Thursday live coronavirus updates: State rep suing Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker
Here is a roundup of coronavirus news you need to know Thursday:
IDNR reopening some state parks on May 1
These state parks in southern Illinois will reopen Fort Massac State Park, Giant CIty State Park, Stephen A. Forbes State Recreation Area, and Wayne Fitzgerrell State Recreation Area on May 1 when the stat’es modified stay-at-home order goes into effect.
An IDNR news release says other sites, including state historic sites, will remain closed until further notice.
Visitors are told to bring alcohol-based hand sanitizer and face coverings with them. Additionally, people are being told to visit state parks only by themselves or with members of their household.
State representative suing Illinois governor
Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey, who represents the 109th district, announced Thursday he was suing Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“My lawsuit asks the court to find that Gov. Pritzker overextended his power by issuing additional ‘stay at home’ orders after his original disaster proclamation, which expired on April 9, 2020,” Bailey wrote in a news release. “Enough is enough! I filed this lawsuit on behald of myself and my constituents who are ready to go back to work and resume a normal life.”
To date, Bailey’s district has been one of the least affected areas of Illinois with just nine reported cases and no deaths. Overall, the state has more than 36,000 positive cases and 1,688 deaths as of Thursday.
Governor extends stay-at-home order with modifications
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday that he will extend a statewide stay-at-home order through May due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
His existing executive order expires April 30. The new one, effective May 1, includes modifications, including a phased reopening of state parks; strict guidelines for golf courses; the designation of garden centers as essential businesses; permission for some retail stores to fill orders for pick-up and delivery; and a requirement that essential businesses and manufacturers provide face coverings for employees.
In addition, the governor is requiring everyone to wear masks or face-coverings when in public indoor spaces, such as stores, and outdoor spaces where they can’t maintain a six-foot distance.
During the state’s daily COVID-19 news briefing Thursday, officials announced 1,826 new cases of the coronavirus in Illinois, including 123 additional deaths. That brings the statewide total of confirmed cases cases to 36,934, including 1,688 deaths, in 96 counties.
Testing sites to open in Belleville and Granite City
SIHF Healthcare, which operates clinics in 22 communities in central and southern Illinois, is opening two new coronavirus testing sites in Belleville and Granite City in cooperation with Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville and state and local agencies.
A testing site opened Thursday at SIHF Healthcare, 7210 W. Main St. in Belleville, according to a press release. A testing site will open Friday at SIHF Healthcare, 2166 Madison Ave. in Granite City. Hours at both are 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The company already operates a testing site in East St. Louis.
People who want to be tested for COVID-19 must first call 618-646-2596 between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. and be screened with questions about symptoms, possible exposure, age, work environment and underlying health conditions. Those who meet eligibility requirements of the Illinois Department of Public Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control will be assigned a window of time to arrive.
Patients will not be charged for screening or testing. If someone has insurance, the provider will gather that information during the phone call, but there will be no cost to the patient. Results should be available in about 24 hours. Callers who don’t meet requirements will receive instructions on how to isolate at home unless symptoms worsen.
SAFB airmen will help out at Kankakee facility
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has activated about 210 more Illinois National Guard soldiers and airmen from throughout the state to support its COVID-19 response, bringing the total to about 860, according to a Guard press release.
That includes two medical technicians and about 20 other airmen from the 126th Air Refueling Wing at Scott Air Force Base. They will be part of temperature checkpoint teams to help Illinois Department of Human Services staff at Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee.
“Each checkpoint includes one person to take temperatures and one person to document temperatures and responses to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) screening questions per checkpoint,” the release states. “They are alleviating staff members to enable them to care for patients. Staff members have temperatures taken every four hours daily.
“The facility has provided the 126th ARW team with personal protection equipment, touchless thermometers and required training. The Airmen reported to their wing for ... processing and screening Sunday and to the developmental center on Monday. The mission is temporary, and is expected to last approximately a week.”
Activations also include about 13 airmen with the 126th Air Refueling Wing at Scott and about 12 airmen with the 183rd Wing in Springfield, who will assist with the build-out of an alternate care facility in Melrose Park.
52 residents test positive at Mount Vernon facility
A long-term care facility in Mount Vernon has more than 50 residents testing positive for COVID-19.
GreenTree at Mount Vernon Assisted Living & Memory Care tested all 83 residents Sunday after earlier testing showed 14 residents had the virus, according to an article by The Southern Illinoisan. Nine employees also have tested positive.
A total of 52 residents tested positive as of Monday.
Belleville business to rent trailers for morgues
A national company with a Belleville location has rented 10 refrigerated semi-truck trailers to the state of Illinois, which plans to use them to store bodies in case morgues fill to capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company, Cooling Concepts Refrigerated Trailer Leasing, can’t legally comment because of a privacy policy, according to Operations Manager Don White.
“We rent refrigerated trailers for food storage, food delivery, pharmaceutical storage and pharmaceutical delivery,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”
A running total of state COVID-19-related expenditures from the Illinois comptroller’s office shows a Tuesday invoice of $29,137.02 for the “rental of 10 refrigerator trailers for COVID-19 response.”
The trailers are “part of the state’s response to expand mortuary capacity,” Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Rebecca Clark stated in an email. “... These structures are being retrofitted for medical examiners throughout the state should a need arise.”
Skyview Drive-In plans to reopen in limbo
Belleville’s Skyview Drive-In is getting dozens of responses from customers who want to see movies beginning May 1, but the St. Clair County Health Department said Wednesday that if Gov. J.B. Pritzker extends the state’s stay-at-home order past April 30, the theater will not be allowed to reopen because of coronavirus concerns.
Theater owner Steve Bloomer had announced on Tuesday that he plans to reopen the theater May 1 and began taking reservations from customers.
“That would be devastating,” he said of the possibility that he would again have to cancel reopening plans.
Bloomer believes a theater such as his with outdoor parking and seating should be allowed by Pritzker to reopen in May. He also said he may have misunderstood what he heard from the health department before he made his announcement Tuesday.
When Skyview does reopen, Boomer said he plans to have new rules in place to address coronavirus concerns.
Four Fountains has 17 known or suspected cases
The number of people to test positive for COVID-19 or show symptoms of the respiratory disease at Four Fountains, a convalescent center in Belleville, has doubled since Sunday, when the Illinois Department of Public Health began reporting outbreaks at long-term care facilities.
It reported Sunday that eight people at Four Fountains either had COVID-19 symptoms or formal diagnoses and that one person had died. On Monday, there were four more known or suspected patients, either because of test results or symptoms. Another was added Tuesday and five on Wednesday for a total of 17.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, has said repeatedly at state officials’ daily news briefings during the pandemic that it is difficult to prevent the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from spreading in “congregate settings” like nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
St. Clair County Health Department has not reported how many of the COVID-19 patients at Four Fountains are residents or employees. A representative from the facility could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Four new deaths reported in southwestern Illinois
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in southwestern Illinois has reached 785, while the number of deaths has increased to 41.
On Wednesday, Madison County health officials announced four more people had died from complications of the virus, two men in their 70s and two men in their 80s. The county’s death toll since the pandemic started is now 13.
Deaths have previously been reported in St. Clair County, which has 19, and Monroe County, which has eight.
Stay-at-home order extended in St. Louis County
St. Louis County’s stay-at-home order will continue indefinitely, County Executive Sam Page announced on his Facebook page Wednesday.
The county’s stay-at-home order was set to expire at 11:59 a.m. Wednesday. Page said the county will reevaluate the extension in May.
“We will be continuously reevaluating the situation and the data here in St. Louis,” Page said.
St. Louis County has reported 68 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the county total to 2,417 with 96 deaths.
Southwestern Illinois coronavirus cases by county
Here’s a breakdown of the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in southwestern Illinois as of Wednesday:
- St. Clair: 327 positives, 19 deaths, 61 hospitalized, five on ventilators, 1,360 tests administered, 61 tests pending
- Madison: 231 positives, 13 deaths, 67 hospitalized, 72 recovered
- Randolph: 68 positives, one death, three hospitalized, 45 recovered
- Monroe: 61 positives, eight deaths, seven recovered
- Clinton: 51 positives, 246 tests administered, four hospitalized, 15 recovered
Macoupin: 22 positives, 258 tests administered, 18 tests pending, 15 recovered
- Jersey: 11 positive cases, 80 tested, five recovered
- Washington: Seven positives
- Bond: Four positives, 51 tests administered, four tests pending, two recovered
- Calhoun: One positive, one recovered
- Perry: Two positive
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.
Want to help? Here’s what you need to know
The BND has compiled a list of ways you can help during the coronavirus pandemic.
Go to BND. com to learn about the opportunities to volunteer your time or donate to help communities in the metro-east without putting yourself or others at risk.
You can sew face masks, read stories for people with vision loss and deliver meals to seniors.
If you know of a recognized charitable organization looking for help that isn’t listed, please tell us about it; send an email to newsroom@bnd.com or fill out the BND’s Southwest Illinois coronavirus service and assistance guide online 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
How to contact the BND with tips, concerns
If you have suggestions about something for the BND to cover regarding the coronavirus pandemic or if you see a report that sounds suspicious on social media or anywhere else, please drop us a note at newsroom@bnd.com and include a link. We’ll check it out.
If you’re a health-care worker, we’d like to hear from you
The BND would like to speak with nurses, doctors and other health care professionals who are on the front lines caring for patients in doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals during this difficult time. We’re interested in hearing about your challenges and rewards, frustrations and accomplishments. How is this affecting you? Send us an email at newsroom@bnd.com.
Recovering from COVID-19? The BND would like to talk to you
Have you recovered from coronavirus or are you in the process of recovering from COVID-19? We would like to hear from you on how you dealt with the respiratory disease. Send us an email at newsroom@bnd.com.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Thursday live coronavirus updates: State rep suing Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker."
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