Arwady: We still have almost 550 new cases of COVID every day. That's high risk in general. "But the thing that is different now is that, that risk is completely bifurcated on whether it's a highly vaccinated setting."
Arwady: We're doing a lot of planning on what it will look like to vaccinate adolescents. Could be update on that soon.
Arwady: Certainly this summer, I expect we'll be vaccinating children as young as 12.
"If I had to take a guess, I would think probably this fall" is when they'd be vaccinating kids 6-11. But that's a guess.
Arwady: The preliminary info looks good that when pregnant folks get vaccinated, their babies get some protection to COVID and aren't hurt by the vaccines.
Arwady: People having side effects to the vaccines, it's a sign you have a robust immune system.
We do see people having more side effects after the second dose than first, but not a big change.
Arwady: "Many, many people don't have side effects at all."
Arwady: You getting vaccinated is your ticket to getting back to the things you love doing.
The sooner people do that, the sooner and more safely we're going to be able to get back to doing the things we all love.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the city's health department, have a news conference at 10:30 a.m. where they'll talk about reopening the city.
I'll live tweet. Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.
BREAKING: Festivals are back, the United Center can reopen and conventions can be held as Chicago loosens its coronavirus restrictions: buff.ly/3eyP8Fu.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and some community leaders holding news conference at noon where they'll ask for peace as city preps to release Adam Toledo video.
It's not just due to testing; growth outpaces testing increases. But positivity rate of 5.8 tells us we're doing a good job of testing a lot of Chicagoans.
Arwady: We're definitely back on the increase, though not as bad as in the fall.
"Younger adults is very much who we continue to see the majority of these cases being diagnosed in."
Mayor Lori Lightfoot says there are multiple videos from the shooting of Adam Toledo and she has seen all of them.
The family is "still, critically, in the throes of grief. ... I want to be respectful of the family, but I also do think something like a ...
"police-involved shooting, particularly under these circumstances, it's important for us to be transparent. ... We're gonna work with the family to move this process along, but I think we have to be respectful of them and move at their speed."
Lightfoot: Derek Chauvin trial doesn't play a role in this. It's about being respectful to the family.
"I'm not gonna offer up my own thoughts about this." There are two investigations, one by COPA. "I really think it's important for them to have the space they need to be ...