BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid-19 numbers exploded over the last week, roaring up almost 30 percent, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Despite a statewide mask mandate and other mitigations in place, Illinois Department of Public Health recorded a 29% increase in cases from the week prior, with numbers jumping from 17,462 to 22,600 cases in one week. Illinois health officials also reported 129 additional deaths and over 439,291 new vaccine doses administered. Since the pandemic began, 1,735,586 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the state, according to the latest data... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Good news this week for Illinois covid-19 numbers as Illinois became one of just six states nationwide to move from the high level of covid transmission (the highest) down to the substantial level. The state is now at 95 cases per 100,000 people; the cutoff for substantial is 100 per 100,000. The positive move has prompted speculation that the mask mandate and other restrictions Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker implemented late in the summer as numbers began to surge. “We’re watching to make sure that we’re on a good downward trajectory,” Pritzker said in a press conference. “That’s... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: New Illinois covid numbers for the past week show modest improvement for the fourth consecutive week, but some schools are closing and going to remote learning and Gov. JB Pritkzer’s mitigations remain in place, with no indication of the mask mandate ending soon. Covid numbers statewide continued to show improvement over the month of September, as the positivity rate for last week, Sept. 27-Oct. 3, dropped to 2.7 percent statewide. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 18,735 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, along with 236 additional deaths and over 159,000... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid-19 numbers are “going in the wrong direction fast, and looking bad for fall,” according to Covid-19 Illinois, a not-for-profit group which presents and analyzes statewide data on the pandemic. The group released its latest analysis for the previous week, two weeks, and month, on Monday. According to Covid-19 Illinois,497 Illinoisans died from Covid-19 in the last 15 days; and 506 in the entire month of August. “Last September before the vaccine, 307 died from Covid-19 in the first 15 days of September, this is a 40% increase this same period,”... Read More

A Chicago nurse and immunology and infection expert is sounding an alarm about covid-19 in Illinois and nationwide and offering a first-person look at what’s really going on in hospitals. Jenny King is a Legal nurse consultant at AALNC – American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, Public Health/ER Registered Nurse at Illinois Nurses Association and Administrator at COVID19 Coalition for HealthCare Workers. She studied Immunology and Infection at CDC Global and studied Covid-19 Dynamics & Clinical Surveillance at Johns Hopkins University. King posted the following... Read More

Covid cases continue to soar in Illinois and Rock Island County, and health department officials are dreading the coming two weeks as potential infections from Thanksgiving weekend, Blackout Wednesday and Black Friday gatherings arise. The Rock Island County Health Department is reporting three additional deaths from COVID-19: a man in his 90s, a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s, all of whom had been living in long-term care facilities. The number of deaths in the county from this virus is now 140. “We send our heartfelt condolences to their loved ones,”said Janet Hill, chief operating... Read More

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker sounded a somber and sometimes irritated note during his daily press conference on covid-19 today, warning “we’re in for a very difficult few months” and saying we might very soon get to a point where he has “no other choice than to have a mandatory shutdown.” “What will it take to make this real for you?” Pritzker said. “Do we have to reach a positivity rate of 50 percent like we’re seeing in Iowa today? Are you waiting for your health care workers to get sick to a point where you don’t have enough staff in the local... Read More