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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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Afternoon Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update – 3,026 Confirmed Cases, 34 Deaths; USEPA Discretion for Non-Compliance; OSHA Enforcement Guidance; CICI Member COVID-19 Services Request
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At the time of this e-mail, the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) is now reporting 34 deaths, out of 3,026 now-confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, an increase of 488 new cases since yesterday. In total, 21,542 people have been tested for the virus, an increase of almost 5,000 new tests since yesterday.
The substantial increase in the number of tests is just one reason for the escalation in the number of new COVID-19 cases. What’s not known at this time is how many of these cases are requiring hospitalizations or how many of these cases have recovered. Of the fatalities, 86% are among patients 60 years of age and older.
You can see where these cases are occurring at the State of Illinois COVID-19 website which also contains more information on this outbreak. In addition, Western Illinois University has an put together this Map of COVID-19 Cases in Illinois & Surrounding States to give you a better picture of where COVID-19 cases are at in relation to areas surrounding Illinois.
Extension of the Stay-at-Home Order?: Further, Governor Pritzker wouldn’t comment on extending his executive order for school closures or the stay-at-home order past the April 7 timeline, opting to say that this decision will be made on a day-by-day basis.
USEPA to Exercise Enforcement Discretion for some Non-Compliance as a result of COVID-19. The USEPA issued a memo yesterday announcing that it would use its enforcement discretion to eliminate penalties for violations of compliance monitoring and documentation requirements caused by staffing and resource limitations as a result of responses to the COVID-19 virus.
The Memo is not remotely a general amnesty for all environmental violations but is tailored to address specific and generally routine activities. The Memo is retroactive to March 13, 2020 and will remain in place until withdrawn by USEPA. Specifically, the memo addresses compliance monitoring, integrity testing, sampling, laboratory analysis, training and reporting or certification. Attached to this e-mail is a write up from CICI Associate member David Rieser at K & L Gates summarizing the USEPA Memo
OSHA Enforcement Guidance Update: During an industry group call today, CICI staff received information that the US Department of Labor (DOL) is in the process of drafting an enforcement guidance document regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the OSHA’s various requirements. The guidance document is expected to be publicly available next week. Industry associations believe the OSHA document will be in the same spirit as USEPA’s enforcement discretion policy which is currently in place (see story above).
CICI Member COVID-19 Services Request: A number of CICI Associate and Affiliate members have created Webpages providing relevant and important information for their clients on COVID-19. CICI will be issuing another update tomorrow and will include this information and links to their various Webpages. If you have not already done so and wish to have your companies COVID-19 information included, please send this information and a brief write-up to Brad Babcook, CICI’s Director of Legislative Affairs at [email protected]
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