Sunday’s coronavirus live updates: number of cases in Illinois rises above 1,000
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Keep up with all the coronavirus news in southwestern Illinois
Stay updated with the events in southwestern Illinois that have been canceled or postponed because of coronavirus concerns.
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Scott AFB suspends ‘Space-A’ travel
Scott Air Force Base announced it would limit travel for service members and their families through Space-A, or space-available, flights, which allow them to travel around the country at little or no cost.
The base is home to Air Mobility Command. The command provides airlift, air refueling, air mobility support and aeromedical evacuation for the U.S. Air Force.
“Travelers under certain categories, including service members and dependents on emergency leave and Wounded Warriors, remain eligible for Space-A travel, as noted in the table below,” the base stated in a release. “However, travel via Space-Available is never guaranteed and, as always, travel is available only on a space-available basis.”
“All other categories of Space-A travel are ineligible for travel consideration. These limitations are necessary to preserve force readiness, limit the continuing spread of COVID-19, and preserve the health and welfare of everyone.”
The limitation remains in place until May 11.
St. Louis City, County announce more cases
Officials confirmed new COVID-19 cases in St. Louis City on Sunday, bringing the total to 14. There were 10 known cases on Saturday, according to the city’s website. Three people had died from the disease so far in Missouri as of Saturday, including one death in St. Louis County.
There were a total of 55 cases in the county as of Sunday evening, an increase of 38. An investigation into how the disease is spreading indicates “there is clear evidence of community transmission in St. Louis County,” the Department of Public Health stated in a release.
Confirmed cases increase; 9 deaths reported
The number of COVID-19 cases statewide as of Sunday was 1,049, an increase of 296 from Saturday. There was a total of nine deaths statewide reported Sunday as well.
One of the new cases confirmed Saturday was an infant, the governor’s office reported. The age range of the cases now ranges from younger than one to 99 years.
“Health officials are still learning about this new virus and information and guidance is rapidly evolving,” the office said in a news release. “At this time, it is still unknown if a pregnant woman with COVID-19 can pass the virus to her fetus or baby during pregnancy or delivery. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no infants born to mothers with COVID-19 have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. In these cases, which are a small number, the virus was not found in samples of amniotic fluid or breastmilk.”
Nine coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the metro-east with the announcement on Saturday of a second patient in Madison County. No deaths have been reported in southwestern Illinois.
On Saturday, March 14, the total number of cases in Illinois was at 64.
A man who traveled internationally is the second Madison County resident to have tested positive for coronavirus, the county’s health department announced Saturday.
The man is in his 60s and is recovering at home.
Here’s a breakdown of the area cases:
▪ St. Clair County has three cases: One woman is in her 60s and the other is in her 70s. They both traveled overseas and were recovering at home. The third case is a man in his 50s. As of Saturday, 44 people had been tested for coronavirus and eight of these tests are pending.
▪ Madison County has two cases: A man in his 60s and a man in his 30s. Both traveled internationally and are now recovering at home.
▪ Clinton County has three cases: A woman in her 60s, a man in his 60s and woman in her 20s. None had traveled internationally.
▪ Washington County has one case: A man in his 30s who had traveled to Chicago. He is self-quarantining.
In Missouri, officials have announced the death of a St. Louis County woman, who has been identified by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as Judy Wilson-Griffin, a nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital. St. Louis County had 17 COVID-19 cases as of Saturday while the city of St. Louis reported 10 positive cases.
Pritzker, Trump feud over course of action
Pritzker and President Donald Trump got into a spat Sunday morning when the governor said there was a lack of federal action to combat the coronavirus.
On CNN’s State of the Union show with Jake Tapper, Pritzker said the White House should issue a nationwide shelter-in-place order as the number of cases increases. He also complained that because the federal government has not acted efficiently, Illinois has been forced to pay more for crucial supplies while competing with other states.
“These orders that the governors have led on, you know, I led with canceling gatherings of a certain size in our state and then we closed schools,” Pritzker said. “We moved on now to a stay-at home order. These should’ve been done nationally, they haven’t been. But I’ve got to protect the 12.7 million people that live in my state and I’m dedicated to that. It’s their health and safety that matters most to me. It will work, it will work.”
Pritzker also said the federal government had not done enough to protect first responders and health care workers.
Trump took to Twitter to call Pritzker’s complaints “fake news.”
“Governor of Illinois, and a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN & Concast (MSDNC), shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings,” Trump tweeted. “We are there to back you up should you fail, and always will be!”
“You wasted precious months when you could’ve taken action to protect Americans & Illinoisans. You should be leading a national response instead of throwing tantrums from the back seat. Where were the tests when we needed them? Where’s the PPE? Get off Twitter & do your job.”
Third COVID-19 case in St. Charles County, Missouri
A third case of coronavirus has been confirmed in St. Charles County, the county health department said Saturday evening. The patient is a man in his 20s who traveled to Spain. The man has been quarantined since his return.
The second case, a woman in her 50s who traveled to Illinois and made contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, was announced Friday. The first case was travel-related and is a woman in her 20s who is quarantined in her home.
Churches and COVID-19
On the first full day of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order that everyone stay at home, metro-east churches have taken their services online Sunday.
For example, St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Belleville livestreamed services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Facebook and on the church’s website at stmatthewumc.org.
“EChurch” services began at 9:30 a.m. by New Life in Christ Interdenominational Church in O’Fallon at nlicic.org/live.
Belleville Diocese Bishop Edward Braxton has told parishioners that Masses have been suspended but he urged them to check out livestream coverage.
You can see the Mass from St. Clare of Assisi in O’Fallon at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at www.stclarechurch.org/live.
Free lunch program still serving needy students
Cafeteria workers in Belleville Township High School District 201, East St. Louis 189 and other area school districts continue to prepare free and reduced-price lunches to qualifying students in their communities.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during his Friday afternoon coronavirus update with the media that the Free Lunch Program would not be interrupted, even as he announced Illinois schools will remaind shuttered until at least April 8.
Last Wednesday, cafeteria employees at Belleville East packaged sandwiches, fresh vegetables and other staples, then passed them off to bus drivers, who delivered more than 1,200 lunches along their normal, daily routes. Nearly 5,000 students in Belleville qualify for the program, which is subsidized by the federal government.
Qualifications for free and reduced-price lunches are based on the family income of each student.
Swansea leaf burning rules changed
Swansea Fire Chief Chris Tell has announced that the village has suspended open burning because the smoke from burning leaves may aggravate symptoms of COVID-19.
Homeowners are normally allowed to burn yard waste for five hours on Wednesday and Saturdays.
Postponed and canceled events
The News-Democrat has compiled a list of events in Illinois and St. Louis that have been canceled due to concerns about coronavirus.
You can find the list at BND.com.
Get the latest news on coronavirus
BND.com will keep you updated through the day with information about the spread of coronavirus through southwestern Illinois.
You can also find the most complete and up-to-date information from government sites including:
State of Illinois’ coronavirus page: coronavirus.illinois.gov
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/summary.html
Federal government’s coronavirus page: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Sunday’s coronavirus live updates: number of cases in Illinois rises above 1,000."
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