As of April 29, Illinois has reached over 50,000 cases of COVID-19, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in the governor’s daily press conference.

There are 2,253 new cases and 92 deaths. This brings the total 50,355 and 2,215 deaths, Ezike said. 

The total number of tests done in Illinois is 256,667 and 14,478 were done in the last 24 hours, Ezike said. There are 5,036 people currently hospitalized in Illinois with COVID-19. 

Jackson County has 82 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 7 deaths, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health website. 

Williamson County has 29 confirmed cases with no deaths, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health website. 

Illinois Department of Public Health is deploying 10 teams of 50 nurses to help with nursing homes across the state and an additional team of 200 nurses will be joining their ranks in the future, Gov. JB Pritzker said. 

They will focus on three tasks: conducting swab tests, training existing staff to take samples and reviewing and improving the facilities hygiene practices, Pritzker said. 

Pritzker said Illinois is working with the Federal Department of Veteran Affairs to open up more beds if other seniors need them to recover or isolate, Pritzker said.

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

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