By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – The coronavirus crisis has hit Illinois prisons.
The Illinois Department of Public Health says two employees and one inmate tested positive at Stateville, and a contract worker tested positive at Sheridan. The two Stateville workers are recovering at home, and the inmate in a hospital. The Sheirdan inmates were deemed to be at low-to-medium risk for potential exposure.
Gov. JB Pritzker announced the state is moving the tax filing deadline from April 15 to July 15, to match the new federal deadline.
Three new programs to help Illinois businesses total $90 million in aid. The programs are called the small business emergency loan fund, the downstate small business stabilization program, and the hospitality emergency grant program.
While Pritzker said everybody at his end seems to be holding up well, public health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike suggested that is not necessarily the case for herself. She is at the microphone daily, talking about coronavirus and its effects on the people of Illinois.
“It is hard,” Ezike said, her voice breaking. “I’m a doctor. I’m a mother, and I just buried my father last month. So when I think of people who can’t do what I did for my father last month, I feel it very real as to what people are going through and the sacrifices that they’re making.”
The state is up to 1,865 coronavirus cases, including nineteen deaths.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
