IDPH reports 12 new coronavirus cases, state total now 105

Posted on March 16, 2020
Gov. JB Pritzker (left) and Dr. Ngozi Ezike gave the daily briefing on coronavirus in Illinois. (WJBC file photo)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – You’ve heard it before – don’t go to the emergency room.

There’s more, though. “Not everyone needs to be tested for COVID-19,” said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. “Based on the CDC guidance, your healthcare provider will evaluate your symptoms, ask about contact to a known case, or any recent travel to an affected geographic area, and evaluate whether you are at higher risk for serious illness.”

Ezike announced a dozen new coronavirus cases for a state total of 105 across fifteen counties.

With bars and restaurants holding “last night open” parties Monday … or “first night back” parties when they re-open, Gov. Pritzker issued a caution: “Weeks from now, months from now, when one of those partygoers becomes sick, perhaps dire – somebody perhaps that might die – (restaurateurs and bar owners) should know that they are responsible for that.”

And the Illinois Emergency Management Agency director, Gen. Alicia Tate-Nadeau, said you don’t need all that toilet paper – stop hoarding!

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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