CHICAGO — A second death in Tazewell County has been recorded, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
IDPH said a female in her 80s passed away.
The state’s total death toll is now at 462.
On Sunday, March 29, Gov. J.B. Pritzker was hopeful that the state of Illinois would be able to perform 10,000 tests per day by this week.
Pritzker announced on Wednesday that Illinois is currently performing 6,000 tests per day.
Illinois acquired testing machines from Thermo Fisher in hopes that they would be efficient enough to do many tests within hours.
However, Pritzker said that the machines have not been as efficient as they had originally thought.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike said there has been a new test introduced by the Food and Drug Administration that finds antibodies in people who have overcome COVID-19.
It’s a blood test that detects antibodies in people who have been infected, and not the virus itself, which she said is an important distinction to make.
“Antibody tests will play a critical role in the fight against COVID-19 by helping with identification of people who have overcome an infection and have developed the immune response,” she said.
“This test could also help determine who may donate plasma, plasma being the liquid component of blood, that could serve as a possible treatment for people who are seriously ill from COVID-19.”
The state is up to 15,078 total cases.
