CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker will return to doing daily coronavirus briefings for Illinois as the pandemic resurges here.
Pritzker announced Monday he and Dr. Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health, will do the updates every weekday starting immediately. His announcement came as every region of Illinois is facing a spike in coronavirus cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations from the virus.
Pritzker’s briefings will typically be held at 2:30 p.m. and they are streamed online.
Pritzker did similar briefings for months in the spring, when Illinois hit its first COVID-19 peak. But as cases and deaths waned, he started doing the briefings only about once per week.
Things have started to reverse, though, and the governor said he wants to bring back the weekday updates to ensure people have up-to-date information.
“While we continue to see a safer pandemic landscape then back in April and May — in terms of positivity, hospital capacity and community spread … — things have changed,” Pritzker said at a Monday update. “Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction. Cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths are rising statewide.”
During the briefings, Pritzker and Ezike provide updates on how Illinois is faring against the pandemic and share information on how people can slow the spread of COVID-19 and get financial relief amid the resulting economic turmoil.
Pritzker and Ezike urged Illinoisans to wear masks, practice social distancing and wash their hands so the state can once again see a decline in new cases.
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