Deaths in illinois. We then proceeded to hit or surpassed that marker twice on the days since. Sorry, todayday, is not a record. More illinoisans lost their lives since yesterdays update. To the loved ones of those individuals and all who we have lost in the fight against this virus, the entire state of illinois grieves with you. Covid19, to defeat at some point, we will have fewer cases to report and fewer lives lost. That will be good news. But, it does not change the fact that each and every life that we lose to this virus is an immense tragedy. May each and every one of their memories be a blessing. With that said, i want to start our conversation today with one of the numbers we watch closely and that is our doubling rate. That is the number of days it takes to double case counts, hospitalizations, or deaths. Why is that important . Well, because the higher that number is, the slower your growth. Which means the flatter your curve. At the beginning of this pandemic, our doubling rates were very low. Since we put all our executive orders in place, illinois has seen our doubling rates increase substantially. That is a very good thing. Rate at whichhe are covid positive case cap was doubling was just about two days. By april 1, that rate had increased to around 3. 6 days. As of this sunday, april 12, our case doubling rate had reached 8. 2 days. Mortality our doubling rate has increased. At the beginning of april, it was at 2. 5 days. It is now at 5. 5 days. To be clear, there is nothing good about twice as many people having this virus o, or worse, dying from it, no longer how matter how long the increase takes. We wont get to zero cases overnight. The fact doubling rate continues to increase is a clear demonstration that there is a deceleration of virus transmission. We are in fact bending the curve. Perhaps the most accurate leading indicator of our progress is our hospitalization data. Right now, if someone is sick enough with a respiratory illness to need hospital care, then it is likely that person has covid19, whether or not they have been tested. On april 6, the number of known Covid Patients and suspected Covid Patients totaled 3680. On april 10, that number was 4020. 4104. Il 11, it was 4091. Il 12, as of today, it was 4283. As you can see, these numbers are increasing. Overall so too is our hospital capacity. Our hospitals are working every day to add beds. In august of 2019, just to give you a number way before covid19 came to us, our state averaged about 25,500 total beds. As of this weekend, our total bed count is about 30,000. Two other important metrics are icu beds and ventilators. A week ago, Covid Patients as a percentage of icu beds increased eight5 to 43 , an percentage point jump. Covid patients today occupied 40 of our total icu beds. That is down from the 43 a week ago. Timeframe, Covid Patients as a percentage of total ventilators grew from 24 to 29 , a fivepoint jump in a week. Covid patients today occupied 25 of our total ventilators. Both of those numbers are evidence of positive trends. A declining number percentage of icu beds occupied by Covid Patients and a declining number of ventilators occupied by Covid Patients. Additionally, our total ventilator numbers are starting to reflect the additional ventilators that we have acquired, now totaling more than 3000 across the state. Overall, these numbers are indicators of our growing ability to manage capacity within the Health Care Systems across illinois. We track not only individual hospitals, but also by region. We keep our eyes trained on the regions with capacity in any of these metrics that fall below a critical level. Thats what we Pay Attention to at our daily meetings. Today, no region is currently below 15 availability in any of these metrics, but there are individual hospitals that are operating at or near max capacity. Right now, hospitals are by and large doing a great job of directing patients amongst themselves. But if it becomes necessary, i will not hesitate to step into direct icu patients to hospitals that are more available. While we are talking about capacity, i am so deeply thankful for the now 3600 retired and outofstate Health Care Professionals who have applied to join illinois fight against covid19. Before i turn it over to the doctor, i feel compelled to address what it will mean when we say we have flattened the curve. Folks, this curve may not flattened and it may go up again. If we dont adhere to the stayathome order. We need to stay the course for now for our efforts to truly remain effective. Let me lay it out more clearly. There is no one who wants our state to open up more than i do. I want kids to go back to school and i want parents to go back to work. I want families to enjoy our parks and lakefront. I want Small Businesses thriving, restaurants flooded with reservations. Job growth to return to their record highs. But no matter what the president may say, i will do whats best to safeguard the health and safety of illinois residents. That means test, trace and treat. Im hopeful the president will help us accomplish that because thats what will make it safer for people to begin to return to their normal lives. What we have to do is to design a new normal, a way of life to carry us to the other side. While that day is not here yet, my team and i are working to bring that about, as are experts around the state and across the globe. No one looks forward to that day more than i do. Now i would like to turn it over to our idph director for todays medical update. Doctor . Thank you, sir. Good afternoon. I bring todays medical report with a warm thank you first to the third graders of pierece elementary in chicagos edgewater community. Their thoughtful and digital thank you card for our Public Health and healthcare workers are greatly appreciated and have lifted our spirits. Thank you to those thirdgraders for making a difference and reaching out to support others. Newy, i report that 1222 people were diagnosed with the virus. Unfortunately, 74 additional lives have been lost to covid19. That brings our total for cases,s to 23,247 including 868 lives lost. Again, our deepest condolences go out to all of the families who are dealing with the loss, as well as people who are dealing with their loved ones who are fighting this virus at this time. The Illinois Department of Public Health has continued to outreach to individuals diagnosed with covid19 through an Electronic Survey to identify people who have recovered. We sent out these Electronic Surveys to people to catch the recovery rate at seven days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days. As you can imagine, people are Getting Better with time. For people who dont respond to the survey, we have a staff of 23 individuals who are calling to follow up. We are making about 300 calls a day to people who didnt respond, of which approximately half of those result in a successful interview. So, to share those results, im happy to report that of the people who were surveyed at seven days, 44 have indicated recovery. At 14 days, the number increases to 50 . At 21 days after testing positive, we have 61 of people who responded neither to the initial Electronic Survey or the followup telephone calls that they no longer have symptoms. At 28 days, 69 of people reported no covid19 symptoms and feeling much better. Again, people are Getting Better, people recover from this disease. Important to note that not everyone responded to the survey, so potentially, the averages could be higher. During these Uncertain Times when people may feel helpless, i want to remind you all of the things you can do, like our thirdgraders did. They may be small, but they truly have big impact. Of course, you need to continue to stay home. We keep talking about flatten the curve. The reason that the doubling time is prolonging is because of these measures that have been dictated and have been followed. So we have to stay the course. Im almost grateful for seeing snowflakes outside my window to ease the temptation of people to want to be outside. I know many of you are tired of hearing this, but it will make a difference, it has been making a difference, and it will continue to make a difference. If you have to leave your home, please wear a mask. Please keep fully distance physically from other people, whether you are walking on the street, whether you are in the Grocery Store or the pharmacy. Keep washing your hands. Keep cleaning frequently touched surfaces. We will stay the course and together we will turn the tide. Thank you. I will summarize comments in spanish. [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] with that, i will turn it over to Governor Pritzker for questions. Gov. Pritzker happy to take any questions from members of the media. Picture of you first before i can go back into the notes and look at the questions from my colleagues. Want to ask you about this Regional Cooperative effort you are talking about with other governors. 10 you tell us who you have been talking to and what are the types of things you are working to coordinate as you look ahead . Gov. Pritzker i began this conversation really late last east coastome of the governors, and then over the last few days with my counterparts in midwest states surrounding us. Our goal, of course, for this is to start to think about what are the preconditions for beginning to allow certain kinds of businesses to open their doors again . To expand the definition of those who can work or those businesses that can have their doors open. And, as i have said, the preconditions that i think are tracingate are testing, and treating. I would add to that the availability of ppe to the entire population, even those who might not be able to afford their own ppp. Those things together are the preconditions. There are a lot of other things to discuss. Governors i have spoken with have been very, frankly, very positive about this idea. They have all been thinking about it individually for their state and understand that speaking with a common voice might be a positive move. Is this in part in response to the president saying he is going to be the one to dictate everything and hes in control, if you will . Gov. Pritzker no, in fact, all of us have been thinking about whats next . We have our stay at home order in place. The closing of schools and so on. What comes next . What are the things that trigger a change and how much can we do and how fast can we do it . All of that, i might add, is going to be dependent on what we hear from the epidemiologists and the doctors. Let me refer back to some of the other questions. From cbs 2, more poll workers have come forward to say they have had covid19 even though you said you could not have delayed the primary. You have the Emergency Powers to do so during a situation like a pandemic. A person who worked at the polls and developed covid19 things you should have postponed early voting and the primary. Can you talk about the steps you will be taking for the november election to ensure the safety of workers . Gov. Pritzker to be clear, i did not have that power and do not have the power to change the date of an election. That is what the issue was. So, instead, i want to remind everybody that i instead encouraged everybody to vote by mail, to vote early. We did that multiple days. You heard us talking about it. There are 45 days before election day in which you can actually vote, not to mention apply for an absentee ballot or mail ballot. I also will tell you i think it is extraordinarily important for our state and i would encourage other states to do the same to have mail balloting for everybody available in the general election this year. Its clear now you will remember as this was developing, things were a little bit unclear. The science was unclear. We didnt know whether we would see any treatment on the horizon. We didnt know whether there would be any testing. So, now when we look forward we know what we are in for. I think we have a pretty good idea that things may not be completely back to normal by november because there may not be a vaccine available. Certainly, if there is, it might not have been distributed as widely as we would have liked. It is very important we allow people to vote. Democracy must continue so i want to encourage our legislature to pass mail balloting in our state, and across the country where they dont even have mail balloting at all. Theres a second part to the question. Two full workers that cbs spoke to said there was not enough sanitation supplies, gloves, etc. At the polling stations. What is your response to this . You are working with the board of elections and locals perhaps looking to seek out an order of sanitary supplies for november . Gov. Pritzker we were assured by the boards of elections that in fact they had the ppe or the sanitary devices that they needed. We were willing to provide them. We were even willing to provide poll workers for them who would be garbed in all of these things. In chicago, that was rejected. That was their choice. They felt like they had a handle on it. And obviously we live in very unusual time. There is almost no circumstance in which people are interacting, in which there is not at least some danger of covid19 being transmitted to somebody. Thats why we have encourage people to stay at home now. We were the second in the nation by one day, less than a day to put it in place. That is why we have a stayathome order now and why i have encouraged everybody to wear a mask everywhere they go. You haveunivision on t been giving us raw numbers. Can you break it down by infection rate relative to the number of residents in illinois . Gov. Pritzker i am not sure relative to the number of residents. It is very hard to say because we are not testing everybody in the state. What we know is the percentage of people who are tested let me back up for everybody who has not followed this. We are testing people who show some symptoms of covid19. So, those people who showed symptoms when they are tested, to 21 bout a 21 , 20 positive result when we test them. 20 to 21 of people who are being tested, turns out they have covid19. The rest, the other 79 have Something Else a cold, flu, Something Else. That gives you an idea of what the positive rate is for people who are showing symptoms. To follow that up, do you feel data shows an accurate rate of infection given the fact testing early on was underway . Gov. Pritzker it might be more useful to look at the broad global data that is available. I will share that with you as well. About 80 of people who get covid19 by the way, we believe everybody is susceptible to covid19, period, end of sentence. Either have had it already or you are going to get it unless we have a vaccine that prevents you from getting it, which we dont currently. 80 of people who get covid19 recover just fine, dont require hospitalization or anything of a significant medical intervention nature. Require some further hospitalization or other intervention. , about 1 ut 1 unfortunately passed away in many cases because they either have a comorbidity in an aged or in an age bracket that is more susceptible. The comptroller reported today that the state has spent 400 million on medical supplies, ventilators costing 65,000 each. Is this price gouging or is this typical prices we are having to pay for ventilators . Gov. Pritzker well, if it is price gouging and we can identify it as such, we are turning that information over to the attorney general. What i would say is this is the market that every state has been thrown into. This is what i have been talking about for a month now. Have the president put in place the defense production act to help us with all of these items, we wouldnt be paying five dollars or six dollars sometimes foreign n95 mask that in a normal circumstance cost . 85 or a dollar. The same is true for ventilators we are acquiring. A typical ventilator that is useful in an icu situation, the price starts at around 25,000, maybe up to 35,000, 40,000. When we are paying more for that, that is typically because the market has bid up the prices for any available ventilators. There are very few ventilators available in the entire world. We are acquiring whatever we can so that we are ready in the event that there is a spike in icu beds and a need for ventilators. We know there are ongoing issues with unemployment, but one woman who paid back an overpayment last year was told that even though she qualified, she is still subject to an 18 week nonretroactive penalty and cannot get benefits now. Should Something Like that be happening during the pandemic . Gov. Pritzker i dont know that particular case and that sounds highly unusual. I would like if my office can hear from that person because we should overcome that. It does that sound right to me. I will turn it over to those online. Sorry. Can you speak more specifically about the conversations you are having with governors in the region and perhaps across the country . What guidelines are you guys looking at and will this be happening all at once, in michigan, illinois, indiana . Gov. Pritzker you are talking how do regional look at you begin to lift things like a stayathome order . The conversations are very much, very similar. Each of us might have a slightly but when i talk about testing, tracing and treating, everybody understands what that means and we in fact need to do that. I talked to a governor who is talking about buying a commercial lab that exists in their state and converting it entirely to testing for covid19. It would yield for that governor tens of thousands of tests on a daily basis. That is something they are looking at to deal with the testing part. I am looking significantly at not only the increases in testing we have begun to see at our state labs and working with our hospitals, but on the tracing part, looking at models like what they are doing in assachusetts where they have case tracing collaborative that exists or at least they have stood up, it is just getting going, where they are just using good oldfashioned shoe leather to make sure to call every Single Person that may have come in contact with somebody who has covid19. That is different than the app you may have heard about which relies upon bluetooth to record who you have been in contact wi