* We’ve seen a 19.8 percent reduction in hospitalizations since last Friday, a 29.4 percent drop in ICU usage, a 33.8 percent fall in ventilator patients and a 45.2 percent decrease in deaths, exactly as it should be as this spike continues to peter out…

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 8,519 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including an increase of 149 deaths since March 4, 2022.

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 3,045,718 cases, including 33,075 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since March 4, 2022, laboratories have reported 642,494 specimens for a total of 55,731,994. As of last night, 676 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 108 patients were in the ICU and 51 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 4-10, 2022 is 1.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 4-10, 2022 is 1.5%.

A total of 21,217,198 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 9,522 doses. Since March 4, 2022, 66,654 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Of Illinois’ total population, more than 76% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, more than 67% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated, and more than 49% boosted according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All data are provisional and will change. Additional information and COVID-19 data can be found at https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19.html.

Vaccination is the key to ending this pandemic. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.

* Press release…

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced that expiration dates for driver’s licenses, ID cards and learner’s permits are being extended until July 31, 2022. The previous extension was set to end on March 31, 2022. As a result, expired driver’s licenses, ID cards and learner’s permits will remain valid until July 31, 2022, so customers do not need to rush into Driver Services facilities, especially during inclement weather. This extension does not apply to commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) and CDL learner’s permits.

White’s office has expanded online renewals for expired driver’s licenses and ID cards and continues to mail letters to eligible customers. The letter provides driver’s license and ID card holders with a unique PIN needed to renew online instead of visiting a facility and waiting in line. Customers may call 217-785-1424 to confirm their eligibility for online renewal or to obtain their PIN.

Customers who must visit a facility include first-time driver’s license or ID card applicants, first-time REAL ID applicants and drivers ages 75 and older who are required by state law to visit a facility when renewing their license.

White continues to encourage people to conduct other business online at ilsos.gov. In addition to driver’s license and ID card renewals for those who qualify, online services include obtaining a duplicate driver’s license or ID card, ordering a driver record and purchasing license plate stickers.

White noted his office is also extending the expiration dates of Restricted Driving Permits (RDPs) to July 31, 2022 for those that expired on or after December 1, 2021 through July 30, 2022.

As a reminder, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has extended the federal REAL ID deadline to May 3, 2023.

* More…

* COVID pandemic death toll may be 3 times higher than official tally, new study finds: Two years after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, new research suggests around 18.2 million people have died worldwide as a result. That toll is more than three times higher than the WHO’s tally of nearly 6 million officially reported COVID-19 deaths through the end of 2021. Some 1.13 million Americans have died due to the pandemic, the researchers estimate. By comparison, the current total of reported COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. stands at around 960,000.

* How the Pandemic Has Shaped Babies’ Development: Researchers are particularly worried about the effects of prenatal parental stress in the earlier stages of pregnancy, which is known to cause lower birth weights and other problems. A study from Columbia University Irving Medical Center found that babies born during the pandemic scored lower on tests of gross-motor, fine-motor, and social skills at six months compared with babies born earlier. The largest effects were found in mothers in New York City who were in their first trimester early in the pandemic—when case rates were rising precipitously and uncertainty was at its highest. (In utero COVID infections had no effects.) Of course, only so much can be gleaned when babies are so young, and increased risk doesn’t tell us what will happen in the future; delays caught early can be headed off with intervention.

* Our Brains Want the Story of the Pandemic to Be Something It Isn’t: From the beginning, a narrative that many people latched on to was, as Fletcher described it to me, one of interruption. “What if you were watching a movie [at a theater] and someone got up in front of you and started having an argument with his partner on his cellphone? I think that’s really what’s happened—the virus is [that] guy,” he said. “I think we’re impatient and angry with it because it’s disrupting what we think is our real story.” Fletcher said that this idea—that we’ve been deprived of the life story we wanted to be living—stresses us out because it implies a loss of authorship over our personal narrative.

* A ‘mysterious’ health care system helps Reditus and others make big money on COVID tests

* ‘We are losing good teachers and staff every single day’: Report reiterates pandemic shortages