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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 - Pritzker Administration Announces Grant Programs for Some Businesses; Free Cloth Face Masks Available; Update on COVID-19 Cases
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Pritzker Administration Announces Grant Programs for Some Businesses: As reported here previously, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) will launch the first round of Business Interruption Grants (BIG) by providing $60 million to businesses experiencing losses or interruption of operations as a result of COVID-19 related closures. The BIG Program is available for up to 3,500 businesses that experienced a limited ability to operate due to COVID-19 related closures. DCEO will begin distributing funds to qualifying businesses in early July. The total program funding will amount to at least $540 million in grants for small businesses.
In the first wave of grants, priority will be given to small businesses that have been heavily restricted or completely shut down during the pandemic and are located in distressed areas of the state. Businesses eligible for the program must have experienced extreme hardship, demonstrated by eligible costs or losses in excess of the grant amount, since March and may continue to face depressed revenues or closure. Businesses must also have been in operation for at least three months prior to March 2020. An emphasis will also be placed on those businesses that are located in areas that have experienced recent property damage due to civil unrest, exacerbating the economic impacts of COVID-19.
DCEO has also launched a new economic recovery program that will provide $25 million to support Illinois businesses that have sustained property damage as a result of civil unrest during the recent protests and demonstrations on or after May 25, 2020. The Distressed Capital Program will reimburse the costs to repair structural damages. The program will prioritize small businesses, women and minority-owned businesses, underinsured or uninsured businesses, businesses that have a high community impact, and businesses in communities that have experienced historic disinvestment.
Applications for both of these programs will be available on Monday, June 22.
Free Cloth Face Masks Available: The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association has partnered with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide free cloth masks.
To receive these free masks, please click on this survey and complete it by tomorrow, June 19. IEMA will identify needs and then ship the masks directly to your company. Please use Illinois Manufacturers’ Association as the name of the association when prompted in the survey.
Update on COVID-19 Cases: There are currently 134,778 positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 597 new cases per day since reported here last Friday. In total, 1,283,832 people have now been tested in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 22,245 tests per day since last Friday.
Unfortunately, since last Friday,IDPH is reporting a total of 6,537 deaths, an average increase of 45 per day since last Friday.
Since last Friday, the average statewide positivity rate is at 2.6%. All four regions of the state of Illinois’ plan for re-opening appear to be on track for starting Phase 4 on June 26, barring any significant surge in COVID-19 cases. Again, IDPH’s webpage tracks positivity and hospitalization rates for the state’s four regions.
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.
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