For the first time in nearly 16 months, Illinois has gone a full day without losing a resident to COVID-19.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported no new COVID-19 fatalities Monday, which hadn’t happened previously since March 16, 2020 — a few days before Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered residents to stay inside their homes as much as possible to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
But for now, the end of a miserable 476-day stretch with viral deaths is the latest sign of optimism for a state slowly emerging from the pandemic.
“We all are very, very pleased that our infection rate in the state of Illinois is way down. The number of cases, the number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths — way, way down,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference. “The vaccines have done the work. Thank god for the vaccines.”
