Comment: See our Monday article on why any direct aid to states and cities should be conditioned on pension reform in states like Illinois that have refused reform.

In his daily press briefing about the novel coronavirus disease outbreak Monday, Gov. JB Pritzker said the state’s third shipment of relief supplies from the feds arrived Sunday, but likely includes 300,000 surgical masks instead of the N95 respirator masks Illinois requested.

Evictions are suspended for homes and rental units in Illinois per an executive order by Gov. JB Pritzker, and IDFPR is urging all mortgage servicers to defer payments for 90 days for those suffering hardship as a result of the pandemic.

Of the 115, about 80 of the additional members will help with communications and reporting between county health departments throughout the state and the State Emergency Operations Center.

As instruction has moved online due to the coronavirus outbreak, University president Daniel Mahony anticipates reimbursements to students could total between $4 million and $5 million.

“Those who are incarcerated obviously live and work and eat and study and recreate all within that same environment, heightening the potential for COVID-19 to spread really quickly once it’s introduced. The options for isolation of COVID-19 cases are limited.”

“Before expanding bed capacity, Illinois hospitals normally require approval from the state by obtaining a “certificate of need,” or CON, after completing a lengthy process to demonstrate that new beds are necessary…By suspending the CON law to give hospitals throughout the state the ability to immediately add bed capacity and other necessary infrastructure, Pritzker would be following the lead of North Carolina, which temporarily lifted one of the more restrictive CON laws to meet the pandemic.”

Clusters of cases at nursing homes were reported in Joliet, Taylorville and Belleville. In addition to the beds at McCormick Place, the state is expected to open temporary beds at now-closed MetroSouth Hospital in Blue Island and Advocate Sherman hospital in Elgin.

“At the moment, the state has a backlog of $7.5 billion in unpaid obligations to businesses, hospitals, social service providers and others. Those that go unpaid for more than 90 days — now totaling about $450 million — have to be financed at an interest rate as high as 12 percent.”

A COVID-19 field hospital at McCormick Place will have 500 beds available by the end of the week, Pritzker announced.

Police chiefs across the state had been given an easy task thanks to widespread media information and people complying in an effort to protect the most vulnerable from the spread of COVID-19. In contrast, police in Chicago were forced to break up parties and enforce distancing, prompting mayor Lori Lightfoot to close off access to the lakefront and a number of trails and parks.

“It will really depend on what that school district has to offer,” he said. “It is going to depend on what technology they have available and what the community looks like and if they have access to remote learning capabilities.”

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport could get $333.2 million, or 27% of 2018 operating revenues.

Chloe Grozdina, a part-time Instacart in-store shopper assigned to a Mariano’s grocery store in the Chicago area, makes $13 an hour and doesn’t get tips. She said the crowds of fellow Instacart shoppers have made it tough to keep a safe distance while racing to fulfill orders. She wears a mask to work that she bought herself and immediately showers when she gets home.

Sales taxes at restaurants and bars contributed more than $2 million a week to 83 suburbs, a Daily Herald analysis of 2019 tax records on the Illinois Department of Revenue’s website shows. In a dozen suburbs, sales taxes from restaurants and bars represented more than 20 percent of all their sales tax revenue last year.

The state has now recorded 4,596 positive COVID-19 tests and 65 deaths, 18 of which were announced Sunday. More than 90% of cases and deaths have come in the Chicago area, though that proportion is slowly shrinking as testing expands throughout the state.

It’s the first time the Illinois National Guard has been mobilized to primarily combat a medical issue. By necessity, much of the typical military protocol has been turned on its head.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislature has canceled its third consecutive session week and it’s unclear when lawmakers will go back to Springfield, and it’s unclear how a delayed U.S. Census would affect the timing of a constitutional amendment vote in Illinois.