'Omicron And Delta Are Coming To Your Party,' Gov. Pritzker Warns

CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the state's 10 free community-based testing sites — including sites in Aurora, Arlington Heights and Waukegan — will start operating six days a week, starting the week of Jan. 3.

Pritzker's administration also announced plans to assist local health departments with growing demand for COVID-19 vaccine boosters by adding at least 100 additional staff to regional sites — more than doubling state personnel, according to an announcement from the governor's office.

With data from the Illinois Department of Public Health showing the state's number of people hospitalized with coronavirus continuing to rise, Pritzker said unvaccinated people will be to blame if the state's hospitals are forced to ration care.

"I'm going to continue to do everything possible for all of the people of our state, whatever your vaccination status, but what kind of year 2022 turns out to be depends on all of us doing what is best for all of us," Pritzker said Monday at a news conference. "If you are unvaccinated, and you get very sick, you'll be filling a bed that would have been available for your ailing spouse or your parent or your child or someone else's child, someone with cancer or a heart attack or seriously injured in a car accident.

"If we are forced to move to a crisis standard of care in our hospitals, it will be because massive numbers of unvaccinated people chose to let others go without quality care, and even more people will die," he added. "If you are choosing not to be vaccinated for some non-medical reason, please change your mind. Do it for your family or for the family next door, or for the people in your community who just need your help. Do it for the nurses, for the physician assistants who are overwhelmed and who can't go on like this forever. They deserve better."

The governor's office also invited several leaders of medical institutions to address the situation at their hospitals.

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Colleen Kannaday, president of Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal and Carle Eureka Hospital in Eureka, recalled a conversation with one of the most experienced nurses on her staff as they were on their way to intubate a third patient of the day.

"She had tears in her eyes as she described to me a situation, a heartbreaking event, really, that had occurred earlier in the day," Kannaday said. "She shared that she had a patient that was in her 40s, was COVID-positive, and they were just about to put the patient on the ventilator, and, as they always do, they were coordinating a FaceTime call with her family.

"This was likely going to be the last conversation this lady would have with her family, and our staff member actually had to walk out of the room because, she said, the scene was unbelievable," she continued. "As this beautiful family appeared on the screen — a husband and two beautiful children sitting in front of their Christmas tree, having a conversation to say goodbye to their mother. Sadly, this type of story is not uncommon in any of our hospitals right now."

Alan Spooner, president and chief executive officer of Franciscan Health South Suburban Chicago, said the share of COVID-19 cases has grown from 10 percent to 42 percent of inpatients at his hospital.

"Surgeons and specialists have expressed concerns that ongoing delay of procedures and care is increasing the severity of patients' medical conditions and that the pull of acute care personnel and other resources is delaying serious non-COVID-19 patient care," Spooner said.

"Please remember that the greatest gift that you can give your loved ones is to get vaccinated and boosted," he said. "It protects others, including the resilient health care heroes throughout this great state, and reduces the likelihood of hospitalization."

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Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said most of the new COVID-19 infections in Illinois, especially outside the Chicago area, are of the delta variant rather than the more-infectious omicron variant.

Ezike said there was not enough Illinois-specific data about the omicron variant to be sure whether it was less severe than previous variants, as studies from the United Kingdom and South African have suggested.

"I know that the reports are saying that it's less severe. Maybe that is true for the masses. Again, we are new to this. We've had this in our state probably only reported for the last couple of weeks, so we need more data. I don't think you can make definitive statements based on just a handful of people — you need a little bit more data," Ezike said. "But we don't want to take any chances, we don't want to gamble — no Russian roulette. Let's try to prevent the hospitalization in the first place. Whether it's a mild one or a severe one, I think we would all prefer to prevent that hospitalization in the first place."

Ezike also responded to the argument that rising numbers of breakthrough coronavirus infections show the vaccines are ineffective.

"Admittedly, nothing is 100 percent. No vaccine is 100 percent," Ezike said. "But if you can significantly, drastically reduce your chance of being hospitalized or dying, why wouldn't you avail yourself of that opportunity?

"Listen, let's be clear. Every single event being held during this holiday season will have one or two uninvited, unwanted guests: delta, and/or omicron. One or both could be there," she said. "And I'm not saying this to scare, I'm just saying this to be aware. But how we entertain that guest depends on us. If everyone's wearing masks, you may not have to take that virus home. If you are boosted, you have a much lower, lower chance of being significantly ill."

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The state's chief medical officer recommended that people planning to party on New Year's Eve should engage in strategies to reduce their risk of exposure, including remaining masked around others.

"People are going to do what they want to do," Ezike said. "There's a gradation of safety. Obviously, you are safer if you're not in that large, crowded gathering. That's probably the safest. The next thing would be that if you are going to go to a gathering, that there are not as many people. The next thing is that if you're going to go to a gathering where there are a lot of people is that you keep your mask on the entire time, and you put on a high-quality mask. That absolutely can be very helpful, if people are wearing masks, and then when you have to take it off to eat or drink, keep some distance from other people right in your face who may be wanting to share a gift that you don't want."

Pritzker said getting vaccinated and boosted and staying masked are the best things people can do to ensure their safety.

"Omicron and delta are coming to your party, so you need to think twice about how many people will be gathered together," the governor said, "keeping social distancing if you're at a party, and if you can't, leave."

Related: Vaccination Proof Mandatory At Suburban Cook County Indoor Venues

Pritzker also addressed last week's announcements of mandatory vaccination policies for patrons and vaccine-or-test policies for employees of certain businesses from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. The governor did not recommend the statewide adoption of such a policy.

"I want to call on local leaders to do the right thing for their communities, just like Mayor Lightfoot did, just like President Preckwinkle did. They looked at their communities and said this is the right thing in my local area," Pritzker said. "I hope that people across the state will take the example and look at what will work in their community. Because just saying that you're going to look at vaccine cards may not work in one place or another. So, you've got to know your community and get it right in your community."

The governor said Illinois hospitals would be in much worse shape if he had not re-issued an executive order mandating indoor mask use earlier this year.

"We're one of the few states in the country that put it on in early August and has kept it on, and it really has kept infections from skyrocketing," he said. "It's awful right now, but it would be much worse. Look at the states around us and how many people are going into the hospital and dying."