Illinois health officials report 1,140 new cases of COVID-19 in Thursday’s update with 125 additional deaths. The state totals are 25,733 cases and 1,072 deaths. Alexander County is the 90th Illinois county to report at least one COVID-19 case.
Governor JB Pritzker says he has joined with the governors of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Kentucky to coordinate the re-opening of the regional economy. Pritzker said the four main factors are sustained control of the rate of new cases, better ability to test and trace, adequate health care and best practices for social distancing in the workplace.
The Illinois unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent in March, a jump of 1.2 percentage points that reflected the first impact of COVID-19 on the state’s jobs picture. The Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security also showed a non-farm payroll loss of more than 34,000 jobs during March. IDES also processed more than 141,000 initial unemployment claims last week for a total on the year of more than 650,000 claims, 12 times more than the same period last year when 53,000 claims were processed.
The Illinois American Legion has canceled all three of its conventions scheduled for this July in Springfield. Convention director Mike Walton said in appreciation of Springfield city officials, tourism leaders, downtown hotels and the Bank of Springfield Center, the Legion will schedule its 2022 conventions for Springfield. The July 2021 conventions have already been scheduled for Springfield.
