BREAKING: Illinois covid-19 numbers exploded yesterday, almost doubling from the day before and posting the worst day for covid since Dec. 1, 2020, when 12,542 new cases of the virus were reported. As Illinois was getting the bad news, Gov. JB Pritzker reiterated that current restrictions are here to stay for the foreseeable future, and more restrictions could be coming as the state begins to see numbers hit the trigger markers for a potential shutdown. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 11,524 new confirmed and probable cases Thursday, based upon 231,876 tests conducted over the... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid-19 cases are hitting the worst numbers they’ve seen over the last year, and with winter approaching and a new omicron variant rising worldwide, officials are looking at new restrictions for the state. Illinois reported 21,034 new COVID-19 cases since last Friday, along with 87 additional deaths and over 311,000 new vaccine doses administered, according to data released Friday from the Illinois Department of Public Health — an increase of almost 125 percent over the last month. Since the pandemic began, 1,784,900 cases of coronavirus have been reported in... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: If you refuse to be vaccinated or comply with workplace covid mandates, you could be fired from your job in Illinois, according to a new law in the state. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed into law an amendment to the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act allowing employers to penalize employees if they refuse to follow workplace rules about covid, including mandatory vaccinations, testing, and other mandates. The Illinois Senate voted 31-24 to approve the proposal; the measure passed out of the House on a 64-52-2 vote. Pritkzer signed the amendment into law Monday. The... Read More

If you refuse to be vaccinated or comply with workplace covid mandates, you could be fired from your job in Illinois, according to a new law in the state. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed into law an amendment to the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act allowing employers to penalize employees if they refuse to follow workplace rules about covid, including mandatory vaccinations, testing, and other mandates. The Illinois Senate voted 31-24 to approve the proposal; the measure passed out of the House on a 64-52-2 vote. Pritkzer signed the amendment into law Monday. The Health Care Right... 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: 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: 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: Southern Illinois regions have run out of available ICU beds, a dangerous metric that could trigger new, harsher covid-19 mandates from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Southern Illinois reported Monday that it had no available ICU beds in an area of almost a half-million people, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. That marked the first time since the covid pandemic began that an Illinois region had reported no available ICU beds. Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team, known by its acronym IMPACT, released a statement Tuesday, describing it as “signaling... 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