By Dave Dahl

Gov. JB Pritzker had what he considered good news at his coronavirus briefing – the 42nd in a row.

“We have another airlift of (personal protective equipment) arriving in Illinois; that follows our first flight that landed earlier this week. It’s the Illinois National Guard handling transportation logistics on the ground and ensuring that our protective equipmnent gets to the front lines in the Illinois COVID-19 battle.”

He notes it’s unusual for a state to organize its own airlift, but such are the times in which we live, in which states are competing with one another and with the federal government for supplies.

While there has been plenty of talk about the need for more tests, Pritzker says there aren’t enough raw materials to make enough tests.

“This is a great example of the challenge of not having invoked the Defense Production Act,” Pritzker said with a chuckle. “If we had gotten the chemical companies and the companies that produce reagent to focus all of their resources on delivering for the states, we would have been farther along. But all of those resources are in short supply.”

Illinois coronavirus totals are 30,357 cases and 1,290 deaths.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]