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To:
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Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) Members
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From:
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Mark Biel, Chief Executive Officer
[email protected] or 217/522-5805
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Re:
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Illinois Tops Nation in Vaccine Doses Administered; EEOC Employer Guidance on Vaccinations; ACC Tracker with State Vaccine Updates & COVID-19 Orders; Tier 3 Mitigations to Remain in Place for Now; Update on COVID-19 Cases
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Illinois Tops Nation in Vaccine Doses Administered: As of Tuesday, Illinois has already administered over 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/ BioNTech to frontline health-care workers, placing the state ahead of any state in the county on vaccinations. States like California, Texas, New York, and Florida, however, will eventually outpace Illinois due to sheer population numbers.
Further, as part of a state and federal partnership with the pharmacy stores Walgreens and CVS, vaccinations of Illinois' 110,000 residents of the state’s long-term care facilities and its staff will begin next week.
In addition, another COVID-19 vaccine produced by Moderna won FDA emergency use approval and will be shipped next week to health-care providers and local health departments, with 126,600 of these doses bound for sites outside Chicago and 48,000 doses for Chicago.
After frontline health care workers, long-term care facilities and its staff receive their vaccinations, under Illinois' vaccination plans Phase 1b and 1c and Phase 2 will cover employees in industries and occupations “important to the functioning of society”, such as manufacturing, including pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing, general warehousing and storage, transportation, and utilities.
Over 1 million workers will fall into Phase 1b with 248,000 of them in Chicago. Phase 1c will cover over 3.4 million people, with 648,000 in Chicago. Phase 2 will cover more than 3.7 million people with over 792,000 in Chicago. However, it should be noted that individuals who are 65 and over or who have certain medical conditions may get the vaccination before others in these sub-phases. Also, individuals who are employees in these areas but working remotely may not be included in these sub-phases. As of right now, public health officials predict there will be not be efficient supplies of the vaccine to cover the general public in Illinois until at least April.
EEOC Employer Guidance on Vaccinations: As reported here previously, with the roll out of the first COVID-19 vaccines, many employers are left with the question as to when vaccines become available for their employees, should companies make the vaccine mandatory for their workers.
CICI member company, Thompson Hine, has reported that federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released this guidance for employers regarding the newly authorized COVID-19 vaccinations being distributed across the country. As the federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against employment discrimination and harassment, the EEOC’s guidance provides clarity on a number of legal considerations employers face in developing COVID-19 vaccination policies or programs.
Tracker with State Vaccine Updates & COVID-19 Orders: Attached to this Update is the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) comprehensive COVID-19 Tracker with a separate chart illustrating state vaccine plans where you can find the updated vaccination plans for every state. The other document details updated state specific orders and mitigation measures as well as executive orders and legislation relating to business liability.
Tier 3 Mitigations to Remain in Place for Now: Even though newly diagnosed cases, test-positive rates, and hospitalization metrics are steadfastly improving, Governor Pritzker claimed this week that it is too early to lift statewide restrictions, such indoor service in bars and restaurants. As such, these mitigations are predicted to stay in place for the remainder of the year and quite possibly into the New Year.
Update on COVID-19 Cases: IDPH is reporting 925,107 positive tests of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 6,383 new positive tests per day since reported here 6 days ago on December 18. In total, 12,782,980 tests have now been conducted in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 87,230 tests per day since December 18.
The state’s average positivity rate over all 11 regions is at 7.3% for the last 6 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 15,643 deaths, an average increase of 104 per day since December 18.
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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