(The Center Square) – Illinois health officials appear optimistic that COVID-19 outbreaks this winter won’t be severe.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, more than 400 people in Illinois were admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 last week.
During a meeting Thursday with health departments from around the state, Dr. Arti Barnes, chief medical officer with IDPH, said it appears hospital admissions in the state have peaked.
“I’m not going to go as far to say that we’re not going to see another second wave coming up deeper into the winter, but at least it looks like this is one slightly reassuring piece of news,” Barnes said.
Wastewater tests show there is no dominant strain affecting the state at this time, he said.
“The past variants that caused the pandemic hit hard and fast, but if you look at the couple most recent months, no one variant is dominating anymore in this new COVID era,” Barnes said.
Health officials are now focusing more on hospital admission than positive cases, and are moving toward classifying the virus as a respiratory illness.
In one school district, Evanston-Skokie District 65, COVID-19 is being treated like any other communicable disease. Students who test positive must be quarantined for five days and can return to school wearing a mask for another five days as long as they are symptom free.
IDPH plans to investigate what effect air purifiers are having that were installed in most schools as a result of the pandemic.
Vaccine manufacturers are expected to release an updated COVID-19 vaccine sometime this month, which Barnes said will be referred to as an “annual COVID shot” in an effort to gain more acceptance.
