GOVERNOR’S BRIEFING
Governor Pritzker focused on testing during today’s briefing. Were running 2,000 tests per day on March 24th. Today, averaging 4,000 tests per day and have rune 28,000 in total. Within next ten days, they he believes Illinois will be put to 10,000 tests per day – the number experts claim entities need to be at to get good data. All three state labs are running two shifts to run samples and will run a third shift once get the material elements they need to process tests.
Illinois National Guard has opened a second state-run drive-thru facility in McLean County in addition to the original site in Harwood Heights. These are in addition to the three federal sites in Bolingbrook, North Lake, and Joliet.
RETAILERS & SOCIAL DISTANCING
Yesterday, Governor Pritzker noted his partnership with IRMA throughout this crisis and focused on the efforts of retailers to enforce social distancing. He correctly noted that in the end consumers must self-enforce. That said, many are looking for retailers who have not already done so to immediately implement as many measures as they can to encourage customers to maintain social distancing. IRMA has fielded calls from some elected officials concerned about in-store social distancing. The City of Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) notified IRMA they will be sending their inspectors to stores, particularly grocery stores, to check for implementation of consumer-facing social-distancing messaging.
IRMA has compiled some best industry practices and strongly encourages you to implement some or all of them as quickly as possible in conjunction with your operational realities. You may view the guidance here. You can also view the guidance on IRMA’s web page.
ILLINOIS UPDATE
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, MD, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,105 new cases in Illinois, including 18 more deaths. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 4,596 cases, including 65 deaths, in 47 of Illinois’ 102 counties. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to 99 years. Additional information can be found here.