Stories by Amanda Vinicky

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.

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.

The state’s stay-at-home order is still in effect. Restaurants are still closed — and so is the lakefront path. Illinois hospitals are once again welcoming non-coronavirus patients — and the revenue they bring.

Members of the Illinois General Assembly will meet May 20 for the first time since the coronavirus hit “to conduct the critical work of state government in this unprecedented pandemic.”

Big wedding blowouts aren’t happening, but people are still getting hitched. How some couples are making it happen during the pandemic.

A select group of Illinois hospitals can now treat patients with the only drug so far authorized by the FDA as a treatment for COVID-19. Now the question is: Exactly who will get remdesivir?

A staff member who was in close contact with Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the governor to self-isolate and work from home, even though, as he said Monday: “I feel fine.”

The only drug given emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with the coronavirus has arrived in Illinois. But there’s not enough to go around – in Illinois or elsewhere.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, in a Sunday appearance on CNN, said he “has not been counting on the White House” for help reaching new virus testing goals “because there have been too many situations in which they’ve made promises and not delivered.” 

Chicago’s new and outspoken police union President John Catanzara said Sunday there’s been mixed reaction to his election, but he’s coming into the job with backing at the highest level: the White House.

The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 announced Friday night that John Catanzara had won a runoff election with 55% of the vote – earning 4,708 votes to incumbent Kevin Graham’s 3,872.

The Illinois Department of Public Health said it conducted 16,617 tests in the 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday — down from Friday’s total surpassing 20,000. But on both days, the statewide infection rate was the same: 14%.

With business plans rerouted by COVID-19, a Chicago floral designer has transitioned from special events to special deliveries.

Illinois restaurants and bars have been closed since mid-March to dine-in customers, and the governor’s newly unveiled reopening plan means they won’t be permitted to reopen any time soon.

Not long ago, driving with an expired license could have led to a ticket. An expired vehicle registration? That might have led to a fine. That’s no longer the case, due to the coronavirus. What else is being impacted.

An industrial town with a large working-class population, Waukegan is one of Illinois’ oldest communities. It’s also seen the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Lake County, with at least 1,214 residents testing positive.

The ruling came hours after the pastor behind a lawsuit targeting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order led dozens of worshipers through a Sunday morning service at The Beloved Church in Lena.

Flowers are sprouting and migrating birds are overhead, but even as nature is doing its thing, the coronavirus pandemic has put a dent in a traditional spring rite of passage: graduation.

Illinois labs ran 19,417 coronavirus tests during a 24-hour period from Saturday to Sunday – a state record that nearly doubles the 10,000 per day goal Gov. J.B. Pritzker set in early April that took nearly all of last month to reach.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s grateful for the 600,000 swabs Illinois will receive from the federal government, but that the Trump administration should have done more — and still can — to help Illinois and other states.

The governor’s latest stay-at-home order will expire at the end of May. But Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not take the possibility of an extension off the table. “We’re going to stay in the status quo as long as we need to,” she said. 

“Don’t make us treat you like a criminal,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Saturday, “but if you act like a criminal and you violate the law and you refuse to do what is necessary to save lives in this city during a pandemic we will take you to jail, period.”

The steady rise of cases is “really is a function of doing more tests,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Saturday as labs processed 15,208 specimens in a single day – more than double the tests that were being processed a month ago.

The last time Illinois lawmakers were in Springfield, the coronavirus had not yet been declared a pandemic. After nearly two months, Republican legislators are amplifying their calls to return.

Come Friday, one man in Illinois will be exempt from the governor’s extended stay-at-home order: Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey. But the state is moving quickly to get a downstate judge’s decision reversed.

A feud between President Donald Trump and Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been reignited. Could it put money for the state at stake?