PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria-Tazewell-Woodford tri-county area has broken the 300 mark of COVID-19 positive cases, with 309.
Meanwhile, ICU bed usage in the tri-county as of Friday was down to two, both of which were confirmed cases.
The total local recovery rate has gone down slightly, to 77%.
Chris Setti, Greater Peoria Economic Development Council and the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, touted the Downstate Business Stabilization Program.
He said it’s been around since the last week of March, and uses community block grant money from the federal government that offers up to $25,000 grants to businesses that couldn’t stay open under the stay-at-home order, and for bars and restaurants that remained open on a carryout and delivery basis.
“We recently found out there’s still money available in the program, so we’re doing another round of funding,” he said.
“Because of the source of the funding, businesses in the City of Peoria and City of Pekin are ineligible, because those cities get a direct allocation of the same dollars from the federal government, so they are prohibited by federal law from using that.”
He said the deadline to apply is June 5.
Setti said any small business, save for gaming parlors, between one and 50 employees forced to close in April, even if they have since been able to reopen, can apply.
