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Despite calls for more personal protective equipment and safer working conditions, the Illinois Nurses Association learned today that 12 Registered Nurses from the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago have tested positive for COVID-19.

“These nurses served patients on the front line of the fight to contain the coronavirus pandemic and risked their lives to make sure patients received proper care,” said Alice Johnson, INA Executive Director. “We hoped their hospital and their government would protect them, but they failed,” Johnson said.

Johnson stated that nurses have had to work on the COVID Care Unit without personal protective equipment.

“They do not know day to day if they will have masks, gowns, gloves or goggles for that shift. One nurse said their unit manager scolded them for wearing a mask in a room where a COVID19 positive patient was being intubated.”

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Officials announced a plan Friday after the amount of detainees inside Cook County Jail with COVID-19 rose to 38.

With only two cases on Monday, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Sheriff Tom Dart are concerned at the rate of the spread.

Officials are still waiting on 123 tests to come back. Non-violent offenders will be released as soon as possible, officials said. Bonds may also be granted to those who are deemed unhealthy or too poor to post bail, according to Cook County Jail.

“I want to assure the public that everyone, everyone leaving the jail will be screened and given a temperature check to make sure they are not currently exhibiting any COVID-19 related symptoms,” Preckwinkle said.

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A secretive cache of medical supplies to save Americans from deadly disasters for years lacked the funding to prepare for a pandemic as widespread as the coronavirus, former managers of the stockpile told USA TODAY.

Overseen by a cadre of scientists, disease specialists and others at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Strategic National Stockpile houses roughly $8 billion in inventory for rapid deployment to anywhere in the nation in under 12 hours.

But its inadequate supply of ventilators, respiratory masks and other personal protective equipment will leave critical shortages for U.S. hospitals scrambling to respond to the mounting coronavirus pandemic.

New York state requested 30,000 ventilators, and New York City alone asked for 15,000 of them, as well as for 3 million N95 masks. California has requested 10,000 ventilators and 20 million N95 masks.

The stockpile had just 16,600 of the breathing machines and an estimated 12 million N95 masks at the start of the pandemic – not enough for those two states, much less the rest of the country.

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Lake County officials regret to announce that the first two Lake County residents have died from complications of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper said, “On March 24, 2020, at approximately 8 p.m., the Lake County Coroner’s Office was notified of the death of a male in his 50s at one of our local hospitals. He was tested for COVID-19 prior to his death, and last night the results confirmed that he was indeed COVID-19 positive. Today, at approximately 1:30 a.m., we were notified of the death of a woman in her 90s at another area hospital. She also tested positive for COVID-19.”