March 30 Weekend COVID-19 Recap
Ill. Gov. J. B. Pritzker with members of the Illinois National Guard. Photo from the Illinois National Guard.
CHICAGO - Over the March 27th weekend, the city of Chicago and state of Illinois saw the largest increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths to date.
On Sunday alone Ill. Gov. J. B. Pritzker announced an additional 1,105 confirmed cases and 17 deaths than the day before.
As of Monday, March 30, there are 4,596 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Illinois and 65 deaths. Chicago accounts for 2,026 cases and 16 deaths; while the rest of Cook County has 1,419 cases and 24 deaths according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, also announced the death of an infant younger than one-year from Chicago. It is believed that he is the youngest victim of the coronavirus pandemic.
“There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant. A full investigation is underway to determine the cause of death,” said Ezike.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Pritzker recently met with the commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, to discuss plans to turn McCormick Place, located on 2301 S. King Dr, into a field hospital that could house 3,000 patients. According to Semonite, the make-shift hospital should be completed by April 24.
Over the weekend Pritzker also took to Twitter to give an update about the state’s testing capacity. According to a graph published on his page, Illinois is currently conducting just 4,000 tests per day. Pritzker said he wants to reach 10,000 tests per day by April 8.
Testing infographic from Gov. Pritzker’s twitter page. Photo from twitter.