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 – Mayor Lightfoot Unveils Chicago’s Own Reopening Strategy; CISA New Guidance on “Disinformation Activity”; Update on COVID-19 Cases; State up to 344 Testing Sites; Reminder - Pritzker Halts Weekend Press Briefings

Mayor Lightfoot Unveils Chicago’s Own Reopening Strategy: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced her plans today for a gradual reopening of the city that will complement Governor Pritzker’s Restore Illinois, though the city’s plan is a little more stringent. The “Protecting Chicago” framework comprises five phases, and Chicago has already transitioned from phase one (Strict Stay-at-Home) to phase two (Stay-at-Home).  Also, as part of the reopening strategy, the mayor is soliciting public input to gauge sentiment on shelter-in-place and ensure the reopening is phased in a way that eases concerns that residents may have. To provide feedback, residents can visit reopening Chicago survey to complete a short survey.

In addition, at the governor’s press conference today he suggested that other mayors and other local government leaders throughout the state follow suit in coming up with their own reopening plans. 

CISA New Guidance on “Disinformation Activity”: Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a new CISA Insights titled, “COVID-19 Disinformation Activity.” This guidance is attached to this afternoon’s Update.  This CISA Insights provides guidance to deter false information and conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. It provides factual information to counteract inaccurate claims and provides simple steps the public can take to fact check information and minimize the risk of spreading false or misleading content. 

Update on COVID-19 Cases: The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) is now reporting a total of 3,241 deaths, an increase of 130 deaths from yesterday.  There are currently 73,760 positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, an increase of 2,887 since yesterday. In total, 399,714 people have now been tested in Illinois for the virus, with 20,671 conducted in the past 24-hours – which to date is the highest number of tests in a day.    

The percentage of positive cases since yesterday as compared to increased testing is at 13.9%, which is almost an entire percentage point drop since yesterday. If you recall, one of the parameters for the governor’s plan calls for regions to be at or under a 20% test positivity rate before regions can proceed to another phase of this plan.

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.

State Now Has 344 Testing Sites: Governor Pritzker also remarked at his daily press briefing today that the state now has 344 testing sites, up from 177 only a week ago. These are the current testing sites with hours, testing parameters and contact information.  Again, this is not a comprehensive list of testing sites. Locations are continuously being added as information is provided. Some locations have asked not to be named.

Reminder - Pritzker Halts Weekend Press Briefings: Governor Pritzker also announced yesterday that his office will not be holding any further weekend press conferences.  As such, CICI will be issuing its weekend Update on Monday instead of Sunday. 

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Tel: (847) 544-5995
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