Illinois has surpassed 2 million COVID-19 vaccinations, public health officials reported Friday. The state reached a total of 2,060,706 doses after 83,673 vaccinations were administered Thursday.

Over the past seven days, the state averaged 59,460 vaccinations administered daily, down from a high of 66,320 on Feb. 14. Vaccinations have been affected this week by the severe winter weather, as the state had warned earlier in the week.

The citys CARES Act spending drew an angry rebuke from activists and aldermen who said the money could have instead provided badly needed housing, health care and business lifelines to struggling residents.

Also on Friday, state officials announced 2,219 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 63 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,170,902 and the statewide death toll to 20,192 since the start of the pandemic.

Heres whats happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:

6:05 p.m.: Pritzkers tax plan: Closing corporate tax loopholes, or the best way to shoot yourself in the foot?

Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants to close $932 million of what he called corporate tax loopholes to help Illinois balance its budget after the fiscal ruins of COVID-19, but the controversial proposal comes as cities and states gear up to land relocating jobs and strengthen an economy battered by the pandemic.

Trade groups spoke out against Pritzkers plan after it wasannounced Wednesday, saying businesses are struggling even without new costs.

Real estate experts said Pritzkers proposal to phase out or eliminate some tax breaks could add a hurdle at an unprecedented moment, when swathes of corporations are rethinking their space needs.

Raising taxes during a pandemic is the best way to shoot yourself in the foot, when it comes to attracting jobs, said John H. Boyd, principal of The Boyd Co., a corporate site selection consulting firm. Its ill-timed and shortsighted.

5:50 p.m.: Far fewer COVID-19 deaths in Illinois nursing homes

In another promising sign Illinois is beating back the COVID-19 pandemic, cases and deaths at Illinois long-term care facilities have dropped to levels not seen since late summer, according to state data released Friday.

Following weeks of focused vaccination of long-term care residents and workers, the state reported 33 residents died from the virus over the past week. Thats the lowest reported tally since mid-August and exponentially lower than the 650 weekly deaths reported in early December.

Long-term care residents not only have seen a sizable drop in the number of deaths, they also now make up a far smaller share of those who are dying of COVID-19 each week going from roughly half or more of these deaths in Illinois to near 10 percent now.

Long-term care residents were among the first groups prioritized for vaccination, and advocates for seniors and industry officials credit the vaccines for reducing the viruss toll in long-term care facilities. But both groups cautioned that the pandemic remains far from over.

We still need to remember were in a crisis, even though were seeing positive trends, said Ryan Gruenenfelder, a director of advocacy and outreach for AARP Illinois.

In the past week the state recorded its 9,689th death of a long-term care resident, leaving the state just a few hundred shy of 10,000 deaths among nearly 75,000 cases.

5:40 p.m.: Younger Hispanic Kane County residents hit harder by COVID-19 deaths, new data shows

Younger Hispanic residents of Kane County have been hospitalized for COVID-19 and have died with the virus at disproportionately high rates, new health department data shows.

The data confirms what community advocates say they have long known: that Kane County has faced the same COVID-19 inequities that have played out across the country. But public information about the local communities most affected by COVID-19 deaths has been hard to come by.

The data also highlights the need to reach the countys Black and Hispanic communities with vaccines, Kane County Assistant Director of Community Health Michael Isaacson said, as small fractions of the countys doses to date have been administered to Black and Hispanic residents.

At the high level, these inequities show us that as a society we have a long way to go to get everybody better access to good health, Isaacson said. Specific to COVID, I think this data shows how important it is that we get vaccine to our Black and Latinx communities.

The information obtained by the Beacon-News shows vast divides in those who have died of COVID-19 when broken down by age.

In those under age 60, Hispanic residents made up about 68% of Kane County COVID-19 deaths through February 8 and about 64% of hospitalizations among younger residents for severe cases of the illness. That stands in contrast to the 32% of Kane Countys population that is Hispanic.

5:10 p.m.: Lightfoot joins mayors statewide in urging Illinois congressional delegation to back Bidens COVID-19 relief package

Illinois municipal groups and mayors, including Lori Lightfoot, have sent a letter to Illinois congressional delegation urging passage of President Joe Bidens COVID-19 relief plan and its $350 billion in direct aid to state and local governments nationally.

In a letter released Friday by the White House, the mayors and groups representing nearly 1,300 municipalities warned that without local recovery, there is no national economic recovery.

As mayors on the front line of the pandemic response, we have taken necessary steps to keep our communities safe and continue flattening the curve to save lives, the letter sent Thursday said. Undoubtedly, these steps have come with severe financial hardship. Not only have tax revenues been dropping drastically, but funding essential services critical to the health and safety of our residents has and continues to be challenged.

Of the $350 billion in direct relief to states and municipalities under the plan approved by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Illinois state government would receive $7.55 billion while municipalities in the state would get $5.7 billion. Of the municipal share, Chicago would get more than $1.8 billion.

While the letter was sent to all 18 members of Illinois House delegation and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, it was primarily aimed at the states five Republican congressmen: Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon, Darin LaHood of Peoria, Rodney Davis of Taylorville, Mike Bost of Murphysboro and Mary Miller of Oakland. They have joined with other GOP members in opposing direct state and local pandemic relief funding.

2:13 p.m.: Suburbanites are getting COVID-19 vaccine appointments on Chicagos South and West sides. But should they?

Within the first couple days of vaccinating seniors and essential workers on the South Side of Chicago late last month, doctors at Howard Brown Health noticed something unusual: patients traveling from the North Side of the city to the clinics.

They werent the people that lived in the community, said Dr. Maya Green, Howard Browns regional medical director for the South and West sides. The fact is, the link (for appointments) was being communicated and shared faster on the North Side of Chicago, and not among Black and brown communities on the South and West sides of Chicago.

Its a scenario thats been playing out across the city in recent weeks since Illinois opened vaccinations to seniors and front-line essential workers Jan. 25. Many vaccine doses were sent to underserved parts of Chicago in an effort to make sure people in the communities hardest-hit by COVID-19 had access to shots. But with overall vaccines in short supply, people from outside those areas have been traveling to them to get vaccinated.

1:43 p.m.: Illinois surpasses 2 million COVID-19 vaccinations, but 7-day average down amid severe winter weather

The number of COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Illinois has surpassed 2 million, public health officials reported Friday.

The state reached a total of 2,060,706 doses after 83,673 vaccinations were administered Thursday. According to state records, that is the second-highest daily total, behind 95,375 doses on Feb. 11.

Over the past seven days, the state averaged 59,460 vaccinations administered daily, down from a high of 66,320 on Feb. 14. Vaccinations have been affected this week by the severe winter weather, as the state had warned earlier in the week.

The number of Illinois residents who have been fully vaccinated receiving both of the required two shots reached 507,862, or 3.99% of the total population. Over the past seven days, the state averaged 59,460 vaccines administered daily.

12:21 p.m.: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot defends spending $281.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief money on police payroll, says criticism is just dumb

Mayor Lori Lightfoot defended Friday the citys decision to use $281.5 million in federal CARES Act money on Chicago police payroll costs, saying criticism from progressive aldermen and community groups on the issue is just dumb.

We saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by saying yes to the federal government. Should we have said no? No, no, no federal government, well incur this expense, well put this burden entirely on city of Chicago taxpayers and you can take your money elsewhere? Lightfoot said. That would be foolish and of course we didnt do that.

The city took advantage of the federal CARES Act funding, which provided reimbursement money for COVID-19 related expenses, to avoid an even bigger deficit, Lightfoot said.

Criticism comes with the job of mayor but this ones just dumb, Lightfoot said.

The citys CARES Act spending drew an angry rebuke from activists and aldermen who said the money could have instead provided badly needed housing, health care and business lifelines to struggling residents.

12:13 p.m.: 2,219 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 63 additional deaths reported

Officials also reported 85,963 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 2.8% for the period ending Thursday.

10:13 a.m.: Chicago reports improvement in COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts among citys Black and Latino population

The number of vaccines going to Black and Latino people in Chicago has gone up but the city still has work to do in closing the equity gap, according to newly released data.

The city has improved its vaccination record among minority groups since December, when Chicago began receiving doses for distribution. White people initially were receiving roughly 60% of doses per week, a figure thats dropped to about 40% in the past week as city officials pushed efforts to promote the vaccine in Black and Latino neighborhoods, city officials said.

Over the past month, we have doubled down on our efforts to not only drive vaccines into communities that need them most but ensure that our vaccination rates match the demographics of our city, Lightfoot said in a statement touting the citys efforts.

News of improving vaccination distribution efforts comes a week after state data showed that Black and Hispanic Illinoisans so far have been vaccinated at half the rate of white residents, confirming fears of inequity in COVID-19 vaccinations and spurring calls to action.

7:01 a.m.: Lightfoot, city officials to give vaccine update

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago health officials were scheduled to give an update on vaccine distribution in the city Friday morning.

Lightfoot and city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady were to join other city officials at Ombudsman Chicago South high school in Englewood.

The news conference comes as Chicago-area counties have struggled to reach even the states low vaccination rates. The city, Cook and DuPage counties reported that less than 10% of their populations had received their first dose, while Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties each had vaccinated 8% or less.

The announcement also comes as state officials have tried to ramp up vaccine distribution in areas throughout the state with lower vaccination rates, opening mass vaccination sites, including by opening three new mass vaccination sites in central and southern Illinois this week.

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COVID-19 in Illinois updates: Heres whats happening Friday - Chicago Tribune