BREAKING NEWS: Tough new covid restrictions in Illinois have been implemented as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that after Jan. 3, Chicago will impose a vaccine mandate for bars, restaurants, gyms, and other businesses, requiring anyone over the age of 5 to show proof of vaccination or negative covid test over the past 24 hours. Proof of vaccination or negative covid test will be required at restaurants and bars, entertainment venues where food and beverages are served, sports arenas, concert venues, bowling alleys, movie theaters, and indoor fitness centers. As of yet, other places of... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid numbers soared to record highs yesterday, with almost 12,000 new cases of the virus, record hospitalizations and deaths, and with more omicron cases being identified in the state, both Gov. JB Pritkzer and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are talking about more restrictions being put in place. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 11,858 new confirmed and probable cases of covid over the last 24 hours, a record high for 2021, and the highest since Dec. 1, 2020, when 12,542 new cases were reported. The state is now averaging more than 8,000 new cases per day,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid numbers have continued to explode, with more omicron cases being identified in the state, and both Gov. JB Pritkzer and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot talking about more restrictions being put in place, possibly in the next week as omicron ominously looms. The Illinois Department of Public Health released its latest data today, and as has been the case the past month, the numbers are not good. There are currently 3,513 patients hospitalized due to COVID in the state of Illinois, once again hitting a record as the highest number of patients in a year. In the past two... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois has become a new “hot spot” for covid, according to CDC and Illinois Department of Health data released today, prompting officials to consider new restrictions in the state. The Midwest is experiencing the highest surge in covid over the past month, data shows. Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin “currently have the highest rates of COVID-19 in the country per capita.” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady called Illinois a “covid hot spot” and added, “The Midwest is the current COVID hot spot as temperatures... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois covid-19 cases are hitting the worst numbers they’ve seen over the last year, and with winter approaching and a new omicron variant rising worldwide, officials are looking at new restrictions for the state. Illinois reported 21,034 new COVID-19 cases since last Friday, along with 87 additional deaths and over 311,000 new vaccine doses administered, according to data released Friday from the Illinois Department of Public Health — an increase of almost 125 percent over the last month. Since the pandemic began, 1,784,900 cases of coronavirus have been reported in... 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

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

UPDATED: Illinois will remain under tier 3 covid mitigations for at least two to three more weeks, and could elevate to a more restrictive level if numbers get worse, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said during his press conference today. Illinois covid numbers leapt back up after a few days of numbers getting better. After yesterday’s report of just 6,190 new cases, today’s report listed 12,542 new cases in Illinois and 125 new deaths over the past 24 hours. It should be noted that today marks six days from “Blackout Wednesday,” that traditional unofficial day of inebriation... Read More

Quad-Cities stores are far from flush with toilet paper. With new covid-19 restrictions in place for the Iowa and Illinois Quad-Cities, toilet paper is flying off the shelves again in local stores, although other staple food and supply items seem to be remaining stable on shelves. A visit to six area locations — two Targets, a Walmart, a Sam’s Club, and two HyVee stores — showed that shelves are barren in some, but still in ok shape in others. Iowa side stores seem to be in more of a frenzy, given Governor Kim Reynolds’ proclamations and immediate restrictions put in place... Read More