“There are too many voices out there that I think are digging in for political reasons, and absolutely just not thinking about the common sense decisions,” Akers told KXAN in Austin.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday announced all preschool through 12th grade teachers and staff, higher education personnel, higher education students and health care workers in a variety of settings will be required to get vaccinated or submit to regular testing, effective Sept. 5.
He also reinstituted a statewide indoor mask mandate, regardless of vaccination status, effective Monday.
From January through July, 95% of COVID-19 deaths in Illinois were among unvaccinated people, Pritzker said. "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated," he said, repeating a message President Joe Biden has often articulated.
In the region of Illinois with the lowest vaccination rate, there was only one ICU bed available Tuesday, state health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. "Most hospitals in different areas of the state are reaching capacity as well," she said.
– Grace Hauck
Theresa Battle had to close her New York day care center last March when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the economy. By May, she had to ask her lender to temporarily suspend her roughly $2,200 monthly mortgage payment, which she couldn’t afford to pay.
After resuming her payments in September, she is paying nearly $1,400 more a month to make up for her missed payments and to meet requirements to have her loan modified. "Even though I have the money, it’s giving me anxiety so bad," Battle says.
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