GOVERNOR’S BRIEFING
During Q&A, the Governor noted the following:
- Illinois peak, once predicted for mid-April is now slated for early-to-mid May.
- The Governor stated that removing the stay-at-home as other governors have done is simply to open everyone up to infection.
- The alternate care facility established at McCormick Place, with a 3,000 bed capacity becomes available in the near future. Currently, there are fewer than one dozen patients have been treated at McCormick to-date.
- The Governor cautioned there will not be a mass openings on May 1st. He also noted we will have to develop some ‘norms’ as people enter a building and ‘businesses are going to have to adjust to to ensure their consumers are protected’.
- He stated he has ruled out taking the approach of states like Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas.
WORKERS COMPENSATION
This afternoon, IRMA and the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association filed a lawsuit in Sangamon County on behalf of the Illinois employer community claiming the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) vastly exceeded its statutory authority in its most recent rule-making. The suit also seeks a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). IRMA members were previously informed that the IWCC adopted an emergency rule creating a rebuttable presumption that any employee that contracts COVID-19 did so on the job.
PPE ACCESS
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has launched a tool for private sector buyers (not for government contracting) to procure PPE. The PPE Exchange is a simple to use Dashboard to connect private sector sellers with private sector buyers. The users enter their own information and update as needed.
The focus is on these products:
- N95 Masks
- Surgical Masks
- Non-surgical Masks
- Gloves
- Gowns
- Booties
Finally, it is simple to connect by following these instructions:
- Log-in with your name and company on the dashboard
- Follow instructions on completing either the need or sell section.
- Contact individuals via their provided contact information.
- When you log out of the Dashboard, your information remains, but no one can connect with you in the Dashboard. Providing your contact information is important.
IRMA makes no warranties of the actual availability of PPE from the federal government or when. We simply wanted to make you aware of a potential resource.
SNAP EXPANSION
Beginning yesterday, another substantial influx of SNAP benefits began to hit the system. These expanded benefits cover the families of children on free or reduced school lunches whose families are not already SNAP recipients. At IRMA’s request, the Illinois Department of Human Services spread these additional benefits out over the last half of the month. Below are the dates of distribution and the amounts for each date. As a reminder, these supplemental SNAP benefits are known as P-SNAP and recipients utilize a different card. You may view a sample of that card here.
| DATE | COUNT | AMOUNT |
| 4/20/2020 | 29, 018 | 10,584,854.40 |
| 4/21/2020 | 29, 027 | 10,427,443.20 |
| 4/22/2020 | 29, 022 | 10,426,713.60 |
| 4/23/2020 | 29, 018 | 10,467,936.00 |
| 4/24/2020 | 29, 019 | 10,281.158.40 |
| 4/25/2020 | 29, 024 | 10,108,972.80 |
| 4/26/2020 | 29, 021 | 10, 322, 745.60 |
| 4/27/2020 | 29, 018 | 10, 363, 420, 80 |
| 4/28/2020 | 29, 019 | 10, 318, 368.00 |
| 4/29/2020 | 29, 024 | 10, 298, 851.20 |
| 4/30/2020 | 25, 625 | 9, 010, 560.00 |
| TOTALS | 315, 835 | 112, 611, 024.00 |
COVID- 19 IMPACT SURVEY
The University of Chicago is reaching out to business owners like you to take a short and confidential survey about how small businesses have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Your feedback can help improve the types of assistance that city and state government agencies provide to help businesses like yours survive and recover from this crisis. If you would like the chance to shape the government’s economic response to this crisis, please take this 10-minute survey by clicking the link below, or copy and paste it into your browser.
To thank you for your response, you will be entered into a lottery for the chance to win one of ten $500 prizes. (Researchers will run a computerized random draw and notify winners by May 31st.)
To take this survey, click or copy/paste this link:
ILLINOIS COVID-19 IMPACT UPDATE
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, MD, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,551 new cases in Illinois, including 119 additional deaths. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 33,059 cases, to date, including 1,468 deaths, in 96 of Illinois’ 102 counties. Additional information can be found here. COVID-19 stats by zip code can be found here.
The Director also shared the following statistics:
4,7676 individuals are currently hospitalized in Illinois for COVID-19. 1,226 of those are in the Intensive Care Unit. 781 are on ventilators. 30% of ICU beds in the state are open. Of the ICU beds in use, 55% are being used by COVID-19 patients. 60% of ventilators are available. Of the ventilators in use, just over half are being used by COVID-19 patients. Of the patients reporting they are recovered, 54% reported no symptoms under two weeks and 77% under four weeks. In response to a media question, Dr. Ezike expressed concern for a resurgence in the fall in conjunction with traditional flu season