Get the latest news from around Illinois.
WBEZ: Illinois governor proposes $80 million ‘army’ to track the spread of COVID-19
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proposed a massive $80 million program Friday to hire “an army” of nearly 4,000 state workers to track anyone who came into contact with people who test positive for COVID-19.
Modeled after a similar and likely smaller program employed in Massachusetts, the so-called contact tracing program is regarded as necessary to reopen parts of Illinois once the governor pulls back on his stay-at-home order, which began a 30-day extension on Friday.
The Center Square: Pritzker says some parts of Illinois could open sooner than others
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday that some areas of the state could open sooner than others, the clearest indication yet that the governor will take a regional rather than statewide approach to reopening the economy.
Some regions could open up before the governor’s most recent stay-at-home order expires on May 30.
Chicago Sun-Times: Record COVID-19 case count, but McCormick field hospital to be scaled down as Pritzker says state has ‘bent the curve’
Even as officials announced a record-high daily count of 3,137 newly confirmed coronavirus cases, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday said the McCormick Place alternate care facility will be largely dismantled.
The field hospital that initially was built to fit 3,000 patients had already been scaled down to take care of 1,000. But a joint statement from the mayor and governor announced “the curve is flattening,” and said the facility is no longer needed.