Coronavirus In Illinois: 141 Additional COVID-19 Deaths, 2,563 Total New Cases In Past Day
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois saw the second highest number of new COVID-19 cases and second most virus deaths in a single day over the past 24 hours, with 2,563 new cases and 141 deaths since Wednesday.
Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Illinois now has a total of 52,918 confirmed cases of the virus in 97 counties, including 2,355 deaths. As of Wednesday night, 4,953 virus patients were in hospitals, including 1,289 who were in intensive care units, and 785 who were on ventilators.
So far, Illinois has performed a total of 269,867 tests for the novel coronavirus, including more than 13,000 in the past 24 hours.
"Testing is vital to our efforts to reduce social restrictions, get our economy going, and to protect our residents," Gov. JB Pritzker said.
For each day in the past week, Illinois has tested more than 10,000 people for the virus, a milestone Pritzker had hoped to reach weeks earlier.
"Accomplishing a goal of expanding testing involves much more than just a machine to run tests," the governor said. "A lab needs the raw materials that are necessary to sustain and increase our testing output, and when this pandemic hit the United States, it became immediately evident that our nation just doesn't produce enough of these raw materials to meet the need."
The governor said that's why the state had to ramp up efforts to produce and obtain more swabs, viral transport medium, and reagents required to collect and run samples.
"When we began, all three of those raw materials were in extreme shortage across the world. Our procurement teams have been hard at work competing for those materials against every nation and every state in the open market, and so far we're succeeding," he said.
The governor said research universities in Illinois were able to produce viral transport medium, and the state was able to use "aggressive tactics" to obtain swabs on the open market. He also said the White House has promised Illinois 620,000 swabs and 465,000 vials of viral transport medium, to be delivered next week.
Pritzker also said the state is opening two new drive-through testing sites – in Waukegan and East St. Louis – beginning next week, bringing the state's total drive-through sites to seven. Once fully operational, the state expects those sites to conduct a total of 3,000 combined tests per day.
Overall, Pritzker said the number of public COVID-19 testing sites has increased from 112 last Friday to 177 as of Thursday.
"These locations are entirely free, and they're available in every region of the state," he said.
Meanwhile, with the current statewide stay-at-home order set to expire at the end of Thursday, the governor will be extending the mandate through May 30, but with some changes to ease some restrictions.
The modified stay-at-home order will gradually reopen some state-parks, allow many golf courses to reopen under strict rules, and allow some non-essential businesses to offer online sales for pickup or delivery.
Also starting Friday, anyone over age 2 and able to medically tolerate a mask or face covering will be required to wear one in public whenever they cannot maintain a safe distance of six feet from other people. The governor has said people don't have to wear a medical mask, but can use bandanas, homemade masks, or some other cloth covering for over their mouth and nose.
"You don't have to wear it at all times if you're going running, jogging outside, or bicycling; but if you encounter a crowd, a public space with a lot of people in it, that's when you will need, are required to put on a face covering," Pritzker said. "And of course going to a grocery store, a pharmacy, where you know you're going to run into other people, we're requiring face coverings in those circumstances also."
Pritzker said people won't be arrested for violating that order, but police should remind people to wear a mask in public if they are seen without a face covering.
The governor is defending himself against multiple lawsuits challenging his authority to enforce that statewide stay-at-home order. Illinois State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) won a ruling from a downstate judge this week, exempting him from the governor's extension of the stay-at-home order through May 30, but Pritzker is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.
State Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) also has filed a separate lawsuit in Winnebago County, seeking to lift the order for everyone in the state. A hearing on that suit is scheduled for Tuesday.