Over the past 2 years, COVID-19 has been dramatically affecting everyone’s lives. Masks, vaccines, COVID tests, isolation… Now, when someone sneezes or coughs during school, everyone else is more aware and careful of that person. This all started in November of 2019, and A LOT has changed in statistics, conditions, and attitudes since then, so here’s a quick update:

On September 30th, 2021, Illinois reported 2989 new cases and 42 related deaths, increasing largely due to the delta variant. In Illinois, there have been over a million cases and more than 24,000 deaths during the entire COVID period. About a year earlier, COVID cases were worse in blue regions, while now, the red states show these unfavorable results and, “86 percent of Democratic voters had received at least one shot, compared with 60 percent of Republican voters” (NY Times). Recently, “Black Americans, Latino Americans and Republican voters” hung back on receiving shots (NY Times). Since COVID-19 vaccines were first introduced to now, over 50% of the Illinois population has been fully vaccinated. Additionally, in McHenry County, 53.65% of residents are fully vaccinated. As for traveling and employees of airlines, United Airlines started to fire employees who did not comply with vaccine mandates, leading to more than 99% being vaccinated or getting religious/medical accommodation. Some things have changed and some have not. To protect yourself from the virus take precautions such as washing your hands and wearing a mask!

Sources:

• Team, ABC7 Chicago Digital. “Illinois COVID Update: IL Reports 2,989 Cases, 42 Deaths.”ABC7 Chicago, WLS-TV, 29 Sept. 2021,https://abc7chicago.com/covid-illinois-cases-coronavirus-19/11060997/.
• Leonhardt, David. “Red Covid.”The New York Times,The New York Times, 27 Sept.2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/briefing/covid-red-states-vaccinations.html.