CHICAGO, Ill. – Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says the state is doing what it can to try and stop the spread of COVID-19, even as an Omicron variant case has been linked to the Chicago area.
Pritzker says the Delta variant is still going strong in the state, and he’s in touch with hospital leaders about the problem.
“We’re working together to provide monoclonal antibodies to keep people out of hospital beds,” said Pritzker, “working together to help provide more home infusion services for monoclonal antibodies, so people don’t need to go in to emergency rooms for that.”
Pritzker says the state will not enact a vaccine mandate like the one New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio just did, which is already facing court challenges, requiring youth to have proof of vaccine status, and requiring most private sector workers to get vaccinated.
“That…is not something we’ve been looking at,” said Pritzker. “We have people who are getting vaccinated every day in Illinois. We want more people to get vaccinated. I think you can see as more people get sick and go in to the hospital, nearly all of them are unvaccinated. And that is causing a real problem.”
The state says nearly 70,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines are being administered each day, and two thirds of Illinoisans are now what is considered “fully vaccinated.”
Illinois Tuesday, however, saw its largest one day COVID death toll since February, with 78 additional fatalities.
