The state hit a new high mark for testing Sunday, returning nearly 20,000 COVID-19 tests results in the last 24 hours, as Gov. JB Pritzker continued to stress that expanded capacity to check people for the virus is the key to reducing existing economic and social restrictions.

Among the 19,417 test results were 2,994 new infections. The outbreak has spread to at least 97 of the state’s counties.

Pritzker also reported 63 deaths in the past 24 hours to COVID-19, taking the state’s total for fatalities to 2,618 since the outbreak began more than two months ago.

Across the state, 4,701 people were hospitalized with infections. Of them, 1,232 were in Intensive Care Units and 759 of those patients were on ventilators.

Pritzker announced that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation partnered with a group of banks to allow non-customers to cash stimulus checks without any fees. The governor encouraged anyone without a bank account who receives a paper check to utilize one of these banks to cash the stimulus check to get the full economic effect and not lose any of it to check cashing fees.

The banks are: Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, Fifth Third and First Midwest.

Pritzker was asked about reports of numerous house parties and other defiance of the stay-at-home order over the weekend.

He urged people to follow the rules and that it might be two weeks before people learn how many infections spread because of these parties.

Asked about whether his two-person per boat rule might be altered, the governor said enforcement is up to local officials but that the rule follows the data about concerns of large groups of people being in small spaces.

Pritzker was asked why dog groomers were open but hair salons were not.

He responded that a pet groomer doesn’t have to come within 6 feet of someone who has COVID-19.

Asked about movement on federal package to aid states, Pritzker said he was on the phone with U.S. Senator Durbin yesterday and there appears to be real support for helping the states and that the governor’s particular concerns was making sure smaller governments’ needs were addressed.

The governor also noted that May is “National Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month,” a time to recognize and honor the role that Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants have played in shaping our country, often while enduring racism and xenophobia.

Press release:

Public Health Officials Announce 2,994 New Cases of Coronavirus Disease

Sunday, May 3, 2020 - Public Health, Department of

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 2,994 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 63 additional deaths.

• Cook County: 2 males 40s, 3 females 50s, 3 males 50s, 4 females 60s, 7 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 9 males 70s, 5 females 80s, 5 males 80s, 4 females 90s, 4 males 90s
• DuPage County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
• Jefferson County: 1 male 80s
• Kane County: 1 male 70s
• Lake County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 70s
• Madison County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 90s
• Monroe County: 1 female 90s
• Will County: 1 female 70s
• Winnebago County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 females 90s

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 61,499 cases, including 2,618 deaths, in 97 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have processed 19,417 specimens for a total of 319,313.

For all personal protective equipment (PPE) donations, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

*All data are provisional and will change. Information for deaths previously reported have changed, therefore, today's numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Another 105 Illinoisans died from COVID-19 over the last 24 hours, state public health officials announced Saturday, marking the third day in a row outbreak deaths reached triple digits and bringing this week’s death toll to nearly 700 even as some extremist groups call for an end to, or blatant defiance of, restrictions designed to protect those most at risk of being infected.

“This is not a moment for that. This is life threatening,” said Gov. JB Pritzker. “You are putting others at risk and yourself and your own family.”

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, confirmed another 2,450 Illinois residents had tested positive for the disease in the past day. Those new cases were among more than 15,000 daily test results.

The death toll in Illinois has now hit 2,559 since the state started tracking the outbreak more than two months ago, and infections have spread to at least 97 counties.
Media questions continue to ping-pong between asking the governor why he isn’t doing more to protect people, to why isn’t he relaxing restrictions sooner.

Several questions during Saturday’s briefing sought the governor’s reaction to protests in Springfield and Chicago on Friday that included people carrying signs with Nazi swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans, and claims that they either don’t care about the deaths or the entire outbreak is a hoax. State Rep. Darren Bailey, who has sued to block the governor’s orders, was the featured speaker at the Springfield protest.

The daily face of the fight against COVID-19 in Illinois has been the press briefings featuring Pritzker, who is Jewish, and Dr. Ezike, an African-American woman.
Pritzker said the people carrying those signs either don’t know what those symbols mean or embrace the hate.

“What I can tell you for myself is that I have spent decades of my life fighting against bigotry and hatred. I helped to build a Holocaust museum, I’ve worked with Holocaust survivors,” Pritzker said. “The meaning of that swastika is apparently unknown to the people who are carrying it, or if it is known, it is a demonstration of the hate that is among us.”

Asked about the ongoing dilemma regarding unemployment benefits and the Illinois Department of Employment Security, Pritzker acknowledged that the wave of applications would overwhelm most any system but especially a state system that at 10 years old is already antiquated.

“It is still this 10-year-old system that’s been bolstered, you know from underneath, but in the end we’re going probably to have to replace the system. Significant improvements need to be made in the future but it won’t be able to happen during these first months of the coronavirus outbreak,” Pritzker said.