CDC Announces New Quarantine Guidelines: The CDC today announced new quarantine guidelines for people who were exposed to COVID-19, lessening the length of time from 14 days to 10 days without symptoms or 7 days with no symptoms and a negative test.  However, the CDC still recommends 14 days, but is now offering two "acceptable alternative quarantine periods." The CDC does state, however, that state and local public health authorities determine and establish the quarantine options for their jurisdictions.

The CDC acknowledges that some people may not be able to work during quarantine time and fear that people will not abide by a 14-day quarantine time. The shorter time period is intended to encourage more people to quarantine when necessary. The CDC also acknowledged that a person leaving quarantine early could expose someone else.

Governor Pritzker Not Ready to Lessen Any Mitigations Due to Holiday Travel, Hospitalizations:  Even though the overall state’s positivity rate continues to fall, Governor Pritzker said yesterday that he is not ready to lessen any Tier 3 mitigation efforts currently in place, warning that a “surge within a surge” could come from holiday travel over the Thanksgiving Day weekend.

The daily average number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the state actually fell Nov. 24-29, to 5,944, a decline of 114, or roughly 1.9 percent, from the previous week’s average. However, these statistics are still higher than the peak of the first wave of the pandemic in early May when it stood at 4,816 of patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

As of yesterday, the state has 5,764 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Of those, 1,190 were in the ICU and 714 patients were on ventilators.  As of late Sunday, about only 28 percent of the state’s staffed hospital beds remained available, while nearly 18 percent of all hospital beds in use were occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Updated Specific State Information on COVID-19 Orders:  Attached to this Update is the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) comprehensive COVID-19 Tracker chart detailing some these state specific orders and mitigation measures as well as executive orders and legislation relating to business liability.  The most recent version of the COVID-19 Tracker also now includes a “State Vaccine Plans” tab (at the bottom) where you can find the vaccination plans every state submitted to the CDC. 

Update on COVID-19 Cases: IDPH is reporting 748,603 positive tests of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 9,019 new positive tests per day since reported here 7 days ago on November 25.  In total, 10,699,586 tests have now been conducted in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 85,007 tests per day since November 25. 

The state’s average positivity rate over all 11 regions is at 10.6% for the last 7 days.  You can see where the various regions are at in terms of their positivity rates, hospitalizations and other metrics at this link. 

Unfortunately, IDPH is reporting a total of 12,639 deaths, an average increase of 115 per day since November 25.

You can also check where these cases are occurring at the State of Illinois COVID-19 website which also contains more information on this outbreak.

Also, IDPH has a case breakdown of the number of positive cases in Chicago and each county relative to the number of fatalities.  The IDPH website also now includes a breakdown of the cases under each zip code in the state.

For information on other states and countries, John Hopkins University has developed this website that provides invaluable resources at a one-stop location detailing testing and tracing trends, timelines of COVID-19 policies, and interactive maps.

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