Covid-19 Cases Still High in Illinois, but Nearly 1 in 4 Now “Fully” Vaccinated

Tim Vander Tuuk, WLIP News (4-17-21)

(Chicago, IL) Coronavirus cases continued to be high in Illinois on Thursday. The state announced just under 36-hundred new cases, and 40 fatalities, the highest number since March 11th. Of those, 133 cases were reported in Lake County with one death. Metrics in the Lake and McHenry County area, known as Region 9, either flattened out, or dropped, which could be an encouraging sign, along with ramped up vaccinations. The area saw Covid-linked hospital admissions and ICU number stay flat, while positivity dropped three-tenths to 4.4%….though that is skewed by McHenry County’s 9.1% rate, compared to 3.3 in Lake County.

Illinois health officials say over 3-million state residents are now considered fully vaccinated. That number, which is officially, 3,093,820, represents just under a quarter of the state. In total, some 7.6-million doses have been administered, even with the pause in the Johnson & Johnson shot. Locally, over 152-thousand people are considered fully vaccinated, or about 21.8% of the county population.