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SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker spent much of the day Wednesday in downstate Illinois, where he observed flood preparations along the Illinois River in Meredosia before heading to East St. Louis. There, officials are preparing to launch a massive contact-tracing effort to control the spread of COVID-19. About 60 Illinois National Guard soldiers have been deployed to Meredosia, about 60 miles west of Springfield, to assist local emergency management officials in stacking an estimated 150,000 sandbags to shore up a levee that p...
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday his administration is developing guidelines for local governments and businesses to follow as the state prepares to enter the next phase of reopening the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have guidance documents that are being prepared, work that’s already being done to make sure that people have enough time to open safely,” Pritzker said during his daily pandemic briefing in his office at the Capitol. He reiterated that all four regions of the state are on track to enter P...
SPRINGFIELD – As the COVID-19-related death toll surpassed 4,000 Friday, Gov. JB Pritzker said the state is focusing on expanding the number of tests performed each day — an effort he said is critical to reopening the state’s economy. Pritzker said Illinois now has 251 sites that offer free testing, including seven drive-through locations in Markham, Bloomington, Harwood Heights, Rockford, Aurora, Waukegan and East St. Louis. Illinois is now routinely processing more than 20,000 tests per day. “Reaching 20,000 tests per day...
SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that three of the state’s four regions are on pace to enter the next phase of reopening the state’s economy by the end of May, but he pushed back against suggestions that the state should begin to reopen earlier. “If we were to lift all of our mitigations entirely at the end of the month, modeling shows that there would be a new surge of COVID-19 and a higher R-naught in each of the four regions, even in the least hard-hit regions of our state,” Pritzker said during his daily COVID-1...
SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker unveiled a plan Tuesday for the gradual reopening of the state’s economy on a region-by-region basis, but he suggested it could take several months or even a year before the state fully reopens. “Until we have a vaccine or an effective treatment or enough widespread immunity that new cases fail to materialize, the option of returning to normalcy doesn’t exist,” Pritzker said during his daily briefing in Chicago. “That means we have to learn how to live with COVID-19 until it can be vanquished....
SPRINGFIELD — The state of Illinois is about to hire hundreds of people to embark on a massive contact-tracing project to identify people who might have been exposed to COVID-19. That effort, Gov. JB Pritzker said, will help Illinois move away from a stay-at-home order that was being protested Friday by rally-goers outside the Capitol in Springfield. Meanwhile, the state also announced the highest daily total of new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Pritzker said during his daily news briefing in Chicago that c...
SPRINGFIELD — The state of Illinois is sending out teams of nurses and ramping up testing for COVID-19 at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities as it continues efforts to control the spread of the virus. Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday during his daily briefing in Chicago that the Illinois Department of Public Health is deploying 10 teams of 50 nurses each to long-term care facilities around the state, and it will deploy another team of 200 nurses in the coming days. Pritzker said the nurses’ primary functions wil...
SPRINGFIELD — As residents of Illinois head into their sixth week under a stay-at-home order recently extended through May, Gov. JB Pritzker on Saturday highlighted the availability of mental health services for people experiencing stress and anxiety during the novel coronavirus pandemic. During his daily COVID-19 public update in Chicago, Pritzker reminded Illinoisans that help is available, free of charge, through the text line Call4Calm, where people can access mental health services and other informational resources. P...
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday that he and five other Midwestern governors have agreed to coordinate with one another as they make plans for reopening their economies after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. Pritzker, a Democrat, joined Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D), Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) in announcing the regional effort. “Our No. 1 priority when analyzing when best to reopen our economy is the hea...
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday there are signs the COVID-19 outbreak is starting to level off, but he urged people to continue practicing social distancing to control the virus’ spread. Speaking during an abbreviated Easter Sunday daily briefing in Chicago, Pritzker said the state is now conducting more testing than ever, but the percentage of tests coming back positive has remained almost exactly the same for the past two weeks, while the number of daily deaths appears to be dropping. Pritzker said there had bee...
Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that state officials are “scouring the globe” for personal protective equipment, or PPE, as it prepares for the COVID-19 outbreak to peak in Illinois over the next two weeks. Pritzker outlined those efforts during his daily coronavirus briefing in Chicago as the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,006 new confirmed cases of the disease over the previous 24 hours and 33 additional deaths. All of those new deaths were in Cook County and the surrounding collar counties of Lake, DeK...
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Wednesday the formation of a new relief fund to support artists and performers who have been temporarily put out of work by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arts for Illinois Relief Fund will provide financial assistance in the form of grants to artists, artisans and cultural organizations that have been impacted by the virus. The fund is a partnership between the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois and several charitable foundations. Pritzker highlighted...
The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Saturday it has confirmed 13 new deaths from the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, including an infant in Cook County who had tested positive. IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said during a daily media briefing in Chicago with Gov. JB Pritzker that a full investigation is under way to determine the cause of death. If COVID-19 is confirmed to be the cause, it would mark the first infant death from the disease in Illinois. Ezike said it is rare for an infant to die of the...
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker Friday issued a “Stay at Home” order throughout Illinois, directing all residents to stay home except to conduct essential business and all nonessential businesses to stop operations. The order, which takes effect at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 21, will extend at least through Tuesday, April 7. It was the latest and most sweeping step the Pritzker administration has taken to slow the spread of the highly-contagious novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, but it does allow several exemptions. “We h...
SPRINGFIELD – Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office announced Dec. 23 that the state will receive $40.2 million in federal grants over the next three years to improve early childhood programs. The competitive grants are administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and they require a 30-percent cost-sharing commitment from non-federal funds. The grants are used to build early childhood program infrastructure and expand high-quality preschool programs in targeted communities, the governor’s office said...