Sunday marked the first day this month in which Illinois’ daily death toll dipped below 125. There were only 10 days in November when triple-digit numbers were recorded in the number of virus-related deaths.

Public health guidance to avoid big parties in the age of coronavirus is about to collide with what is typically one of America’s biggest celebrations of all: the swearing-in of a new president.

Illinois expects to get 109,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer if federal officials grant an emergency use authorization to the pharmaceutical company as expected, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.

The nation’s unwillingness to tamp down on travel offered a warning in advance of Christmas and New Year’s as virus deaths and hospitalizations hit new highs a week after Thanksgiving.

By targeting health care providers with attacks that scramble and lock up data until victims pay a ransom, hackers can demand thousands or millions of dollars and wreak havoc until they’re paid.

The president-elect has frequently emphasized mask-wearing as a “patriotic duty” and during the campaign floated the idea of instituting a nationwide mask mandate.

As Illinois continues dealing with its deadliest stretch of the coronavirus pandemic to date, state health officials are calling on those who’ve had COVID-19 to consider donating plasma as it may help those who are actively fighting the disease.

The U.S. recorded over 3,100 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, obliterating the record set last spring, while the number of Americans in the hospital with the virus has eclipsed 100,000 for the first time, according to figures released Thursday.

As the decision looms for President-elect Joe Biden, a new analysis argues for targeting the first vaccines to the same low-income Black, Hispanic and Native American households that have disproportionately suffered from the coronavirus.

Thursday's report from the Labor Department said initial claims for jobless aid dropped from 787,000 the week before. Before the virus, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits each week had typically amounted to roughly 225,000. 

State health officials reported 238 coronavirus-related deaths Wednesday, setting a new record for the number of fatalities reported in a single day in Illinois as Dr. Ngozi Ezike urged residents to “stay the course.”

In giving the go-ahead for emergency use of the vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, Britain vaulted past the United States by at least a week. 

An official with the Teamsters Local 700 is calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other leaders to prioritize corrections officers due to the “high risk of exposure” to the disease he claimed remains in the jail.

Health care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available, an influential government advisory panel said Tuesday.

The head of the agency responsible for authorizing COVID-19 vaccines said Tuesday that it would take the time needed to “get this right,” despite increasing pressure from President Donald Trump to speed up the process.

Anticipating a surge in coronavirus cases as result of Thanksgiving travel and gatherings, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said people should assume they’ve been exposed to the virus “and act like it.”