for others I came in contact with after my exposure, I was still wearing a mask, and I am not aware of any close contacts that have gotten sick.
I strongly urge people to adhere to the public health guidelines, even though they are inconvenient, and even though they indeed have an economic cost. We can and will get through this together.”
- TheInvisibleMan - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 8:23 am:
=== follow the rules ===
Basically, plan now for the outcome which will happen from people not following the rules.
I am.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 8:48 am:
===and deaths per day will peak mid-December.===
This optimistically implies that people who as have yet have refused to treat this deadly pandemic seriously will suddenly be inspired to care about the lives of others in the community more than their need to celebrate their own ignorance in public.
- Concerned - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 8:49 am:
Anonymous - The difference is that the Illinois Secretary of State’s office is not under the jurisdiction of the Governor whereas DCFS is.
- Half empty - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 8:57 am:
CR, Just state employees? You seem awfully concerned about saving your own skin, for a public servant.
- Shevek - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 8:58 am:
I was an election judge last week. I had 7 fellow judges, an election coordinator, three other precincts one from, and at least 500 members of the public coming through that room. Is with strangers from 4:45am until 9:30.2 any instruction provided to us about isolating or testing to the poll workers? Nope. I looked for a place to get tested throughout Chicago landau couldn’t get an appointment. What the heck is wrong with our State and City?
I decided to spend $120 and get an art home test kit from Quest Diagnostic. Hope to get the results tomorrow so I can stop isolating (quarantining?).
- PublicServant - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 9:51 am:
=== I looked for a place to get tested throughout Chicago landau couldn’t get an appointment. What the heck is wrong with our State and City? ===
You’re blaming it on the state and city. LOL. We need the Trumpkins to listen to Fauci, leverage the defense procurement act, and mandate that manufacturers produce the tests, and the supplies for those tests, that are needed. States competing with each other have slowed everything down. Put the blame where it lies, and that’s squarely on the Trumpublicans.
- SSL - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 10:04 am:
Unfortunately I see more and more people wearing masks improperly. I don’t know if it is intentional or through laziness.
It just isn’t that difficult. I wouldn’t mind seeing higher quality masks made available to those unable to secure them. All masks are not created equal and this should have been a priority months ago.
While staying in isn’t an option for everyone, for those that can, now would be an excellent opportunity to focus on your own health. Exercise, drop a few pounds etc.
- essentially working - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 10:15 am:
“With the COVID cases rising, why is DCFS requiring their staff to return to the office when they have been successfully working remotely?”
Define successfully? One could argue they were marginally “successful” when they were in the office? Working from home indefinitely?
- TTH - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 10:17 am:
===Anyone with NO symptoms but with exposure or travel to a high-risk location MUST quarantine for 14 days. Many of our patients struggle with the nuances of these terms and believe a “negative test” can substitute for quarantine.===
It sounds like JB struggles with these nuances as well.
- Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 10:34 am:
@- Anon E Moose = We know what the answer is — more testing until we have a vaccine. I can’t believe we’re not doing more testing. And wear the damn mask. =
Testing numbers are strong in Illinois. I’d slightly counter and say we need more rapid testing and other results back in less than 48 hours. Would Illinois/ Could Illinois just go ahead and try to roll out the UIUC saliva test? Its the wild wild west out there right now from the Fed’s who cares if they have an opinion on it or not. And yes - wear your darn mask.
- thoughts matter - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 10:45 am:
== CR, Just state employees? You seem awfully concerned about saving your own skin, for a public servant.==
She’s (?) an person who happens to to be employed in the public sector. She didn’t run for public office. She didn’t take vows of poverty or of exposure to a deadly illness to do so. She doesn’t even work in the medical or social work field. She works for a revenue producing agency. I think you need to rethink what being a public servant means. We aren’t mother Theresa working in Calcutta.
- Downstate Illinois - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 11:04 am:
Better yet, how about actually treating Covid patients with something more than over the counter cold medicine. We have treatments available but docs seem hesitant to prescribe anything. Meanwhile people are being turned away from testing sites because of insurance issues or because the clinic wants a referral and another chance to bill.
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 11:06 am:
Have been trying to get my employer to let us or at least me go back to remote work again like our office did in the spring.
The response continues to be that it’s not necessary because the state hasn’t shut things down.
- Just Me 2 - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 11:25 am:
I’ve been thinking a lot about this. Instead of Democratic politicians spreading the message, they need to recruit some ambassadors of medical professionals, survivors, families of those that had died, essential workers, etc. etc. The Trumpers are never going to listen to Biden or J.B.
- dan l - Tuesday, Nov 10, 20 @ 11:34 am:
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Have been trying to get my employer to let us or at least me go back to remote work again like our office did in the spring.
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That’s kind of nuts.