Full Reopening When Half Of People 16 And Up Are Vaccinated: Gov

CHICAGO — The lifting of coronavirus restrictions in Illinois will be linked to the percentage of the population that has been vaccinated, state officials revealed Thursday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced modifications to Phase 4 of his administration's Restore Illinois reopening plan and a new phase called "Bridge to Phase 5," which will precede full reopening. (See full guidelines below.)

Moving from the modified Phase 4 to the Bridge phase requires at least 70 percent of Illinois residents aged 65 and older to have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, as long as infection rates and hospitalizations are not on the rise.

"Hospitals will need to have seven-day average of at least 20 percent of ICU beds available," Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said Thursday at a news conference. "If metrics show no sustained increase in the mortality rate, if there's no increase in the COVID-like hospital admissions, or the number of people in the hospital with COVID, if we monitor that over a 28-day period, or two incubation periods, the state will move forward."

Once at least 50 percent of all residents aged 16 and up have gotten a first dose of vaccine, the state could move to Phase 5. The fifth phase of the reopening plan, "Illinois Restored," eliminates capacity limits on businesses and activities. The statewide mask mandate will remain in place in Phase 5, Pritzker said, until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommend the use of face coverings.

Pritzker also announced that all health departments outside Chicago would scrap the Phase 1c vaccine priority group and open eligibility to all residents aged 16 and up starting on April 12. But there could be as-yet-undetermined changes to state vaccine eligibility guidelines before then, the governor said.

"An example of that might be state employees, it might be certain of the vulnerable essential workers that haven't been included in those announced groups already," Pritzker told reporters. "Three and a half weeks in the world of vaccinations, just to be clear, is like a lifetime. And so we have an opportunity here to expand and focus on pods of people who are most vulnerable and should try to get vaccinated before we move into the full-blown population."

The April 12 expansion does not apply in Chicago, where city officials this week confirmed plans to move into Phase 1c starting March 29.

Pritzker has expanded the state's definition of Phase 1b to include about 3.4 million people with pre-existing health conditions — although Chicago area health departments did not. The governor suggested Chicagoans will pressure their local officials to follow suit in April and stop limiting jabs to those who qualify as members of priority groups.

"I think that it will be hard for the city if people who can get vaccinated who live just beyond the city borders are able to get an appointment to go get vaccinated but people who are within the city may not be able to because they haven't opened that up. But again, that's up to them," he said. "It'll match up at some point. Between April 12 and May 1, the city of Chicago will move."

President Joe Biden has declared all adults should be made eligible for coronavirus vaccine by May 1.

The seven-day rolling average number of daily vaccine doses administered in Illinois stands at about 100,000 doses a day.

This week, over 800,000 doses were delivered to Illinois by the federal government, including allocations to pharmacies, community health centers and the United Center mass vaccination site, according to the governor's office. More than a million doses a week are expected to be delivered to the state in April.

Currently, Illinois has administered 4.3 million doses, including at least one to more than 58 percent of the state's 2 million senior citizens and to more than 25 percent of Illinoisans over the age of 16, state officials said.

Vaccines produced by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have only been approved for adults, while the Pfizer/BioNTech jab has approval for use on anyone 16 and up after younger people were included in its clinical trials.

Residents who need assistance navigating online vaccine sign-up services may call a toll free IDPH hotline at 833-621-1284 with agents available in English or Spanish seven days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight.

The whole of Illinois had entered Phase 4 by the first week of February. The modifications announced Thursday include permitting several new activities, denoted below with an asterisk.

A 28-day monitoring period begins once more than 70 percent of the population aged 65 and older has been jabbed with at least one dose and the state enters the Bridge to Phase 5 stage, according to the governor's office.

According to state vaccination and census data as of Thursday, about 240,000 Illinois seniors need to receive their first dose of vaccine to trigger the start of the Bridge phase and begin a four-week monitoring period.

Modified Phase 4 and Bridge To Phase 5 guidelines

Dining

Phase 4
Seated areas: Patrons ≥ 6 feet apart; parties ≤ 10
Standing areas: 25 percent capacity
Bridge
Seated areas: Patrons ≥ 6 feet apart; parties ≤ 10
Standing areas: 30 percent capacity indoors; 50 percent capacity outdoors

Health and fitness

Phase 4
50 percent capacity Group fitness classes of 50 or fewer indoors or 100 or fewer outdoors *
Bridge
60 percent capacity Group fitness classes of 50 or fewer indoors or 100 or fewer outdoors

Offices

Phase 4
50 percent capacity
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Personal care

Phase 4
50 percent capacity
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Retail and service counter

Phase 4
50 percent capacity
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Amusement parks

Phase 4
25 percent capacity *
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Festivals and general admission outdoor spectator events

Phase 4
15 people per 1,000 sq. ft. *
Bridge
30 people per 1,000 sq. ft.

Flea and farmers markets

Phase 4
25 percent capacity or 15 people per 1,000 sq. ft.
Bridge
Indoor: 15 people per 1,000 sq. ft.
Outdoor: 30 people per 1,000 sq. ft.

Film production

Phase 4
50 percent capacity
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Meetings, conferences and conventions

Phase 4
Venue with capacity < 200 persons: Lesser of 50 people or 50 percent capacity *
Venue with capacity ≥ 200 persons: Lesser of 250 people or 25 percent capacity *
Bridge
Lesser of 1,000 people or 60 percent capacity

Museums

Phase 4
25 percent capacity
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Recreation

Phase 4
Indoor: Lesser of 50 people or 50 percent capacity
Outdoor: Maximum groups of 50; multiple groups permissible
Bridge
Indoor: Lesser of 100 people or 50 percent capacity
Outdoor: Maximum groups of 100; multiple groups permissible

Social events

Phase 4
Indoor: Lesser of 50 people or 50 percent capacity *
Outdoor: Lesser of 100 people or 50 percent capacity *
Bridge
Indoor: 250 people
Outdoor: 500 people

Spectator events (ticketed and seated)

Phase 4
Indoor venue with capacity < 200 people: Lesser of 50 people or 50 percent capacity *
Outdoor venue or indoor venue with capacity ≥ 200 people: 25 percent capacity *
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Theaters and performing arts

Phase 4
Indoor venue with capacity < 200 persons: Lesser of 50 or 50 percent capacity
Outdoor venue or indoor venue with capacity ≥ 200 persons: 25 percent capacity *
Bridge
60 percent capacity

Zoos

Phase 4
25 percent capacity
Lesser of 50 or 50 percent at indoor exhibits
Bridge
60 percent capacity