Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced Wednesday that all of the state’s Driver Services facilities and other departments will be closed for two weeks at the beginning of January 2022. “After careful consideration and out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to close all Driver Services facilities beginning Jan. 3, 2022, through Jan. 17, 2022, due to the spike in COVID-19 cases. The health and safety of employees and the public remains paramount, and face-to-face transactions potentially increase the further spread of the virus. Our goal is to safely reopen all offices... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois won’t be lifting its mask mandate or any other covid restrictions any time soon, Gov. JB Pritzker said in his press conference Monday, adding that the covid numbers need to be “on a good downward trajectory” before he’d even consider removing any of the restrictions. “We’re watching to make sure that we’re on a good downward trajectory,” Pritzker said. “That’s what we were looking for back in May leading into June; it’s what we’re looking for now in order for us to possibly make changes.” Pritzker said the number of ICU beds being... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: New Illinois covid numbers for the past week show modest improvement for the fourth consecutive week, but some schools are closing and going to remote learning and Gov. JB Pritkzer’s mitigations remain in place, with no indication of the mask mandate ending soon. Covid numbers statewide continued to show improvement over the month of September, as the positivity rate for last week, Sept. 27-Oct. 3, dropped to 2.7 percent statewide. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 18,735 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, along with 236 additional deaths and over 159,000... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: California is becoming the first state to mandate covid-19 vaccines for kids attending school once the shots are federally approved for their age groups, and with Illinois following many of the same paths as the most-populous U.S. state, could Illinois be next? Several school districts in California are already requiring the vaccine for students, and the statewide mandate will begin for grades 7-12, then move to K-6, by summer 2022, pending FDA approval of the vaccines for those age groups. “These requirements are working, across the country,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said.... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: With Illinois covid-19 numbers finally starting to trend in the right direction, will Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker relax any of his mandates and restrictions regarding masks and other measures about the virus? Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady spoke with media today, and was cautious about any removal of mask mandates, and in fact talked about the potential for a return to more restrictions if numbers take a downtown when colder weather sends more people indoors. “First of all, as always, this is the first day we have been back down in this substantial... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: The latest Illinois weekly covid-19 numbers are trending in a positive direction, with a third straight week of slowly declining numbers after two months of spiking cases. There were 21,787 new cases over the past week, a 16 percent decrease in infections over the previous week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Deaths due to covid also fell about 16 percent from the previous week, and across the state, the positivity rate has dropped from 4.1 to 2.7 over the last week. Hospitals across the state also saw an 8 percent decline in covid patients, although southern... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois students, teachers and school staff with confirmed and probable covid-19 infections are now required to be banned from schools and school activities due to an executive order signed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The executive order, signed late Friday night, states that people are required to remove themselves from schools or school activities if they have covid-19 or knowingly have been in close contact with someone who has the virus. The order states schools must exclude any student or school personnel with confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 for at least 10 days,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid-19 numbers are “going in the wrong direction fast, and looking bad for fall,” according to Covid-19 Illinois, a not-for-profit group which presents and analyzes statewide data on the pandemic. The group released its latest analysis for the previous week, two weeks, and month, on Monday. According to Covid-19 Illinois,497 Illinoisans died from Covid-19 in the last 15 days; and 506 in the entire month of August. “Last September before the vaccine, 307 died from Covid-19 in the first 15 days of September, this is a 40% increase this same period,”... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Starting TODAY, Illinois teachers and school employees will be required to get a covid-19 vaccination or submit to weekly testing for covid-19 in order to continue working in the schools. The following e-mail was sent out to Rock Island School District 41 employees today. Variations of the same e-mail have been sent out to other school district employees across the state. Starting Monday, September 20, 2021 all RIMSD employees must be vaccinated OR get a COVID- 19 test each week. Fully vaccinated employees must submit proof by sending a copy of their vaccination card to the District... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Vaccines could be available to schoolchildren ages 5-11 throughout Illinois as soon as later this year, according to reports out of Frankfurt, Germany. The company behind the vaccines, BioNTech will be requesting approval for its covid-19 vaccine use in kids 5-11 across the globe over the next few weeks and preparations for a launch are on track, the biotech firm’s two top executives told German newspaper Der Spiegel. “Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five to 11 year olds with regulators across the world and will request approval... Read More