Thread by @BauerJournalism

Gov. JB Pritzker will announce an indoor mask mandate for Illinois at 10 a.m. I'll live tweet.

Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.

blockclubchicago.org/2021/08/26/ill…

Pritzker: Increasing concern for hospital capacity in communities across Illinois.

"Let's be clear: Vaccination is the most effective tool we have for keeping people out of the hospital and preventing deaths."

Pritzker: Nearly all Illinoisans hospitalized with COVID are not vaccinated.

ICU usage has multiplied by a factor of 7 this summer.

January-July: 97% of cases are among unvaccinated. 96% of hospitalizations among unvaccinated. 95% of deaths among unvaccinated.

Pritzker: "You don't need to be an epidemiologist to understand what is going on here: This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. These are preventable deaths ... . This also means inflicting serious damage on communities. That's because the regions with the lowest vaccination ...

"rates are the regions where there are fewer hospitals and lower hospital capacity, and those hospitals are sometimes the least well-equipped to handle cases as they become more acute."

Pritzker: In southern and east central Illinois, fewer than half of residents are fully vaccinated.

3% ICU bed availability in southern Illinois.

Pritzker: During spring shortage, that never dropped below 15% anywhere in the state.

Pritzker: For all hospitals, we're providing resources in order of need, "But, to be frank, health care staff are in short supply, in part because hospitals in surrounding state we might draw staff from are in worse shape than Illinois."

Pritzker: The best way to manage this is for people and communities to prevent sickness by slowing transmission with masks and vaccinations.

Pritzker: "I announced masks must be worn in all of our day cares, all our P-12 schools and all our long-term care facilities" earlier this month.

Pritzker: Illinois is requiring vaccinations for all state employees working in congregate facilities & encouraged private businesses to do the same.

"Already, we've seen employers like Loyola Medicine ... do just that. And I thank them for their partnership."

Pritzker: "Unfortunately, our current vaccination levels are not enough to blunt the ferocity of the Delta variant hospitalization surges in some reasons."

Pritzker: "Hospital ICU beds are filling up, once again. Our hospital leaders look at their counterparts in southern states where low vaccination rats mirror the communities they serve, and they fear the worst is yet to come for us."

...

"Because of the Delta variant, hospitals are again fighting the battle we had hoped would be ebhind us by now. I can't begin to imagine how frustrating this must be for them."

Pritzker: "We are proudly the most vaccinated state in the Midwest. But what that statistic doesn't show is where our most vulnerable residents are the least protected. We have communities where the vaccination rate is in the teens or in the 20s, but their kids are just as ...

" deserving of safe in-person learning as those who are in the most-protected communities." There are nursing homes where staff is less than 20% vaccinated.

"Vaccination remains our strongest tool to protect ourselves, our loved one" and return to post-pandemic life.

Pritzker: "I'm sure that if people understood that being unvaccinated could take a hospital bed from an accident victim, they might go get vaccinated.

"Unfortunately, we are running out of time as our hospitals run out of beds."

Pritzker: "In Illinois, vaccines will be required for all P-12 teachers and staff, all higher education personnel, all higher education students and health care workers in a variety of settings ... ."

Pritzker: Effective Sept. 5, people unable/unwilling to get vaccinated will be required to get tested at least twice a week. More frequent testing might be required in certain situations, like during an outbreak.

Pritzker: Illinois will reinstitute indoor mask mandate effective Monday.

"Masks work. Period."

Pritzker: "Hospital staff are becoming overwhelmed and overburdened. People are dying who don't have to die."

Pritzker: Other employers can and should mandate vaccines "so we can finally bring this pandemic to an end."

"We have a tool in our hands that will save lives."

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health: "As of last night, 2,184 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19; and of those, 489 were in the ICU, and 241 were on ventilators."

Ezike: "... I was hoping we'd never have to be here again. But right now, we're seeing 220 individuals being admitted to the hospital every day with COVID. The last time we saw this high a number was in May. Cases reported today are more than 40 times higher than the low we ...

"appreciated earlier this summer. We are facing ICU hospital shortages. The ICU beds have run out, particularly in southern Illinois and parts of central Illinois, where the vaccination rates are the lowest."

...

Region 5, Southern Illinois, is least-vaccinated, and there was only ONE ICU bed available Today. "That's one ICU bed in the entire region for the 20 counties that it serves for anyone — whether it's appendicitis, a car crash, any kind of injury that would need a bed. ...

Most hospitals in different areas of the state are reaching capacity, as well."
Number of people in ICU is 7 times higher than it was at low this summer.
...

Region 5 will not have any ICU beds as soon as tomorrow. Same could be true by next week for Region 4. Regions 3 and 6 could run out of ICU beds by mid-September.

Ezike: FDA gave Pfizer vaccine full approval. "FDA's full approval of the COVID-19 vaccine, after tens of thousands of clinical trial participants and months of real-world data, should help reassure everyone who has concerns about getting vaccinated."

...

Other effective tool before vaccines: masks. "Wearing a mask continues to be one of the simplest, cheapest ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19." There is evidence widespread use of masks "do in fact prevent the spread of COVID-19."

Ezike: "The bottom line is masks are effective. Vaccines are effective.

"But until more people are vaccinated, we need to take the steps to protect our health care workers, protect our hospital resources and protect our most vulnerable."

Pritzker: "First and foremost, as you heard, we're looking at the hospitalizations and ICU beds. Until we alleviate the pressure on hospitals, we're gonna need to continue to put the pressure on for people to wear masks in indoor locations and all the other mitigations I've ...

"talked about today and that we've had in place. My No. 1 concern right now is keeping our health care system available not just for people who may get COVID but people who have other problems that may take them to the hospital."

Pritzker: "We're really talking about staffing. It's not usually the square footage in a hospital that's the problem ... . It's truly, just to be in a hospital room without staff is to not be in a hospital." They're trying to maintain staffing.

Pritzker: He continues to try to listen to "adjust things" and make them work for all parts of Illinois.

Pritzker: "I'm always open to hearing formal input from the Legislature, and I think he should go everything he needs to do. They're a co-equal branch of government ... . Republicans can call hearings; if they want to invite Democrats to it, they should and can. ..."

Pritzker: "I have asked all along here for any new ideas anybody has about how to bring down" hospitalizations, spread, "and I've listened when people have offered up those ideas."

Pritzker: Everyone in Governor's Office is vaccinated.

Pritzker: "We're continuing to work with the unions." Deadline for negotiations is Oct. 4.

"There's no doubt I want to extend this and make sure more people are getting vaccinated throughout the state," including state employees.

Pritzker: Health care workers are now being required to get vaccinated or get tested.

STORY: blockclubchicago.org/2021/08/26/ill…

Pritzker: We are in a much different situation now than we were last year or even earlier this year. There is wide availability of vaccines.

"We're no longer in that situation; this is a new paradigm. ... We know masks and vaccines, particularly together, keep people safe."

Ezike asked about daily updates: They'll do what is appropriate to signal appropriate alarm.

Pritzker: "The issue [with hospital capacity] is less one of space now than it is personnel."

Pritzker: "The answer is no, we don't currently have a plan to build out more space or to put more beds in somewhere. Our biggest concern is staffing. And, again, we've deployed staffing from the state government, what we have available and what we've contracted for and kept ...

"in place those contracts to places like southern Illinois where this is the biggest problem of any region."

Pritzker: "There's obviously a menu of things you've seen us deploy over the course of the last year and a half. That's not something we're currently looking at. I wouldn't hope or anticipate that we would go back to something like that. We all know when these numbers get to ...

"a place where it gets out of control, or it's at a place where we truly can't treat people in hospitals, we have to take further steps. I don't anticipate that we'll get there, and it's not something that's currently on the table."

Press conference over.