* Sarah Zhang has an excellent piece in The Atlantic, so you should definitely read the whole thing…
To prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, the key group we need to vaccinate is really the elderly. The risk of hospitalization for an unvaccinated person over 80 is 25 times that for an unvaccinated person under 18. A Financial Times analysis of data from the U.K. found vaccinating 25,000 children had the same effect on hospitalizations as vaccinating just 800 adults over age 60. Unvaccinated elderly adults are just that much more likely to become severely ill with COVID-19. You can’t compensate for a low vaccination rate among older adults by vaccinating more people in younger groups, says Müge Çevik, a virologist at the University of St. Andrews.
The U.S. still has too many unvaccinated elderly people—or rather, parts of the U.S. do. States such as Vermont and Hawaii have done well, given almost 100 percent of people over 65 immunized at least one dose. But in Idaho, Arkansas, and Mississippi, the percentage is languishing in the 80s. Even small differences in this percentage can have an outsize impact on hospitalization outcomes. For example, two communities with 90 versus 99 percent of the elderly vaccinated actually have a tenfold difference in the number of people at risk for hospitalization. “You don’t need a lot of infections in the unvaccinated over 65 to give you a problem,” Hanage says. During the summer wave in the U.S., the community vaccination rate in people over 65 correlated with hospitalization trends. The trend, he says, is “extremely clear.”
Illinois is also languishing. Our vax rate for those 65+ is just 83.58 percent. Not great to be lumped in with states like Idaho, Arkansas and Mississippi.
* Um, no…
* According to the ISBE, only one district was still on probation…
ISBE issued emergency rules, effective October 28, that make changes to the processes and procedures regarding recognition status changes of districts and schools. As a result, ISBE reinstated the recognition status of the one public school district still not in compliance with the universal indoor masking requirement in order to proceed with the oversight process as outlined in the new administrative rules for recognition. ISBE will continue to take swift action to ensure compliance with the public health requirements that are in place to protect the health and safety of students and educators and to ensure students can continue to learn safely in-person. Please find the process described in the communication attached.
The attachment is here.
* From the governor’s event today…
Stay classy.
* Um, no. They could always be fired. Some folks were using a novel interpretation of a state law that was designed to protect certain rights of healthcare providers by giving them the ability to sue their employers and recover treble damages, including for pain and suffering…
Employees refusing to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 on religious or moral grounds could be fired under a change in Illinois’ Health Care Right of Conscience Act approved Friday by the General Assembly.
Also, those employees have certain federal religious rights that won’t go away when this law takes effect.
* Not a single court ever ruled pre-COVID that this state law applied to anyone but medical providers…
For more than four decades, the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act has protected people from having to provide or receive medical treatments that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs.
The amount of misinformation in the mainstream media on this legislation boggles the mind. The bill slightly narrows a narrowly and perhaps erroneously perceived right to sue. And almost all of this rigamarole has to do with people who are refusing to take regular COVID tests after opting out of the vaccine mandate.
Sheesh.
* Friday at the federal level…
Late Friday, a federal judge shot down an emergency request by Chicago firefighters, paramedics and other city workers to halt city and state vaccine mandates. That ruling came down hours after the City Council voted down a proposal from a group of aldermen to repeal the mandate and remove the power over such measures from the mayor. […]
[U.S. District Judge John Lee] said the plaintiffs failed to show that the government orders were irrational or outrageous or violated any of the employees’ constitutional or religious rights.
* Monday at the county level…
A Cook County judge ruled Monday that the city’s vaccination mandate can remain in place for now, but unionized Chicago Police Department employees can’t face consequences for not getting vaccinated until the policy goes through arbitration.
The written decision by Judge Raymond Mitchell to grant a partial temporary restraining order centers on the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police’s lawsuit against the city following a directive for all employees to report their vaccination status by Oct. 15, which thousands of first-responders did not do.
…Adding… Forgot about this…
* Other stuff…
* AG Raoul asks IL Supreme Court to move DeVore’s student mask lawsuits to Cook or Sangamon counties
* COVID-19’s global death toll tops 5 million in under 2 years
* Nursing homes in 3 states face profit limits as Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey move to improve care
* Moderna: FDA Delaying Decision on Its Shot for Adolescents
* COVID Vaccines for Kids Under 12: What Still Needs to Happen Before Shots Can Begin
- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:28 pm:
Shouting down special needs kids just proves, yet again, that these people are among the lowest forms of life on Earth. Who does that? How do they sleep at night?
- Jolt - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:29 pm:
When is Jb going to withhold state monies from elk grove for violated the states mask order? I think he needs to stay consistent in his commitment to the masks order like he did by yanking school certifications for schools who violated the order.. Why is the press got addressing?
- Annonin' - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:37 pm:
Now we know we are in whacky land when Erika begins to sound sensible. Yikes
Meanwhile the more of the Gomerittes we see the more we can be certain he is DOA after the primary Wonder who paid for those spiffy signs?
- JS Mill - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:40 pm:
The devore stuff was hot on facebook last friday. Funny how he forgot to include the whole story.And,only one district left and it Hutsonville which is no surprize.
Given Bailey’s partnership with devore and devore’s treatment of special needs students, heckling at a special ed event is not a surprize. It is right on message.
- Nearly Normal - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:50 pm:
Vax rate in McLean County was reported on Oct. 29–
Age 12-17 = 58.22
Age 18-64 = 60.03
Age 65+ = 90.71
Also from the McLean County Health Department–
Approximately 196,376 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in McLean County and 55.47% of the population are fully vaccinated. 56.93% of Illinois residents are fully vaccinated.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:51 pm:
To Erika Harold,
It’s stuff like *that*… it highlights something I’ve been saying for years about Erika Harold;
So many “smart” people did such a huge disservice to her as a potential shining star, a rising star of the GOP and on a national stage.
Had Harold saw the statehouse as a beginning, and saw that winning races was better than merely running in races, Harold would likely be somewhere in the discussions of today, maybe even “outlasting” Raunerism and staying away from Trumpisms too.
Why this lede? Where the ILGOP, and the Profts, Tillmans, the “counter GOPers” failed most in trying to take the brand, first with Rauner, then in spite of Rauner, is the lack of understanding really talented folks who can make a difference, and putting them in places to succeed.
Harold hasn’t changed.
The party… even those she listened to so foolishly… has changed
If you think it’s eye opening to Harold, it’s actually example 4,277 that the party in Illinois, and nationally, has changed, and it’s the conspiracy theorist here with Covid-19 that shows with a hot light where Harold is exactly who she has always been, and now the same who celebrated her might likely vilify her.
Much respect to Erika Harold. It’s so much more that the truth going on with her thoughts, it’s her character.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:58 pm:
Shouting down special needs kids…for the freedom.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 12:59 pm:
==DeVore gets it wrong==
No offense, but how does that rate a headline? Seems par for the course.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 1:12 pm:
===No offense, but how does that rate a headline?===
Trolling Facebookers. lol
- Jocko - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 1:23 pm:
==the plaintiffs failed to show that the government orders were irrational or outrageous==
That’s a nice way of saying they never had a case to begin with.
- Amalia - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 2:10 pm:
Burbank brood of terrible people.
- Club J - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 2:14 pm:
Speaking of DeVore getting it wrong. Usually when that happens it triggers him to a Facebook Live on another subject. This way he can pull his followers away from his missed target. So this morning once again he went after the Right of Conscience Act. The Governor had all this done last week to bully everyone and confuse the good people out there. Not just to take the test, but get the shot. It’s all a “shill” game and isn’t worth the paper it’s typed on.
The courts go by what the legislature meant when the law was written not what this little recommendation that’s not even good until June. Then he said in his opinion anyone who has been fired from their job has a good fight using that law. Check with another Attorney he said, but that’s my opinion.
Listening to him is like. Who’s on first?
Was everything but for the low cost of $5595.00 out the door.
- clec dcn - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 3:34 pm:
I read the article on having a goal. This makes sense and it really has to be as far as possible away from the politics of party. Is is possible to have a group of doctors and medical specialist that can work independent of news? Just looking at it the numbers suggest elderly keeping well is the best strategy. They take up hospital space and resources because the risk. I don’t see kids in general are a problem although the exceptions will always be around. Level headed thinking by real doctors with nothing to gain but better outcomes. Have goals and free information from all countries. I know the CDC is supposed to be this but is it? I cannot say.
- Rudy’s teeth - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 3:57 pm:
Just checked the test positivity rate for Illinois—2.3 %. Our neighboring state—Indiana—has a rate of 7.4%. So DeVore and all his acolytes should follow science instead of nonsense.
- Demoralized - Monday, Nov 1, 21 @ 4:32 pm:
==DeVore and all his acolytes should follow science instead of nonsense==
Good luck with that. They have been unwilling to do so up to now. They want people to be able to do whatever it is they want and to hell with the consequences. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. They’ve shown their true character and it isn’t pretty.