It finally caught up with me, the jerk. For the last three years, I’ve been dodging covid. I’ve written about it, I’ve known dozens of people who have gotten it, and spent an entire week at home around my son 24/7 while he had it, and throughout it all, I never caught it. Until this week. It hit pretty hard and fast, and unexpectedly. I’m double-vaxxed, although didn’t get boosters, and I’m in pretty good health overall. I don’t have any mitigating factors, no diabetes or anything like that. I also like long walks on the beach, sushi, and good conversations... Read More

Illinois once again saw its covid numbers skyrocket to a new record, as shutdowns of schools and businesses are starting to seep through the state, and vaccination mandates are coming to the northern part of the state, prompting speculation about another statewide shutdown. For the third time in a week, Illinois covid numbers set a new record high. Almost 19,000 more new cases of covid were confirmed over the last 24 hours, according to figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health, whose data showed 18,942 cases of the virus were diagnosed. The seven day average for the state covid infection... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid numbers soared to record highs yesterday, with almost 12,000 new cases of the virus, record hospitalizations and deaths, and with more omicron cases being identified in the state, both Gov. JB Pritkzer and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are talking about more restrictions being put in place. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 11,858 new confirmed and probable cases of covid over the last 24 hours, a record high for 2021, and the highest since Dec. 1, 2020, when 12,542 new cases were reported. The state is now averaging more than 8,000 new cases per day,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: As Illinois covid-19 cases skyrocket, the omicron variant begins to spread across the state, and hospitalizations explode, Gov. JB Pritzker admitted that he is looking at stronger restrictions for the state. “We’re looking at everything that has been done over the last few years, always, but what we’re really focused on is making sure that people are following the masking requirements indoors,” Pritzker said during a press conference. “Thank you to all of you who are doing that.” When a reporter pressed Pritzker on stronger restrictions being implemented... 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