By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois now has 73,760 coronavirus cases and 3,241 deaths.

And testing was the topic of Gov. JB Pritzker’s Friday briefing:

“Illinois has made important and measurable progress in growing our daily test numbers,” said the governor, noting that Friday was the first day the state exceeded 20,000 tests. “As of May 6, Illinois ranks second among the ten most populous states in the number of tests completed per capita over the last 7 days, and Illinois is fifth among all 50 states in total tests completed since the beginning of this pandemic.”

The opposition to Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan is getting louder, partly because other states are acting more quickly, and partly because many restaurants cannot afford to cool their jets until late June, the earliest they can re-open under Pritzker’s plan.

To both points, Pritzker blames the Trump administration: “I think this demonstrates to you why there ought to have been a federal plan that was put forward, because now what you have is a patchwork of states,” said the governor. “The truth is this is why you need leadership.”

Pritzker also fielded complaints that he has rarely been out of Chicago in the last two months. He’ll have at least some time, as he is scaling back his daily briefings from seven days a week to just five.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]