COVID-19 death count passes 1,000 as testing lags

Gov. JB Pritzker announced new efforts to ramp up testing Thursday as the state surpassed 1,000 COVID-19 deaths.

There were 125 new deaths reported, the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic, which put the state’s death count at 1,072.

“These are our family members and loved ones, neighbors and friends,” he said. “Today we mourn with their communities and we offer them our solace and our strength in this very difficult time.”

The previous single-day high in deaths was 82 on April 8. Illinois reported its first coronavirus-related death on March 17.

Officials also announced 1,140 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the state’s total to 25,733 cases in 90 counties.

There have been 122,589 total tests. An additional 5,660 tests ran on Thursday, well below Pritzker’s stated goal of 10,000 daily tests.

Pritzker said the state is “not where we want to be,” when it comes to testing, and announced several steps to increase capacity.

He said the state has “eliminated” its supply chain problems for viral transport medium and swabs after securing new commitments from state universities and outside vendors.

There have also been improvements with the five robotic machines acquired from Thermo Fisher, which are intended to run 200 tests per hour at the state’s three testing labs. A week after saying the machines were not hitting those numbers, nor providing valid results, Pritzker said Thursday the company has worked diligently with state officials to improve the machines’ capacity.

“Those five machines that we had concerns about are now up and running with reliable results,” he said. “So reliable that, as we ramp up over the next week, we’re estimating additional capacity of thousands more tests per day at our state labs alone.”

Pritzker also announced the state will be expanding testing at federally qualified health centers, with dozens of sites across the state expected to come online in the coming days.

“We now have sites coming online across Chicago, the collar counties, Peoria and in southern Illinois, with many more centers expressing interest and working to get their operations up and running,” Pritzker said.

Two additional drive-thru testing sites will also be announced in the coming days.

Illinois will update its statewide criteria for testing to include all patients who have symptoms of COVID-19, even if they have not been given a doctor’s order, Pritzker said. The criteria are specifically for state-run testing sites, but will also be offered to other medical providers. Those with mild symptoms are still asked to call ahead of arriving for their test, he said.

Meanwhile, the University of Chicago Medicine announced Thursday it’s expanding its testing capabilities from 200 a day to 1,000 a day after accessing additional nasopharyngeal swabs and other supplies needed to conduct the tests. The system will expand its existing testing at University of Chicago Medical Center and Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey by creating more drive-thru testing at the facilities. It will also partner with various community hospitals, nursing facilities and health centers in the Chicago area to expand testing capacity.

The system is particularly focused on testing capacity in the city’s south side, according to Brenda Battle, vice president of UChicago Medicine’s Urban Health Initiative. And it plans to waive the cost of tests for people without insurance.

Pritzker also announced Thursday that Illinois will coordinate with six other Midwestern states on reopening their economies after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

The other states include Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

In a joint statement, the Midwestern governors said they will focus on four factors when determining when to reopen sectors of the economy: sustained control of the rate of new infections and hospitalizations, enhanced ability to test for the disease and trace the routes of its spread, sufficient healthcare capacity to handle a resurgence and best practices for social distancing in the workplace.

The move follows similar coalitions announced in the past week by governors of states on the west coast and the northeast.

Not included in the Midwest partnership are Illinois’ western neighbors, Iowa and Missouri. Pritzker said during his press conference he would “love to have as many states” who are willing to join the group do so.

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