Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Chicago opens vaccines to those with health conditions and remaining essential workers Monday

Chicago residents who have medical conditions or are essential workers but had’t yet qualified for the coronavirus vaccine become eligible for the shot starting Monday.

The move to phase 1c means much of the city’s population will be allowed a vaccine, but the process of vaccinating the group is expected to take at least two months because of limited supply, Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said earlier this month.

Illinois was expected to receive about a million doses of vaccine this week, a record, according to state health officials.

Meanwhile, Illinois public health officials on Sunday reported 2,250 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 23 additional deaths. That brings the state’s totals since the pandemic began to 1,237,828 cases and 21,251 deaths.

There were 110,211 doses of the coronavirus vaccine administered Saturday and the seven-day rolling average of daily vaccine doses is 103,081.

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Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area:

6:59 a.m.: Notre Dame announces plan to vaccinate all students in April

South Bend - University of Notre Dame officials say they will be able to vaccinate all students on the South Bend campus by the end of the spring semester.

The school will receive enough Pfizer vaccine for every student to be fully inoculated with both necessary doses before the end of May, university president Rev. John Jenkins said in a letter to students, faculty and staff Thursday night. A vaccination clinic is anticipated to open by Mid-April, but students are only being encouraged - not required - to receive the shots.

“Needless to say, we are delighted to receive this positive news,” Jenkins said, noting that Notre Dame will continue enforcing its current campus health and safety protocols.

The announcement follows Gov. Eric Holcomb’s confirmation in a statewide address Tuesday that all Hoosiers ages 16 and up will qualify for the vaccine starting March 31. The Republican governor said he would also lift the statewide mask mandate and remaining COVID-19 business restrictions on April 6.

The Indiana Department of Health has indicated that other Indiana colleges and universities would also be allowed to open campus vaccination centers next month. More details about the rollout are expected in the coming weeks.

The Notre Dame vaccination clinic will also have shots available for faculty and staff, Jenkins said, although university officials have asked non-students to first seek out vaccine at local community sites. — Associated Press Staff

6 a.m.: Reopening schools became a rallying cry for parents. Now it’s a campaign issue in suburban school board races: ‘This is a lot bigger than COVID’

Lenny Walker was standing in line at a grocery store in Buffalo Grove recently when he heard someone behind him call out, “Hey, aren’t you with the District 214 school board?”

“I turned around and smiled at him and said, ‘Yes, I am,’ and he replied, ‘Why don’t you open the fricking schools? You’re destroying my kid,’ " recalled Walker, a father of four from Wheeling.

“As I was leaving the store, and kind of looking over my shoulder, another guy approached me and asked, ‘Do you get that a lot?’ and I answered, ‘Yes, all of the time,’ and he told me, ‘Stay strong,’ " Walker said.

Despite such jarring encounters, Walker is running for reelection in an unusually heated race of eight candidates seeking four seats. And COVID-19 has left its imprint on school board contests throughout the suburbs, with parents’ frustration over school closings and remote learning driving more attention, and new candidates, to many races — possibly with consequences that last well beyond the pandemic.

Pre-pandemic, suburban school board contests were often no-drama affairs, in some cases, failing to attract enough candidates to fill open seats. But this election arrives in the wake of a tumultuous 2020 campaign season that was punctuated by parents protesting for reopened schools, marathon school board meetings and even lawsuits, including one filed this month against school board members in Naperville- and Aurora-based Indian Prairie School District 204 by a group of parents who allege a coordinated “cover-up of COVID-19 planning.”

Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta, Rafael Guerrero

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