Gov. J.B. Pritzker provided an update Sunday on the coronavirus pandemic in Illinois.
Just days after the first airlift of protective gear arrived to Illinois, a second airlift will be arriving on Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced.
At Sunday’s daily coronavirus briefing, Pritzker told members of the press the Illinois National Guard will handle the logistics of all the personal protective equipment in that airlift.
“These millions of masks and gloves will be taken to our state warehouse where inventory and performance quality checks are done, before we ship them out to keep our first responders and healthcare professionals protected as they work to keep us safe," he said.
Last Thursday, the first airlift of supplies arrived to the state and was also loaded with millions of masks and gloves for first responders and medical staff.
On Sunday, Pritzker acknowledged both shipments came from China, and was critical of the federal government over the state directly airlifting supplies from another country.
“That’s the landscape we’re operating in, competing with other states, other countries, and even our own federal government for supplies – so if an airlift is what it takes to bring the PPE to protect our nurses, firefighters, police officers, and other essential workers, then it’s an airlift we’ll use, without hesitation," he stated.
Also on Sunday, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the Illinois Dept. of Public Health director, announced that the state was reporting 1,197 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number of positive cases in the state to 30,357.
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Ezike also reported 33 additional deaths, bringing the state's total number of COVID-19 fatalities to 1,290.
