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CHICAGO – Illinois COVID-19 cases have topped 10,000, state health officials announced Saturday.

1,453 new cases of the virus were announced, bringing the state’s total to 10,357 positive cases. 33 new deaths were reported, bringing the total to 243 deaths.

Two deaths of a Cook County man in his 20s and a Cook County man in his 30s were reported Saturday.

The governor was direct when asked why some people still may not be getting the concept of social distancing.

“They are not paying attention to the news or they are stupid,” Pritzker said.

It’s the same kind of frustration he’s expressed for the federal government’s response to COVID-19.

On Saturday, Pritzker echoed the sentiment that he doesn’t understand why President Trump didn’t use the Defense Production Act sooner.

“Most places will peak in April,” Pritzker said “They could have started this in February and we would have been find and it’s very upsetting. 

The governor is feeling better about the amount of hospital beds available.

On Friday, the alternate care facility at McCormick Place was unveiled. It has 500 beds available now with capacity for 3,000.

Eventually, McCormick Place will be able to handle 3,000 COVID-19 patients. In particular, those with less severe cases who do not need intensive care.

WASHINGTON — The US has surpassed 7,000 deaths and some state leaders say there’s still a lot they’re missing in the battle against the coronavirus.

As cases rise, testing has become crucial in tracking how many Americans have been infected, but states like Illinois say they still don’t have enough.

“Everything about the tests are very difficult to come by, and there’s no federal plan for this so every state is on their own — as I’ve said it’s the wild West out here,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said.

According to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of US coronavirus cases, there have been at least 277,953 Americans infected.

In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday the government should ramp up its efforts to push for more personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, saying the state had received some, but not all of the PPE they had asked for.

“We’re grateful for these supplies. But to be clear, we’ve gotten just 33% of what we’ve asked for and they’ve told us not to expect more anytime soon,” he said.

“This pandemic is a war. And we need the armor to fight it,” Cooper said.

President Donald Trump said earlier this week theUS Strategic National Stockpile is nearly depleted.

“Governments at all levels, hospitals, law enforcement and others are competing against each other for a scarce amount of personal protective equipment,” Cooper said.

In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said the state had increased its efforts in upping hospital bed capacity and buying personal protective equipment.

“We try to buy (PPE). It’s really hard. The federal government buys most all of it.”

Beshear called on residents to donate any equipment they have available, saying the state was in great need of gloves.

“We believe this is the next area where there’s going to be another big run in the United States,” the governor said in a statement.

Government announced new face cloth guidelines

In its latest efforts to prevent further spread of the virus, the White House announced Friday the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now recommending people wear cloth face coverings when in public.

“It’s really going to be a voluntary thing,” Trump said. “I’m not choosing to do it.”

The president’s announcement came days after a panel of experts advised the White House on new research that suggests coronavirus could be spread by talking and possibly even just breathing.

But public health experts at the CDC said they felt “pressured” by the White House to draft recommendations and were under “intense pressure” to draft the new guidelines on face coverings quickly, a senior federal health official involved in discussions said.

“The CDC would not have gone this direction if not for the White House,” the official told CNN. “We would have tried more to understand about asymptomatic transmission. We would have done more studies if we had more time.”

Here’s what else happened this week:

• Now all but eight states across the US have issued stay at home orders. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top health expert, has said he doesn’t understand why all states haven’t issued an order by now. But Trump has previously saidhe will not issue a nationwide order, saying Friday he will continue to leave that decision to governors.
• The President also said the next two weeks would be “very, very rough” for the US.White House experts cited a model this week that showed more than 2,000 Americans could die each day by mid-April.
• Earlier this week, White House experts predicted at least 100,000 Americans could die from the virus — and that’s if residents strictly abide by federal social distancing guidelines, which were extended for another month. Without those measures in place, deaths could be as many as 2.2 million, White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Deborah Birx said. New evidence also suggested about a quarter of US coronavirus carriers have no symptoms, according to the CDC.
• In some areas, officials say they believe social distancing measures have begun to pay off. Health officials in Washington state’s King County — the country’s first epicenter — said they were beginning a “positive impact” from less people coming into contact with each other.

NY nurse: Patients appear sicker than last week

Kelley Bradshaw, a New York hospital intensive care unit nurse says the patients they are treating this week appear sicker compared to last week. She says it’s not just the lungs. They are seeing patients whose heart and kidneys are being affected as well.

“The pathophysiology of this thing is it starts out with the lungs and then a patient may start to have some respiratory insufficiency, meaning they need some oxygen supplementation and then that might not be enough so they need different modalities, i.e. they need a breathing tube and then after that happens, then sometimes different organ systems start to get affected like the kidneys,” she said.

“There’s just a lot of unpredictability with these patients and it just feels like the longer someone battles this virus and the more critically ill they become, the harder our job gets,” she said.

She told CNN they’ve expanded their ICU unit to handle more patients, and while they still have all the protective equipment they need, they’re careful not to exhaust it in case they still have a lot of coronavirus patients three weeks from now.

“They do have to keep it very — it is very regulated, meaning that we can’t just blow through it, because we don’t know what’s coming next,” she said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will sign an executive order that will allow the state to take ventilators and medical supplies from institutions that aren’t using them in order to relieve downstate medical facilities.

Cuomo is asking upstate hospitals to loan up to 20% of their unused ventilators.

“Moreover, when the pandemic wave hits upstate New York, the governor will ask downstate hospitals for similar help,” Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, said in a statement. “We are not upstate or downstate we are one state and we act that way.”

CHICAGO – Lurie Children’s Hospital is helping other hospitals by loaning their ventilators out.

In a Facebook post Saturday, the hospital said “our ventilators are off to help save grown ups.”

“Recognizing the need for this life-saving equipment, Lurie Children’s is loaning several ventilators for adults in need who are battling COVID-19,” the rest of the post said.

Signs posted on the ventilators read “I’m ready to save grown-ups.”

The post generated thousands of shares on social media.

Illinois topped 10,000 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday.

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. – Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton has reinstated a Walmart’s liquor license after he said a message was sent.

Sexton reached out to Walmart last week after social media posts showed employees Phillip Thomas and Wando Evans feeling ill. They both recently passed away from COVID-19.

On Friday night, Sexton told WGN he felt the store told him “half-truths” about the conditions of Thomas and Evans. He pulled the store’s liquor license and requested an investigation after hearing of their deaths.

Sexton said it got the attention of corporate executives who contacted him Saturday morning.

“I think it was a wakeup call for them to get in touch with us and not just be sending out press releases that local authorities don’t know about,” Sexton said.

“They explained the timing of this whole thing and apologized for the way it was handled and assured me that they’re taking steps to make sure that everybody, employees and customers are safe.”

Walmart said the store has been sanitized and passed two separate inspections.

Nationwide, only around 20 percent  of the store’s capacity are allowed in starting Saturday. Stores will now use plexiglass guards at checkout, signage for social distancing and increased cleaning.

After the changes and conversation with corporate, Mayor Sexton said he is satisfied with the safety precautions the company is now taking.

“Whatever we have to do to keep people safe, it’s not about a buck right now, it’s about keeping people safe,” Sexton said.

Information in the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving rapidly, so to help keep WGN viewers informed with the latest updates, follow our live blog for April 4, 2020.

These updates will mostly focus on the Chicago area, but will include some national and international news as well.

A full list and explanation of the stay-at-home order and essential businesses is available here.

Newest updates are at the top of this post.

8:15 p.m.

The Kenosha County Joint Information Center announced Kenosha County’s first COVID-19-related death, recorded today.

7:20 p.m.

A business on the North Side dedicated to performance fitness wear has answered the call to help first responders.

John Okon is shifting part of his small business Sweatvac, located in the 4300 block of North Lincoln Avenue, in order to pay it forward.

6:15 p.m.

Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton reinstated the liquor license of Walmart after he said the store lied to him. Sexton said he called the store after social media posts showed two employees falling ill from COVID-19. They later died.

5:00 p.m.

The Salvation Army is one of several organizations making sure people have food and other supplies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The food drive is taking place every Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at 316 Douglas Ave. in Elgin. 

4:15 p.m.

Lurie Children’s Hospital is loaning out ventilators to other hospitals to join the fight against COVID-19.

2:30 p.m.

Illinois has topped 10,000 COVID-19 cases with the announcement of 1,453 new cases Saturday. 33 deaths were reported, bringing the state’s total to 243.

10:30 a.m.

WBEZ reported that a seventh resident at the Chateau Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in suburban Willowbrook has died after testing positive for COVID-19.

Earlier in March, 46 people tested positive for COVID-19.

8:15 a.m.

Target and Walmart will start to limit the number of customers that can be in the store at the same time.

Target said it will keep track of the number of people going in and out. The number of people allowed in will be determined by the location and size of the store.

Walmart will also regulate store entry. Starting Saturday, stores will allow no more than five customers for each 1,000 square foot area. Walmart says that’s roughly 20% of a store’s capacity.

7:30 a.m.

Testing was expanded at a COVID-19 testing site in the city’s Dunning neighborhood.

Double of tests can be done at 6959 Forest Preserve Dr. Now 500 people can be tested. First responders and medical personal are guaranteed a test, but others can be tested as well with some guidelines.

Health care workers and first responders can be tested without showing symptoms.

Officials are urging those without symptoms to not get tested.

6:57 a.m.

The U.S. has surpassed 7,000 deaths and some state leaders say there’s still a lot they’re missing in the battle against the coronavirus.

As cases rise, testing has become crucial in tracking how many Americans have been infected, but states like Illinois say they still don’t have enough.

“Everything about the tests are very difficult to come by, and there’s no federal plan for this so every state is on their own — as I’ve said it’s the wild West out here,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said.

According to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of US coronavirus cases, there have been at least 277,953 Americans infected.

— CNN Wire

One of the Bulls primary targets in their search for a new top basketball executive has reportedly removed his name from their list of candidates.

Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan, among the earliest names to surface as one of the Bulls potential targets, declined to interview with the Bulls…