Illinois saw its coronavirus caseload increase Saturday by 2,088, but the percentage of positive cases among those tested, known as the “positivity rate,” fell to 15% statewide, down a percentage point from a day earlier.

More than 4,000 have died from COVID-19 in Illinois as Gov. J.B. Pritzker pushes the state’s estimated peak to mid-June. Chicago is on pace to move to the next phase at the end of the month, but the lakefront will remain closed. 

With O’Hare and Midway airports deserted amid the coronavirus pandemic, stores, restaurants and rental car companies are set to get a two-month break on most of the rent they owe to the city under a proposal that cleared a key city panel Friday.

COVID-19 can mimic labor symptoms and can cause additional complications for women following birth, according to Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike, who called for increased testing of pregnant women.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged Chicago religious leaders on Friday not to hold in-person worship services this weekend, warning those who fail to follow the governor’s stay-at-home order are “playing with a fully loaded and cocked gun.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot late Thursday called off a planned demolition of a building at the former Crawford Power Plant after protests erupted and the alderman objected.

About 60 miles south of Chicago, Kankakee County has seen 874 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, with 36 deaths and 204 recoveries. Local officials weigh in on the state’s handling of the pandemic.

As Illinois faces record levels of unemployment, the state has launched a website aiming to connect job seekers with employers and provide free online access to workforce development courses.

Approximately 4,500 small businesses on the South and West sides applied for $5,000 emergency grants to help them stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, city officials announced Thursday.

Whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright warned on Thursday that the U.S. lacks a plan to produce and fairly distribute a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available.

The Pritzker administration says the federal government has promised Illinois 600,000 swabs to be used in COVID-19 tests. But this week, Illinois got what appeared to be 23,000 cotton baby swabs — and officials aren’t sure they can be used.

Keeping buses and trains running is costly, but public transit agencies in Chicago have yet to see money from the federal stimulus package that passed in late March.

Ald. George Cardenas, 12th Ward, says he doesn’t agree that Chicago businesses and restaurants should be forced to stay mostly closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The office designed to help aldermen keep tabs on how the city spends tax dollars is set to get a new leader after nearly a year without anyone at the helm.

Illinois has set a new record for the number of coronavirus-related deaths in a single 24-hour period: 192. To date, the 3,792 deaths in Illinois are linked to the virus and 84,698 people have tested positive for it, according to health officials.

After weeks of delay, Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation will begin its street sweeping season on May 18. But residents won’t get tickets for cars parked along cleaning routes as long as the stay-at-home order remains in effect.