COVID-19 Update: Personal Protective Equipment, Long Term Care Facility Updates and National Guard Partnership with Poland
Governor Pritzker provided an update on personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies the State has distributed to local public health departments, non-profits, hospitals, and nursing homes across the State. In total there have been over 20 million items distributed with more to come. The State has submitted a critical request for more PPE to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and also has outstanding orders from suppliers for

  • 17 million N95 and KN95 masks
  • 11 million gowns
  • 14 million gloves
  • 7 million face shields and goggles.

The Governor also announced a newly acquired decontamination system able to decontaminate N95 masks which can be decontaminated up to twenty times while maintaining the integrity of the mask. The system is currently in Waukegan and is a free service available with a turn around time of 24 hours. The state has made this system available to health care industry, nursing homes, and first responders struggling to maintain adequate PPE supplies.

The Governor and Dr. Ezike focused more today on the issues we are seeing across the state in nursing homes and other congregate living facilities. Any congregate facility faces special challenges in this crisis due to the difficulties associated with implementing social distancing in facilities where residents live in close proximity to each other.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has undertaken a new testing protocol for nursing homes. In sites without any known cases, the Department is arranging for mass testing of all residents and staff in order to identify potentially asymptomatic carriers and prevent larger outbreaks. In facilities with known cases, the testing will be focused on staff to seek out those asymptomatic carriers while all residents with symptoms will be treated as if they have a positive test. The department has entered into an agreement with Quest Laboratories and is running 3,000 tests daily from long term care facilities. These results have a 48 hour turn around time.

Starting today, IDPH strike teams are providing new clinical support programs beginning with 10 teams of 50 nurses entering nursing homes to conduct testing, train existing staff on how to test and to review the facility’s PPE use and ensure they are following IDPH guidelines. These teams will be moving to nursing homes across the State as necessary. The administration has also simplified the hiring process during this time to ensure that nursing facilities have the staff they need to care for their residents and allows facilities to tap into helps network for those professionals who have signed up to lend a hand in fighting COVID. This access to added health professionals was previously not available to nursing homes and will hopefully relieve some of the strain in facilities dealing with staffing challenges resulting from outbreaks. Facilities should continue to request additional PPE as needed from local health departments as the State stocks the local departments for these purposes.

The Department of Public Health continues to make calls to facilities across the State to monitor PPE needs as well as to interview patients. Yesterday Dr. Ezike provided information on surveys the IDPH is conducting to recovering COVID patients. In the last two weeks:

  • 49% reported no more symptoms after 2 weeks
  • 71% fully recovered after 2-4 weeks
  • 74% felt fully recovered after 4 weeks

The Illinois National Guard has used their partnership with the Polish military to receive assistance from their medical experts who have had experience combating COVID in Poland and Italy. Nine members of the exchange team including doctors, nurses and EMTs are helping train State Guard members on the best protocols and procedures in fighting the pandemic. There are about 1,190 Illinois Guard member deployed across the State related to COVID.
COVID-19 Count as of today :

2,235 new COVID cases, 92 deaths
14,478 tests run in the last 24 hours
5,036 hospitalizations related to COVID of those 1,290 in ICU and 777 individuals are on ventilators


If you have questions related to COVID-19 you can contact the Illinois Department of Public Health :
Hotline : 800-889-3931
Email : dph.sick@illinois.gov

City of Chicago's Department of Public Health :
Hotline : 312-746-4835
Email : coronavirus@chicago.gov
City of Chicago: Housing Solidarity Pledge and Micro Business Loans
Today Mayor Lightfoot in partnership with mortgage lenders, landlords and tenants organizations announced the Chicago Housing Solidarity Pledge.

Under the Chicago Housing Solidarity Pledge, Chicago’s landlords affirm they may provide one or more of the following for eligible renters:
  • Grace Period for Rent Payments: Offer deferred payments with repayment terms that avoid repayment at the end of the deferral period.
  • Written Repayment Plan: Permit renters with a missed rent payment to amortize the payments over time.
  • No Late Fees for Missed Payments: Provide relief from rent-related late fees.

Under the terms of the pledge, housing lenders affirm they may provide the following for eligible mortgage holders:
  • Grace Period for Mortgage Payments: Offer deferred payments with repayment terms that avoid immediate repayment at the end of the deferral period.
  • Suspension of Foreclosures: Provide relief from foreclosure filing until May 31, 2020.
  • Neutral Reporting to Credit Agencies: No reporting late payments to credit reporting agencies, consistent with applicable guidelines, for residential borrowers taking advantage of COVID-19 related relief, provided that loans that were delinquent prior to deferral will continue to be reported as delinquent.
  • No Late Fees for Missed Payments: Provide relief from mortgage-related fees.

The following organizations have committed to the Chicago Housing Solidarity Pledge:
  • Bank of America
  • BMO Harris Bank
  • Byline Bank
  • CIBC
  • Fifth Third Bank
  • First Eagle Bank
  • First Midwest Bank
  • Northern Trust Bank
  • PNC
  • US Bank
  • Wintrust Bank
  • Second Federal Credit Union
  • Seaway Credit Union
  • Lawyers Committee for Better Housing (LCBH)
  • Chicagoland Apartment Association (CAA)
  • Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance (NBOA)
  • Chicago Association of REALTORS (CAR)
View the full pledge here .

The city of Chicago has also announced the creation of the microbusiness recovery grant program. This program is targeted at smaller businesses with four or fewer employees. For details and information on how to apply visit the webpage here .
Cannabis Patient Curbside Pick Up: List of Participating Dispensaries
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has announced that patient dispensaries may allow curbside pick up for patients. The Governor's executive order automatically extends the guidance featured here . View a list of participating dispensaries here .

Late today, the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced that the release of 75 adult use dispensary licenses expected for May 1 will be pushed back just as earlier deadlines for submission of Craft Grow, Infusion, and Transportation licenses were delayed until 4/30/20. There are instructions on the Department of Agriculture website for anyone who submitted applications earlier that wants to supplement their application.
Virtual Town Hall: Friday, May 1 at 7pm
Don't forget to join our virtual town hall Friday, May 1 at 7pm. View our flyer here to submit questions and follow the link to watch live.
Executive Order on Evictions: Legal Aid Resources
Due to the announcement of the extended stay at home order until May 30, the Governor has signed executive order 30 that further protects individuals from being illegally evicted from their homes. Individuals being illegally evicted from their homes should report this to the police and also contact a legal resource such as Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights or Legal Aid Chicago .
Cashing Paper Stimulus Checks: Finding A Bank
If you receive a paper stimulus check, shop around for the lowest check cashing fee. Some financial institutions may cash your stimulus check for free. A number of banks have agreed to assist unbanked individuals that are trying to cash their stimulus checks. Fifth Third Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, First Midwest, US Bank and others are working on providing free check cashing to non-customers.

Interested Illinoisans should call a bank branch or email the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) at IL.Banks@Illinois.gov to set up appointments with the banking institutions to ensure proper identification and ensure social distancing safety.
Consumer Protections: Wage Garnishments and Reductions Suspended
Illinois has suspended new garnishments and wage deductions. A creditor who has a judgment against an individual can typically go to court and ask the court to take money out of that person’s bank account or out of a paycheck.

However, on April 14, 2020, Governor Pritzker issued executive order 2020-25 , which prohibits a creditor from bringing any new requests to a court seeking to garnish a individuals assets or wages. On April 24, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court issued an order limiting freezes on personal bank accounts up to $4,000 for any summons or citation that was served or had a return date after March 9, 2020.
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority: Resources and Workshops
Groups interested in applying for state and federal funding programs through ICIJA must first be in compliance with the grant accountability and transparency act (GATA).
Also, make sure your agency IS in good standing with the Illinois Secretary of State, as applicable, and IS NOT:

ICIJA is also now offering technical assistance workshops to improve grant writing skills for those interested in participating you can sign up and view details here .
Sincerely,

Kelly Cassidy
State Representative, 14th District

Office of State Representative Kelly Cassidy

5533 N Broadway

Chicago IL 60640
773-784-2002(phone)
773-784-2060(fax)