Quick Hits: Illinois News In Brief For July 8

From The Center Square:

Pritzker to testify on federal COVID-19 response

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is testifying today before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security.

He’ll be talking about the national response to COVID-19 with the Democrat controlled congressional committee.

Pritzker has been a critic of the federal government’s handling of testing availability, personal protective equipment distribution and other issues.

State reports low numbers of COVID-19 cases in daycares

The Springfield Journal-Register reports an employee tested positive for the coronavirus at Pleasant Park Child Development Center in Chatham.

That employee is isolating at home. But, across the state, there’ve been around a dozen outbreaks at daycares impacting nearly 250 people, including around 30 children.

It’s a different story in Texas where 1,300 people have tested positive, including 400 children.

Illinois taxpayers get middling return on investment, analysis finds

While Illinois is in the middle of the pack of all states for best return on investment, a new report from consumer finance website WalletHub has states surrounded by the Land of Lincoln rated higher.

Rankings were based on things like education, health and economy.

Illinois ranked No. 24. All neighboring states ranked higher. Missouri ranked No. 5 overall.

State officials report 94 percent recovery rate for COVID-19

Of the state’s 148,452 positive COVID-19 cases public health officials have announced during the pandemic, there’s a 94 percent recovery rate.

There’ve been 7,063 total deaths, 36 more than the day before. The largest number of confirmed cases are between the age of 20 and 60.

The largest number of COVID-19-related deaths are 80 years old or older.

Hospital admissions tick up in Illinois

There’s been an increase in the number of hospital admissions in the central region of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 response metrics.

The central region has seen a 70 percent change in admissions in the last 28 days, but there’s available capacity with 78 percent of the region’s ventilators available.

The state’s three other regions have seen the percent of hospital admissions in the past month declined between 31 and 72 percent.

Illinois tax deadline approaches

If you didn’t file your state and federal income taxes on the initial deadline of April 15, the extended deadline is coming up next week. July 15 is the new deadline for both the state and federal filings. The date was moved because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.