Will Illinois Remain Open For Good?

Dr. Norem joins the show every Monday morning at 7:05 to give us the latest on the coronavirus, COVID-19, and the vaccine rollout.

Dr. Norem has been joining us pretty much every week for over a year now. He was explaining things during last spring's lockdown, and he's been guiding us all the way through the pandemic. We learn something new from Dr. Norem every week and this week was no exception.

We obviously love Dr. Norem and thank him for his time every week since last March, but the feeling is that we might not have to talk to him every week starting soon. The state has opened up basically to 100%, vaccines are available to anyone that wants one over the age of 12, and coronavirus cases in the state are at their lowest rate in over a year.

So, what could string this pandemic along longer than the next few weeks? According to Dr. Norem, an aggressive variant like the one currently in Europe and India could send us back to capacity limits or possibly even masks, or if people stop getting vaccinated. Dr. Norem could not stress enough how necessary it is for those who have not gotten vaccinated to do so. It's obviously a personal choice, but Dr. Norem's professional opinion is to get vaccinated.

We also talked about why the United States, which is practically open, is so much further along than European countries, many of which are still under lockdowns, and masking is still the norm. Dr. Norem shared that regardless of how you think the government handled the pandemic, aggressive and early research and investment into a vaccine is what has separated the United States from the rest of the world.

We thank Dr. Norem for his time, we hope his time with us is over soon, but still look forward to speaking with him again next Monday morning at 7:05.