Coronavirus In Illinois: 2,253 New COVID-19 Cases Statewide, 92 More Deaths
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois has surpassed 50,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, including 2,215 deaths through Wednesday afternoon.
Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said 2,253 new cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, including 92 additional deaths.
As of Tuesday night, 5,036 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19, including 1,290 patients in intensive care, and 777 who were on ventilators.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Illinois has a total of 50,355 confirmed COVID-19 cases in 96 counties, including 2,215 deaths.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday also provided an update on the state's efforts to secure personal protective equipment for the fight against the virus. He said the state has distributed approximately 20 million items of PPE to county public health departments, hospitals, nursing homes, and non-profits in all 102 counties.
Those supplies include more than 10 million surgical masks, 1.8 million N95 masks, 173,000 gowns, 7.7 million gloves, and 440,000 face shields. The governor also said FEMA on Monday delivered the state a shipment of 300,000 N95 masks and 500,000 KN95 masks, and more than 1 million gloves.
Illinois also has outstanding orders for approximately 17 million N95 masks and KN95 masks, 21 million surgical and general medical masks, 11 million gowns and coveralls, 14 million gloves, and 7 million face shields and goggles.
The governor said the state also is ramping up COVID-19 testing at nursing homes, and plans to test all residents and staff at facilities without known cases, to help identify and isolate outbreaks as early as possible.
At nursing homes where there are already known cases, the state also will make sure all staff can be tested for free. The governor said, once there has been a known COVID-19 case at a nursing home, local health departments typically test anyone who has been exposed to someone else with a confirmed case, while assuming everyone living there needs to be isolated.
Pritzker said, to help make sure nursing homes can perform COVID-19 testing, the state has distributed more than 18,000 swabs to 68 facilities so far. He said the state also has secured a contract with Qwest Diagnostics to run 3,000 tests per day at no cost to nursing homes.
"These are some of our most vulnerable Illinoisans, and the state will do everything within its power to protect them," Pritzker said.
Starting Thursday, the state also is deploying 10 teams of 50 nurses to nursing homes across the state to assist with COVID-19 response efforts. An additional team of 200 will soon join their ranks.
Pritzker said the assistance those nurses provide will be tailored to meet each facility's needs; such as conducting tests and training staff to conduct tests, and reviewing and improving hygiene practices and the use of PPE.
The governor also said his office is working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to open up beds at VA hospitals so recovering nursing home patients can convalesce there after they're released from the hospital, if needed.