Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday announced the deaths of three more Illinois residents due to the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19 continues its spread throughout the state.
The pandemic has now claimed four lives in the state. Patricia Frieson, 61, of Chicago, was the first person to die of the novel coronavirus in Illinois on Monday.
The three additional victims include a Will County man in his 50s, a Cook County woman in her 80s and a Florida woman in her 70s who was visiting downstate Sangamon County.
The state also announced 134 new confirmed cases, bringing the statewide total to 422, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike said.
That’s the largest single-day spike in Illinois’ confirmed cases — followed by the 128 cases announced a day earlier.
The number of cases will continue to grow “exponentially” and “will not abate soon,” Pritzker said. That’s a result of expanded testing.
As of Thursday afternoon, 3,151 COVID-19 tests had been administered, and the state will soon be able to test up to 2,000 people per day, Pritzker said. About 1,000 tests were conducted a day earlier.
“These moments will not get easier, nor should they,” Pritzker said. “We are fighting this fight for every person in Illinois. We’ve all lost something today.”
The pandemic extended to five new counties — Jackson, Kankakee, LaSalle, Washington, and Williamson — and has now been reported in 22 counties overall. Patients have ranged in age from 9 to 99.
“We ask everyone to please, stay home as much as possible so we can reduce the number of people who are infected and potentially suffer serious illness, including death,” Ezike said.
Thursday’s toll was announced hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued an unprecedented public health order: all Chicagoans with confirmed cases of coronavirus — as well as those just exhibiting symptoms of the highly-contagious disease — were told to stay home, under threat of citations and fines, to prevent community spread of the pandemic.
Beyond school and business closures, the state has stopped short of a full-on “shelter-in-place” order similar to in California, but Pritzker’s office has said “the situation is being monitored on an ongoing basis.”
Regarding more lockdown rumors — and following a shelter-in-place order issued by village leaders in Oak Park — Pritzker said Thursday “essential services will not close. Interstate highways and bridges will stay open. Grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations. These sources of fundamental supplies will continue to operate.”
He also urged people again to not hoard supplies.
“There is no need to run out and hoard food, gas, or medicine. Buy what you need within reason. There is enough to go around as long as people do not hoard,” Pritzker said. “We will never shut these services down.”
With all Illinois schools closed until March 30, the governor was asked whether parents can anticipate a longer closure.
“I... think that parent should be contemplating the possibility that that [closure] might be extended,” Pritzker said.
Lightfoot is scheduled to address Chicagoans at 5 p.m. Thursday to outline the city’s “comprehensive and proactive steps” to confront the pandemic.
City Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady on Thursday morning signed a public health order stating that those with confirmed cases or symptoms “may not leave their homes, go to work or meet in groups.”
The only exception to the stay-at-home order is to seek “essential services, including necessary clinical care or evaluation and life sustaining needs” that include “obtaining food and medicine.
Violators will be slapped with citations and fines by Chicago Police and the Department of Public Health, even though it’s not known precisely how they will be identified.
