By Jerry Nowicki
Governor JB Pritzker has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home, his office personnel announced Tuesday, July 19three days after he spoke at a gathering of Democrats in Tampa, Fla..
Pritzker’s press office indicated he is experiencing mild symptoms and has received the anti-viral medication Paxlovid, a drug that receive emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2021 for individuals at high risk to the effects of COVID-19.
The drug, according to clinical trials, reduced by 89% the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. It is manufactured by Pfizer.
Pritzker is vaccinated against the virus and has received two booster shots, according to his office.
The governor tested positive during routine testing after he arrived home from Florida, having had several close contacts with other COVID-19-positive individuals at the gathering of Democrats.
Pritzker’s office said he will work from home and follow the current U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which call for at least five days of isolation after the positive COVID-19 test, regardless of vaccination status.
“He urges all Illinoisans to continue following CDC guidance, utilize anti-viral treatments, and get all available boosters,” his office wrote in a statement.
The governor’s first positive test came more than two years into the pandemic which first led him to issue a disaster declaration in March 2020.
It came as the entire state was in a “high transmission” COVID-19 area, and 50 counties were considered to have high COVID-19 community levels in Illinois. Community levels factor in hospital admissions and available hospital beds, as well as transmission rates.
Another 44 Illinois counties were at medium community levels as of Friday, July 15 while eight counties were considered at low levels, according to CDC.
Despite the rising transmission rates, mask mandates in Illinois and across the nation largely have been lifted.
Although the number of deaths and hospitalizations are well below pandemic highs, still 63 deaths were recorded in COVID-19-positive individuals in Illinois last week for an average of nine per day.
As well, 1,412 individuals were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Illinois as of Monday night, with 152 of those individuals in intensive care unit beds and 48 on ventilators. Approximately 84.8% of Illinoisans age 12 and older had received at least one vaccine dose as of Tuesday, July 19, and 76.9% were fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Hospitalizations numbers are well below pandemic highs of more than 7,000 in January, but they have been trending upward since April when they dipped below 500.
The positive test came after Pritzker announced recent changes to his COVID-19 executive orders which he has issued along with consecutive 30-day disaster declarations since March 2020. They loosened vaccine mandates for health care workers and eliminated them for higher education students and staff.
Pritzker’s positive test comes amid a reelection campaign in which he faces State senator Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, who has sharply criticized his pandemic response.
— Capitol News Illinois