Governor JB Pritzker started off the daily COVID-19 press briefing with some good news. The State of Illinois is testing more people per capita than any other state in the country.
Governor Pritzker also said that there was potential for a national plan to reopen the country, but because President Trump and the White House decided to inject politics into a national emergency that left the states to create their own plans.
The Governor says that he understands the frustration that some may have in regards to having to wait until the end of May to move to phase three, but he said that it’s important we wait the full 28 days because so many Illinoisans are involved with the phase 2 reopening.
There is good news though. All four regions of Illinois are on track to move into phase 3 before the end of May, according to the Governor.
Currently the Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting 1,545 new cases of coronavirus disease in Illinois including 146 additional deaths. IDPH is reporting a total of 98,030 cases including 4,379 deaths in 100 of the 102 counties of Illinois. Within the past 24 hours, labs have tested 18,443 specimens for a total of 621,684 tests.
Listen every afternoon Monday through Friday at 2:30 for Governor Pritzker’s press conferences on the coronavirus on NEWSTALK WTIM and its many platforms. For local numbers click on the icon for coronavirus cases by county and for the latest closings, cancellations, and businesses that are open visit TaylorvilleDailyNews.com.
