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Peoria County Sees Second COVID-19 Death; Illinois Reaches 29,000 Cases

JB Pritzker closeup
Rex Arbogast)
/
AP
Gov. JB Pritzker said he's not closer to deciding when he may extend the state's shelter-in-place order.

A Peoria County woman is among the 125 COVID-19 deaths the Illinois Department of Public Health reported on Saturday.
The woman, who was in her 80s, is the second Peoria County death due to the coronavirus. Tazewell County has had three deaths. 

Peoria County health officials announced a new COVID-19 testing site will open on Tuesday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reports the state has confirmed 29, 160 cases, including 1,259 additional deaths.

Gov. JB Pritzker said during a news conference Saturday it’s too soon to suggest when he would consider lifting Illinois’ shelter-in-place order, currently set to expire on April 30.

“I want to remove the restrictions as much as anybody else does and I am going to do it based on science,” he said.

When asked whether he would advocate a reopening of the state’s economy by region or by county, Pritzker cautioned that less populated areas that have fewer coronavirus cases could still be at risk.

“The rate of ascent in rural areas seems to have caught up and even surpassed in some areas the rate of ascent of cases in urban areas,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker said he agreed with guidance from President Donald Trump’s task force to reopen America that the state should wait for 14 consecutive days of fewer hospitalizations before considering lifting any social distancing restrictions.

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