CHICAGO — More than 50,000 coronavirus vaccine doses were administered during the past day in Illinois.
Illinois and Chicago moved into Phase 5 of reopening Friday, lifting capacity restrictions at all businesses and events. All people still need to wear masks in certain places — including schools, health care facilities and on public transit — but fully vaccinated people don’t need masks in most settings. Unvaccinated people should still wear masks in most public settings, officials have said.
The move was made as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have plunged and more people have gotten vaccinated.
New:
• People are “yarn bombing” The 606 to brighten neighbors’ day after the hard pandemic year.
• Beloved street festivals are making a comeback as the world reopens. Among them: Apple Fest in Lincoln Square.
• A memorial is being created at Loyola Beach’s sea wall to honor victims of COVID-19.
• Water fountains and public outdoor pools are returning.
Vaccinations:
• In Illinois, about 5.8 million people of all ages — or 45.89 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — have gotten all their COVID-19 vaccination shots, according to state data.
• Across the state, 44,427 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.
• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 12,070,091 vaccine doses of the 14,000,425 provided to them.
• City data shows more than 1.26 million Chicagoans — or 46.9 percent of all residents — have gotten fully vaccinated. About 53.8 percent of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot.
COVID-19 vaccinations are free and do not require insurance. Anyone can call the city’s coronavirus hotline at 312-746-4835 to get more information on how and where to get vaccinated in their community.
The numbers:
• Twenty-one Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19 during the past day.
• At least 23,104 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 2,427 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.
• The state reported 352 cases since Tuesday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 1,388,338.
• In the past 24 hours, 43,926 tests were reported statewide. In all, 25,271,173 tests have been reported in Illinois.
• As of Tuesday night, 156 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 72 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.
• In Chicago, no deaths were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 5,444 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of five deaths per day, unchanged from the week prior.
• Chicago has had 71 confirmed cases reported since Tuesday. It’s had a total of 285,463 confirmed cases. An average of 62 confirmed cases are being reported per day, a 26 percent decrease from the previous week.
• At the same time, testing has increased 18 percent since a week ago.
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