Officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported 899 new cases of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus — and 31 additional deaths, pushing the state to 11,256 total confirmed cases with 274 deaths.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the IDPH, said an inmate at Stateville Correctional Center was among the new deaths. Stateville currently has 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Ezike said during an April 5 press conference.
Ezike also said the IDPH is working to ensure medical resources are available to members of historically disadvantaged communities of color, as 30 percent of confirmed cases are African-Americans.
“It starts out with the disparity that has already existed [for people of color],” Gov. J.B. Priztker said. “It’s hard to make up decades, maybe centuries of inequality.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker also advised people to wear a mask when going in public and to continue to keep with social distancing and the stay at home order. Stricter measures — such as mandatory temperature checks and tougher curfew laws — are possibilities, but Pritzker said it depends on how the situation progresses.
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