By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Schools in Illinois are free to enforce mask mandates and other COVID-19 mitigations on their own, but the emergency rules that the Illinois Department […]
PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – The question of whether K-12 schools in Illinois can continue to enforce mask mandates and other COVID-19 mitigations remained unclear Wednesday as all three branches […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – A legislative panel on Tuesday voted to suspend the latest version of COVID-19 mitigations for public schools, saying in part that those rules were […]
By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – If hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue to decline for the rest of the month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to lift his executive order that mandates […]
By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Illinoisans should stay tuned for an announcement on the state’s indoor mask mandate, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference Tuesday, although […]
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration are asking a state appellate court to set aside a lower court order from […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that he was “cautiously optimistic” that the recent surge in COVID-19 cases spurred by the omicron variant had peaked, […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – A continuing sharp spike in COVID-19 cases being driven by the omicron variant has pushed the state’s hospital capacity to its limits and is […]
By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health said Friday that the state had recorded 201,428 new cases of COVID-19 over the previous week, a 57 […]
By GRACE KINNICUTTCapitol News Illinoisgkinnicutt@capitolnewsillinois.comAs omicron surges across the state, Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned Monday that hospitalizations are about as high as they were last winter before vaccines were widely available. About 85 percent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state are unvaccinated.“It is frustrating and tragic that two years into the pandemic, with multiple widely available and free, life-saving vaccines, that we are once again in this horrible position,” Pritzker said during a news conference in Chicago.The Illinois Public Health Department reported 6,294 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday, the most since the pandemic began. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, IDPH director, said an average of 550 people are being admitted to hospitals each day.With hospital beds for other emergencies “frighteningly limited,” Pritzker joined the Illinois Health and Hospital Association in urging health care providers to postpone non-emergency surgeries and procedures as needed to accommodate the influx of COVID-19 cases.“This surge is testing our health resources yet again,” said A.J. Wilhelmi, CEO and president of the IHA.Though hospitals have become accustomed to managing bed capacity and the needs of COVID-19 patients over the course of the pandemic, Wilhelmi said the best way for people to provide relief for health care workers and facilities is to get vaccinated and boosted.More than 19 million vaccines have been administered with about 60 percent of Illinois residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Pritzker fears the rise in COVID-cases will continue to increase as the virus incubates in those who were exposed during the holidays. He urged individuals to get tested as soon as possible.Pritzker also announced that starting this week, free community-based testing sites will expand operations to six days a week. There is a full list of site locations and times on IDPH’s website.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
