BREAKING NEWS: Covid-19 numbers are dropping in Rock Island County, according to data released by the Rock Island County health department. As previously reported earlier on QuadCities.com, numbers across Illinois have been dropping as the number of vaccinated people above age 16 in the state has gone over 50 percent. Today, the Rock Island County health department reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 today, bringing the total to 14,487. Currently, 26 patients are hospitalized in the county with the virus. The average age of today’s cases is 32. The new cases are: • 2 women in her 40s •... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Covid numbers for Illinois Region 2, which includes the Illinois Quad-Cities, continue to worsen, bringing our area ominously close to potential mitigations, according to data released over the weekend. As earlier reported on QuadCities.com, covid-19 numbers in Illinois Region 2, which includes the Quad-Cities area, have been surging over the past two weeks, putting the area at risk for mitigations and a shutdown of some activities. Region 2 has seen a rise in covid cases for more than seven days, which would put it in danger of having some mitigations reinstated; it has seen three... Read More

There’s an old saying that you shouldn’t blame the messenger when you receive bad news. However, that saying is reliant on the messenger being a neutral party. When the messenger is merely the one bringing you the message, it’s without blame. For example, when we at QuadCities.com, give you a story featuring covid statistics, we’re passing along information we’ve gleaned from an official source. We also attribute that source, so that you know where we got that information. We have no part in creating that information. We do not make up the statistics. We do the duty of what the media... Read More

When you allow people with less intelligence and common sense to think for you and inform your decisions, the results are seldom good. And that’s why Iowans — and those traveling through Iowa in the Quad-Cities and throughout the state — need to ignore the abysmal advice of short-sighted Governor Kim Reynolds and trust scientists and their own common sense and good judgement in regard to covid. Over 5,000 people have died in Iowa since the pandemic began, 60 percent of those in the last three months, according to the Iowa Department of Health. Sixty percent. Over the last three... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: In the wake of Governor Kim Reynolds’ decision on Friday to eliminate any state requirements to wear masks and limit public gatherings to stop the deadly spread of covid-19, new numbers were released today showing Iowa as one of the least safe states in the U.S. in regard to covid-19. The website WalletHub, aggregating data from across all 50 states, showed Iowa as last in the country in vaccination rate, next-to-last in terms of death rate, and with an overall rank of the seventh worst state in the U.S. in regard to covid safety for visitors and residents. Given we live in... Read More

BREAKING: The Quad-Cities’ Region 2 is one of only two in Illinois which would be eligible at this point to leave Tier 3 covid-19 restrictions next week, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Health. Nine of the 11 regions in Illinois fall short of the criteria to reduce Tier 3 restrictions, with only a few days to go to improve those numbers in order to be eligible for reduced mitigations. Nine of the regions have seen an increase in the percentage of positive covid numbers over the past week, as cases have begun to rise in the wake of the holidays. While the Quad-Cities... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: As Iowa covid numbers rise, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued new, modified mitigation efforts Thursday evening. Reynolds’ new measures will be in effect through at least Feb. 6 and requires people to wear masks inside public places when unable to social distance. The rules are predominantly geared towards bars and restaurants, which have been shown to have a higher likelihood of spreading the virus. However, Reynolds did somewhat ease restrictions surrounding sports and recreational events for youths and teens. Starting today, Reynolds said, “A social, community, business... Read More