Imagine someone you love. Someone who truly has impacted your life. Someone you can’t imagine life without. Now imagine life without them. Imagine how devastated you would be, how drowned in sadness you would feel. I see people expressing this feeling every day on social media. People who have lost loved ones to covid. Their posts are heartbreaking. They exude sorrow and helplessness, as they struggle against the fact that someone who meant so much to them, who was so much a part of their world, is now gone. Many of these people are older. Many are parents, who were the foundation to their... 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

BREAKING: Due to covid-19 numbers getting better in the Quad-Cities Region 2, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced Sunday that the region is moving out of Tier 2 restrictions and into Tier 1. Indoor dining at 25% capacity will now be allowed in all Region 2 counties, including Bureau, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kendall, Knox, LaSalle, Livingston, Marshall, McDonough, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren, and Woodford. This marks the second Illinois region in two days to be moved to Tier 1, as Region 5 was moved to Tier 1 restrictions on... 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: As first reported on QuadCities.com, the Quad-Cities region will be reducing covid-19 mitigations starting Friday, as confirmed today during Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s press conference on covid mitigations in the state. “On Jan. 15, exactly one incubation period from New Year’s Day, any region that has met the metrics for a reduction of mitigations will be able to move out of Tier 3 of our mitigation plan,” Pritzker said. Illinois Region 2 — including Rock Island, Bureau, Stark, Henry, and Mercer counties — will step back from Tier 3 mitigations and move down... 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

As Illinois hits its one-millionth case of covid-19, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced today that Illinois’ 11 regions could possibly lift Tier 3 restrictions as early as next week if they’ve hit the right metrics. “On Jan. 15, exactly one incubation period from New Year’s Day, any region that has met the metrics for a reduction of mitigations will be able to move out of Tier Three of our mitigation plan,” Pritzker said during his online press conference briefing on covid. Illinois has been in Tier 3 mitigations since Nov. 20. The restrictions shut down indoor dining and... Read More

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

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