Today’s update discusses:

• Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's launch of a COVID-19 website
• local and possible state-wide requirements to wear face masks in public
• testing in long-term care facilities

ENVIRONMENTAL

• The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has launched its own COVID-19 information and resource webpage for those businesses or individuals who have questions on environmental regulations during the pandemic. The Agency also released a statement, noting that it will use enforcement discretion during the disaster proclamation in the event that entities face the inability to comply with environmental requirements.

SOCIAL LIFE

• Although the State of Illinois is not yet ordering residents to wear masks in public, local governments throughout the state have ordered masks to be worn. Last week, the Village of Niles joined Northbrook, Highland Park, Wilmette, and Morton Grove in ordering residents to wear facemasks at job sites and when in public. The orders require face coverings like scarves, bandanas, or handkerchiefs. Business owners are also allowed to refuse admission or service to anyone not wearing a cover. In an effort to get residents to comply, some areas have secured reusable cloth masks to distribute to community members in the coming weeks.

HEALTH

• Governor Pritzker announced that he plans to ramp up COVID-19 testing in all nursing homes across the state, including those that have yet to report a case. This announcement comes after recent statistics show that a quarter of all the state’s COVID-19-related deaths have been in long-term care facilities.
• Governor Pritzker has also announced that he is thinking hard about requiring people to wear masks when they go out in public (e.g., when going to the grocery store). However, the Governor has made it clear that if he follows through with this, it will be done in concert with other possible changes to his stay-at-home order.