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3rd anniversary of first COVID-19 case in Chicago
Dr. Allison Arwady reflected on the third anniversary of the first COVID case in Chicago Tuesday.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday that the state's public health emergency will end on May 11, 2023.
The announcement comes just one day after President Joe Biden announced that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 nearly three years after they were first declared.
"Since COVID-19 first emerged nearly three years ago, my administration has worked diligently alongside the federal government to battle this once-in-a-generation pandemic by following scientific and medical guidance to support frontline workers and save lives. Our state’s disaster proclamation and executive orders enabled us to use every resource at our disposal from building up testing capacity and expanding our healthcare workforce to supporting our vaccine rollout and mutual aid efforts," said Pritzker. "Let me be clear: COVID-19 has not disappeared. It is still a real and present danger to people with compromised immune systems—and I urge all Illinoisans to get vaccinated or get their booster shots if they have not done so already."
The state originally declared a public health emergency for COVID on March 9, 2020.
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Since March 2020, Pritzker said state and local partners benefited from the disaster proclamation in the following ways:
- Allowing federal reimbursement for state response costs
- Allowing use of State Disaster Relief Fund, covering direct state costs and reimbursements to Illinois National Guard and mutual aid groups
- Allowing use of the state's mutual aid network, groups of public safety response professionals — including hundreds of health care providers and management professionals, law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and disaster response professionals
- Authorizing Pritzker to activate Illinois National Guard reservists
- Allowing expedited procurement should it be necessary
- Authorizing additional executive actions as needed to protect public health and safety