Monroe County has its first coronavirus case, officials say
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Monroe County has its first confirmed case of coronavirus and St. Clair County has a fourth, bringing the total cases across the metro-east to 11.
Monroe County Health Department Administrator John Wagner confirmed that a woman in her 60s who had traveled within the U.S. recently tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease.
Wagner said the woman self-quarantined when her symptoms started, and she is still at home recovering.
St. Clair County’s newest coronavirus patient is a woman who contracted the virus through community spread, according to county health officials.
Here are the other cases in the metro-east:
▪ Three previous cases in St. Clair County: One woman in her 60s and another woman in her 70s were the first two people to test positive for coronavirus in the metro-east. They both traveled internationally and were recovering at home. A man in his 50s has also tested positive for coronavirus. He is receiving care in isolation at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon.
▪ Clinton County has three cases: A woman in her 60s who does not live in the county but is staying there; a man in his 60s; and woman in her 20s. None of them had traveled internationally.
▪ Madison County has two cases: A man in his 60s and a man in his 30s. Both of them had traveled internationally and are recovering at home.
▪ Washington County has one case: A man in his 30s who had traveled to Chicago. He is self-quarantining.
Statewide, there have been more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus.
As of Monday, there were 1,285 known COVID-19 cases in Illinois, and 12 people had died.
The three latest deaths in Illinois were all in Cook County: two men in their 80s and a man in his 90s, according to state health officials.
Governor’s office seeks supplies
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state has received a fraction of the personal protective equipment — gloves, masks and other items — it requested from the federal government, including just 10% of the amount of masks and none of respirators it sought.
Now, Pritzker is turning to businesses like tattoo parlors and nail salons that are closed during the coronavirus pandemic to ask for donations of their stores of masks, he said Monday during his daily news conference.
The state also formed an “essential equipment task force” to ramp up production of those items that health care workers and public safety personnel need, according to the governor.
Pritzker said Illinois and other states are “running up against obstacles that shouldn’t exist,” criticizing the federal government for not doing more to help states respond to the pandemic.
Illinois works to add health care workers
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation issued a proclamation Monday to increase the number of health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
The proclamation allows out-of-state doctors, nurses, physician assistants and respiratory care therapists to provide care to Illinois residents who are affected by COVID-19, according to a state news release.
Health care workers in Illinois whose licenses are inactive, expired or haven’t been renewed will also be allowed to work temporarily during the outbreak.
Applications are available online at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s website.
You can find up-to-date information about coronavirus 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
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect age for Monroe County’s first coronavirus patient because the BND was given inaccurate information.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
