Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that a continued decline in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Illinois could lead him to lift “certain mask mandates” in time for the holiday season.

       “We want to remove the mitigations as we approach the holidays,” Pritzker said during a COVID-19 briefing at the James R. Thompson Center in the Loop. “That’s an important marker for us.”

       “We want to make sure that these numbers keep going down,“” he said.

       Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker leaves following a press conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago on Thursday, March 18, 2021 to give an update on the coronavirus and other health issues. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

       Pritzker did not lay out the specific bench marks the state will use to determine when to lift the statewide mask mandate for indoor public places, regardless of vaccination status, that has been in place since Aug. 30.

       At the time the mandate was issued, Pritzker pointed to the recommendation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that people wear masks indoors in areas of “substantial” or “high” coronavirus transmission. As of Monday, that still included all but two of the state’s 102 counties, both of them downstate.

       State health officials on Monday reported 1,327 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, the lowest daily case total since July 26, when the delta surge was first rising in Illinois. Case counts tend to be lower on Mondays.

       Over the past week, the state has averaged 2,176 new cases per day, continuing the downward trend that began in early September after the latest surge peaked at an average of 4,440 daily cases during the week ending Sept. 4.

       The statewide case positivity rate — the percentage of cases as a share of total test — has been hovering near a seven-day average of 2% this month after climbing above 5% during the summer surge. From mid-June through early July, the case positivity rate was below 1%.

       The number of patients in hospitals across the state with COVID-19 also has continued to decline.

       In response to questions earlier this month about what the thresholds are for altering the mask mandate, the Pritzker administration did not provide specifics.

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       “We are closely monitoring numerous COVID-19 metrics including new cases, hospitalizations, deaths, vaccination rates, and outbreaks to help inform the need for increased or relaxed mitigations,” the administration said in an emailed statement.

       “We are also looking to the CDC for continued guidance, on masking, physical distance (including at least 3 feet in schools), testing for the unvaccinated and symptomatic individuals, and vaccination. At this time, our top priority is protecting the health of the public while ensuring schools, businesses, and other settings can remain open.”

       Pritzker was joined at Tuesday’s briefing by Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike and the head of AARP Illinois to encourage those 65 and older and other vulnerable residents to receive booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccines as they’re approved by federal health officials.

       Making reference to the massive deadly surge of COVID-19 that began around this time last year, Ezike said it’s especially important to make sure residents in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities receive boosters.

       “It’s fall again, and we saw last fall the devastating impact that COVID-19 had in our long-term care facilities,” Ezike said. “We saw it here in Illinois. We saw it across the country. We saw in internationally.

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       “We as Illinoisans will not stand idly by and relive the tragedy that we saw, especially when we have a powerful tool that will prevent those hospitalizations and deaths in our beloved family members in long-term care facilities.”

       dpetrella@chicagotribune.com

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