1,006 New COVID-19 Cases, 33 New Deaths Reported In Illinois
CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,006 new cases of COVID-19 in Illinois on Monday, including 33 deaths. Monday’s state report did not include the death of a COVID-19 patient in Champaign County, reported Monday by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. A total of 12,262 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Illinois, including 307 deaths. – Jim Meadows, Illinois Newsroom
Pritzker Signs Executive Order Allowing Prisoner Furloughs
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois inmates who meet the medical criteria may be granted furloughs to minimize the spread of coronavirus in state prisons. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday signed an executive order giving the Illinois Department of Corrections permission to allow “medically vulnerable” inmates out of prison temporarily for as long as the governor’s disaster proclamation is in effect. Pritzker’s order came as 62 inmates and 40 Corrections Department staffers had been confirmed to have COVID-19. Two inmates at Stateville Correctional center have died of the disease. – Associated Press
Pritzker Going Around Feds To Get PPE To Illinois
CHICAGO – Governor J.B. Pritzker said the federal government still isn’t providing enough personal protective equipment to keep healthcare workers and facilities safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pritzker says his administration has looked for other ways of getting that equipment to supplement what’s been requested from Washington. “Day in and day out, we are on the phone with companies that have ventilators, companies that could provide ventilators to us, some that manufacture ventilators,” said Pritzker. The governor said he’s been speaking with manufacturers like Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Vyaire Medical to help get those supplies to Illinois. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said during a news conference Sunday the governor is “always complaining” and that “ has not performed well” in negotiating supplies for Illinois. – Mike Smith, NPR Illinois
Rate of Deaths, Illness Among Black Residents Alarms Cities
CHICAGO — Chicago’s mayor pledged an aggressive public health campaign aimed at the city’s black and brown communities amid alarm that black residents make up an overwhelming number of those to die of COVID-19. Black residents accounted for 72% of deaths from COVID-19 complications in the city despite making up only 30% of the city’s population. Public health experts in Chicago said the trend was unsurprising to anyone familiar with decades-old barriers to health care here. – Associated Press
Illinois To Allow Prone Restraints In Schools Next Year
CHICAGO — Illinois schools will be allowed to restrain challenging students by physically holding them face-down on the floor for at least another year under a deal that the State Board of Education reached with a key legislative rule-making committee. The decision comes as an emergency ban on what is called prone restraint is set to expire this month. That ban was instituted after a joint Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois investigation on the use of seclusion and restraint in the state’s public schools. However, some small schools had objected to the ban, saying the use of such restraints can help challenging students calm down. – Associated Press