Illinois COVID-19 Update

May 19, 2020

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,545 new COVID-19 cases and 146 deaths. The total number of cases in the state is 98,030 in 100 counties, with a total of 4,379 deaths. IDPH says that in the past 24 hours, 18,443 specimens have been processed. Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations in the past 24 hours have decreased from 4,120 patients to 4,002 patients. Of that figure, 933 patients are in ICU with 576 patients on ventilators. The statewide seven-day rolling COVID-19 positivity rate is 14%.

At his daily press briefing, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that all four Reopen Illinois regions are on track to move to phase three at the end of the month. He noted that since we are only 10 days away from moving in the next phase, all Illinoisans should continue to follow the stay-at-home order to remain on course.

The Governor’s office has released a set of video messages and radio announcements through the ‘All In Illinois' initiative that focus on the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in communities of color. Details and messages are in the press release.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has issued guidance clarifying that “healthcare facilities (including hospitals) should allow patients with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities or cognitive impairments to be accompanied by a support person determined to be essential to their care. Persons with disabilities should be provided reasonable accommodations that afford meaningful access to information and an equal opportunity to benefit from the treatment. Individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) may require accommodations in a healthcare facility that include permitting the presence of a support person, such as a guardian, family member, caregiver, or paid support worker, that essential precautions can be taken to contain the spread of infection.” Additional details are in an Illinois Dept. of Human Services press release.

IDPH will hold a COVID-19 EMS Update on May 21 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Details and registration are available here.

Yesterday, Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot joined co-founders of Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), Sean Penn and Ann Lee, to provide an update on the city’s COVID-19 testing facilities, which are strategically placed throughout Chicago to target the neighborhoods most in need. The first two sites were Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy, which opened on Wednesday, May 13, in the Little Village neighborhood and Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy, which opened on Friday, May 15, in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood. Collectively these sites conducted over 800 tests in the less than one week they have been open. Yesterday, the City opened another testing site for symptomatic residents in Columbus Park located on the far West Side of Chicago. The remaining sites will have staggered launches over the next several weeks.