 All healthcare workers, including nursing home
employees, all pre-k-12 teachers and staff, as well as higher
education personnel and students will now be required to receive the
COVID-19 vaccine. Employees in all of these settings and higher
education students who are unable or unwilling to receive the
vaccine will be required to get tested for COVID-19 at least once
per week, and DPH and ISBE may require increased testing in certain
situations.
The Governor and Dr. Ezike also announced a statewide indoor mask
mandate for all Illinois residents, regardless of vaccination
status, as COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates continue to
increase. The masking requirements are effective Monday, August
30th.
The public health requirements come as regions with low vaccination
rates continue to see a surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations. In IDPH
region 5, Southern Illinois, with the lowest vaccination rate in the
state at 44 percent, only 3% of ICU beds are available as the region
experiences the highest case rate in the state. Since August 1st,
local health departments across the state have reported 27 COVID-19
outbreaks at schools and currently hundreds of schools are being
monitored for potential COVID-19 exposures.
“The quick spread of this disease in Illinois and across the country
is holding us all back from the post-pandemic life we so desperately
want to embrace, and it’s harming the most vulnerable among us,”
said Governor JB Pritzker. “We are running out of time as our
hospitals run out of beds. Vaccination remains our strongest tool to
protect ourselves and our loved ones, to restore post-pandemic life
to our communities, and most crucially, to maintain our healthcare
system’s ability to care for anyone who walks through their doors in
need of help – and Illinois is taking action to keep our communities
safe.”
“Unlike the wave of COVID-19 we saw earlier this Spring, we’re now
seeing our hospital resources stretched thin with some areas of
Illinois reduced to only a handful of available ICU beds,” said IDPH
Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “The vast majority of hospitalizations, as
well as cases and deaths, are among those who are unvaccinated. This
has become a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We have safe, proven, and
effective tools to turn the tide and end this pandemic. But until
more people are vaccinated, masks are the order of the day and will
help us slow the spread of the virus.”
COVID-19 Vaccination
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pritzker
administration has implemented policies and guidelines in accordance
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to slow
the spread of the virus and protect the health and safety of
residents. With the Delta variant causing a rapid increase in
infection rates across the state and nation and downstate hospitals
in Illinois approaching capacity for hospital and ICU beds,
employees in high risk settings will now be required to receive the
vaccine or be subject to routine testing. Earlier this month, the
administration announced that employees at all State-run congregate
facilities would be required to be vaccinated.
To lower the number of breakthrough cases that require hospital
admission, the majority of whom are 65 and over or immunocompromised,
all healthcare workers, including workers at public and private
nursing homes, must get vaccinated. Teachers and staff at pre-k-12
schools as well as personnel and students at higher education
institutions are required to receive the vaccine. Workers and
students in applicable settings must receive the first dose of a
two-dose vaccination series or a single-dose vaccination by
September 5, 2021. Second doses of the vaccine must be received by
30 days after the first dose.
Workers who do not receive the vaccine or those who opt out for
medical reasons or based on a sincerely held religious belief must
follow a routine testing schedule to detect cases early and prevent
further spread. Testing will be required a minimum of once per week
in schools and healthcare facilities. The frequency of testing may
be required to increase in the event of positive cases.
Healthcare, school workers, and higher education personnel and
students attending in-person classes who do not provide proof of
vaccination will be prevented from entering healthcare and
educational facilities unless they follow the required testing
protocol.
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 The COVID-19 vaccine has been available for
healthcare and nursing home workers since December 15, 2020, and
open to teachers since January 25, 2021. To increase ease of access
for all residents, the Pritzker administration established 25 mass
vaccination sites across the state that were run by members of the
Illinois National Guard (ILNG) who administered 1,869,755 shots to
residents across the state. Additionally, teams of ILNG members
supported over 800 mobile vaccination clinics across the state on
top of an additional 1,705 state-supported mobile sites that focused
on communities hardest hit by the pandemic, young residents, and
rural communities.
The administration also launched vaccination clinics in communities
experiencing high case rates. Clinics were set up in central
locations within communities including schools and houses of worship
and were also present at community events and, most recently, the
Illinois State Fair and upcoming Du Quoin Fair.
Building on these efforts to make access to the COVID-19 vaccine
equitable and easy, the administration has offered support to every
school district in the State in the form of free mobile vaccination
events. So far, the administration has hosted 138 school-focused
event with another 163 scheduled for the coming days and weeks.
Mask Requirement
To slow the spread of the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta
variant, all Illinois residents over the age of two will be required
to wear a mask in all indoor settings, effective Monday, August
30th. The requirement is applicable to both vaccinated and
unvaccinated residents statewide. Countless studies have
demonstrated the efficacy of masks at preventing the spread of
COVID-19, with the CDC identifying at least 10 that confirm the
benefit of universal masking via community level analyses –
including two U.S. states – in addition to observational, economic,
epidemiological, and cross-sectional survey studies. A small
sampling can be found below:
“Community Use
of Face Masks And COVID-19: Evidence From A Natural Experiment of
State Mandates In The US” found an estimated overall initial
daily decline in new diagnoses of 0.9% grew to 2.0% at 21 days
following mandates.
“Trends
in County-Level COVID-19 Incidence in Counties With and Without a
Mask Mandate — Kansas, June 1–August 23, 2020” studied a Kansas
executive order requiring mask wearing in public spaces from which
county authorities could opt out. The estimated case rate per
100,000 decreased by 0.08 in counties with mask mandates but
increased by .11 in those without.
“Association
of Country-wide Coronavirus Mortality with Demographics, Testing,
Lockdowns, and Public Wearing of Masks” evaluated 169 countries
on per-capita mortality on potential predictors including age,
gender, obesity prevalence, temperature, urbanization, smoking,
duration of the outbreak, lockdowns, viral testing, contact-tracing
policies, and public mask-wearing norms and policies. Duration of
mask wearing by the public was negatively associated with per-capita
mortality from COVID-19.
While face coverings are not required outdoors, masks are strongly
encouraged in crowded outdoor settings like festivals and concerts
as well as for activities that require close contact with people who
are not vaccinated.
These latest vaccine, testing, and mask requirements are a floor in
the state’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Employers,
schools, and other organizations can take additional health and
safety steps to help bring an end to the ongoing pandemic. Governor
Pritzker previously announced more stringent requirements regarding
vaccination and testing for state employees at state run 24-7
congregate living facilities to protect the state’s most vulnerable
residents. Leaders in the private sector are encouraged to follow
suit.
Vaccination is the key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and returning
to normal life. All Illinois residents over the age of 12 are
eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at no cost and proof of
immigration status is not required to receive the vaccine. To find a
vaccination center near you, go to
https://www.
vaccines.gov/
[Attribution] |
