Gov. J.B. Pritzker responds to criticism from the president Sunday as state health officials report more than 4,200 new cases of the coronavirus and a slight increase in the statewide test positivity rate to 5.3%.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned Illinois residents Friday that the entire state is seeing a surge in confirmed cases of the coronavirus, as the state set a single-day record for new infections and reported 38 deaths linked to the virus.

“This has not been a good week in Chicago,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, urging people to avoid gatherings, wear masks and keep 6 feet of distance from others. 

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle plans to consolidate two clinics into Provident Hospital and change its full-service emergency room to a stand-by emergency department. “We are strengthening Provident Hospital. It is here to stay. Period,” she said.

Thursday’s report from the Labor Department coincides with other recent data that have signaled a slowdown in hiring. The economy is still roughly 10.7 million jobs short of recovering all the 22 million jobs that were lost when the pandemic struck.

With the holidays fast approaching and positivity rates rising throughout the state, health officials released guidelines to help families celebrate safely amid the coronavirus pandemic.  

As temperatures drop and the statewide positivity rate climbs, we discuss the coronavirus pandemic with top public health officials Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Dr. Allison Arwady.

Health officials on Tuesday reported 29 new coronavirus-related deaths in Illinois, bringing the statewide death toll to 9,026 since the first virus-related death was reported on March 17.

Far more Chicagoans may have been infected by COVID-19 than previously thought. We discuss the preliminary findings of a new study with Dr. Elizabeth McNally of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Illinois’ seven-day positivity rate is up to 4.3%, nearly a full percentage point higher than it was a week ago, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

State health officials reported more than 2,700 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday, bringing statewide totals to 319,150 cases and 8,984 deaths since the first infection was reported in Illinois in late January.

The executive director of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute has the last word on closing the health disparity gap for Latinos.

President Donald Trump has said at rallies, debates and press conferences that a vaccine could arrive within weeks. “We think we can start sometime in October,” Trump said at a White House press briefing last month.

Restrictions designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the Metro East area of Illinois near St. Louis will be lifted at 5 p.m. Friday after the number of confirmed cases has dropped significantly, state officials announced.

Many doctors and nurses find themselves in a world where the politics of the crisis are complicating treatment efforts, with some people even resisting getting tested.

Illinois hit a milestone Wednesday in its battle against the coronavirus, surpassing 6 million tests. But Gov. J.B. Pritzker said regional positivity rates are no longer showing the “promising declines” he touted a week earlier.