Nursing Home Data, Pritzker Staff With Covid-19 Dominate Illinois News Briefs

From The Center Square:

The Center Square

Pritzker staff member test positive for COVID-19

After a member of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s senior staff tested positive for COVID-19, members of the office will be working remotely for an isolation period.

A statement from the governor’s office said Pritzker was tested negative Sunday.

Pritzker will hold daily news briefings by video conference. Those briefings are live-streamed at illinois.gov/LiveVideo.

Moving to third phase of reopening plan?

To get to Phase 3 of the governor’s five-phase reopening plan, there are certain metrics a region must attain. Among those is the COVID-19 positivity rate among all tests conducted.That number must be below 20 percent for 14 days.

While the Northeast region hasn’t dipped below around 21 percent, state data shows since May 1, the North-Central region hasn’t been over 10 percent. The Central region hasn’t been above 7 percent.

The Southern region hasn’t gone over 12.75 positivity rate.

Some plan metrics being met already

Another metric the governor’s plan lays out for regions to attain to advance to the third of five phases of reopening is hospital occupancy.

All four regions have at least 14 percent available beds and ventilators to take any possible surge, though the Northeast region, which includes Chicago, edges that.

The Central region has overall the most beds available of all the regions.

Statewide positivity rate between 12 and 14 percent over weekend

On Saturday, there were 16,600 COVID-19 tests conducted within 24 hours with 2,300 positive cases, or a statewide positivity rate of 14 percent.

On Sunday, there were 13,650 tests performed with 1,656 positive cases, or a rate of about 12 percent.

The total number of COVID-19 related deaths that state public health officials reported from Saturday and Sunday was 168.

Outside Chicago area, 55 percent of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes

Independent analysis of Illinois COVID-19 data by Wirepoints shows much of the state has been largely spared high death tolls associated with the disease.

As of May 1, more than half the state’s counties had zero COVID-19-related deaths, the report said. It also showed 55 percent of the deaths outside of the Chicago area were tied to senior living centers.

In some counties, 100 percent of their deaths were tied to long-term care facilities.

Salon files lawsuit over Pritzker's stay-at-home orders

Another lawsuit has been filed challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home orders.

The owner of Visible Changes, a salon in Clay County, sued the governor saying at no time did the owner get notified of any due process rights, or notification of any alleged health risks found at the business.

The focus of the work of The Center Square Illinois is state- and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility. For more stories from The Center Square, visit TheCenterSquare.com.