Limited indoor dining and drinking is set to resume in Chicago and suburban Cook County on Saturday under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s revised plan to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to data released Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
J.B. Pritzker


The new sites will provide vaccinations to health care workers this week and will begin vaccinating residents ages 65 and older as well as front-line essential workers starting Monday.

The effort to inoculate all 850,000 health care workers and long-term care facility residents in Illinois from COVID-19 will be “substantially complete” next week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday.
COVID-19 in Illinois: 6,642 new cases, 123 additional deaths

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday the toughest restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus will lift in three Illinois regions — but will stay in place in Chicago and suburban Cook County.

Chicago restaurants and bars have been prohibited from serving patrons indoors since Oct. 30, when a sustained and grave surge of coronavirus cases threatened to overwhelm the city and state’s hospitals and health care system.

With fewer than 350,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine administered to date in Illinois, Gov. J. B. Pritzker urged patience among residents, stating: “We all want this to happen faster.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday replaced the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs after a COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Illinois Veterans Home was linked to the deaths of 36 veterans.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that Illinois’ ban on evictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic would be extended once again as the COVID-19 pandemic rages, despite the start of efforts to distribute vaccines.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday the toughest restrictions in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus could lift in regions across the state as soon as Jan. 15.

Once efforts to inoculate health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities from COVID-19 are complete, Illinois residents 65 and older as well as essential workers will be eligible for the vaccine, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday.

The new year usually brings with it hundreds of new laws in Illinois. But like everything else in recent history, the coronavirus pandemic has changed that up, too. On Jan. 1, 2021, only a trio of new laws will take effect.

In the first year since Illinois legalized recreational marijuana, the Illinois State Police expunged 492,192 non-felony cannabis arrest records, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office announced on Thursday.

More than 100,991 Illinois residents have gotten an initial dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, leading the nation, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday.

The pandemic in Illinois reached another sobering mark on Friday, whenhealth officials reported 15,015 total deaths linked to the pandemic and 886,805 infections.
COVID-19 in Illinois: 8,828 New Cases, 181 Additional Deaths

Gov J.B. Pritzker said the state's first vaccine shipments have been distributed to 77 hospitals across Illinois, and on Thursday, another 43,000 additional doses arrived in Cook, Lake, Madison and St. Clair counties.
COVID-19 in Illinois: 7,123 New Cases, 146 Additional Deaths

The coronavirus pandemic has made internet access more essential than ever as people work and learn from home. But not everyone has a device to connect to the web — or internet access itself.