State health officials report 986 new cases of coronavirus

Posted on April 1, 2020
Gov. JB Pritzker (left) and IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. (WJBC file photo)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Because of the economic wages of coronavirus, Illinois will have to build a whole new budget when the legislature finally gets together, whenever that is.

“I don’t think I can list all the changes that would need to be made to the original budget. Our budget proposal was put together in January and presented in February, weeks and weeks before the Covid (19) crisis came upon us,” Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday in his daily coronavirus briefing. The fiscal year begins July 1.

Pritzker said he has been in discussions with legislative leaders over how the General Assembly can reconvene. Some lawmakers have said a list of the bills which absolutely must get a vote this spring will be assembled, then members of the House and Senate will return to Springfield for those votes in a short time.

Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said the social distancing, handwashing, and cough-covering appears to be working. The new numbers are 6,980 coronavirus cases for the state, 141 of them fatal.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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