The State’s top public health doctor says we are now in a pandemic of the unvaccinated, as nearly 8,000 new cases were reported this week.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 7,983 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, including 47 additional deaths since reporting last Friday, July 16th.
That compares to about 4400 cases reported the previous week. Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health Dr, Ngozi Ezike says the increase once again underscores the need to get vaccinated.
“I think unfortunately some sobering statistics and some actual real-life stories of tragedies that were completely preventable will maybe make some people reevaluate those earlier choices.
It’s only a matter of time whereby Delta will be the predominant strain. But it doesn’t really matter what variant we’re dealing with, we have seen that the vaccines that we have are effective against all of the variants that we have identified.”
Ezike says with COVID cases continuing to rise in the state, it’s up to everyone to do their part. She says the numbers are showing that the latest surge of cases is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.
“Because we are seeing the overwhelming majority of cases, the overwhelming majority of hospitalizations and deaths are among those who are not vaccinated. So you can’t wait and say- oh well so and so’s vaccinated. You have to do your own part and get vaccinated yourself, and that’s the best way to protect yourself.
The overwhelming majority, we’re talking about ninety percent of the cases, ninety percent of the hospitalizations, and ninety-plus percent of the deaths are among the unvaccinated.”
Ezike says for those who have contracted the virus, there is a treatment available to ease the effects and help keep people out of the hospital.
“Monoclonal antibody treatment has been shown to reduce the severity of the disease, and so this is something after you’re diagnosed, talk to your healthcare provider about monoclonal antibodies. This is a single dose infusion that when taken can reduce your chances of ending up in the hospital with COVID-19.”
According to the CDC, more than 73 percent of Illinois adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and over 58 percent are fully vaccinated.