COVID-19 related deaths in Illinois now top 10,000.
The grim milestone comes on another record day of new cases, exceeding 99-hundred. Governor JB Pritzker says the situation is very serious.
“I can tell you that until I am blue in the face, but if local leaders don’t step up, if high-risk industries don’t act accordingly, if families don’t put off that gathering or dinner party, if people don’t wear a mask, we are heading down a very, very dark path where we were last spring,” said Pritzker.
The Governor isn’t saying yet what those restrictions might be, but warns they are coming if the virus continues to spread.
“All of the things that we looked at and did over the last six months are all under consideration for what the new mitigations might look like,” said Pritzker.
The Governor says hospitalizations are up by 120 percent since the beginning of October. He says even if you aren’t showing any symptoms if you think you’ve been exposed to COVID, you should get tested.
There were an additional 97 deaths related to COVID announced on Thursday. They include three in Clinton County where the health department says the males in their 70s and 80s and female in her 90s all resided in the same long term care facility. There was also an additional death in Fayette County, a female in her 70s. There was also another death reported in Wayne County, a male in his 80s.
The Statewide positivity rate for the past seven days increased to 9.1-percent. The rate in the Southern Illinois Region bumped up to its highest level yet at 10.3-percent. Marion County’s rate dropped three-tenths of a percent to 9.6-percent. The Metro-East Region’s rate jumped six-tenths of a percent to 10.7-percent. The East Central Illinois’ Region’s rate remained at an even ten-percent for the second day in a row.
