April 20 COVID-19 Update: Illinois cases over 30,000, Pritzker says social distancing is helping slow the rise

By Jacob Lorenz, Staff Reporter

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in his daily COVID-19 press conference that social distancing has helped bend the curve. 

If Illinois hadn’t been socially distanced, the state would have exceeded its hospital capacity by 25,000 by April 6, Pritzker said. 

“Real progress has been made,” Pritzker said. “But as you’ve seen our case numbers and hospitalizations are still rising even if that rise is slower now.” 

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Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, said that there have been 1,151 new cases in Illinois and 59 deaths. 

That brings the total to 31,508 cases and 1,349 deaths. 

As of today there have been 48 cases of COVID-19 in Jackson County and 6 deaths.

Staff reporter Jacob Lorenz can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @jtlorenz6. 

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