Illinois health officials on Thursday said another 16 people have died from the coronavirus, with another 715 new cases being reported.
The numbers are lower than Wednesday’s totals, when a record-high 42 deaths were recorded. And although Thursday’s case count is lower, health officials have warned Illinois has not yet seen its peak.
In total, 157 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois. The 715 new cases bring the state to a total of 7,695 confirmed cases. The virus is now in 61 of the state’s 102 counties, officials said.
A veteran narcotics officer in the Chicago Police Department died of COVID-19 early Thursday, officials said. The officer’s death is the first in the nearly 14,000-person department, which has seen more than 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday.
Interim CPD Supt. Charlie Beck identified the officer as Marco DiFranco.
While the state has not yet reached its hospital capacity, a McCormick Place field hospital is expected to open later this week. And the Illinois National Guard is on site at the Stateville Correctional Center in Hill Crest, where there are 48 inmates with confirmed cases of the coronavirus. One inmate has died, officials said.
As Illinois residents continue to abide by a stay-at-home executive order, the state is reeling with an unprecedented number of unemployment claims due to COVID-19.
The unemployment rate decreased over-the-year in February in all fourteen Illinois metropolitan areas and all 102 counties, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.
But the Illinois Department of Employment Security counted 178,421 initial claims for jobless benefits for the last full week in March, compared with 114,114 for the week ending March 21. In turn, that number was up 950% from the week of March 14.
In the same end-of-March week last year, there were just 9,230 first-time claims.
