5/29/20 - A Message from Secretary Hou: Budget and Press Conference Recap

Friday, May 29, 2020


Dear colleagues:

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Illinois General Assembly passed a Fiscal Year 2021 budget which now goes to the Governor for consideration. The budget reflects the priorities laid out in the Governor's introduced budget, and we look forward to continuing the good work begun in the first year of our administration. The budget includes much needed rate and cost of living increases, resources for the Olmstead consent decrees, and continued funding to maintain the critical human services system in Illinois.

Further, IDHS has additional appropriation authority in its budget to accommodate the increased needs of individuals, community members, and organizations impacted by COVID 19. In the face of this pandemic, our Governor will continue to advocate for federal funding to help cover state and local government revenue shortfalls.

IDHS is committed to working with our community partners, members of the General Assembly, our colleagues in the Governor's Office, and our sister agencies to meet our shared mission and goals. In the face of COVID 19, together, we will keep you, our staff, and those in our care safe. As we complete our review and finalize implementation plans, we will share more details.

Thank you, as always, for your continued resilience, creativity, and hard work, on behalf of IDHS and of the people we serve, during these challenging times.


Additionally, please see the governor's updates from yesterday's press conference.

COVID-19 Updates from the Governor's 05-28-2020 Press Conference

  • Houses of Worship: Governor JB Pritzker announced that IDPH would be posting guidance rather than mandatory restrictions for all faith leaders to use in their efforts to ensure the health and safety of their congregants during Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan. The Governor reminded everyone that the safest options are still remote and drive up services, but for those that want to conduct in-person activities, he hopes that they will comply with the new guidance.
  • Move to Phase 4: The Governor reiterated that the three metrics that have brought the State from Phase 2 to Phase 3 will be the same as those that will move us into Phase 4. Just as this 28 day period of tracking started on May 1st when we moved from Phase 1 to Phase 2, our next health metrics calendar will restart tomorrow (May 29th) and run for the same period, meaning that regions that meet the metrics could move into Phase 4 possibly as early as Friday, June 26th.
  • Continued Vigilance: Governor Pritzker emphasized that his team will be watching the metrics closely in hopes that we will move forward expeditiously, but our goal is and always has been to keep people safe from this coronavirus while we restore more of our normal activities. Therefore, it is vitally important that we remain careful about continuing to wear face coverings, washing hands, maintaining six feet of distance, wiping down surfaces, using hand sanitizer, and practicing other mitigations to ensure that we continue to move forward, not backward.
  • Positivity Rate: The statewide 7-day rolling positivity rate continues to drop and is now down to 8.3%.
  • Hospitalization Numbers: As of yesterday, there were 3,649 people hospitalized in Illinois for COVID-19. Of those, 1,009 were in the ICU, with 576 of them on ventilators.
  • Daily Statewide COVID-19 cases: 1,527 new cases reported in Illinois and 104 additional deaths.


Thank you,

Grace


Grace B. Hou

Secretary, IDHS