At long last, the state of emergency due to covid-19 is coming to an end in Illinois. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced in a statement Tuesday that the statewide public health emergency declaration will end on May 11, in line with Joe Biden’s announcement that the federal government state of emergency will end that same day. This isn’t to say that covid numbers have hit zero or that the virus is a thing of the past. Despite all its mitigations, Illinois remains a hotbed for covid spread in some spots, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy, which has been tracking each... Read More

Boetje’s Mustard has cut the mustard, by being honored as one of the best businesses in Illinois, as part of the Illinois Makers Class of 2022. “Our family is so honored by this award,” said Boetje’s owner Will Kropp. “Our mustard is handcrafted and uses the original recipe that was created back in 1889 right here in Rock Island.” “We are thrilled that Boetje’s Mustard is part of the 2022 Illinois Makers Class,” said Dave Herrell, President and CEO, Visit Quad Cities. “The Illinois Made program showcases the very best of unique and diverse small businesses that help tell... 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

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

Governor JB Pritzker joined the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), at the Shedd Aquarium to kick off the state’s new tourism campaign, “Middle of Everything,” starring Illinois native, Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actress, and New York Times best-selling author, Jane Lynch — who is making her directorial debut with the campaign’s new TV ads. The ads will run in 20 markets across Illinois and seven neighboring states and will be seen on cable nationwide. A Spanish-language ad will also air in the Chicago market. To view the ads and other media assets... 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