Thirty-three more people have died of the coronavirus in Illinois, health officials announced Saturday, raising the statewide death toll from the virus to 243.
The 33 deaths were among the 1,453 new cases of COVID-19 that Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike reported in their Saturday coronavirus update.
Since the pandemic first hit Illinois in late January, 10,357 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed throughout the state.
“The number is sobering and reminds us it’s critical we all do our part,” Ezike said. “The more cases means the more hospitalizations, which means more deaths, so every gesture that we forgo can help decrease our deaths.”
The latest numbers came as Pritzker announced the steps Illinois is taking to protect its state agency workers, who offer essential services needed to continue running throughout the pandemic.
“Along with my administration’s commitment to maintaining critical services our residents need during this crisis, we’re also responsible for protecting state employees who deliver those services,” Pritzker said. “There are frontline workers at these agencies who spend their days and nights caring for our most vulnerable Illinoisans. Those responsibilities don’t go away during a pandemic.”
Concerns about the safety of “essential employees” — those whose work must continue during Pritzker’s statewide stay-at-home order — have continued to rise as more coronavirus cases have been confirmed in workplaces across the state.
A Walmart store in south suburban Evergreen Park announced on Saturday that two of its employees who were sick with COVID-19 had died.
“We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of two associates at our Evergreen Park store, and we are mourning along with their families,” a Walmart spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Earlier Saturday, a few dozen employees at Amazon’s Little Village distribution center went on strike the outside the DCH1 delivery station, 2801 S. Western, to protest what they said are unsafe and exploitative working conditions.
They took action after allegedly learning that one of their coworkers tested positive for COVID-19 over a week after the fact. A second employee has since tested positive for the virus, said Christian Zamarron, a 30-year-old Pilsen man who’s worked at the facility for almost three years.
“This is a part-time facility, so they don’t even offer health insurance,” Zamarron said Saturday. “We feel that if Amazon is not going to do anything to protect us and our lives, we have to do something ourselves.”
On Friday, Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled the first phase of a massive field hospital being set up at McCormick Place East with the Army Corps of Engineers.
They’re converting three of the convention center’s exhibition halls into medical wings. The first wing had 500 beds ready to use by Friday, officials said.
Another 2,500 beds will be installed in stages to meet what officials say could be a peak in coronavirus diagnoses in Chicago around mid-April.
Hall B, normally home to the Chicago Auto Show, will be set up with 750 beds for the more moderately sick patients, officials said. It’s projected to be done by April 24, while Hall A is expected to have 1,750 beds ready by the end of April.
Contributing: Tina Sfondeles
