Bailey Criticizes Governor's COVID Bridge to Reopening; Other COVID News

St. Sen. Darren Bailey of Louisville is taking Governor J.B. Pritzker to task for his COVID bridge plan released Thursday to reopening Illinois.

Bailey stated: "This week it's a bridge, tomorrow it's a ferry, maybe next week it could be another flight to Florida for his family. Despite declining numbers of people who are sick and increasing numbers of those who are vaccinated, the Governor continues to drag his feet on the process of letting Illinoisans get back to work and live their daily lives. The Governor is continuing to make decisions behind closed doors that affect every part of people's lives. He refuses to engage the legislature in the process or offer transparency about how he decided to set what seems like more arbitrary metrics. The Governor has spent the last year running the state alone through executive orders. It's time for that to end and for Illinois to reopen."

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The Illinois Department of Public Health Thursday reported 2,325 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease in Illinois, including 34 additional COVID-related deaths.

There was one area COVID-related death, a man in his 60s from Cumberland County.

As of Thursday night, 1,120 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 252 patients were in the ICU and 100 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

The Effingham County Health Department reported six new positive cases of coronavirus disease from Tuesday through Thursday. There were two cases on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and three cases on Thursday.

The demographic breakdown:

TUESDAY--a male in his 50s and a female in her teens

WEDNESDAY--a male in his 30s

THURSDAY--a male in his 30s, a female in her teens, and a female in her 30s

The Health Department confirmed over 10,000 doses of vaccine have been administered so far to Effingham County residents. 65% of residents over age 65 have received at least one dose, and 30% are fully vaccinated. 

Illinois Region 6 rolling test positivity was 2% through March 15, while Effingham County was 1.5% for the same period.

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A reminder of the First Dose COVID Vaccination Clinic in Effingham on Saturday. This clinic is to all of phase 1a, 1b and 1b+. This includes individuals who are under age 65 with underlying health conditions and frontline essential workers. Appointments can be made until midnight tonight, or the appointments are fully booked, whichever comes first. Go to www.effcohealth.org  

If you can't make an appointment for tomorrow, you can for Thursday and Friday, March 25-26. Online links for those clinics will be available soon.