With the first shipments of the covid-19 vaccine hitting Quad-Cities and U.S. hospitals yesterday and today, people began to see a slight ray of hope at the end of the tunnel of covid-19 and 2020. However, that light has been pushed further away by the Federal Government, with no reason given. In his public address Wednesday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said the next two shipments of the new Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to Illinois and other states have been “significantly reduced” by the federal government, and that the government and Pfizer “gave no reason” for the... Read More

Some call me a pessimist. Some call me a cynic. Some call me the space cowboy, some call me the gangster of love. I prefer to think of myself as, no, not Maurice, but, rather, a pragmatist. A realist. And realistically, I don’t see the next few months going well in terms of covid-19. Today, Kim Reynolds is going to talk about potentially pulling back restrictions she put in place a month ago in regard to the pandemic ripping its way through the Midwest, and especially Iowa. Many think she’s going to pull back the restrictions. I don’t think she should. I know everyone wants to get back to... Read More

This morning, the first covid-19 vaccines to arrive in the Quad-Cities were administered to Genesis Health employees in Davenport. Dr. Robert Mixsell, Medical Director of Convenient Care and Alli Edmunds, R.N., emergency department at Genesis Medical Center, Davenport were the first two to receive the vaccine. It’ll be a while before the general public is able to receive the vaccine, with subsequent batches coming in being administered first to health care workers who are on the front lines of battling the disease. Still, there’s a lot of confusion and misinformation out there in regard... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: The first batches of the covid-19 vaccine are in the Quad-Cities and have been given to local health care workers. This morning, vaccinations in the Quad-Cities were administered to Genesis Health employees in Davenport. Dr. Robert Mixsell, Medical Director of Convenient Care and Alli Edmunds, R.N., emergency department at Genesis Medical Center, Davenport were the first two to receive the vaccine. Genesis Health System employees will take the lead in being vaccinated for COVID-19, according to the hospital. In a Genesis survey, 72 percent of all employees and 97% of independent... Read More

There’s been in incredible number of questions in regard to an upcoming covid-19 vaccine, what it means, when it’ll get here, and how it’ll impact the Quad-Cities and beyond. In an effort to, as usual, present the latest FACT-BASED reporting and research on the topic, we at QuadCities.com are presenting a question and answer session on the topic, courtesy of the Rock Island County Health Department. The first questions were answered by Edward Rivers, director of the Scott County Health Department Vaccine 101: What we know now The first questions were answered by Edward Rivers,... Read More

There are a LOT of questions in regard to covid-19, the upcoming vaccine, and various other health issues. In an effort to answer those questions and, as always, provide FACT-BASED reporting and information, we at QuadCities.com are printing the following Q and A regarding the covid-19 vaccine and other covid-related matters. The first questions were answered by Edward Rivers, director of the Scott County Health Department Who is involved in the vaccination planning in the Quad Cities? Our health departments, emergency management agencies, our local health systems (Genesis and UnityPoint) and... Read More

The Rock Island County Health Department is reporting five additional deaths from COVID-19: a man in his 90s, a man in his 80s, a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s, all of whom had been living in long-term-care facilities; and a woman in her 80s who died at home. The total number of deaths now is 192. “We offer our sincere sympathies to the loved ones of these five Rock Island County residents,” said Janet Hill, chief operating officer of the Rock Island County Health Department. In addition, the health department reports 124 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number to 9,522. Currently,... Read More

BREAKING: As Iowa continues as a hot spot for covid-19 cases, Governor Kim Reynolds is extending mitigations for “at least another week” on the state. “We look at it on a daily basis, we review it on a daily basis, we review it on a weekly basis,” Reynolds said in a press conference today. “We still have a long ways to go on our hospitals, but they are seeing some relief. I’ve said all along, we’ll dial up and we’ll dial back as appropriate and so that’s the same thing that we’ve done from the beginning of the pandemic.” Iowa... Read More

At the close of a year that has very much gone wrong, Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse has made another difficult decision – to postpone its forthcoming comedy, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” from this January to January 2022. “With the explosion of Covid–19 cases in the last few weeks, and our governor reverting back to the restrictions of Stage 3, coupled with the huge post-Thanksgiving surge anticipated in the next 2 weeks, and the post-Christmas increase, it was abundantly clear we had to postpone the show,” Circa ‘’21 producer Denny Hitchcock said Wednesday. “Our main concern,... Read More

A record-breaking number of people came out for free covid-19 tests over the weekend at the TaxSlayer Center, the first of three weekends this month offering free testing at the Moline venue. Over 850 free tests were given on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5-6, breaking the old record for the most number of tests given out over a weekend, according to Kyle Douglas, site manager for HR Support, the subcontractors running the testing location. There were also a record number of tests given on one day, as 517 were administered on Saturday. The temporary community-based COVID-19 drive-through testing site... Read More