IL Sees Most COVID-19 Hospitalizations Of 2021 As Omicron Surges

ILLINOIS — State health officials on Tuesday reported the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations of the year. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 4,008 people are now hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, including 845 in intensive care and 438 on ventilators.

Hospitalizations have spiked by more than 50 percent in Illinois this month as the omicron variant — a new, more transmissible strain of the coronavirus — quickly surpassed delta and other variants in local communities.

Intensive care beds are in short supply in some regions of the state, including Region 7 — or Will and Kankakee counties — where just six beds are still available, down from nine last week.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that omicron now accounts for about 73 percent of COVID-19 cases nationwide — a 500 percent increase in just one week.

“These numbers are stark, but they’re not surprising,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

Though the variant spreading like wildfire, early studies from South Africa — where it was first identified — suggest omicron could cause less severe illness than other versions of the virus.

But many doctors aren't yet sure. For one, South Africa's population is younger than that of the United States. Massive COVID-19 surges there have also exposed more South Africans to previous coronavirus variants, giving many some degree of natural immunity.

So, while infections in South Africa may look less severe, it may just be that South Africans are less vulnerable to the virus as a population. Studies from Europe, with similar demographics to America, showed "at most limited changes in severity compared with Delta."

It's also not clear if omicron will cause more or less severe post-COVID-19 conditions. Also called "long COVID," many who have recovered from the disease report ongoing shortness of breath, fatigue, "brain fog" and other neurological symptoms.

Health officials said the omicron variant likely evades some protection afforded by the vaccines, but a third booster shot was able to neutralize omicron in laboratory tests, according to drugmakers, and the CDC has urged all adults to get a booster shot.

President Joe Biden laid out a plan Tuesday to combat the spread of the virus across the country with free at-home tests and help from 1,000 military doctors and nurses who will reinforce hospitals if they become overwhelmed.

Earlier this week, the White House warned of "a winter of severe illness and death" for the unvaccinated. In his address Tuesday, Biden called getting vaccinated a "patriotic duty," saying that "if you're not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned."

"While COVID has been a tough adversary, we’ve shown that we are tougher," the president said, pledging that the country would not return to March 2020.

"Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated," Biden said. "We're prepared. We know more."

In Illinois, about 60 percent of the population is vaccinated with two shots, and nearly 2.79 million booster shots have been administered statewide — about 22 percent of the state's population. But the vaccination rate varies drastically by county. In DuPage, which has the state's highest vaccination rate, 82.2 percent of residents are vaccinated. In Alexander, the state's least vaccinated county, 24.2 percent have gotten their shots.

On Tuesday, Illinois set a record for the year with 12,328 new cases of the virus. Over the past week, the state has averaged more than 10,500 new cases per day.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 86 percent of ICU beds were in use as of Tuesday afternoon, including by COVID-19 patients and all others. Statewide, 416 ICU beds were still available.