UPDATED: All outside Chicago will be vaccine eligible April 12; reopening changes announced
Gov. JB Pritzker gives an update on the state's COVID-19 response Thursday from the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. He announced all of the state's residents outside of Chicago will be vaccine eligible beginning April 12, and he added a bridge phase to his reopening plan. (Credit: Illinois.gov)
‘Bridge’ phase raising capacity limits will take effect when 70% of seniors vaccinated
By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capiotlnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – All Illinoisans 16 years of age and older outside of Chicago will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations beginning April 12, and the state announced a “metric-based” phase-in to greater reopening Thursday.
The so-called “bridge phase” to reopening can begin when 70 percent of seniors 65 years of age and older have received at least their first dose of the vaccine, according to the governor. As of Thursday, that number stood at 58 percent.
It is also dependent on at least 20 percent of intensive care beds being available. Other metrics, such as COVID-like illness hospital admissions, mortality rate and case positivity rate over a 28-day monitoring period, must “hold steady.”
Gov. JB Pritzker said all regions of the state will move to the bridge phase and beyond as one, rather than individually.
“Unfortunately, COVID-19 has not gone away,” Pritzker said at a news conference in Chicago, noting the virus is still killing Illinoisans daily and safety precautions such as masking and social distancing are still necessary.
“And I'm more optimistic today than I have been at any time over the last year, and more importantly the doctors and scientists are too,” he added. “It's time to begin to cautiously move toward normalcy.”
The state also updated current Phase 4 mitigations so that anyone with proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test 1-3 days prior to an event or outing do not count against capacity limits.
The bridge phase will include higher capacity limits at places like museums, zoos and spectator events and increased business operations, according to the governor’s office.
The largest increase is to social events, which can allow 250 people indoors and 500 outdoors. Previously those were capped at 50 people.
Recreation activities are allowed with groups up to 100 or 50 percent of capacity indoors, while outdoor recreation is limited to groups of 100, with multiple groups allowed at the same site.
Ticketed recreation events are allowed to hold 60 percent of the facility’s capacity.
In the bridge phase, restaurants and bars can increase capacity from 25 percent to 30 percent, and outdoor capacity is allowed up to 50 percent for standing areas. In seating areas, parties of up to 10 are allowed to sit six feet apart.
For businesses, offices, retail stores and fitness centers, capacity will increase from 50 percent to 60 percent. Amusement parks and museums can increase from 25 percent to 60 percent. Theaters and zoos can have up to 60 percent capacity as well.
But the state can revert back to an earlier phase if it “experiences an increasing trend” in COVID-19 transmission rates and hospitalizations over a 10-day period.
If the numbers hold steady for 28 days in the bridge phase, the state must reach a 50 percent vaccination rate for residents age 16 and over in order to enter Phase 5. Currently, about 28 percent of that population is vaccinated.
The announcement came Thursday as the state’s rolling seven day average case positivity rate hit 2.4 percent, or three-tenths of a percentage point above the all-time low. As of Wednesday night, there were 1,120 individuals in Illinois hospitalized with COVID-19, including 252 in the ICU and 100 on ventilators. All of those numbers were close to pandemic lows.
“Combining these decreasing trends and cases and hospitalizations and deaths, with increasing vaccinations,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said at the news conference. “That is clearly a recipe for ending this pandemic. We cannot lose our momentum. To do this, we will continue to wear our masks.”
Masks will continue to be mandatory in the state until the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determine that they are no longer needed, the governor said.
As of Thursday, the state was averaging 99,210 vaccine doses administered daily on a seven-day rolling average. Vaccine information and locations can be found at coronavirus.illinois.gov, and Ezike noted the state has a hotline to make appointments for those without internet access at 833-621-1280.
“Deliveries continue to rise and are expected to increase by millions more this spring,” Pritzker said. “With the increased supply, Illinois is now averaging 100,000 vaccinations a day. That's about 1 percent of all adults in Illinois getting a shot each day, and I expect that number to continue to grow in the weeks ahead.”
Pritzker said the state received 109,000 doses in its first vaccine shipment in December, while this week the state received more than 800,000 doses.
“Based on current projections we expect that that number will surpass 1 million doses in April,” he said, crediting President Joe Biden’s administration.
Pritzker also said there will be “additional announcements to come” regarding other populations that will be eligible for the vaccine ahead of the April 12 expansion. Chicago, the governor said, received separate shipments from the state and can make their own determinations as to when eligibility can expand.
This story has been updated with more information from the news conference and added COVID-19 statistics.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Jerry Nowicki
Jerry has more than five years of experience in and around state government and nearly 10 years of experience in news. He grew up in south suburban Evergreen Park and received a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and a master’s degree online from Purdue University.
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