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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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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update – Temporary Restraining Order Requested for Worker’s Comp Emergency Rules; Changes Coming to “Stay at Home” Order; Update on COVID-19 Cases; Update on Recovery Rates
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Temporary Restraining Order Requested for Worker’s Comp Emergency Rules: Members of Illinois’ employer and business community asked for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) today in Sangamon County Court (Springfield) against the emergency rules adopted by the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission.
As you know, this emergency rule created an “automatic presumption” that any worker diagnosed with COVID-19 contracted the illness while at the workplace, even if the employee was working remotely or currently not on the job. Thus, the employee would be eligible for coverage under Workers’ Compensation.
As the time of this Update, CICI has not seen the language of this requested TRO. Absent a successful TRO, this emergency rule will be in place for 150 days. It is estimated that if this emergency rule stays in place, the state’s current $3 billion a year worker’s compensation costs could balloon to close to $13 billion a year. CICI will keep you informed of any developments on this court filing.
Changes Coming to “Stay at Home” Order: During Governor Pritzker’s daily press briefings, he’s been repeatedly asked if he plans to extend the “Stay at Home” Executive Order in light of other states currently planning to at least partially re-open their state’s economy and activities. Today, Governor Pritzker hinted that there may be some changes to the current “Stay at Home” order, but the order will also most likely be extended. It’s unclear yet as to what those changes may entail or how long the current order may be extended.
The Governor did note, however, that the state needs to see a continuous 14-day decline in the number of positive cases before executing any type of plan to fully lift the “Stay at Home” order. Health experts believe that Illinois has not yet hit its peak in the number of positive cases and may not reach this peak, or even plateau, for another month.
Update on COVID-19 Cases:The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) is now reporting a total of 1,468 deaths, an increase of 119 deaths since yesterday. There are currently 33,059 positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, which is an increase of 1,551 from yesterday.
In total, 154,997 people have now been tested in Illinois for the virus, which is an increase of 6,639 as of yesterday. Of those people tested, 21.3% of the results are positive for COVID-19, which is an increase of 0.1% since yesterday.
You can 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. In addition, Western Illinois University has an put together this Map of COVID-19 Cases in Illinois & Surrounding States which gives you picture of where COVID-19 cases are occurring in relation to areas surrounding Illinois.
Worldometer also has a site with pertinent statistics on a state by state breakdown and comparison. Also, the City of Chicago has a good categorization of the cases within the city.
Update on Recovery Rates: Today, IDPH mentioned that of the surveyed individuals with COVID-19 that 54% of the positive cases from 2 weeks ago no longer have symptoms and have fully recovered. And for those who had a positive case four weeks ago, 77% of those have fully recovered.
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