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To:
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Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) Members
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From:
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Mark Biel, Chief Executive Officer
[email protected] or 217/522-5805
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Re:
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update – TRO Granted Against Worker’s Comp Emergency Rule; Trump Signs 3rd COVID-19 Stimulus Plan; Update on COVID-19 Cases; Increased Testing Sites
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TRO Granted Against Worker’s Comp Emergency Rule: In great news for Illinois’ employer community, last night a Sangamon County judge granted the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) sought by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association to stop last week’s Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission emergency rule.
As you know, this emergency rule created an “automatic presumption” that any worker diagnosed with COVID-19 contracted the illness while at the workplace, even if the employee was working remotely or currently not on the job. Thus, the employee would be eligible for coverage under Workers’ Compensation.
The State now has until April 30 to respond and then both parties will reconvene in court on May 4. CICI will keep you abreast of any further developments in these legal proceedings.
Trump Signs 3rd COVID-19 Stimulus Plan: President Trump today signed a $484 billion stimulus plan to supplement the $2.2 trillion CARES Act established last month.
Details of this new plan include:
- $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program. This program ran out of funds under the previous CARES stimulus package.
- $50 billion for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) emergency disaster lending and $10 billion in SBA disaster grants.
- $75 billion for hospitals.
- $25 billion for virus testing. These testing funds include $18 billion for states and local governments to conduct COVID-19 tests.
Even after passage of this particular stimulus package, Congress is expected to return to Washington on May 4 to debate a broader measure which will likely include aid to state and local governments, coronavirus caregivers, and possibly for workers at grocery stores, drugstores and others providing needed goods and services.
Update on COVID-19 Cases:The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) is now reporting a total of 1,795 deaths, an increase of 107 deaths since yesterday. There are currently 39,658 positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, an increase of 2,724 from yesterday. While this is the largest increase of positive tests to date, it’s largely the result of increased testing.
In total, 189,632 people have now been tested in Illinois for the virus, which is an increase of 16,316 tests as of yesterday or 17% tested positive. This is the first time the state has surpassed the 10,000 tests per day that medical and health experts need in order to determine a number of vital markers, including increased surveillance for outbreaks and isolating positive cases to slow any spread of the virus and its infection rate.
You can check where these cases are occurring at the State of Illinois COVID-19 website which also contains more information on this outbreak. Also, IDPH has a case breakdown of the number of positive cases in Chicago and each county relative to the number of fatalities. The IDPH website also now includes a breakdown of the cases under each zip code in the state. In addition, Western Illinois University has an put together this Map of COVID-19 Cases in Illinois & Surrounding States which gives you picture of where COVID-19 cases are occurring in relation to areas surrounding Illinois.
Worldometer also has a site with pertinent statistics on a state by state breakdown and comparison. Also, the City of Chicago has a good categorization of the cases within the city.
Increased Testing Sites: At Governor Pritzker’s daily press conference, it was remarked that the state now has 112 public testing sites in every one of IDPH’s 11 regions. Here is the breakdown of the testing sites located throughout Illinois:
8 sites - Rockford area
8 sites - Peoria area
4 sites - Springfield area
4 sites - Edwardsville area
31 sites - Marion area
8 sites - Champaign area
22 sites – City of Chicago
9 sites - southwest suburbs
3 sites - west suburbs
5 sites - northwest suburbs
10 sites - north suburbs
This is the current list of public testing sites with hours, testing parameters and contact information. This is not yet a comprehensive list of testing sites. Locations are continuously being added as information is provided. Some locations have also asked not to be named.
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