Pritzker Issues Warnings to Several Illinois Counties, Places Restrictions on Youth Sports:  This week, Governor Pritzker warned that parts of Illinois may face restrictions if new coronavirus cases continue to rise.  A number of Illinois counties have reached a warning level for COVID-19 cases as they are approaching an 8% positivity level, including LaSalle, Peoria, Adams, Randolph and Metro-East St. Louis area counties.  The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said those counties are seeing a rise in cases due in part to large gatherings and some businesses not complying with state guidelines such as social distancing and wearing face coverings.

Governor Pritzker also today issued the following guidance on youth sports with a number of restrictions on close-contact sports beginning August 15.  Close-contact sports such as wrestling, football, hockey, lacrosse, and competitive cheer and dance will mostly likely be delayed until the Spring.

This guidance pertains to all youth and adult recreational sports, including, but not limited to, school-based sports (IHSA & IESA), travel clubs, private leagues and clubs, recreational leagues and centers, and park district sports programs. This guidance does NOT pertain to professional sports leagues or college division level sports.

City of Chicago Adds Missouri, Wisconsin, Other States to Travel Order: This week, Chicago added Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota, and Nevada to its Travel Order in addition to a few other states last week.   

As reported here before, this link will take you to FAQs regarding the Emergency Travel Order and how it applies to Chicago residents and visitors.  As an Essential industry with Essential employees, please closely review the “Exceptions” listed under FAQs section.

Again, an example letter has been adapted from one of CICI’s member companies where “essential employees” may be asked to show proof they are exempt from the City of Chicago’s quarantine order. Please share/review with your HR and legal folks and use as you see fit.

Mayor Lightfoot also claimed the city is closely watching COVID-19 numbers in Indiana, but have not yet met the threshold to impose a quarantine order.

The states currently subject to the city’s travel order are:

-Alabama
-Arkansas
-Arizona
-California
-Florida
-Georgia
-Idaho
-Iowa
-Kansas
-Louisiana
-Mississippi
-Missouri
-Nebraska
-North Carolina
-North Dakota
-Nevada
-Oklahoma
-South Carolina
-Tennessee
-Texas
-Utah
-Wisconsin

Specific State Information on COVID-19 Orders, Re-Opening Plans: CICI national association member, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), has put together a comprehensive chart detailing state specific orders, re-opening plans and other restrictions as well as executive orders and legislation relating to business liability, including policies on workers compensation eligibility and policies that limit liability, and also policies that expand liability.   

In addition to this, you will see in these charts that Governor Pritzker issued a Disaster Proclamation and Executive Order 2020-48 that extends the expiration date of most of Illinois’ COVID-19 Executive Orders to August 22 based on the “expected continuing spread of COVID-19 and the ongoing health and economic impacts that will be felt over the coming months.”

Hospitalization Rates Continue to Incrementally Fall:  In spite of the rise in the state’s overall positivity rate, IDPH is reporting today that of the current 175,124 positive tests in Illinois, only 1,491 individuals, or 0.85% required some sort of hospital care. This is a reduction of 0.03% from 7 days ago, which continues a downward trend over the last couple months.

Of these hospitalizations, 355 patients were in the ICU and 152 patients were on ventilators.  When the state’s COVID-19 peak was reached on April 28, over 5,000 patients were in the hospital with 1,290 patients in the ICU.  At that time, 10% of all then-positive cases were requiring hospital care.  Again, IDPH’s webpage tracks positivity and hospitalization rates for the state’s current four regions.

Update on COVID-19 Cases: The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is reporting 175,124 positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 1,403 new cases per day since reported here 7 days ago, July 22.  In total, 2,608,652 tests have now been conducted in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 37,166 tests per day since July 22.  The state’s positivity rate over the last few weeks has risen from 2.6% at the beginning of July to 3.8% today.

Unfortunately, IDPH is reporting a total of 7,347 deaths, an average increase of 16 per day since July 22.

You can also 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.

For information on other states and countries, John Hopkins University has developed this website that provides invaluable resources at a one-stop location detailing testing and tracing trends, timelines of COVID-19 policies, and interactive maps.

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