CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Illinois Department of Public Health on Sunday reported 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, including 115 additional virus-related deaths. Since the pandemic’s start, Illinois has a total of 848,904 cases, including 14,291 deaths.
A man and a woman, each in their 20s, are among the 28 people who reportedly died from the virus on Sunday in Cook County.
IDPH has reported that 63,648 coronavirus tests have been administered over the past 24 hours, bringing the total administered tests to1 1,776,832.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from Dec. 6 through Dec. 12 is 9.1%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Dec. 6 through Dec. 12 is 10.6%.
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Chicago area healthcare professionals are preparing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which is on its way.
“We anticipate vaccinating hundreds a day. So we would hope that — it’s critical that we actually keep pace. This is a rather intricate type of process where the vaccine needs to maintained in ultra-cold storage,” Dr. Gregory Huhn, an infectious disease physician with Cook County Health who is responsible for coordinating the vaccine rollout at Stroger Hospital, told CBS 2.
The Pfizer vaccine was approved late Friday and rolled out of a manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday.
The vaccines, which were packed in dry ice, will go from the Pfizer manufacturing facility to UPS and FedEx hubs before heading out to 636 locations nationwide this week. The first shipments were set to arrive at 145 distribution centers Monday and another 425 sites on Tuesday. The final 66 sites will receive it on Wednesday.
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About 3 million doses are expected to be delivered initially, with priority going to health care workers and nursing home residents—those among the most at risk of catching the virus, which has infected about 16 million people and killed nearly 300,000 in the U.S.
Illinois will receive 109,000 doses of the vaccine, with 23,000 going to the city of Chicago and 86,000 for the rest of the state.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he expects the first doses of the vaccine to arrive in the state this week with the first phase of distribution possibly occurring from Dec. 20 through Dec. 26.