* On October 24th, hospitalizations were at 1,198. It’s been uphill ever since…

* Shaw Media…

As of late Monday, Illinois had 2,379 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, the most since February 2. Of those, 457 were in intensive care units, and 217 were on ventilators.

We hit a low this year of 340 hospitalizations on July 4th.

* Back to Shaw…

For Monday, the state administered 53,281 shots. Illinois also has administered a total of 227,873 doses to 5-11 year olds, an increase of 11,396 doses from Monday’s update. As a state, 19.11% of Illinois children 5-11 years old have received a first vaccine dose, and 1.54% have received two doses.

* Vax graph…

* Shaw…

The state received the results of 125,128 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday afternoon. The state’s positivity rate is 4.1%.

By far the highest 7-day average positivity rate is in Region 1, which is Rockford and northwest Illinois: 9.2 percent. That’s up from 7.2 percent on November 17th. Winnebago County is at 9.3 percent.

* Also, just another reason to avoid click-bait headlines…

Economic powerhouses Japan and France reported their first cases of the omicron variant Tuesday, while new findings indicated the mutant coronavirus had already slipped into Europe close to a week before South Africa sounded the alarm.

The Netherlands’ RIVM health institute disclosed that patient samples dating from Nov. 19 and 23 were found to contain the variant. It was last Wednesday, Nov. 24, that South African authorities reported the existence of the highly mutated virus to the World Health Organization.

South Africa detected the variant first because South Africa has a lot of very good scientists. Now, the country is being punished for no good reason. And wherever it started, it’s out there already.

No further omicron updates because as far as I can tell nobody really knows anything for sure yet, so just hang tight.

       

19 Comments - Anon221 - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 1:35 pm: Good site from IDPH to see how vaccinations are progressing in your area by zip code. Still amazed how little towns like Chestnut and Huntsville are at or near 100% fully vaccinated. At least for Chestnut (the geographical center of Illinois), there is no long-term care or prison that might have skewed that data. https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/vaccine/vaccination-by-zip-code.html - Joe Bidenopolous - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 1:41 pm: =South Africa detected the variant first because South Africa has a lot of very good scientists. Now, the country is being punished for no good reason. = This, all day. South Africa has one of the most advanced disease surveillance programs on the planet. And, Omicron was in Europe a week before South Africa announced it. Are we banning flights from Europe? I wonder what the difference could be… - Wensicia - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 1:47 pm: There are quite a few people buying OTC COVID-19 tests. I wonder how many results from self-testing are recorded by state health departments. Children testing positive for the virus in my school district has accelerated in the two weeks before Thanksgiving break. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 1:50 pm: ===I wonder how many results from self-testing are recorded by state health departments.=== Posted about this a couple weeks ago. Few to none is the answer. - Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 1:59 pm: Boosted today. Mixed a Moderna with a Pfizer double dose. Feeling fine. But then the first go around didn’t hit me either. Hospitalizations are what I watch more than anything. Since we always knew that vaccinated people could still get COVID the case number isn’t as important. I’d like a drill down to see what the percentage of vaccinated folks in the hospital are. That tells me the story of who’s really sick and who’s paying the price. - Anon - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:03 pm: The most astute statement ever regarding the pandemic…”as far as I can tell nobody really knows anything for sure yet” - Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:11 pm: Sangamon County numbers just came out. 35 in the hospital. Last week the number was in the teens. - OneMan - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:14 pm: Would also be curious about how testing performed in Cook County on non-residents is reported. I get tested by my Cook County-based employer multiple times a week. - truthteller - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:17 pm: the data not shown is the percentage of non-vaccinated in the make up of the hospitalization number. We all know its significant and avoidable - DuPage - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:20 pm: Just when we were thinking Covid-19 was starting to wind down, a new variant is reported. Back to the caution level that is starting to seem almost permanent as time goes on. - ChicagoVinny - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:20 pm: I boosted yesterday. Effects about the same severity as the first two, I was out of it for 24 hours then felt fine. - Pundent - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 2:45 pm: =I’d like a drill down to see what the percentage of vaccinated folks in the hospital are.= To the extent this is reported, it’s usually +/- 5% and almost always due to co-morbidities. The fact remains that healthy vaccinated people are not ending up hospitalized. - JS Mill - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 3:12 pm: An employee’s mother had, what they think is a series of strokes. They have been waiting for three days to transfer to one of the Rockford hospitals. I just heard this about 20 minutes before I read the post.Getting worse. - NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 3:18 pm: ==By far the highest 7-day average positivity rate is in Region 1, which is Rockford and northwest Illinois: 9.2 percent.== That’s the largest positivity rate in that region since January 8th. Maybe time for a return to dining and event quantity mitigations? - thoughts matter - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 3:20 pm: So Halloween happens and hospitalizations keep going up. Now Thanksgiving has happen, Christmas and cold weather around the corner. I expect hospitalizations to keep going up. As to vaccinated people in the hospital- no one ever said they wouldn’t come down with the virus or that they would not get ill with it. It was hoped and expected that the illness would not be as severe as if unvaccinated. There’s a lot of factors in play: age, overall health, co-morbidity, booster shot, variant of Covid. My parents are overdue for their booster. Which is supposedly going to happen in their assisted living center next week. I’m sure they aren’t the only group facility that hasn’t gotten their boosters done yet. - Nearly Normal - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 3:43 pm: Today, McLean County had 71 confirmed cases after yesterday announcing 383 cases since last Wednesday. The seven day rolling positivity rate was 8.3% on 11/29. Only 18 hospitalized at this time. I fear what the numbers will be next week and after as the Thanksgiving travelers show signs of illness and get tested. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 3:49 pm: ==Maybe time for a return to dining and event quantity mitigations?== That’s not happening again. You can self-impose the limits but if you’re looking for formal orders you’ll be waiting for a while. - Pundent - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 4:14 pm: =Maybe time for a return to dining and event quantity mitigations?= The goal at this point should not be to revisit pre-vaccine mitigations. That will only cause the holdouts to scream and dig in more. We need to continue to personalize the consequences of their decision. One possible approach is to limit insurance coverage for anyone who’s unvaccinated without an underlying condition that prohibits it. Alternatively insurers could charge higher premiums to the unvaccinated as they often do with Tabaco. Make it clear that “freedom” and “free” are not one in the same. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Nov 30, 21 @ 4:24 pm: ===The goal at this point should not be to revisit pre-vaccine mitigations=== The “Another lockdown?” stories are mainly from click-seekers looking to profit from fear and loathing. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.