Coronavirus Latest: Daily updates from NBC 5

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In the Know: Your Daily Coronavirus Update It's Tuesday, Sep. 20th Here are today's top stories. 1 Illinois Coronavirus Updates: Booster Shot Side Effects, Long COVID Symptoms What should you expect for side effects with the new omicron-specific booster shots? What we know so far as many begin to get the added dose of the COVID vaccine. Plus, many are looking to see how long their COVID symptoms could last. But what exactly is long COVID and what can you expect? Read More → 2 Not Sure If Your Symptoms Are Long COVID or Something Else? Here's What to Know As respiratory infections rise, cold and flu season begins, allergy season persists and the BA.5 omicron subvariant continues its dominance, it can be hard to differentiate what exactly is behind your COVID symptoms — especially as some linger longer than others. The Chicago area has reported a sharp rise in child hospitalizations in recent weeks due to a variety of respiratory infections. Meanwhile, nearly two dozen Illinois counties remain at a high community level for COVID and allergy season continues to take its toll. "A lot of the viruses that are circulating now and increasing now are things that we didn't see for a couple of years because of COVID," said Dr. Isaac Ghinai, a medical director for the Chicago Department of Public Health. "Because there's of course less flu around, everybody's staying at home as well so there were really quiet years for some of these childhood respiratory infections, but they are common respiratory infections normally. So now they're recirculating and sometimes at higher levels than might be expected in years like this." Read More → 3 What to Expect With Possible Side Effects of the Bivalent COVID Vaccine Booster Shots With the arrival of the long-awaited COVID-19 booster shots geared to target BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, many may be curious about its possible side effects as they prepare for another vaccination. Turns out, the new boosters may not be much different from your last dose. "We just don't have any data on this [yet], essentially giving two vaccines in one shot — but biologically, I just wouldn't expect the side effects, severity or the safety profile of the shots to be different from the current mRNA vaccines and boosters," Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and member of an independent advisory group to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC's Make It. Read More → 4 Illinois Coronavirus Updates: New COVID Booster Shot Numbers, State Metrics Illinois health officials released new number showing just how many people have received the new COVID booster shots in the state during its initial rollout so far. The numbers come as the state reports another decline in its weekly metrics, though 20 counties remain at a "high community level" for the virus. Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic across Illinois today: Read More → 5 How Long Is COVID Contagious? Here's What to Know If You Test Positive If you are battling with a bout of COVID currently, you may be wondering how long you will be contagious. During a Facebook Live last month, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady reported that recent studies have shown the incubation period — which is the number of days between infection and the onset of symptoms — for COVID has dropped to three days with recent, extra-contagious variants. "So if you go back to like alpha variant, beta, delta — early on, it was about a five-day incubation period on average. So, if you were exposed to COVID, on average, we were seeing people take about five days for someone to end up testing positive — and remember that went from four to five, out to 10, out to 14," she said. "The reason … we only use 10 days now, it is because that timing has shortened. And so, more recently with BA.4, BA.5, that's all the way down to about three days now. So on average, people are testing positive about three days after, but you can have someone positive up to 10 days." Read More → 6 Coronavirus in Illinois: Nearly 18K New Cases, 74 Deaths Reported in Last Week Illinois health officials reported 17,584 new COVID-19 cases over the past week, along with 74 additional deaths, marking a decrease in cases from a week prior, as 20 counties within the state remain at a "high" community level for COVID-19. The previous week, Illinois reported 19,933 new cases and 64 deaths. The week before that, 26,127 new cases and 70 deaths were reported. The latest numbers come as reformulated vaccines that target the latest omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, began across the state. Read More → Got a tip or story idea? tips@nbcchicago.com Follow Unsubscribe | Unsubscribe from this mailing: WMAQ_coronavirus | Change email preferences | Privacy | Terms ©2021 Copyright NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations 30 Rockefeller Plaza - New York, NY 10112