* Sorry for the quality of this copy, but it’s been confirmed by the administration. Click the pic for a larger image and I’ll try to get a better version…
Murray is in Centralia, in southern Illinois. Click here for more info on the facility.
No Illinois health facility has more cases of COVID-19 than the Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee. Wednesday there were 50 residents and 19 staff members with confirmed cases for a total of 69 cases. The total number of cases in all of Kankakee County had reached 150, meaning the Shapiro Center makes up 46% of the cases. […]
The next biggest cluster of cases is 29 at the Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Ridge.
Because so many staff members are sick, all time off has been canceled. The state health department has staff dedicated to rumor control online to prevent misinformation on social media.
This is a nightmare.
…Adding… Press release…
Statement from IARF President & CEO Josh Evans: Confirmed Cases of Individuals with Developmental Disabilities in Community Residences and State Centers
“It is with deep sadness and concern that we continue to learn of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in group homes and state centers where individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities reside. With at least 47 known cases in group homes and five deaths – and with news of over a dozen residents of Murray Center - we grieve with families and guardians that are experiencing loss and we hope for a speedy recovery for those going through this horrible illness.”
“Services and supports for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities make effective use of social distancing impossible. Frontline staff are needed for activities of daily living, administering medications, and a myriad of supports to help individuals with disabilities have a meaningful day, yet be healthy and safe during this pandemic. Yet for many staff in IARF provider agencies and state-run centers, there isn’t access to critically needed personal protective equipment (PPEs), such as masks, disinfectant, thermometers, and robes. We simply cannot get PPE in the quantity we need it to protect residents and staff.”
“While we may never be able to quantify, the Association believes the Department of Human Services – specifically the Division of Developmental Disabilities, took quick action that has reduced the spread of the coronavirus and has saved lives. The community service array has received information, guidance, and resources it needs to protect the health and safety of residents and the staff that serve and support them. IARF is proud of the leadership exhibited by this Administration.”
“However, despite best preparations, the spread of the coronavirus will continue unless disability and behavioral health service providers and state centers have access to PPE to mitigate that spread. Consider this a call to anyone reading this – in government, outside of government, in supply chains, in our healthcare and social services safety net with any sort of surplus or reserve – we need PPE – we need it to protect our friends and loved ones with developmental disabilities, and the staff that support them – with families of their own. My team and I will do what we can to connect you with service providers in your communities. Please help.
* From today’s press conference, here’s IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike…
Using the information that we have, we can still track our rate of rise. And so with the decrease in the rate of rise, with it not looking exponential, with it looking more linear, that just means that there’s a slower rate of increase. So we are confident with our team of epidemiologists that that is what we’re seeing, thus far.
So we’re with guarded optimism, we’re hoping that we’re getting close to either the peak or the plateau. It’s not clear yet how long that would be. Again, it’s really hard to start making specific days like we’re X number of days from the peak. But we think we’re heading in that direction. And we will continue to follow the data and give you more as we get it.
A plateau would be horrible, so stay inside. And please wear a mask and gloves if you absolutely must venture forth. Keep washing your hands. Don’t let a little good news allow you to start coasting. The coming days are absolutely critical to starve this virus of its food (people).
One of the most important distinctions between linear and exponential functions is how (and how quickly) they increase or decrease. Linear functions increase proportionally; an increase in x has a corresponding additive increase in y. Exponential functions, however, increase exponentially; that is, an increase in x has a corresponding multiplicative increase in y.
If you talk to Dr Ezike, you’ll see that early on in the development of COVID-19 in Illinois, there was a coefficient that was like three and a half people were getting infected for every one person that you could detect. And it’s much lower now, and again, it’s not an exact science that number, but we are seeing a change in those numbers and it has directly to do with the orders that we put in place people staying at home. People washing their hands people doing the right thing people wearing masks. These all have an effect on the infection rate in the state
Folks I promised you honesty and transparency in every step of our COVID-19 response. So here it is. We have only just recently surpassed 6000 tests [per day], and we will not reach the 10,000 mark this week.
As always, please pardon all transcription typos.
* More…
Today I’m going to lay out exactly why that is, the work that’s been done to increase testing over the past 10 days and what we plan to do to get to our goal as quickly as possible.
10 days ago I presented a roadmap showing how we were going to get to our goal within 10 days. The path that I laid out for you had as its key element the addition of new laboratory automation machines to add a multi thousand unit daily increase to our state labs. To get this done we partnered with a major supplier of molecular testing equipment Thermo Fisher, which is a global provider of COVID-19 testing solutions to state and commercial laboratories. Thermo Fisher like many companies provides testing processes that are regulated by the FDA and are authorized under an emergency use authorization to provide COVID-19 testing to customers like the state of Illinois.
So we acquired five high volume RNA extractors from Thermo Fisher, each of which promise to run 200 tests per hour. And we distributed those five machines across our three state laboratories. Some quick math will tell you that these extractors could increase our testing output by thousands per day when running effectively. Over the past 10 days working alongside experts from Thermo Fisher. We are still not getting the level of output that we want to see from these machines.
More importantly, these tests are not producing valid results in a way that meets our exacting standards. I am as impatient as the rest of you are wanting to increase testing, but I will not sacrifice accuracy for the sake of speed. These tests, and the results they will provide are too important. We have to get this right.
* More…
We’re working around the clock alongside Thermo Fisher to accomplish our goal, but until these challenges are overcome these machines will not be part of our testing capacity here in Illinois. 10 days ago I said to you every day we aren’t hitting 10,000 tests or more is another day that we’re not able to get the answer is that help us get past the current crisis. So today I’m standing in front of you and saying we are not there yet.
* What about private labs?…
Folks, I want to be clear, with all of you that we are choosing the best path, but not necessarily the easiest path. If we wanted to choose an easy but less effective path. We could increase testing capacity through private labs used by the federal government. The problem is those labs take seven to 10 days to produce a result. People can end up on a ventilator before they ever get their testing result. That’s just not a timeline that I want to bet on. When we produce accurate test results at our own state labs or at local hospitals we get results within two days.
No matter how much is beyond our control the buck stops with me. And we are still not where we need to be on the testing front.
* Battle plan…
So here’s what we’re going to do. Instead of solely relying on federally sanctioned labs to save us, we’re charting our own path forward. I’m putting my faith in the scientists and technicians, the academics and innovators here in Illinois, to expand our test results. Our state is nationally and globally competitive in just about every category of research science and technology.
We’ve already relied upon those resources in our fight against COVID-19. Illinois was the first state in the nation to validate the original CDC COVID-19 test back in February. In the United States, only the CDC has been testing for COVID-19 longer than the state of Illinois and teams at universities and research laboratories statewide are already working toward treatments, preventions and cures. We’ve already led the way on state level testing innovation in the United States, and we’re going to do it again.
Our researchers are working in an expedited fashion to get this additional new testing up and running as soon as possible and distributing it to other institutions beyond our state labs that have our same type of equipment to continue increasing capacity statewide. To ensure a steady stream of supplies are in state universities and local laboratories are creating our own raw materials, instead of relying upon the global supply chain, which is frankly in disarray, our institutions are developing and distributing their own viral transport medium, known as VTM, and the necessary reagent locally. Hospitals and labs in Illinois that are running low on VTM will be able to access these resources through their local emergency management agency’s resource request systems.
We’re now running three shifts at one of our state labs, with the other two moving to match their capacity soon. And more than 96 locations across the state are now collecting specimens, this capacity has brought us the increase that we have already achieved. Today we surpassed 6000 tests in a 24 hour period.
We also need to talk about rapid tests, as I’ve told you I spoke directly with the President and the CEO of Abbott Labs, the night that they announced their portable five minute rapid test for COVID-19, and they expressed their genuine interest in taking care of their home state. And for that I am very grateful.
They dedicated the supplies to support more than 88,000 tests, a month or around 3000 tests, a day here in Illinois and we’ve seen the documentation as to where the distributions of those items are headed. Unfortunately, it is our understanding now that the federal government redirected most of these early tests to private systems without our state input about where the tests would make the most impact. That said, we believe this new test capacity will begin to show up in our numbers. As soon as these labs start to utilize their full capacity.
Our teams in our state labs also received 15 Abbott, Id now machines from the federal government, for which we’re very grateful. And those machines are being distributed to every state in the United States, 15 machines. This could be a huge help. But there’s a catch. The federal government included only 120 total tests. That’s eight tests per machine for all of Illinois. But I assure you that we will leave no stone unturned to get the tests that we need to run those machines at full bore.
I lay out these obstacles not to complain or to point fingers but to be fully transparent with all of you. As to the challenges that we face and how we are working to overcome them. It’s on us. I’m also hopeful that this transparency will shine a light on some of what’s taking place across the country and will encourage the White House to remove the obstacles that are blocking our path forward and to work together. Meanwhile, we are using every resource at the state level to increase testing and are continuing to make progress, though frankly not at the rate that I would like.
* Fundraising announcement…
Two weeks back we announced multimillion dollar Illinois COVID-19 response fund to support community organizations and local nonprofits around the state, working to support the residents who were hit hardest by COVID-19. This morning the fund announced its first round of grant distributions $5.5 million to 30 organizations that serve families across 96% of our state’s population by providing people with access to food, shelter health care help with their mortgage and utilities and focusing, especially on supporting vulnerable populations, like our children, our seniors those with disabilities, immigrants victims of domestic violence and others in some of these organizations serve more than 700,000 people. In just the last few weeks the fund has raised more than $28 million from nearly 2000 donors, and many more rounds of funding will be coming soon.
* Richard Neely, Adjutant General, Illinois National Guard…
Today I’m happy to announce that the Illinois Air National Guard will have two C-130 cargo aircraft from the 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria move 250 negative pressurized tents from Eugene Oregon to Chicago this evening. … This will be the first of three deliveries over the next few weeks as the Army Corps of Engineers in almost construction complete the build out the McCormick center
* On to questions for the governor. There is some discussion today that the CDC is considering changing its guidelines for self isolation, making it easier for those who have been exposed to return to work if they are asymptomatic. What is your take on that?…
This is an important development. First of all, it’s taken weeks and weeks for a determination to be made and the CDC is acknowledging it now, that if you’ve had COVID-19, there is a high likelihood that you are immune from getting it again. Unless it mutates or there’s some other development of it. COVID-19 once you’ve had it, you cannot get it again that’s the acknowledgement I think that the CDC is making here, so that’s good news, in many ways, at least for people who had COVID-19, and have recovered, that they are not under the same restrictions and guidelines that others who haven’t had it yet, are now.
What we don’t know and I need to read more about what the CDC may be saying about it, is whether someone who has had it can also somehow on their clothing or in other ways carry the virus with them. Right, so even if somebody is immune from it. Is there any way for them to carry the virus with them, I do not know the answer, and I can let Dr. Ezike answer if she does. But I can just tell you that we look very much at this research we’ve been looking at it for four weeks now, that this will help us going forward with the restarting of the economy. […]
So we’re going to look very much at how we would accomplish what they’re suggesting you know because it’s very hard to just look at somebody and know whether they’ve had the test, or they don’t haven’t had the test you can’t tell the difference with somebody. So how would we identify somebody who has had COVID-19 recovered rather not the test, but had COVID-19 and recovered, they would only be if they had a test and some showing that they’re immune.
* Mayor Lightfoot has stopped liquor sales after 9 pm. Could you imagine that statewide as well?…
I think that’s up to local mayors and local city governments and county governments to make the decision
* Why do you need pressurized tents for McCormick Place when it was not intended for very sick people?…
Well, the hope is not, but you want to be prepared and so the idea is to have an area for patients that, who come in their cars with COVID positive, but hopefully at a low level low acuity right and unfortunately some of them will increase the intensity of the seriousness of the effects of COVID-19.
* Dr Ezike on the exponential growth, you said seems to be slowing. Where does this suggest we are in terms of the peak, and also how can we be sure if we’re not testing the 10,000 per day?…
Using the information that we have, we can still track our rate of rise and so with the decrease in the rate of rise, with it not looking exponential, with it looking more linear, that just means that there’s a slower rate of increase and so we are confident with our team of epidemiologists that that is what we’re seeing, thus far. So we’re with guarded optimism we’re hoping that we’re getting close to either the peak or the plateau. It’s not clear yet how long that would be, again, it’s really hard to start making specific days like we’re X number of days from the peak but we think we’re heading in that direction. And we will continue to follow the data and give you more as we get it.
* For Dr. Ezike. Up until yesterday, IDPH, the data on the test was reported as number of people test it. Now, it’s number of tests. So which is it and why is there a change is it true that sometimes multiple tests are needed to get a result?…
so if you recall when we used to talk about the specimens tested we know that we used to take a nasal swab like we had an MP nasal pharyngeal swab and oropharyngeal swab so sometimes people had up to three different swabs from the same patient. We have now switched to doing single swabs. So I think there’s, depending on which data you’re looking at you have to correct for, there may be multiple swabs for an individual. And so I think that’s why the correction was the most part it is one specimen, for one test now because the guidance has changed.
Pritzker on the subject…
You know, a lot of the things that you were measuring a month ago are different now because the CDC has given different and new guidance for the FDA. And so, it used to be multiple swabs for a single person, almost three I think at the beginning, and now it’s really more like one to one
* For Dr. Ezike: Are Illinois hospitals still allowing family members to accompany a woman in labor and what are the guidelines?…
Yeah, so I’ve been following that and it’s not consistent it’s not a single rule for all hospitals. I know that in some hospitals, they are allowing the partner or the coach to be there for the actual labor, but not for any additional time again, understanding the situation we’re in. But knowing that people coming from the outside can bring you know the virus into the hospital. So I know that some hospitals were allowing just the one partner or coach to assist with the actual labor, but not outside of that. And there may have been some other place some other hospitals where that even one person wasn’t allowed so I know that there’s not consistency
* In Los Angeles, the mayor has ordered if you’re at a retail store wear masks. Is that a good idea?…
It is a good idea. It is a good idea when you go out and we haven’t ordered it but but as you’ve said I’ve every day, you know, I wear my own mask when I go outside. If I’m going to a store or any other place I would wear a mask. I would suggest that for everybody. I’ve seen a lot of people doing just that which is terrific.
* You’ve talked with about the wild west of securing PPE outside the government, but what is it like working with the feds is it organized and or do you feel like you’re getting the runaround?…
Sure, it’s a great question because you know when you say the feds when someone asked the question about working with the federal government, there are so many different parts of the federal government. You know when you’re talking to the Army Corps of Engineers. This is a highly organized, highly effective organization they deliver when they have promised things, they’ve delivered. It’s really quite amazing.
And it you know when you talk about kind of the more political branches right like the White House, it’s less the case, you’ve heard me say before. It is often difficult when people are promising things and then they don’t get delivered. And whose fault is it I mean if someone makes you a promise but it’s supposed to be delivered by somebody else were in the executive chain of command. Did that fall down? I don’t know. What I know is a promise was made, and then it wasn’t delivered. But I will tell you that every time I have interacted with people on the ground who come from the federal government, who are working hard, you know, for Illinois, I mean I’ve been really amazed at what they’re doing for us.
* Governor on the rate of infection growth…
Early on in the development of COVID-19 in Illinois, there was a coefficient that was like three and a half people were getting infected for every one person that you could detect. And it’s much lower now, and again, it’s not an exact science that number, but we are seeing a change in those numbers and it has directly to do with the orders that we put in place people staying at home. People washing their hands people doing the right thing people wearing masks. These all have an effect on the infection rate in the state.
* For Dr. Ezike: It seems likely that downstate Illinois will see cases peak sometime later than the Chicago area. To what extent are rural critical access hospitals prepared for the increased volume of cases they’re likely to see?…
So we know that there’s the population density of is, will affect the rate of spread. But we also know that they have a shortage of hospitals and beds there so we’re keeping a close eye on that as we look right now I think our hotspot is more Northern Illinois and regions seven through 11, but we’re keeping an eye on all the beds the ICU, the ventilators and the availability of those, and we potentially will have to do some moving of things but we are also looking at what the needs will be there and if we need to create some of these additional alternate care facilities in some other regions like we will be looking at that so we monitor all of these numbers through our m resource multiple times a day, and we’ll be keeping up with what’s going on in the southern region as well.
* Governor, how do you feel when you see shops and restaurants closed, maybe forever because of your decision?…
It’s devastating. It’s devastating for the people who have closed their businesses, it’s devastating for the people who worked at those businesses.
I hope that those shops will not close forever. I hope that the small business loans that we’re offering in the state of Illinois, the small business support that’s coming from the federal government will allow those businesses to survive to reopen when it’s time.
We’re doing our best I am lobbying, I mean every day I’m talking to federal officials federal elected officials to get them to do something in a stimulus fashion. There’s going to be another CARES act I’m told to expand support for small businesses as well as for individuals across the country. And so we want to do everything we can to help those people.
But if you want to know how it makes me feel, I know how hard it is to start a business, and to make it initially successful. Many small businesses get started, don’t go over, they don’t get very far. The ones that do survive by working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes to make it, and when they finally make it, I mean the idea that a virus is going to devastate your business not something anybody could ever have imagined. But here we are, and we’ve got to stop the spread of this virus we’ve got to save lives, so we can save livelihoods.
* Canada radically streamlined applying for unemployment insurance by choosing to detect for fraud and errors after processing the application. Folks are applying in three minutes and getting direct deposits in three days. Could Illinois do something like this?…
In fact, we have streamlined that we’ve taken away the obstacles. There had been a number of checks that somebody would have to go through before getting their unemployment insurance the card and. And we’ve actually reduced the numbers of those checks so that people could get approved much faster.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,529 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 82 additional deaths.
Boone County: 1 female 80s
Cook County: 1 male 30s, 4 males 40s, 2 females 50s, 8 males 50s, 2 females 60s, 7 males 60s, 12 females 70s, 7 males 70s, 4 females 80s, 10 males 80s, 2 females 90s, 2 males 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s,
Kane County: 1 male 60s
Lake County: 2 females 80s, 1 female 90s
Macon County: 1 male 80s
Madison County: 1 female 60s
McHenry County: 1 male 70s
St. Clair County: 1 male 70s
Tazewell County: 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 female 60s, 2 males 60s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 80s
Stark county is now reporting a case. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 15,078 cases, including 462 deaths, in 78 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.
The night before a funeral in February, a Chicago man shared a three-hour takeout meal with two family members of the deceased. The next day, at the service, he took part in a potluck dinner, hugging those in mourning. In the following days, he swung by a birthday party.
Throughout these simple, seemingly innocuous encounters, the man had mild symptoms of what authorities now know to be the novel coronavirus, and health officials believe he may have been a so-called super-spreader who unwittingly transmitted the infection to as many as 16 people, resulting in three deaths.
The account of community spread in an Illinois cluster is the product of an investigation conducted in February and March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Chicago Department of Public Health. It shows how easily the virus can be transmitted, even with limited contact—and provides a cautionary tale for Americans thinking of breaking social-distancing guidelines. […]
Super-spreaders—or patients who are extra contagious—have become a notable feature of the virus. Experts have pointed to cases like that of a lawyer in New Rochelle, New York who may have helped trigger an outbreak there, and a man in the United Kingdom who may have transmitted the virus to nearly a dozen people before realizing he was sick earlier this year.
This cluster comprised 16 cases of COVID-19 (seven confirmed and nine probable), with transmission mostly occurring between nonhousehold contacts at family gatherings. The median interval from last contact with a patient with confirmed or probable COVID-19 to first symptom onset was 4 days. Within 3 weeks after mild respiratory symptoms were noted in the index patient, 15 other persons were likely infected with SARS-CoV-2, including three who died. Patient A1.1, the index patient, was apparently able to transmit infection to 10 other persons, despite having no household contacts and experiencing only mild symptoms for which medical care was not sought.
As part of a state’s unemployment insurance system, work-share programs (also called “short-time compensation programs”) allow employers to temporarily reduce the hours of their workers during economic downturns as an alternative to laying them off altogether. For example, an employer might reduce the work hours of the entire workforce by 20 percent, from five days per week to four days per week, instead of laying off 20 percent of the workforce. Workers in the firms that participate in work-share programs receive partial unemployment insurance benefits to supplement the lost earnings from their reduced hours. By allowing full-time employees’ hours to be reduced in lieu of layoffs, work-share programs ensure businesses can retain skilled workers until economic conditions improve, enable workers to keep their jobs and collect reduced unemployment benefits, and reduce both unemployment rates and full unemployment insurance payments for states.
Sounds like a good idea. And 29 states and the District of Columbia have work-share programs, including Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
* Illinois actually has a work-share law on the books. From 2015…
It took a year to do it, but the Illinois Legislature unanimously passed a bill designed to prevent layoffs by providing partial compensation for employees who lose work hours.
Gov. Pat Quinn on Dec. 23 signed the “shared work benefits” bill, which was passed in April by the House and agreed to in November by the Senate.
While its passage drew support from the labor movement and the business community, the program was never fully implemented because the Illinois Department of Employment Security did not issue rules during the Rauner Administration.
Researchers estimate it could prevent up to 124,000 coronavirus layoffs in Illinois, not to mention saving the state’s unemployment insurance fund $1.1 billion.
“Under the $2-trillion dollar coronavirus relief package, the federal government is, with some stipulation, fully reimbursing states for their workshare program. So it is free money for the 29 states that currently have these 29 programs,” said Frank Manzo of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute. […]
A spokeswoman for the governor said Pritzker “would definitely look into” the “Work Share” program.
I am deeply concerned that our Governor and Democrats in Springfield are bungling our state response to COVID-19. The most important thing that we seem to be lacking is regular and accurate updates about the number of cases we are dealing with and this needs to be fixed now! pic.twitter.com/msg3iVydOR
Whether or not the administration is bungling its response is beside the point. If she wants regular updates about case numbers, then she should just click here.
IDPH updates testing, case numbers and deaths every day. You can see case and death results by county, race and gender. There’s even a Zip Code lookup for cases and a timeline graph that displays tests, cases and deaths.
(T)he spring session is set to adjourn May 31. If they decide to hold a June session, bills would require a three-fifths vote to pass rather than a simple majority.
While it’s all up in the air, lawmakers are planning for a possible June session.
“That makes the most sense at this moment,” Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said about a June session.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will self-isolate until the end of the day Friday, after a member of her security detail tested positive for COVID-19, she announced Wednesday morning.
Preckwinkle said she has no signs or symptoms of the coronavirus, and is moving into isolation only out of an abundance of caution.
To work, they must be worn tight. Within 20 minutes, the straps pinch your ears and the mask starts digging into your nose.
The masks need a tight seal to keep the coronavirus out. Doctors and nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital test their masks by reading aloud while saccharine is sprayed in their faces. If they taste sweetness through the mask, they’re dead — or they might be, if that mist were coronavirus droplets instead. Stubble on men can also throw off a mask’s fit.
Add goggles and gloves and hairnets and protective body coverings, then start treating a patient.
”It gets hot, it gets a little claustrophobic,” said Kimberly Lipetzky, a nurse at Mount Sinai. “I had a couple codes, doing CPR in full gear. Your goggles fog, and you’re trying to navigate this situation while of course performing at peak ability.”
”After an hour it starts getting really uncomfortable,” said nurse Adam Garrison. “It feels like the bridge of your nose is going to disintegrate.”
Section 1. The provisions of the Township Code, 60 ILCS 1/30-5(a) and 30-5(b), requiring that each township’s annual township meeting for calendar year 2020 be held on either April 14, 2020 or April 21, 2020 are suspended through the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations.
Section 2: During the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, section 10-35 of the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code, 225 ILCS 41/10-35, stating that no license of a funeral director and embalmer intern shall be renewed more than twice, is suspended. Licensees must meet all other requirements for renewal as set forth by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Section 3: During the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, sections 1-15 and 1-20 of the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code, 225 ILCS 41/1-15 and 225 ILCS 41/1-20, requiring that the transportation of deceased human remains to a cemetery, crematory or other place of final disposition shall be under the immediate direct supervision of a licensee, are suspended as they pertain to licensed funeral director interns. Licensed funeral director interns must meet all other requirements as set forth by the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code and its accompanying provisions at Title 68, Part 1250 of the Illinois Administrative Code, 68 IAC 1250.
Section 4: During the duration of and for sixty days following the termination of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, the definition of “child” under Section 2.01 of the Child Care Act of 1969, 225 ILCS 10/2.01, is suspended for the limited purpose of ensuring that persons in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services who are 18 years of age or older and are in a placement identified in the Child Care Act of 1969, are permitted to remain in their placement.
Section 5. During the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, the requirement in the Health Care Worker Background Check Act, 225 ILCS 46/33(e), and the accompanying regulations, that designated students, applicants, and employees must have their fingerprints collected electronically and transmitted to the Illinois Department of State Police within 10 working days is suspended, provided that the fingerprints are transmitted within 30 working days of enrollment in a CNA training program or the start of employment.
On our Coronavirus Data page, you’ll find a collection of graphs, charts and maps tracing the spread of the virus, tracking test results and plotting the impact on individual counties. Check back daily for updated totals.
1 more chief judge’s office employee diagnosed with COVID-19
15th employee contracts COVID-19 at Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s office
* OSF HealthCare announces plans to furlough some employees amid coronavirus crisis: “Every health system in the country is experiencing the same sorts of downturns in revenue that we are. … We’re all having to take measures to secure our financial stability during this time of crisis,” Allen said in a video posted by OSF.
* Non-essential businesses in Champaign-Urbana violating “stay at home” order: Non-essential businesses from small boutiques to big box stores are still offering curb-side pick up for customers even weeks after the “stay at home” order was issued. Roberts says, “If you’re going to have other people come in to do curbside then that is violating the governor’s executive order.”
* Sangamon County changes COVID-19 reporting method; launching public service campaign: The Christian County sheriff’s office also reported that a part-time worker for Consolidated Correctional Food Service tested positive for the coronavirus and was receiving medical care. The worker had no symptoms when they were last at work more than a week ago. The company is on contract to provide food services for the county jail. The statement said company employees have been limited to no contact with sheriff’s office personnel. Their work was mostly in the basement kitchen and food storage area of the sheriff’s office.
* Robservations: Furloughs, wage cuts hit Cumulus Media Chicago stations: Me-TV FM, the Weigel Broadcasting soft-rock oldies station at WRME 87.7-FM, will provide the soundtrack for Chicago’s weekly mass singalongs during the COVID-19 shutdown. At 7 p.m. this Saturday, listeners are invited to sing along from porches, balconies and backyards to “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers, who died last week at 81.
Wednesday, Apr 8, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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CHANGE Illinois is proud to work with these organizations, and many others, in the Illinois Redistricting Collaborative.These are just some of the dozens of groups that have endorsed the Fair Maps Amendment (SJRCA18/HJRCA 41):
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● League of Women Voters Illinois
● Mujeres Latinas en Accion
● NAACP Chicago – South Side Branch
● National Rainbow PUSH Coalition
● Workers Center for Racial Justice
The Illinois Redistricting Collaborative includes 33 organizations fighting for a fair and equitable redistricting process. Gerrymandering is voter suppression. It needs to stop.
Lawmakers can stand with Illinois voters and our diverse, statewide coalition by sponsoring HJRCA41 and SJRCA18 and by calling on leadership to allow votes. Together, we can bring equity to Illinois representation.
Presidents of Illinois’ public universities sent the following letter to the state’s congressional delegation Tuesday, seeking additional relief from increasing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dear Senator/Representative:
We write on behalf of Illinois’ public universities to ask for your continued support—and additional federal resources—as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With over 180,000 students, more than 48,000 employees and a collective economic impact of greater than $21 billion, our institutions have a crucial role to play in helping Illinois manage and recover from this grave challenge. Over the past several weeks, we have taken unprecedented steps to safeguard the health, well-being and education of our students while maintaining our commitments to our employees and to the communities we serve. These measures have taken a significant financial toll, including:
Refunds for room and board;
Costs of transitioning to online education and telework;
Expenses associated with mitigating and remediating the impact of COVID-19, including assisting relief and response efforts, cleaning our campuses, and safely ramping down research activities;
Lost revenues from cancelled programs and events, closed facilities and delayed grants.
We are grateful for the support Congress has provided to date, particularly the assistance for students, institutions and student loan borrowers included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted March 27. As Congress crafts further legislation responding to the crisis, however, additional relief is urgently needed.
In particular, while the CARES Act included roughly $14 billion for grants directly to institutions of higher education nationwide, that is roughly a quarter of the funding that the higher education community had requested. Collectively, our institutions stand to receive approximately $140 million in direct grants under the CARES Act, at least half of which will be passed on to students for emergency financial aid grants. These institutional funds are welcome, but they do not cover the expenses and revenue losses we have incurred to date, which we estimate at approximately $224 million, let alone the additional costs and losses we expect in the coming weeks and months. Accordingly, we support the request made by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities that Congress provide an additional $47 billion in emergency funding for students and institutions of higher education.
We also ask that Congress provide public institutions with the same assistance that private employers are receiving to pay for the expanded employee paid sick leave and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) benefits included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), enacted March 18. We estimate that our universities will expend approximately $195 million to comply with these new requirements. While private employers will receive refundable tax credits to offset the costs of these benefits, FFCRA excluded public employers from eligibility.
We thank you for all that you are doing during this challenging time, and appreciate you considering this urgent request for assistance.
Chicago’s forgotten army of 2,000 refuse collection workers are picking up 50 percent more garbage during the statewide, stay-at-home order — but without the masks distributed to other front-line workers, according to their union leader.
Steve Marcucci, vice-president of Laborers Local 1001, said his members are working harder than ever to keep the city clean and prevent the sheer volume of garbage from piling up in alleys, triggering an explosion in the city’s rat population. […]
“I’m not aware that the sanitation workers aren’t being equipped [with masks]. That’s something we’ll look into. … We’re going to make sure they’re protected,” the mayor said. […]
“Employees are permitted to use cloth face coverings while at work unless the use of such cloth face covering would pose a health or safety risk to the employee. The use of cloth face coverings by employees is voluntary,” [Streets and Sanitation spokesperson Christina Villarreal] wrote.
Cloth face coverings help prevent people from spraying other people with infected droplets. They’ll help, but that’s not really the issue here. The problem is the workers are handling a whole lot of refuse that could be infected.
The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.
Better masks could help, so it should at least be looked into. That cold bureaucratic response from Streets and San was uncalled for.
If you’re still going in to work, please tell the rest of us about your experiences in comments. Thanks.
* Another effort by elements of the far right to sow doubt…
That's incomplete and not often enough. We need to see it by region, which he clearly has but is withholding. He gets all the info every morning at 10am and there is no reason to hide it or present it selectively as he did today.
The second image in press release is ICU only. Why? Because that's where things are indeed tight (though fixable). He omitted broader regionalized hospitalization data because there is excess. He is playing games by selectively releasing partial data — and getting away with it.
Pritzker said regular beds can be converted to ICU-like bed with a little effort. If no regular bed shortage why is he demanding huge additional fed help for more regular beds? And why is he demanding PPE sufficient to cover all regular bed even though not needed?
Because, first thing you need is a negative pressure room. You can't just convert any room into an ICU for COVID patients. And then you need the equipment (including ventilators, heart and oxygen monitors) to fill it. It can be done, but it is not done with "a little effort"
Yes, I'm well aware of those stories. But, again, not every hospital bed can be converted to an ICU. And, who says they're not adding ICUs? You're jumping all over the place. Focus, Amanda, focus.
His whole point appears to be that some hospitals aren’t overwhelmed. OK, but nobody has ever once claimed otherwise. And he never did get back to me with an exact quote or a link to Pritzker’s alleged claim that hospital beds can be converted to ICUs “with a little effort.”
* From Pritzker’s press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh…
Wirepoints gets the privilege of being able to sleep at night without having to wonder if you did enough to save the people whose deaths you had to announce that day. And he gets to go to sleep without worrying what tomorrow’s body count will be and if in few weeks we will have enough space to treat everyone who depends on us. That must be very peaceful.
Clearly I struck a nerve today with our thin-skinned Governor. He singled me out in one of his low information pressers today for writing an article that demanded some measures of accountability.
How dare his subjects question anything.
This is what is so dangerous with these people. If you dare to question them, they will misrepresent you and accuse you of promoting policies that will “let people die.”
What a bunch of sick, dishonest and unaccountable group of people.
He didn’t single anyone out. He answered a reporter’s question that was specifically about Wilhour and didn’t so much as mention Wilhour’s name in response…
Reporter: How do you respond to Rep. Blaine Wilhour’s suggestion that the longer we’re quarantine that the more we delay herd immunity, which could ultimately lead to more people getting the virus?
Pritzker: Okay folks, let me just point out that Great Britain went by this theory that perhaps if we just let everybody get it then everybody will get hurt, we’ll have herd immunity faster, and everybody will be okay. Well guess what, if you let everybody have it all at once, which is what happens when you just let it go, you overwhelm your healthcare system and more people die. A lot of people can die. And so the suggestion that we should just let it happen so that the herd immunity occurs faster is an invitation for us to just let people die. And I won’t do that. I will not do that.
The Illinois comptroller’s office borrowed $105 million from various funds in March, in large part so it could make bigger-than-normal payments to hospitals as they brace for the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak later this month.
But Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is advising all state vendors that there will likely be payment delays in April, in part because the tax filing deadline for both state and federal taxes has been pushed back to July 15.
The inter-fund borrowing was noted last week in the state’s monthly revenue report from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. The comptroller’s office has authority to engage in such borrowing to meet short-term cash flow needs of the general revenue fund.
That report noted that total tax receipts in March, at $3.4 billion, was about what was expected, and 3.3 percent above the same month last year. But it also noted that the impact of the economic slowdown brought on by Gov. JB Pritzker’s stay-at-home order and closure of nonessential businesses had not yet shown up in the revenue numbers.
Some of that borrowed money was used to capture federal matches and contributed to a $145 million increase in federal revenue in March, according to COGFA.
* Excerpt from Mendoza’s statement issued last week…
State revenues, estimated at well over $1 billion, traditionally expected in the month of April due to increased seasonal income tax payment activity, will be delayed until at least July, given the extended tax payment deadlines announced by both the state and federal governments.
In addition to the deferred revenues from the filing extension, it has not yet been determined what additional negative fiscal impact reduced economic activity related to this pandemic will have on our state revenues going forward.
The most immediate priority today, and in the coming weeks, will be emergency funding for critical medical equipment and services necessary to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus on the front lines. While our immediate priority is to provide funding necessary to fight the pandemic and save lives, the core priorities of the IOC remain the same.
Healthcare, debt service, K-12 funding, state payrolls, and required pension payments will continue to be made, and the state’s most vulnerable citizens’ urgent needs will continue to be served.
As in past times of budgetary difficulties, the predictability and the timing of specific payments may be uncertain, but the provider and vendor community can be assured that, as in the past, all state payments will eventually be made, and all state commitments will be honored.
Given this reality, the IOC asks for understanding and patience as we address the impact from this pandemic, while continuing to manage an existing state bill backlog of over $7 billion.
In the U.S., an estimated 30 million people live with kidney disease, meaning one in three adults is at risk. In Illinois, some 30,000 people suffer from kidney disease.
The Illinois Kidney Care Alliance (IKCA) is proud to have Associates in Nephrology (AIN) as a member. Since 1971, AIN has tended to the needs of patients with kidney disease throughout the Chicagoland area. With more than 40 Nephrologists, AIN offers treatments for chronic kidney disease, assessments of kidney function, and dialysis.
The Illinois Kidney Care Alliance consists of community groups, advocates, health professionals, and businesses from across Illinois striving to educate the public about the challenges people with kidney disease experience every day. IKCA is here to tell their story. For more information, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and visit our website.
* The University of Washington IHME’s COVID-19 model has been updated again. Now, this is just one forecaster and one projection, but we’ve been watching it fluctuate and the news seems encouraging for Illinois.
Right up front I need to point out two errors in the IHME database. The IHME has yesterday’s Illinois death toll as 1. It was actually an all-time high of 73. IMHE also has cumulative deaths yesterday at 308. It was actually 380. Somebody entered the wrong death report yesterday and that may have thrown off the entire projection.
So, take these numbers with a grain of salt until they fix those errors.
The latest projection, dated today, has the projected death toll at 1,588, with a range between 1,011 to 2,790.
In March, the IMHE projected 2,453 deaths in Illinois. That was revised upward to 3,386 on April 2nd and then 3,629 on April 5th.
Illinois’ peak resources day has been moved up to April 11, five days earlier than its last projection.
Illinois is now projected to experience a peak of 91 COVID-19 deaths on April 12th. That’s way down from the last projected peak of 208 deaths per day by the same date. But, again, those input errors may have thrown everything off.
IMHE is now projecting no statewide shortage of ICU beds. It had originally projected a shortage of 204.
Keep in mind, though, that the statewide numbers will not reflect the reality at individual hospitals. Some may be overwhelmed while others have more than enough.
John Prine, who for five decades wrote rich, plain-spoken songs that chronicled the struggles and stories of everyday working people and changed the face of modern American roots music, died Tuesday at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was 73. The cause was complications related to COVID-19, his family confirmed to Rolling Stone.
Prine, who left behind an extraordinary body of folk-country classics, was hospitalized last month after the sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms, and was placed in intensive care for 13 days. Prine’s wife and manager, Fiona, announced on March 17th that she had tested positive for the virus after they had returned from a European tour.
Yeah I’m gonna smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long
I still say that Wordslinger was right and Prine’s name should be carved into the State Library building with all the other Illinois literary greats. We’ll get to that after this crisis ends.
