Public Health
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.
Since 2018, residents of McKinley Park have raised concerns about the MAT Asphalt plant in their neighborhood. Now, several environmental groups say the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue.
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.
New statewide totals: 84,698 cases, 3,792 deaths
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.
In a 12-page ruling, the judge said the Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church in Albany Park and Logos Baptist Ministries in Niles “provided no evidence” that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order targeted religion.
The lakefront will not reopen during the third phase of the plan to reopen Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday during a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.
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.”
Advice from the top U.S. disease control experts on how to safely reopen businesses and institutions during the coronavirus pandemic was more detailed and restrictive than the plan released by the White House last month.
The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert issued a blunt warning Tuesday that cities and states could “turn back the clock” if they lift coronavirus stay-at-home orders too fast. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin weighs in.
New statewide totals: 83,021 cases, 3,601 deaths
In a 24-hour period from Monday to Tuesday, the state conducted nearly 30,000 coronavirus tests and confirmed another 4,014 cases of COVID-19. “The more you test, the more positive cases you find,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.
The Cook County sheriff is challenging a federal court order that outlines how his office must combat COVID-19 at the Cook County Jail, and called ongoing efforts by activists to get more detainees out of the jail a “waste of resources.”
The impact of the coronavirus is being felt in nearly every aspect of daily life, but it’s not the only health crisis people are facing. “Addiction can kill you as well,” said Aaron Weiner, a local addiction services director.
The Illinois EPA will hold a virtual hearing Thursday to determine whether it should issue a permit allowing General Iron to operate on the city's Southeast Side.
In the COVID-19 era, the process of cleaning and disinfecting shared spaces is more crucial than ever. A local cleaning company gives us a demonstration of the tools in its arsenal for killing the virus.
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?