The Quad-Cities, and the entire state of Illinois, has been on Tier 3 mitigation rules since Nov. 20. Have things gotten any better since then? Are we making positive progress to possibly get out of the mitigation zone? Governor JB Pritzker has already said that Illinois will not leave mitigations at least until after the new year, regardless of numbers, as a preventative measure. But if things continue to go in a positive direction, could we see any leeway after New Year’s Day? Despite a lot of bad news in regard to covid overall statewide, some encouraging signs have been seen in various... 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

Some call me a pessimist. Some call me a cynic. Some call me the space cowboy, some call me the gangster of love. I prefer to think of myself as, no, not Maurice, but, rather, a pragmatist. A realist. And realistically, I don’t see the next few months going well in terms of covid-19. Today, Kim Reynolds is going to talk about potentially pulling back restrictions she put in place a month ago in regard to the pandemic ripping its way through the Midwest, and especially Iowa. Many think she’s going to pull back the restrictions. I don’t think she should. I know everyone wants to get back to... 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

There’s been in incredible number of questions in regard to an upcoming covid-19 vaccine, what it means, when it’ll get here, and how it’ll impact the Quad-Cities and beyond. In an effort to, as usual, present the latest FACT-BASED reporting and research on the topic, we at QuadCities.com are presenting a question and answer session on the topic, courtesy of the Rock Island County Health Department. The first questions were answered by Edward Rivers, director of the Scott County Health Department Vaccine 101: What we know now The first questions were answered by Edward Rivers,... Read More

The Rock Island County Health Department is reporting five additional deaths from COVID-19: a man in his 90s, a man in his 80s, a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 80s, all of whom had been living in long-term-care facilities; and a woman in her 80s who died at home. The total number of deaths now is 192. “We offer our sincere sympathies to the loved ones of these five Rock Island County residents,” said Janet Hill, chief operating officer of the Rock Island County Health Department. In addition, the health department reports 124 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number to 9,522. Currently,... Read More

Health officials on both sides of the river encourage Quad-Citians to continue to mask up and be diligent in regard to preventing the spread of covid-19, warning we still have a long way to go before the pandemic is under control. Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said numbers from the aftermath of the Thanksgiving holiday have still not fully emerged, and that we “have a long way to go” before the disease is settled. “To be clear, the numbers still have a long way to go to move away from what could reasonably be called the danger zone. In other words,... Read More

BREAKING: Covid-19 is raging through Iowa and Illinois, with Iowa in the midst of a “severe outbreak” and Illinois surging upward into the “extreme” danger category, according to the latest statistics. Iowa covid-19 cases and deaths are continuing to triple the number in Illinois, which continues to experience a rise in cases of its own, despite Illinois’ much larger population. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, there were 30,328 new confirmed and probable cases of covid-19 in Iowa on Dec. 3, with 258 deaths reported; and even more cases and deaths... Read More

UPDATED: Iowa covid-19 cases and deaths continued to have a massive surge after the Thanksgiving holiday week, tripling the number in Illinois, which continues to experience a rise in cases of its own. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, there were 30,328 new confirmed and probable cases of covid-19 in Iowa on Dec. 3, with 258 deaths reported; and even more cases and deaths Dec. 4, with 30, 629 cases and 340 deaths. The numbers dwarf those in the larger neighboring state of Illinois. The Illinois Department of Public Health today reported 10,959 new confirmed and probable cases of... Read More

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 10,959 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 192 additional deaths. Some data reported to IDPH is delayed from the weekends, including this past holiday weekend. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 759,562 cases, including 12,830 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.  Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 106,778 specimens for a total 10,806,364.  As of last night, 5,653 in Illinois were reported... Read More