COVID-19 Daily Update from the Village of Antioch – April 22, 2020
Today, Governor Pritzker announced additional testing facilities opening in Aurora and Rockford. Effective Friday, there will be a total of five State drive through facilities which are expected to run up to 2,900 tests per day. This week is also National Laboratory Professionals Week, and we would like to thank the technicians and lab professionals working on all testing during this crisis.
Here’s a reminder of some simple things our residents can do during this pandemic:
- Stay-At-Home – First and foremost, stay at home whenever possible. The State of Illinois currently has their order in place until April 30.
- Wear a face covering if you do have to go out to provide or receive essential services. This will help protect people around you if you are infected but do not have symptoms.
- Wash your hands – the CDC recommends washing your hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds to help avoid the spread of COVID-19.
- Clean frequently touched surfaces often – this includes things such as doorknobs, counters, tabletops, light switches, toilets, phones.
- Practice Social Distancing – We would like to remind residents the importance of complying with social distancing if going outside, and stress that all park play structures, skate park, restrooms and shelters must remain closed. Signs were placed in all Village owned parks, and police will increase their patrol of these areas to ensure the safety of our residents. Social distancing means restricting gatherings to fewer than 10 people, and remaining at least 6 feet apart from others.
Other ways to help:
- If you are aware of any businesses that may have PPE equipment, particularly N95 masks, please ask them to consider making a donation to the Antioch Emergency Operations Center through the Police Department west lobby. The Village of Antioch, First Fire Protection District and Antioch Township are all operating as one joint community through the pandemic. Any donations collected will be put into a cache for use by all 3 agencies in our own community.
- If you would like to be paired up with a senior Pen Pal, please email Courtney Kotloski at: ckotloski@antiochtownshipil.gov and you’ll be connected with a Pal.
- The Open Arms Mission is still running critically low on toilet paper and other bathroom essentials. We ask all residents to make a donation to this local group if they can.
- Antioch Traveling Closet is accepting food donations as well for delivery to those in need.
The First Fire Protection District has placed a temporary ban on outdoor burning. All Burning is now prohibited until June 1, 2020. Outdoor fireplaces/pits will be permitted as long as they are not a nuisance to the neighbors. Please feel free to contact the Fire Station with any questions.
On today’s date, the State of Illinois has reported 2,379 exposures in Lake County, with 35,108 in the State of Illinois and over 164,346 tested.
The Lake County Health Department has an interactive map of COVID-19 cases in Lake County, broken down by municipality. It can be viewed at: https://www.lakecountyil.gov/4423/Lake-County-COVID-19-Dashboard.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has published an accounting of cases according to zip code. That can be viewed with the following link: http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/covid19-statistics