CHICAGO, Ill. — Governor J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday as the state’s economy slowly reopens, personal protective equipment will be vital.
The state has requested 900,000 more gowns, 17 million N95 and KN95 masks, 21 million surgical masks, 11 million gowns and coveralls, 14 million gloves, and 7 million face shields and goggles.
Pritzker said the state has a free decontamination system that can clean N-95 masks up to 20 times without any degradation of filter performance.
He said Illinois Emergency Management Agency would be disseminating instructions for the service to local medical coalitions.
“I highly encourage all healthcare entities, from hospitals to long-term care facilities, to take advantage of this equipment through IEMA,” he said.
“It’s fast, it’s free, and it’ll help us help you.”
With assisted living facilities, Pritzker said several polices were put in place before facilities had known cases. There are new initiatives such as testing in assisted living facilities, including residents and employees.
Over 18,000 swabs have been distributed to facilities for testing.
He said Illinois Department of Public Health has secured a contract with Quest Diagnostics to run 3,000 tests per day from state long-term care facilities at no cost to the facilities. Quest promised to provide results within a 48-hour window.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of IDPH, announced 2,253 new cases of COVID-19, including 92 additional deaths. That brings the state’s total to 50,355 cases.
