Gov. Pritzker host third downstate Coronavirus briefing in east St. Louis

Posted on May 27, 2020

*Gov. Pritzker visited downstate Illinois on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy: Gov. Pritzker/Facebook)*

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – East St Louis is the third Downstate community to host the governor’s daily coronavirus briefing.

Gov. JB Pritzker took a question Wednesday about nursing home visitation. “The CDC is telling every state that this may be one of the last things in dealing with COVID (-19) that will happen is visitors being able to come back into those facilities,” said Pritzker, “because it is precisely from those visitors – even those who are asymptomatic, who may not think that they have COVID-19 – that you get an outbreak.”

The illness it hitting harder the black and brown communities.

“Everyone is aware that the black and Latino adults are far more likely to experience serious illness and death from COVID-19,” said Elizabeth Patton- Whiteside, the local public health administrator. “Underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity are some of the risk factors.”

Illinois now has 114,306 coronavirus cases and 5,083 deaths.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

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