Illinois Surpasses 3,000 COVID-19 Deaths; Sees Additional 138 Fatalities In Past 24 Hours
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois public health officials have confirmed more than 2,600 new cases of COVID-19 in the past day, including 138 additional deaths.
Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said, as of Thursday afternoon, there have been a total of 70,873 confirmed cases of the virus in 97 counties, including 3,111 deaths.
To date, Illinois has conducted 379,043 tests for COVID-19.
Ezike said, as of midnight Wednesday night, 4,862 people in Illinois were hospitalized with the virus, including 1,253 in intensive care, and 766 on ventilators.
According to Ezike, the rise in new cases has plateaued, and been relatively flat "for some time." The number of new daily cases has ranged from roughly 2,000 to 3,000 per day since late April.
With more people now going out and about under the slightly lower restrictions of the governor's extended stay-at-home order since May 1, Ezike said it will be vital to monitor new cases to see if there's a new spike in cases.
"Whatever we had two weeks ago, again, was a result of people staying home pretty consistently. We now need to see what will happen with the new attitudes that are prevailing, and the new behaviors that are prevailing," she said. "If it stays the same, that's great, we will quickly move through the phases, but we have to be realistic; the more people are out, the more infections there will be. The more infections there will be, the more hospitalizations there will be. The more hospitalizations, some fraction of those will go on to have severe complications, and potentially die. So that's pretty basic, and that's pretty clear."
Ezike also acknowledged the disappointment many people might feel that so many businesses remain closed, but reiterated that until there's a widespread treatment or a vaccine, the restrictions are necessary to prevent a surge in infections.
"Everybody wants us to get back to normal. We want to get back to normal. I think we are sending some of the frustration towards the wrong entities. You should be sending it towards the virus," Ezike said.
Meantime, Gov. JB Pritzker announced the Illinois Department of Employment Security has processed more than 1 million new unemployment claims in nine weeks since March 1, a staggering 556% increase over the 180,000 claims filed during the first nine weeks of the Great Recession in 2008.
In the first four months of 2020, the state has paid out more than $2 billion in unemployment claims, or $500 million more than paid out during all of 2019.
"The pain and devastation for people who lost their jobs is heartbreaking," Pritzker said. "The financial toll on the people of Illinois has been breathtaking."
The governor acknowledged the state's unemployment system was unfit to handle the surge in claims, but said IDES has "used every avenue available" to expand capacity.
"There are thousands of people, there's no doubt about it, who have had difficulty using the online system, and then when they can't, having difficulty getting through to a body," Pritzker said.
Pritzker said part of the problem is that IDES has had its funding cut over the past decade, and now has 500 fewer employees than during the Great Recession, and the computer system hasn't been upgraded in years.
The governor said IDES staff has put in thousands of hours of overtime, increased call center hours, updated phone systems, added new phone lines, and overhauled the online filing system. The state also has hired new workers, brought back retired IDES staff, and brought in outside partners to help process the deluge of claims.
"We're ramping it up as much and as fast as possible," he said.
Pritzker also said a new call center ill be up and running on Monday with 100 new agents, with another 100 to be added later.
The governor also said the state will be prepared to begin processing special unemployment benefit claims for self-employed workers, gig workers, and contractors who normally are ineligible for unemployment. The new website for processing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims will be able to process 140,000 claims per hour, according to Pritzker.
Those who believe they are eligible for PUA unemployment benefits must first apply for traditional unemployment and be turned down, so Pritzker said they should do so now if they haven't already.
Hundreds of people have contacted CBS 2 about being unable to file unemployment claims since the start of the pandemic, and have said they got results after CBS 2 started asking questions.
Illinois isn't alone in the struggle to meet increasing demand for relief. A study of the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Labor, breaking down unemployment benefits and claims from March, shows Illinois was only able to approve 11.8 percent of the claims filed here.
Nationally, the average is 14 percent.
This is a developing story...