Late this afternoon, a Clay County Circuit Court overturned Governor Pritzker's stay-at-home order, ruling that the Governor does not have the legal authority to issue such an order thereby blocking a new order from taking effect on May 1.
In response, Governor Pritzker noted that “this ruling has put the people of Illinois at risk.” The Governor has announced that the state, through the Illinois Attorney General, will appeal and will request a stay and there will be a status hearing in one week.
This morning, the Workers’ Compensation Commission formally withdrew the emergency rule creating a presumption that the workplace caused the COVID-19 virus. This action only came after the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and Illinois Retail Merchants Association filed a lawsuit and got a Temporary Restraining Order to block the $4.4 billion rule from taking effect. The WC Commission is putting together a task force to look at all options relating to COVID-19.
The
U.S. Small Business Administration
has resumed accepting Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications. This comes after the President signed Phase 3.5 that adds $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Act.
Daily COVID-19 Results
Governor JB Pritzker held his daily press conference and announced:
- There are 1,980 new cases of coronavirus in Illinois.
- There are a total of 1,983 deaths related to coronavirus in Illinois, including 50 additional deaths announced today.
- A total of 45,883 cases have been confirmed in at least 96 of the 102 counties.
- There have been 227,628 individuals tested for coronavirus in Illinois.
Press Conference Key Updates
- The Governor gave the following updates on hospitalization, ICU beds and ventilators:
- Total number of Illinois hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients:
- April 6 – 3,680
- April 10 – 4,020
- April 14 – 4,283
- April 19 – 4,599
- April 26 – 4,672
- Total number of Illinois ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients:
- April 6 – 43% of 2,700 beds
- April 10 – 40% of 2,900 beds
- April 14 – 40% of 3,000 beds
- April 19 – 40% of 3,100 beds
- April 26 – 34% of 3,600 beds
- Total Illinois ventilator inventory occupied by COVID-19 patients:
- April 6 – 29%
- April 10 – 27%
- April 14 – 25%
- April 19 – 23%
- April 26 – 23%
- On regionalization, the Governor stated that no part of Illinois is safe from COVID-19 and noted that the top five Illinois counties with the highest infection rate are: (1) Cook, (2) Jasper, (3) Lake, (4) Will, (5) Randolph.
Employer Resources & Programs
On Thursday, April 30, from 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m., the IMA will host a webinar on maximizing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans funds. In this webinar we'll discuss how your PPP loan funds should be spent and how they should be tracked so your loan can become eligible for forgiveness, as well as a look at any new legislation. We'll also have a Q&A session at the end of our webinar. To register for the webinar,
click here
.
