BREAKING NEWS: In the wake of Governor Kim Reynolds’ decision on Friday to eliminate any state requirements to wear masks and limit public gatherings to stop the deadly spread of covid-19, new numbers were released today showing Iowa as one of the least safe states in the U.S. in regard to covid-19. The website WalletHub, aggregating data from across all 50 states, showed Iowa as last in the country in vaccination rate, next-to-last in terms of death rate, and with an overall rank of the seventh worst state in the U.S. in regard to covid safety for visitors and residents. Given we live in... Read More

BREAKING: Things are going back to normal — for the most part — in the Illinois Quad-Cities. According to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker in his daily press conference, the region including Rock Island County and the Illinois Quad-Cities has met the metrics to be moved to phase 4 in covid-19 mitigations. The move means that things can get much more back to normal, as restaurants and bars can accommodate groups of up to 10 at tables and gatherings such as meetings and weddings can have up to 50 people at one time. Youth sports, including basketball and soccer can resume, according to the... Read More

Restaurants around the Illinois Quad-Cities opened their doors for indoor dining today for the first time in months, as customers began to slowly return, wearing masks and being careful, but happy for the opportunity. Today, the Illinois Quad-Cities, and its surrounding Region 2, was moved up to Tier 1 covid mitigations, meaning that indoor dining is allowed in restaurants at 25% capacity in the Quad-Cities and all Region 2 counties, including Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell,... Read More

Phases, tiers, mitigations… oh my! Many have seen a variety of terms used in regard to the precautionary measures put forth by the state of Illinois in its covid-19 protocols, as we all await word on how these mitigations are going to impact our lives as they change over time. As we at QuadCities.com have reported, the Quad-Cities area is scheduled to go from tier 3 to the less restrictive tier 2 on Friday. But what does that mean? Sure, I can say, according to the metrics put forth by Pritzker on Nov. 20, a region can move down to Tier 2 mitigations if it sees a test positivity rate less... Read More

BREAKING: The Quad-Cities’ Region 2 is one of only two in Illinois which would be eligible at this point to leave Tier 3 covid-19 restrictions next week, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Health. Nine of the 11 regions in Illinois fall short of the criteria to reduce Tier 3 restrictions, with only a few days to go to improve those numbers in order to be eligible for reduced mitigations. Nine of the regions have seen an increase in the percentage of positive covid numbers over the past week, as cases have begun to rise in the wake of the holidays. While the Quad-Cities... Read More

It was 350 days ago when Illinois announced its first case of covid-19. Today, the state went over one million in cases, meaning almost one in 12 people in the state have tested positive for the virus, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Health. As of Thursday night, 3,777 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 780 patients were in the ICU and 422 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Health. Illinois health officials reported 9,277 new COVID-19 cases and 126 deaths Friday. The... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: As Iowa covid numbers rise, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued new, modified mitigation efforts Thursday evening. Reynolds’ new measures will be in effect through at least Feb. 6 and requires people to wear masks inside public places when unable to social distance. The rules are predominantly geared towards bars and restaurants, which have been shown to have a higher likelihood of spreading the virus. However, Reynolds did somewhat ease restrictions surrounding sports and recreational events for youths and teens. Starting today, Reynolds said, “A social, community, business... Read More