* NBC 5 story on Gov. Pritzker talking about the mask mandate today…
“We look at the numbers, I talk to the doctors at IDPH, especially [IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike], and what we’re trying to evaluate is: are the hospitalization numbers, for example, increasing, decreasing, staying the same?” Pritzker said. “We want them to decrease. They’re not currently, just to be clear.”
Pritzker noted the new hospitalizations remain flat across the state.
“That is not a good sign,” he said. “That’s not what’s happened in previous dips from surges. We went down for a while here, but now we’ve leveled out at a level that is much higher than the summer. And so the question is, is that just a temporary situation? Are we going to start heading downward in those numbers?” […]
“The second, of course, is the the number of vaccinations,” Pritzker said. “You know, just watching, are we actually protecting people more and more? Are they getting their first shots? Are people getting vaccinated and are boosters widespread, particularly among older people? Because that’s where we’ve seen breakthrough, you know, disease has sometimes taken lives at a higher rate than in other age groups. And so we want to make sure that boosters are getting out there, especially to seniors in long-term care facilities or a nursing home. So this is all in the mix of consideration.”
He then said this…
Most importantly, of course, just overall, if hospitalizations are heading downward, if the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 is heading downward, that’s a really good sign. It means that we’re, getting more and more optimistic about removing indoor mask mandates outside of the schools.
“Outside of the schools.” He’s apparently not giving in on that one.
* OK, the last time Pritzker lifted the mask mandate was on May 17 [for vaccinated people following CDC guidelines] and then on June 11 [for everyone]. Hospitalizations on May 17 were 1,503, down from a peak of 2,160 on April 16. They were at 784 on June 11. Hospitalizations continued to fall, bottoming out at 400 on July 2nd.
Then the delta variant started spreading and hospitalizations began rising again in late July and early August. Pritzker reimposed the mask mandate on August 27th.
Hospitalizations peaked at 2,346 on September 9. They were at 1,274 yesterday, which is lower than when Pritzker lifted the mask mandate [for vaxed people] in May, but well above the June 11 number. Pritzker’s right that the indicator has plateaued for the past couple of weeks or so.
As far as vaccines go, we hit a seven-day average low of about 19,000 vaxes per day in mid-September. Aside from a brief dip, that average is now up to about 60,000 per day, but I’m guessing lots of those are boosters. IDPH doesn’t break down its daily totals into categories of who’s getting what.
Anyway, get your shots, people. According to IDPH, just 0.035 percent of the state’s fully vaccinated population has wound up in the hospital. It’s your best bet.
* Meanwhile, one of Tom DeVore’s TROs has been dissolved…
November 2, 2021 COVID Update from our Superintendent stating the reinstatement of mask requirement at the Hillsboro Community Schools starting tomorrow, November 3, 2021.
Posted by Hillsboro Community School District No. 3 on Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Masks work.
- Blue Dog - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 2:45 pm:
Its looking more and more like the two most popular vaccines are going to require boosters now and in the future. Looks like this mask thing is permanent.
- DuPage Moderate - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 2:54 pm:
Permanent Masking seems to be the only pathway for Illinois and California. Yep, I’m three shots in with a lifetime more to come. Im good with the shots, but I’m done with the masks everywhere but for trains and planes. Our rates are no better than all the unmasked states - worn the way we wear them - no sure they do work.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 2:55 pm:
==Looks like this mask thing is permanent==
Nobody anywhere has ever said masks are permanent. We don’t just snap our fingers and the pandemic ends. It’s a process and right now masks are part of that process.
- mzmmzm - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 2:57 pm:
If the mask mandate works so well and it’s so important to keep it in place then why has everything plateaued?
- GA Watcher - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:00 pm:
Here are the statewide metrics IDPH posted on its website today: Percent Average ICU Bed Availability: 19 % (has held steady for 3 days); Daily Mortality: 25 (up from 15 on Monday); Daily Cases 2,382 (up from 1,585 on Monday).
- Benjamin - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:01 pm:
I don’t think masks will be permanent, but it is dependent on the pandemic ending and the odds of being exposed COVID-19 in an enclosed space falling dramatically. Unfortunately, there’s no hard and fast definintion of what those metrics look like; the best we can say at the moment is “lower than this.”
- skutt - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:03 pm:
I love how people are complaining that because it is still in place that it will always be in place when currently 99% of the state is still in high or substantial transmission status as per the CDC and cases have stopped falling. Obviously it will be removed as that changes, coming out of the pandemic takes time, as the popular tik tok meme of a few months ago states ‘the pandemic isn’t over just because you’re over it’.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:06 pm:
It’s not a hard infection numbers game anymore as much as it is a vaccination game. The number of COVID infections means less if it’s happening in a population that’s 90% vaccinated versus in a population that’s 60% vaccinated.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:12 pm:
Mask mandates will not be permanent, but I do believe we should hold off for awhile before lifting them. We’ve loosened up restrictions several times already and see another surge. In addition, we’ve seen more dangerous variants. I think we should lift when we have met a high level of vaccinations among the populace and have low cases for a reasonable length of time to assess whether we’ve attained herd immunity. The problem is that we still have one party hampering mitigation efforts and spreading lies to whip up fears and incite the freedumb folks. The other party is beginning to falter in its resolve for fear for their election efforts.
- Club J - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:33 pm:
If my memory serves me right the Hillsboro School District is the example DeVore uses to show that there’s no reason to have a mask mandate. He shows how they have progressed since the TRO to lower their cases without masks. Interesting information today.
Facebook Live tonight on how this fits into his larger plan to conquer the State.
- Nanis - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:35 pm:
At some point, and I know this is a bit harsh, we just need to let people die. If science says you’re less likely to die from COVID-19 if you get vaxxed and you don’t… I mean.. at some point, personal responsibility has to be part of the equation. Why would taxpayers who are vaxxed, be required to pay for medical bills for people who refuse? If you refuse the shot and are on government healthcare, why should taxpayers foot the bill for your personal stance? Your body, your choice right? Draconian - perhaps, but at some point, we need to be realistic.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 3:48 pm:
“Wah wah, masks indoors are tyranny!”
This crybaby routine isn’t getting any more fun to listen to after 20 months of it. My kid isn’t vaccinated yet so I don’t care about your victim complex over a palty inconvenience.
I’ll still be triggering all you babies after the mandates are over with my masked up face. Do the best you can to survive this emotional terrorism.
- 1st Ward - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:11 pm:
The only reason why the mask mandate is still in place is because he doesn’t want to reinstate it during an election year. It makes no sense for him to cite breakthrough cases either when per IDPH ” just 0.035 percent of the state’s fully vaccinated population has wound up in the hospital”. The goal was to not overrun the hospitals not covid zero.
- mzmmzm - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:21 pm:
@Larry Bowa Jr
You realize “it’s a piece of cloth, what’s the big deal”? is nonsense?
The constant lying and goalpost moving from our elected officials is only giving unlimited ammo to the conservative conspiracies about government control and completely eroding the public trust in them. How do people not understand that?
- mzmmzm - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:22 pm:
It truly has turned into “Two more seasons to stop the spread”
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:28 pm:
It’s truly amazing that the Spanish Flu pandemic, measured from beginning to “end” took 2 years.
The microwave attention span and the unrealistic idea that a pandemic is on a timetable of our choosing as others refuse to comply… it’s almost like children not grasping that the sooner we do what they seem to be “taking away freedom”, the sooner the before times ways can be at full throttle.
The embarrassingly sad “people die, so let them” ideal isn’t a smart “survivalist” thought, but one of people callous to people most vulnerable.
Get the shots. Follow safety. When doctors decide masks are no longer necessary for surgery than talk about how masks don’t work.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:42 pm:
=At some point, and I know this is a bit harsh, we just need to let people die.=
I know a guy that’s been in the hospital now for close to 90 days. If he’s lucky enough to make it out he’ll have long term conditions that will require a lifetime of care. He made the choice not to get vaccinated but the consequences of that decision have to be dealt with by a strained health care system. And financially the rest of us will have to shoulder the cost through higher insurance premiums. So while I might agree with your basic premise, I also know that as a society we’ll pay a heavy price as well.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:42 pm:
I should not have categorized the 1918 Flu Pandemic as I did with the adjective term used.
It was wrong. If I took a moment to think on my thoughts I wouldn’t had used it, but I did. Apologies.
- Jibba - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:48 pm:
===You realize “it’s a piece of cloth, what’s the big deal”? is nonsense?===
No, I don’t. Perhaps you can explain.
===How do people not understand that?===
Perhaps because it is nonsense. Or more realistically, even if feelings get hurt, it is necessary. Do you talk to your friends about their how their conspiracies are nonsense?
===If the mask mandate works so well===
They help when followed. When knuckleheads do their best to subvert them, then they are less effective. How do you not understand that?
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 4:59 pm:
Umm, that last “Demoralized” comment was not me. So whoever you are knock it off.
- The Dude Abides - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 5:21 pm:
Norseman pretty much nailed it with his post. We’ll have another surge and the hospital ICU’s will begin filling up with unvaccinated people and a lot of the unvaccinated patients in ICU will say they wish they had gotten vaccinated.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 5:30 pm:
The virus is in charge.
The virus was put in charge by the people who refuse to get vaccinated, refuse to wear masks, refuse to socially distance or even act mildly socially responible.
If we allow the virus to spread the way it was allowed to spread in Florida this summer, we will see another 7000 deaths in Illinois over the next four months.
55 deahs per 100,000 is the difference between the COVID mortality rate in FL and IL.
I don’t want to wear a mask forever. But I’ll wear a mask in public for as long as its necessary if it will save 7000 lives,
Some people might not feel they have the fortitude, and I get that. Maybe it is the hardest thing you’ve had to do in your life, and if that’s true you’re pretty lucky.
But I can assure you that somewhere in the not-to-distance past, you will find an ancestor of yours whose life story of struggle and eventual triumph makes our current circumstance seem a temporary inconvience at best. That common thread is found in the story of every family I have met, it is the social DNA of our nation. It is there, it is our inheritance, have faith that it is there, and draw strength from that faith, and don’t carelessly toss away that they struggled so hard to pass forward.
- Anyone Remember - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 7:06 pm:
===Im good with the shots, but I’m done with the masks everywhere but for trains and planes.===
Sorry, masks should be worn in ANY energy efficient building … paging CMS! Paging Ed Bedore!
- Suburban Mom - Tuesday, Nov 2, 21 @ 7:47 pm:
All you pro-lifers who are bored of masks and want to stop wearing them WHILE CHILDREN UNDER 12 REMAIN UNVACCINATED are telling on yourselves. We always knew you didn’t care what happened to babies once they were born, but it’s really freaking blatant when your message is “people who want to be vaccinated are already vaccinated, and only the unvaxxed are getting sick.” Children aren’t people?
I mean, I know you think that, but it’s just so unusual to hear the quiet part loud. It’s shocking how people claiming to be pro-life and pro-family can’t suffer a minor inconvenience for a few more months to save children’s lives. We know where you stand, and it isn’t with babies. It isn’t with children. And it isn’t with mothers.
- Peanut - Wednesday, Nov 3, 21 @ 8:36 am:
Even if the kids under 12 get vaccinated this is not for the babies under 5. So infants are still at risk from unvaccinated and all not wearing masks.