Pritzker Visits Quincy To Promote COVID Measures, Warn Against High Spread Rate

By Benjamin Cox on July 27, 2020 at 1:27pm

Governor J.B. Pritzker says that EMS Region 3, which includes the entire listening area, is in trouble of shifting backwards if community spread of COVID-19 doesn’t come down. Pritzker says that Adams County is currently at 3.8% positivity rate and had been steadily rising over the past week, which is just a point over the statewide average. “Adams is one of four counties that has been put on a warning level by the state department of public health because there is an increasing level of community spread. New cases on a per capita basis are going up, and so are emergency department visits for COVID-19-like illnesses.”

Pritzker says he was visiting Quincy and the Adams County Department of Public Health today to announce that the state is providing extra supplies locally, and to reinforce CDC guidelines like wearing a mask and social distancing. Pritzker says that now is the time to protect Illinois’ relative success in combating the virus: “Folks, this is very serious. In other parts of the country, people are dying at alarming rates. In just the last two weeks, over 1,600 people died of COVID-19 in Florida alone – an average of over 100 a day. Infections are rising across the nation, in our neighboring states, and right here in Adams County. This is our moment to pull together to protect the progress that Illinois has made since the beginning of this pandemic; and to keep our families, our friends, and our neighbors safe and healthy.”

Region 3 has seen a steady increase in positive COVID-19 cases since July 18th. The Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,231 new positive cases and 18 additional deaths in the state today. The preliminary 7-day statewide positivity rate is now up to 3.8%.