A new covid variant is spreading through Illinois, leading to new mask mandates in hospitals and other public places and leading to renewed calls for wider mask mandates to halt the potential spread of the new offshoot virus. Illinois as covid numbers have begun to spike again as the year nears its end. In Illinois, 1,225 new COVID-19 hospitalizations were reported last week, up 22 percent over the previous week. The number of counties listed at the “high” level for COVID-19 hospitalizations has doubled from five to 10 Illinois counties in central Illinois, including Sangamon, according... Read More

Are masks coming back? There are renewed calls for a wider mask mandate across Illinois as covid numbers have begun to spike again as the year nears its end. The Illinois Department of Public Health has recommended that hospital patients and officials begin wearing masks to minimize the spread of covid and other viruses. In a news release, health officials said that IDPH supports the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation of facility-wide masking at healthcare facilities that are in counties rated at high levels for COVID-19 hospitalizations or per facility discretion in... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: The Quad-Cities area is at risk of going back to a mask mandate with covid numbers spiking in the area and reaching a “high” level in neighboring Knox County, which includes Galesburg, as well as neighboring Warren County. Knox and Warren, surrounding the Quad-Cities’ Rock Island County, were both seeing spiking numbers the previous few weeks, ramping up into the high range this week. In addition, Saline County in Southeastern Illinois is also in the high range. Counties at a “high” community level are seeing elevated levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations, percentages... Read More

Businesses have begun to shut down across the state as spiking covid numbers have hit their workers hard, causing the places to close temporarily as workers recover. In Rock Island, for example, Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse was forced to shut down for two weeks, delaying the opening of a new show, “Disaster!” due to a number of the cast and crew testing positive for covid. Other businesses around the state have likewise been hit with the same dilemma as statewide numbers continue to surge, as previously reported on QuadCities.com. Statewide numbers have continued to rise over the... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois is in the midst of a massive covid-19 resurgence, as cases are up 174 percent over the last month and the state is averaging more than 6,000 new probable and confirmed covid-19 cases per day, with hospitalizations also beginning to climb across the state. Illinois is averaging 6,065 new cases of COVID per day over the last week, marking the first time the state has eclipsed the 6,000-case barrier since Feb. 9, according to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. In the last seven days, the state’s daily average of new COVID cases has gone up by 17.7%,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Covid-19 numbers are starting to spike again in Illinois, as this week, the state was seeing an average of 5,154 new cases per day over the last seven days, IDPH data revealed. That represents an increase of 41.6% in the last week, climbing from 3,639 cases per day as of last Monday. Over the last month, daily case rates in the state have increased by more than 180%, according to IDPH data. While hospitalizations had been flat going into the spring, they’ve leapt over the past couple of weeks. They jumped 21 percent last week. There are 777 hospitalized patients in the state that... Read More

Just when you thought it was on its way out, covid is back. Numbers are starting to spike again in Illinois, as this week, the state was seeing an average of 5,154 new cases per day over the last seven days, IDPH data revealed. That represents an increase of 41.6% in the last week, climbing from 3,639 cases per day as of last Monday. Over the last month, daily case rates in the state have increased by more than 180%, according to IDPH data. While hospitalizations had been flat going into the spring, they’ve leapt over the past couple of weeks. They jumped 21 percent last week. There are 777... Read More

Is covid really in the rear view mirror? New covid numbers are rising again, prompting some Illinois and national officials to look warily at bringing back some mitigations, as the CDC has gone to court to bring back the travel mask mandate. Mask mandates and other mitigations have been off the table for a while as covid numbers had faded down to much more manageable levels, hospitalizations had fallen dramatically, and other metrics were far lower than they had been late last year and early this year as the various variants of covid were hitting their peak. However, over the past few weeks, covid... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois officials are closely monitoring the increasing spread of the more virulent BA.2 omicron subvariant of covid-19, ready to take action should it start to hit the state heavily. The subvariant is said to be up to 50 percent more infectious than any other variant of covid, and although covid numbers are going down overall statewide, the BA.2 is already making up 25 percent of all new covid infections, according to Illinois Department of Health numbers, Illinois governor JB Pritzker said today in a press conference. The BA.2 variant has ripped across Europe and pushed infections... Read More

As covid-19 numbers decline overall statewide, some parts of the state are seeing numbers spike up again and some are in the high risk transmission area that could see local officials tell those Illinois residents to mask up again. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has ruled out returning to a statewide mask mandate as long as covid numbers remain at low levels. However, he has said it’s at the discretion of area officials if they want to implement a mandate in their counties. More than 90 percent of the U.S. is now at medium or low risk for covid, and in those areas, the Centers for Disease Control... Read More