In Tuesday’s daily state briefing, Illinois health officials reported 1,222 new COVID-19 cases with 74 deaths. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported one of the latest deaths is a Sangamon County woman in her 70s, which was reported by the county during the past weekend. State totals are now 23,247 cases with 868 deaths. Clay County reported its first case, becoming the 88th Illinois county with confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.
Governor Pritzker reported the number of days for the amount of COVID-19 cases to double has grown, meaning the overall reported spread has slowed. Pritzker said on March 22, the doubling rate was just over two days, which slowed to about 3.6 days on April 1, then slowed to the current rate as of April 12 of more than eight days. The latest reports show the state has 994 intensive care unit beds available, or about 33 percent. Of more than 30,000 hospital beds in the state, nearly 4,300 or 14 percent are being used by COVID-19 patients, and about 37 percent of all hospital beds are available.
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield and Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington will each receive more than $4.6 million in federal aid to help respond to COVID-19. Decatur Airport is set to receive nearly $17.5 million. Taylorville Municipal Airport and Logan County Airport will each receive $30,000. The grants are part of more than $446 million nationwide to help replace lost revenue due to the pandemic.
Governor JB Pritzker announced he has suspended the laws permitting wage garnishments and deduction as well as asset discovery. The suspension is designed to allow federal stimulus money to be used as intended for food, shelter and transportation. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation also issued a new Best Practices advisory to lenders in the state encouraging them to work with borrowers who are struggling to make payments due to current restrictions from the pandemic.
