COVID-19 in Illinois: Health officials say hospitalizations, deaths on the rise as holidays approach

CHICAGO - With cases of COVID-19 on the rise in Chicago and the suburbs, public health officials, on Friday, issued a stark warning about the holidays.

Since ICU beds are in short supply and COVID-related deaths are increasing, officials are urging the public to ‘think twice’ when it comes to holiday get-togethers.

"This is setting up to be a very deadly COVID Christmas and New Year," said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Illinois Department of Public Health Director.

Both state and local doctors say they are seeing an alarming rise is COVID cases and hospitalizations. In Cook County, ICU availability is down to 11 percent; in other parts of the state, like Will County, it's as low as 7 percent.

"Hospital bed availability has reached a critically low level. Demand on resources is high and wait times in the local emergency departments are very long," said Ezike. "This is an ongoing problem we have seen since the summer – since the beginning of the Delta surge – and it doesn’t look like we are going to have a reprieve over the holidays."

Ezike is urging people to continue taking COVID precautions, especially with Christmas just days away.

"Our key message here continues to be get the vaccine, and if vaccinated and eligible, get the booster," said Ezike. "However, we are also urging the public to use primary care providers, walk-in clinics, and urgent care facilities for non-emergency needs, so that the emergency departments remain available for real emergency situations."

Meanwhile, Cook County health officials say the Delta variant remains the predominant strain, but warn cases of the Omicron variant are surging – especially in the suburbs.

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Now, they are asking businesses to help slow the spread by urging them to "require patrons to be fully vaccinated for entry, and/or provide proof of a negative COVID test within 24 hours of entry."

Despite officials calling for heightened mitigation efforts – Ezike, on Friday, said the possibility of another lockdown is unlikely.

"There are no plans at this time to institute additional measures similar to what we saw last year," said Ezike.

Cook County health officials are encouraging unvaccinated individuals to avoid gathering indoors with anyone outside their immediate household.

They also suggest people celebrating the holidays in groups get a COVID test two to three days before each gathering, and test again the morning of the event.

On Sunday, Dec. 19, Cook County Health will host walk-in booster shot clinics from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the following locations:

• Arlington Heights Health Center (3250 N. Arlington Heights Rd., Suite 300, Arlington Heights, IL 60004)
• North Riverside Health Center (1800 S. Harlem Ave., Suite A, North Riverside, IL 60546)
• Blue Island Health Center (12757 S. Western Ave., Blue Island, IL 60406)