School District 65 is partnering with the City of Evanston Health and Human Services Department to host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Saturday, Nov. 13 (first dose) and Saturday, Dec. 4 (second dose). The event will be held at the Joseph E. Hill Education Center, 1500 McDaniel Ave..
This event is open to all Evanston residents, ages 5-11, as well as Skokie residents who attend District 65. There will be no vaccines on-site for ages 12 and up. Youth under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Use the following link to register: https://events.juvare.com/IL-IDPH/gbn7r/
District 65 says there are a limited number of appointments, and it is likely that demand will exceed the number available, so additional clinics will be scheduled. Vaccines are also currently available through many local pharmacies, pediatricians and other healthcare providers. For more information, visit District 65’s website.
The City reports that as of noon on November 8, 328 Evanston children were vaccinated.
Recent Trends
New Cases: The weekly number of new cases per 100,000 people in Illinois increased from 136 to 173 in the week ending November 10, a 27%% increase from the prior week. (The Illinois Department of Public Health did not report data for Veterans Day, November 11.) The number of new cases per week in the state are now about 7.5 times higher than they were on June 10, the day before the state moved to Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois Plan.
The above chart illustrates that the trends of new cases per week are also higher in Evanston, Chicago and suburban Cook County. The growth in the number of new cases per 100,000 in the last week for Evanston, suburban Cook County, Chicago and Illinois is: Evanston – 66 to 72; suburban Cook County – 124 to 144; Chicago – 96 to 119; and Illinois – 136 to 173.
Under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, suburban Cook County, Chicago and Illinois are considered to be areas of “high transmission.” Evanston is considered to be area of “substantial transmission.” See footnote 2.
Test Positivity Rates: The seven-day test-positivity rates in each region are: Evanston 0.57%; suburban Cook County – 2.1%; Chicago – 1.9%; and Illinois – 2.8%. Each region moved up a fraction of a percentage.
Vaccinations: IDPH reports that as of November 4, 77.5% of Illinois residents 12 and older had at least one dose of a vaccine, and 71.2% were fully vaccinated. These percentages include people who reside in Illinois and have been vaccinated in other states. (Source: CDC and IDPH.)
As of November 4, 84.2%of Evanston residents 5 and older had received at least one dose of a vaccine; 76.8% were fully vaccinated. (Source: City of Evanston.)
Evanston – COVID
Evanston reported 21 new COVID-19 cases of Evanston residents on November 10.
There was a total of 53 new COVID-19 cases of Evanston residents in the week ending November 10, compared to 49 in the week ending November 4.
The seven-day test positivity rate today is 0.57%, up slightly from the prior week.
There has been a total of 5,572 COVID-19 cases of Evanston residents during the pandemic, 64 of which are active.
The last Evanstonian died from COVID-19 on October 25. The total number of Evanston deaths due to COVID-19 is 122.
Cases at District 65 and ETHS. According to data posted on School District 65’s website, there were seven new COVID-19 cases of students and one new case of staff at District 65 since November 5.
According to data posted on ETHS’s website, there were two new COVID-19 cases of students at ETHS since November 5.
The data does not indicate if the students or staff member were infected at the schools.
Impact of Northwestern University. The most recent data on Northwestern University’s website reports that between Nov. 5 and Nov. 11, there were 27 new confirmed COVID-19 cases of an NU faculty member, staff member or student. If the faculty members, staff members or students reside in Evanston, the case or cases would be included in the City’s numbers.
FOOTNOTES
1/ The state moved to Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois Plan on June 11. As of July 1, the RoundTable has been covering COVID-19 metrics once a week on Thursdays. Specifically, the RoundTable is presenting two charts showing: 1) the trends in the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in two recent seven-day periods for Evanston, Chicago, Suburban Cook County, and the State. The chart also shows the weekly numbers of new cases for each region as of June 10 as a baseline to gauge whether cases are going up since the move to Phase 5; and 2) the most recent test positivity rates for these areas.
As discussed in footnote 3 below, the CDC recommends that these two measures be used to determine the level of risk of transmission. If we see a surge in new cases or in the test positivity rates, we will consider covering additional metrics.
We will also report the most recent percentages of vaccinated people, 12 years and older, in Evanston and Illinois.
2/ In late July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), and Evanston’s Health & Human Services Dept. each adopted recommendations that everyone, including fully vaccinated people, wear a mask in a public indoor setting in areas with “substantial” and “high transmission” of new COVID-19 cases. Areas of substantial transmission are considered to be those with between 50 and 99 cases per 100,000 people over a 7-day period. Areas of high transmission are considered to be those with more than 100 cases per 100,000 people over a 7-day period.
They also recommend universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
3/ On Feb. 12, the CDC issued a K-12 School Operational Strategy. As part of that strategy, the report says CDC recommends the use of two measures to determine the level of risk of transmission: 1) the total number of new cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days; and 2) the percentage of COVID tests during the last seven days that were positive. The CDC provides a chart to assess whether the risk of transmission is low, moderate, substantial, or high. If the two indicators suggest different levels of risk, CDC says the higher level of risk should be used. The table below, reprinted from CDC’s report, provides CDC’s Indicators and Thresholds for Community Transmission of COVID-219.
CDC’s guidelines are available here: Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Prevention | CDC