The locations, which include the United Center site that is run in conjunction with the federal government, will open up access in order to accommodate residents who don’t want to or cannot schedule appointments ahead of time.

Additionally, a federal government advisory committee on vaccines met Friday to discuss the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and said the benefits outweigh a very rare risk of blood clots. — especially against a virus that’s still infecting tens of thousands of Americans every day. The government will rapidly weigh that recommendation in deciding next steps.

Meanwhile, although the vast majority of Illinois students are now learning in person at least part time after more than a year of pandemic-prompted remote instruction, the surging number of kids forced into quarantine has been the latest source of disruption and frustration in the prolonged and difficult effort to reopen schools.

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

6:55 p.m. (updated): Illinois health officials expected to resume use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after feds lift 11-day pause

Illinois public health officials were expected to resume distribution of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine after a federal officials said Friday that the shot’s benefits outweigh the risks of rare but severe blood clots.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration lifted an 11-day pause on the use of the vaccine after an advisory panel said it was safe to do so in combination with new warning about the risk of blood clots, particularly among women under 50.

Health officials said they were aware of 15 cases of the unusual clots since the government authorized use of the vaccine and nearly 8 million shots were given. All were women, most of them under 50. Three died, and seven remained hospitalized.

Illinois and the city of Chicago followed federal guidance in pausing administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine April 13 after reports about six women who’d experienced blood clots about two weeks after vaccination.

Halting the J&J vaccine was a setback to city and state vaccination efforts because it represented an easier alternative to the two-dose regimen from Pfizer and Moderna. Officials had portrayed the one-shot version as an important step toward speeding up vaccination efforts, particularly in hard-to-reach communities, but they downplayed its significance when the pause was announced.

At the time distribution was paused, only about 4% of the vaccines administered statewide had been J&J version, covering a little more than 2% of the state’s population, according to the state health department.

Still, government-run mass vaccinations sites, as well as retail pharmacies, hospitals and clinics, had to cancel appointments pivot to offering more slots for the two-dose vaccines.

5:55 p.m. (updated): US lifts pause, allowing Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccinations to resume

U.S. health officials have lifted an 11-day pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccinations following a recommendation by an expert panel. Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday the benefits of the single-dose COVID-19 shot outweigh a rare risk of blood clots.

Panel members said it’s critical that younger women be told about that risk so they can decide if they’d rather choose another vaccine. The CDC and Food and Drug Administration agreed. European regulators earlier this week made a similar decision, deciding the clot risk was small enough to allow the rollout of J&J’s shot.

3:59 p.m. (updated): US health panel urges restarting Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccinations after pause over rare blood clots

A U.S. health panel says it’s time to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite a very rare risk of blood clots. Out of nearly 8 million people vaccinated before the U.S. suspended J&J’s shot, health officials uncovered 15 cases of a highly unusual kind of blood clot, three of them fatal. All were women, most younger than 50.

But advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday the vaccine’s benefits outweigh that serious but small risk — especially against a virus that’s still infecting tens of thousands of Americans every day. The government will rapidly weigh that recommendation in deciding next steps.

3:51 p.m.: COVID-19 positivity rate down but hospitalizations continue rise that started more than 5 weeks ago

An additional 136,525 coronavirus vaccinations were administered in Illinois Thursday as the state reported another slight downtick in the seven-day test positivity rate.

The latest batch of shots brought the total number of doses administered in the state to 8,610,478, public health officials reported. As of Friday, 51.58% of residents 16 and older have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

The number of residents who have been fully vaccinated — receiving both of the required two shots, or Johnson & Johnson’s one shot — reached 3,648,936, or 28.64% of the total population.

3:41 p.m.: Lake County’s largest COVID-19 vaccination center opens with goal of speeding return to a ‘new normal’

A goal of Baxter, as it partners with the Lake County Health Department and Curative to operate the county’s largest COVID-19 vaccination center with a capacity of administering 5,000 shots a day, is accelerating the time when residents can return to a “new normal.”

Dr. Sumant Ramachandra, Baxter’s pharmaceuticals president and its chief science and technology officer, said once a sufficient number of people are vaccinated against the disease, elements of normal life can return.

“We want to help the community get to a new normal,” Ramachandra said before a news conference Friday.

“People will be making choices about social distancing,” he added, describing the new normal. “Once they get their shots, they will still be thinking about what they are doing.”

3:39 p.m.: Being shot age 15 made her want to be a caregiver. As a COVID-19 nurse, she’s turned to art as therapy

Nurses experienced things they could never explain.

People talking, then dead. Replacing family members by holding the hand of the dying. Losing the ability to comfort through a smile.

To process these moments, some picked up a pencil, or a paintbrush.

A new exhibit at the International Museum of Surgical Science, “Nurses’ Relaxation and Renewal Through the Arts,” features art by medical workers, including some who used artwork to process what they experienced treating COVID-19 patients. The Gold Coast museum’s exhibit was supposed to open last April. Scuttled because of the pandemic, it is now open through May 23.

One of the artists is Maribel Huerta. Ever since she was a trauma patient, lying in intensive care after being shot in the head at age 15, she knew she wanted to be a nurse.

2:58 p.m.: Sun shining, even a shirt off at United Center vaccination site on first day walk-ins are welcome

With city mass vaccination sites now open to walk-ins, regardless of city ZIP code or employment status, Friday marked an unofficial start of a final push to get shots into the arms of all Chicagoans.

Despite the potential for a crush of shot seekers, lines were short as the sun shone on the United Center Friday during the lunch hour. Large metal corrals set up like bank rope lines were quickly traversed and no one leaving the facility reported a visit that took longer than 25 minutes.

1:28 p.m.: The soaring number of students in quarantine is the latest obstacle for schools and sports teams trying to get back to normal

Although the vast majority of Illinois students are now learning in-person at least part-time after more than a year of pandemic-prompted remote instruction, the surging number of kids forced into quarantine has been the latest source of disruption and frustration in the prolonged and difficult effort to reopen schools.

With the shifting metric for social distancing in schools — where 3 feet is now the allowable standard but exposure within 6 feet of an infected student can still result in a quarantine — the ability to remain in class is sometimes a game of inches.

12:04 p.m.: 3,369 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 22 additional deaths reported

Illinois health officials on Friday announced 3,369 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,316,091 and the statewide death toll to 21,777 since the start of the pandemic.

Officials also reported 104,795 new tests in the last 24 hours. The statewide positivity rate for cases is 3.6%.

The 7-day daily average of administered vaccine doses is 118,741, with 136,525 doses given on Thursday. Officials also say a total of 8,610,478 vaccines have now been administered.

9:58 a.m.: Flu shots at work are routine, but company COVID-19 vaccination clinics have been hard to come by. That might be changing.

When Freedman Seating Co. heard manufacturing industry employees would be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, the company wanted to hold an event to distribute doses at work, much like it does with flu shots.

Getting access to a supply of COVID-19 shots, though, was a struggle for the Chicago-based company. Pharmacies and other companies that could administer the shots were overwhelmed with requests and wanted Freedman Seating to determine the exact number of doses needed, information the company didn’t have at the time, said marketing manager John-Paul Paonessa.

Instead, the city reserved spots for the company at mass vaccination sites and employees helped colleagues navigate the registration process. About half of 630 employees have been vaccinated, but Freedman Seating still pursued a clinic vaccination event on-site and recently scheduled one for about 100 employees in early May, Paonessa said.

The more people who are vaccinated, the more comfortable employees may feel returning to “some sort of normalcy,” he said.

“As easy as we can make it, that’s what we’re looking for,” he said.

7:15 a.m.: Indiana’s Lake County Fair to be ‘as traditional as possible’ this summer

Last year, the Lake County, Ind., Fair had to be canceled because of COVID-19. This year, Tom Lump said he hopes it can be done as normal.

Lump, the president of the Lake County Fair, said as of right now, the fair will continue as it was before the pandemic, though it’s always possible things could change.

“We’re pretty much planning it to be as traditional as possible,” Lump said of the planned 169th edition of the fair. “We don’t want to throw too much at our fairgoers. There may be a requirement to wear masks, we don’t know, there may be a requirement to have more hand sanitizers, we don’t know that either … We’re hopeful that it’s going to be enough and pretty much as usual.”

Without the ability to determine how the pandemic may look in the summer months, Lump said it’s difficult to say for sure how the fair will go. It’s hard to plan for exact precautions when he isn’t sure what they may be yet, but he’s hopeful it will be as close to normal as possible.

6:40 a.m.: Lake County Health Department, sponsors, to show off new mass vaccination site

Lake County, Illinois, Health Department and officials from Baxter International and Curative were scheduled to give a media tour Friday showcasing the a mass vaccination site in Round Lake Beach that opened this week.

Officials were scheduled to give a media tour of the site, 400 E. Rollins Road in Round Lake Beach, Friday morning.

The “is providing indoor COVID-19 vaccinations by appointment to all who live or work in Lake County, Illinois, ages 16 and older, at no cost. When vaccine supply allows the facility to reach its peak capacity of 5,000 vaccinations per day, this will be the largest vaccination site in the county,” according to a release.

6 a.m.: All Chicago mass COVID-19 vaccination sites open for walk-in appointments starting Friday

All Chicago mass vaccination sites will accept walk-in appointments starting Friday, as the city also opens up eligibility at its vaccination sites to 16- and 17-year-olds.

The mass vaccination sites, which include the United Center site that is run in conjunction with the federal government, will open up access in order to accommodate residents who don’t want to or cannot schedule appointments ahead of time, city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said during a Thursday question-and-answer session.

The announcement about the mass vaccination sites came after three Cook County mass vaccination sites in the south suburbs — Matteson, Summit and Tinley Park — also opened up to walk-ins this week.

Meanwhile, “Chicagoans under 18 must have a parent or guardian present during their appointment, and those 16 and 17 can only receive a Pfizer dose,” according to the health department.

While walk-in appointments are being made available, the city still is encouraging people to make appointments to ensure they are able to receive a vaccine.

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