* This is just ridiculous. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?…

As many as 22 home care clients who are part of an Illinois program have tested positive for COVID-19, including five who died. Some home health aides also have tested positive.

As the nation scrambles to keep its doctors and nurses supplied with safety gear during the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak, an army of low-wage Illinois home care workers on the front lines remain largely on their own. […]

Williams is among more than 40,000 workers in Illinois’ Community Care Program, which allows more than 100,000 seniors to stay out of nursing facilities by providing aides who visit the seniors in their homes.

The aides and clients are some of the most susceptible people to the pandemic, yet across Illinois many remain in close quarters, and lack protective equipment, such as masks and gloves. […]

Although home health-care aides are on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis in Illinois, they are not licensed or certified as health care workers. As the state gains access to gloves and masks, such workers do not qualify as “priority health care providers,” a category that is given priority access to protective equipment.

* The nightmare continues…

As of 10 a.m. Friday, 21 staff members and 56 residents have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Illinois Department Human Services which operates the facility for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The center’s 1,195-person staff cares for 478 residents.

The Kankakee County Health Department reported Friday afternoon the county has a total of 195 confirmed cases, 10 deaths and 25 recoveries. Of 195 cases, 119 are associated with long-term care facilities.

* The Tribune has updated a list published by the governor’s office to show what PPE Illinois has requested from the federal government and what has been sent…

They’ve also published a timeline of the requests, so click here and check it out.

* Seems like this should’ve been handled without running to the media…

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s announcement on Friday that four health centers on the South and West sides will be collecting an additional 400 swabs daily from potential COVID-19 patients took the city of Chicago by surprise, public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady told the Tribune on Friday.

During a news conference on Saturday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that “Obviously there was a problem yesterday,” she said. […]

“Honestly, we partner with the state on a lot of things,” Arwady said. “We’ve really asked that, especially where there are conversations that are happening with Chicago hospitals or Chicago health care facilities, that we are part of that conversation. Coordination is so important, especially right now.” […]

“As the governor mentioned earlier this week, the state is working around the clock to increase testing capacity. Today’s announcement of testing sites in the city is one component of a broader statewide effort to expand testing access in underserved communities. Deputy Gov. Sol Flores called Deputy Mayor Sybil Madison this morning to brief the city on the state’s efforts. Governor Pritzker has tremendous confidence in Dr. (Ngozi) Ezike’s ability to determine appropriate testing locations to serve all communities in the state.”

* This might be some fun with numbers…

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady reported during a Saturday morning online question-and-answer session that the city’s share of COVID-19 cases continues to decline.

Arwady said the latest numbers show that Chicago has about 40% of the confirmed coronavirus cases in the state.

“They were half or more than half,” Arwady said. “In Chicago, that’s a sign that the measures we’ve put in place have been working.”

And/or it’s a sign that the virus has spread elsewhere, which it has.

* A couple of Tribune live blog headlines…

Preckwinkle talks hospital capacity and racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes

2nd Chicago cop to die of COVID-19 complications was 25-year vet with kids on the force

* Sun-Times live blog headlines…

As COVID-19 spreads, CPD officers on desk duty call in sick most: Data obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times through a Freedom of Information Act request show that officers assigned to a unit that has little-to-no face-to-face interaction with the public called off work more than any other group of officers between March 16 and March 25. … The section is staffed by officers “on permanent light-duty awaiting reassignment as well as those officers who have been stripped of their police powers,” said Luis Agostini, a CPD spokesman.

2nd CPD officer to die of COVID-19 wanted his death ‘to serve as a warning,’ Lightfoot says

Coronavirus sends Holocaust survivors behind doors, back in time

Crime drops around the world as COVID-19 keeps people inside

Three immigrants and a correctional officer at a downstate county jail used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have tested positive for the coronavirus.

* Roundup…

* Midwest blood banks seek recovered patient plasma for tests

* Britain has millions of coronavirus antibody tests, but they don’t work

* Some counties in southwest Illinois track coronavirus recoveries. Why don’t all?

* Harvey nurses protest over lack of protective equipment during COVID-19 pandemic: In a statement, the hospital said the nurse’s union seems more focused on exploiting the pandemic for contract negotiations. But hospital officials said extra measures have been taken to provide a safe environment for nurses and caregivers.

* Surgeon General Jerome Adams says ‘most of the country’ will not be able to open by May 1

* Preckwinkle defends firing of county health department chief during pandemic - The Cook County Board president said Dr. Terry Mason was great at public education and outreach, but what was needed is “strong operational leadership.”

* Nurses Warn COVID-19 Cases At Cook County Jail Aren’t Just Staying Behind Bars

* Gun shops see COVID-19 business boom: ‘This is a very different panic than we have seen in the past’: Illinoisans tried to buy an unprecedented number of guns in March – nearly twice as many as the month before – and the state’s leading firearm owners advocacy group says it was all fueled by fears of “social unrest” during the coronavirus crisis.

* Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says Anderson Hospital will conduct coronavirus tests

* Coronavirus testing site to open in East St. Louis as push for more testing continues

* SMTD to require face masks to ride

* ‘It’s been devastating,’ says Quincy Convention and Visitors Bureau director

* ‘The response was overwhelming,’ Rochester food pantry restocks in one day

* Doctors rock playing concert for Central DuPage Hospital staff

* Meals on Wheels ramps up as new customers come on board

* News Media Outlets Have Been Ravaged by the Pandemic - Roughly 28,000 workers at news companies nationwide have been laid off, furloughed or had their pay reduced. Some publications that rely on ads have shut down.