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

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

With covid numbers dropping a whopping 94 percent since the peak of the omicron variant surge, hospitalizations down 84 percent, and death rates down 50 percent, Illinois dropped its statewide mask mandate today for indoor spaces as well as schools. However, there are still some areas where masks are required; where are they? The Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday reported 13,028 new cases for the week, an average of about 1,861 per day — numbers down considerably from the omicron peaks of over 40,000 per day in January. In addition, the IDPH reported that hospitalizations have plunged... Read More

Illinois will no longer have a statewide mask mandate starting Monday — including in schools. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced on Friday that students and staff in schools statewide will no longer be required to wear masks in Illinois schools as of Monday, and he will withdraw the executive order for that mandate, in alignment with new Centers for Disease Control recommendations. The new CDC rules are more targeting, saying people should only wear masks indoors in communities where hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed by patients diagnosed with covid. The new rules no longer call for all... Read More

Starting, Monday, Feb. 21, RIMSD#41 will transition to “mask recommended” in all of our school buildings. February 18, 2022 Dear Rock Island-Milan School District Families, Late last night, an Illinois appellate court dismissed the school mask mandate appeal which now will allow for flexibility for masking in schools. Therefore, after further review of this development, the Rock Island-Milan School District has made the decision to move forward by transitioning from being “mask required” to “mask recommended” in all of our school buildings beginning Monday, February... Read More

In the wake of dwindling covid numbers, and growing unrest from parents and students, Quad-Cities area school districts and others around Illinois are going to “mask optional” policies starting next week. The Moline-Coal Valley, East Moline and Rock Island-Milan school districts all announced today they will be transitioning to a “mask recommended” policy. Due to the federal transportation mandate masks will still be required on school buses and other transportation for all three school districts. Moline-Coal Valley School District said its’ policy will go into effect on Tuesday... Read More

The masks could soon be coming off in Illinois schools, finally, officially. While many schools have already begun removing mask regulations, and many students and staff have been refusing to wear them since covid numbers have plummeted in recent weeks, technically the mask mandate put in place by Gov. JB Pritzker has remained the rule statewide. However, that mandate took a huge hit yesterday when a bipartisan legislative committee rejected Illinois Department of Public Health’s attempt to reintroduce the governor’s emergency COVID-19 protocols for classrooms across the state. The department’s... Read More