CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Saturday announced that the death toll from the coronavirus in the state had climbed by 125, matching the highest total for a single day.
The deaths matched the number from Thursday, and brings the total COVID-19 deaths to 1,259. llinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said there were another 1,585 new cases of coronavirus since the previous total was announced Friday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 29,160.
“Although our numbers continue to climb, it is with some guarded optimism that we say the growth is slowing,” Ezike said at a news conference.
The briefing came a day after Pritzker ordered schools throughout the state to remain closed for the rest of the academic year. It also came amid protests in other states by people demanding an end to stay-at-home restrictions that have closed schools, shuttered businesses and thrown millions of people out of work. Illinois’ current stay-at-home order ends is in effect until April 30.
“I want to remind you that we are not even at our peak yet,” Pritzker said. “I want to remove the restrictions as much as anyone else (but) I’m going to do it based on science.”
He also said he’s particularly concerned that the rate of ascent for the virus in rural areas caught up to, and in some areas surpassed, the rate in urban areas.
Meanwhile, the Navy is taking tentative steps to get back to some semblance of normal with the announcement that some 500 recruits are expected to start arriving again for training at the Navy’s only boot camp. But the Navy will house the recruits at a water park for two weeks instead of Naval Station Great Lakes near North Chicago.
The base was closed to new recruits last month due to the pandemic.
Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Martin, a Navy spokesman, told the Chicago Tribune that although the recruits will spend two weeks at Great Wolf Lodge in Gurnee, they won’t have access to its “resort-type amenities,” such as the water park.
As of early Wednesday, the Navy had reported nearly 1,200 worldwide coronavirus cases and six deaths among military personnel, their families, civilian employees and others.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
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