|
|
To:
|
Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) Members
|
|
From:
|
Mark Biel, Chief Executive Officer
[email protected] or 217/522-5805
|
|
Re:
|
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update – General Assembly Expected to Reconvene January 8; ACC Tracker with State Vaccine Updates & COVID-19 Orders; Update on COVID-19 Cases
|
General Assembly Expected to Reconvene January 8: The state legislature is currently scheduled to return to Springfield, Friday, January 8 for what could be a 5 day “lame duck” session prior to the new General Assembly being sworn in on January 13. The same COVID-19 protocols put in place for last May’s truncated session will still apply. This essentially means that there will be little to no face-to-face contact with legislators and most communicating will have to be done remotely.
At this time little is known about what issues lawmakers will tackle during this time. Possible issues affecting CICI and the business community could be tax and fees increases and eliminating some economic incentives such as tax exemptions and credits. Another bill that may come up is organized labor’s push in SB 1407, which would force a number of CICI facilities into hiring organized labor and paying prevailing wage for construction and maintenance projects.
As we learn more about the upcoming session, CICI will issue a Legisletter next week detailing any developments. Stay tuned.
Tracker with State Vaccine Updates & COVID-19 Orders: The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has updated their comprehensive COVID-19 Tracker with a separate chart illustrating state vaccine plans where you can find the updated vaccination plans for every state. The other document details updated state specific orders and mitigation measures as well as executive orders and legislation relating to business liability.
Update on COVID-19 Cases: IDPH is reporting 963,389 positive tests of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average increase of 5,468 new positive tests per day since reported here 7 days ago on December 24. In total, 13,277,443 tests have now been conducted in Illinois for the virus, an average increase of 70,637 tests per day since December 24.
The state’s average positivity rate over all 11 regions is at 7.7% for the last 7 days. You can see where the various regions are at in terms of their positivity rates, hospitalizations, and other metrics at this link.
Unfortunately, IDPH is reporting a total of 16,490 deaths, an average increase of 121 per day since December 18.
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.
|
