Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday charted a new course for reopening Illinois after more than a year of coronavirus restrictions, laying out a more gradual resumption of business activity and clearing the way for all residents 16 and older outside Chicago to get a COVID-19 vaccination beginning April 12.
The new date puts Illinois ahead of President Joe Biden’s May 1 deadline for states to expand eligibility and comes as the state is receiving increasing shipments of vaccine from the federal government.
It remains to be seen whether Chicago and other local health departments will follow the state’s lead in expanding vaccine access.
Pritzker’s revised reopening plan adds metrics on vaccinations and does away with the regional approach that’s been in place since his initial blueprint in May.
The plan increases capacity limits immediately for some venues, such as large theaters, while creating an intermediate step where a wide range of businesses will be able to accommodate more customers ahead of a full-scale reopening.
“It’s truly amazing to be at this point in our pandemic response if you think back just a few months ago,” Pritzker said during a news conference at the Thompson Center.
More accurate projections of future vaccine supplies allow Illinois to expand eligibility, Pritzker said, but he continued to plead for patience from those trying to book an appointment.
“If everyone tried to get vaccinated on the same day, it just couldn’t be done,” the governor said. “Nevertheless, by mid-April, we will be at a point where dividing up the population into phases won’t make sense with the ever-increasing supplies that we expect to see.”
Right now, everyone 65 and over, those 16 and over with specific health conditions and certain essential workers are eligible for shots. The state plans to expand to other segments even before the doors are open to all adults next month, Pritzker said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office said in a statement that the city, which receives its own vaccine supply is “hopeful” it can expand eligibility to all residents “relatively soon,” but that’s contingent on how many doses it receives.
“We have established a comprehensive and efficient vaccine distribution system and will be ready when vaccine supply increases, and if that happens sooner than expected it’s possible we could adjust our timeline,” the mayor’s office said. For now, the city “will continue to prioritize essential workers and seniors,” the mayor’s office said.
The city earlier this week expanded vaccine eligibility on March 29 to people with certain preexisting medical conditions and to front-line workers in more “essential” industries.
The city also said it will release updated guidelines for businesses next week. Cities and counties are allowed to set rules stricter than the state requirements, which Chicago has done in some instances.
Dr. Rachel Rubin, co-lead of the Cook County Department of Public Health said her team has not yet decided whether to follow Pritzker on expanding vaccine eligibility to all residents 16 or older by April 12.
“It really depends on our metrics,” Rubin said. “We certainly wouldn’t proceed faster than what the state is suggesting, and we hope to be in lockstep with the state.”
Rubin said the county will also plan to loosen restrictions on businesses, “but it might be a little more gradually than the state might initially recommend.”
The state is in the fourth phase of Pritzker’s reopening plan, which had called for what essentially would be a return to normal once a vaccine was widely available. The new plan will move the state toward a full reopening more gradually, with tweaks to the measurements used to determine when to move forward.
The plan includes a “bridge” phase for further expanding capacity limits that will start when 70% of residents 65 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine. As of Thursday morning, 58% of that age group had received at least one dose, Pritzker said.
The fifth and final phase, when large crowds and other pre-pandemic elements of normal life are allowed, will begin when 50% of everyone 16 and over has received at least one dose of the vaccine. That number is now at 28%, Pritzker said.
In addition to the vaccination requirement, a 28-day monitoring period during the bridge phase will be required before full reopening.
Mask requirements will remain in place until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends lifting them, Pritzker said.
“We’re in the 25th mile of this marathon, but we will stay motivated and we will keep going because of the finish line is in sight,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said.
Pritzker is making a few immediate changes to his coronavirus restrictions. Those include allowing outdoor festivals and general admission events to open with capacity limits and permitting larger indoor theaters and performing arts venues to seat people at up to 25% of normal capacity, without the 50-person limit set for smaller venues.
Large conference rooms and convention spaces can now have gatherings of up to 250 people or 25% of capacity, whichever is fewer.
In another change, people who got their final vaccine dose 14 days earlier or who have had a negative coronavirus test within three days of an event do not count against capacity limits.
The restrictions would be further loosened in the bridge phase, when businesses in a wide range of categories, from restaurants to retailers to offices, would be permitted to operate at 60% capacity.
Once the state reaches the final phase, all capacity limits would be lifted.
The modified plan, which Pritzker said was created with input from industry leaders, received praise from a range of business organizations, including some that have been at odds with the governor at times during the pandemic.
Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, called Pritzker’s new plan “a step in the right direction.” The group has been pushing since last summer to allow larger events to help bring business to hotel ballrooms and meetings spaces.
“We appreciate him understanding the need for a road map to allow hotels and convention centers to hold larger meetings and events,” Jacobson said in a statement. “This underscores the importance of providing clarity to event planners, (and) supports our shared goal of getting people back to work safely.”
The state could move backward, however, if downward trends in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths reverse, the state said.
State health officials on Thursday reported the state administered 91,684 coronavirus vaccine doses Wednesday, reaching a statewide total of 4,375,171 and an average of 99,210 vaccines administered daily over the last seven days.
The number of residents who have been fully vaccinated — receiving both of the required two shots, or Johnson and Johnson’s one shot — reached 1,645,032, or 12.91% of the total population.
Also Thursday, the governor’s office announced that this week Illinois National Guard members will be deployed to the Lake County Fairgrounds to assist with vaccination efforts, and a mobile vaccination team will assist communities identified by the McHenry County Health Department.
As of Wednesday, approximately 75 National Guard teams and 1,380 service members have been deployed to assist with COVID-19 response statewide.
Officials reported 2,325 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 34 additional fatalities on Thursday. The total number of known infections in Illinois since the start of the pandemic is 1,216,090, and the statewide death toll is 21,022. The state has averaged 1,669 new cases and 23 deaths per day over the past week, down from an average of 1,836 daily cases and 41 deaths a month ago.
Health officials also reported five additional cases of the coronavirus variant that originated in the United Kingdom for a total of 125, and three additional cases of the Brazilian variant for a total of five. Officials previously identified three cases of the variant that originated in South Africa.
“While we’re racing against a tough clock — the new, more dangerous variants, that is — it is fully in our power to turn the page on this dark and devastating chapter,” Pritzker said.
A major test for Pritzker’s plan will be whether the increasing vaccine supply will be able to keep with the demand or if people continue to be frustrated in their try to find their shot.
Though Illinois expanded vaccine eligibility to people under 65 with certain health conditions Feb. 25, many Chicago-area health departments and hospitals are not yet vaccinating people in that group, saying they’re still focusing on seniors and essential workers because of limited vaccine supply.
Illinois residents under 65 with health conditions have been left to hunt for shots mostly at retail pharmacies, including Walgreens, which has more than 500 stores offering vaccines in the state. Walgreens follows federal, state and local eligibility guidelines when giving vaccines, said Kris Lathan, a Walgreens spokeswoman, in an email
There’s also likely to be frustration among Chicagoans as more people outside the city become eligible.
The city’s requirements for those with health conditions applies to residents 16 and older, and will follow the Illinois Department of Public Health’s guidelines, which include cancer, lung disease, heart conditions and other ailments that put individuals at greater risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19.
Unlike the rest of the state, however, Chicago will not include smokers in that category and will expand to additional conditions such as HIV/AIDS, liver disease and schizophrenia. Essential jobs will be defined as industries such as restaurants, construction, finance, media and other categories.
The process of vaccinating those who become eligible March 29 is expected to take at least two months and will likely see some of the same scramble for limited appointments that Chicagoans in the previous stages have weathered, Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said.
Still, she said, the city expects its vaccine supply to increase over time and believes it will have enough to broaden vaccine eligibility.
Lightfoot made the announcement as city officials continued a push to get seniors vaccinated and eligibility for shots at the United Center remains restricted to people in ZIP codes hit hard by the coronavirus.
Chicago Tribune’s Lisa Schencker contributed.
