DIY on PPE: Pritzker touts biotech-manufacturing partnership
One-day increase drops to 236 COVID-19 cases, 1,285 total, three new deaths
Gov. Pritzker conducts his daily coronavirus briefing Monday at the Thompson Center in Chicago. (Illinois Information Service)
By Ted Cox
The governor announced a partnership between Illinois manufacturing and biotech firms Monday that will help the state equip itself to fight the coronavirus, while the number of new COVID-19 cases declined from the previous day for the first time since the earliest days of the outbreak.
According to Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, the state reported 236 new cases Monday, down from the 296 registered Sunday. That nevertheless increased the state total to 1,285 infections. Ezike said the state recorded three new deaths Monday, making 12 Illinois deaths attributed to the pandemic.
Gov. Pritzker detailed the dismal response of the federal government to the state’s requests for personal protective equipment — also known as PPE — including masks, gloves, gowns, goggles, and respirators. As of Monday, the state had requested 47,500 goggles and 4,000 respirators from the National Strategic Stockpile and had not received a single one of either.
It had generally received about 10 percent of the requested masks, having asked for 2.3 million N95 specialized masks and 900,000 surgical masks, and having received 247,000 and 91,000. The same went for gowns, having asked for 924,000 and received 91,000. The state asked for 7.4 millions pairs of gloves, and received just 325,000 — 4.4 percent of the requested amount. The state did receive almost all of the 120,000 protective face shields it asked for.
So on Monday Pritzker touted a new partnership between the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization in a do-it-yourself effort to provide the equipment needed to confront the coronavirus outbreak.
“Our innovative biotech companies and state-of-the-art manufacturers are teaming up with the state of Illinois to ramp up production of personal protective equipment, also known as PPE, through a newly launched alliance — the Essential Equipment Task Force,” Pritzker said. They’re expected to produce N95 masks, gloves, gowns, ventilators, and sanitizer, along with medical equipment. The two industry groups are also seeking donations of the equipment from their 4,000-company and 85,000-employee memberships.
“The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the 592,000 women and men working on factory floors across our state are proud to support Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s efforts to combat and contain this virus, producing life-saving products in desperate need across Illinois,” said Mark Denzler, IMA president.
John Conrad, iBIO president, said, “Our life-sciences community is leading the charge in the fight In Illinois against COVID-19,” adding, “Illinois’s innovative companies are ramping up efforts to study the virus and develop solutions to prevent, diagnose, and treat this deadly infectious disease.”
Pritzker also touted the state purchase of 2.5 million N95 masks, 1 million disposable surgical masks, 11,000 gloves, and 10,000 personal protection kits. “Obtaining 2.5 million masks is a big deal,” Pritzker said. “Illinois is acquiring PPE to compensate for what we haven’t received in our federal requests.”
After Pritzker and President Trump clashed openly on social media Sunday, following the governor’s airing complaints on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Pritzker said he had talked on the phone with the president Monday afternoon. “The president was very responsive,” he said, “and he said, ‘Let me work on that.’”
Yet Pritzker also repeated calls for Trump to put the Defense Protection Act to use centralizing the federal response and streamlining aid to the individual states. “It’s the federal government’s job to make sure that a nurse being properly equipped in Illinois doesn’t come at the cost of a doctor being ready for work in California,” he said. “One way or another, we need these supplies.”
Pritzker pointed out, as he did on Sunday and again Monday morning on NBC’s “Today” show, that without a central federal response states are left to compete with each other, other nations, and the federal government itself for PPE. “Here I’m competing with my own federal government, and I’m competing with countries outside the United States to get things we need to keep our people safe and healthy,” Pritzker said.
On the economic fallout from the pandemic, the governor said the state was facing an “unprecedented” number of unemployment claims, but that it had beefed up its online filing system to handle the crush. He advised those needing to file to stick to the online system and not call the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
He also addressed “wrangling” in Congress over a much-needed new stimulus bill, siding with Democrats and other progressives in their bid to get checks directly to workers impacted by the economic downturn. “The Republicans seem to want to give a lot of money to companies, not require that any of that money go to workers, and not provide anything for gig workers or hourly workers,” he said. “We want to make sure that we stand up for them, that we don’t make the same mistakes in the United States that were made in 2008, 2009, where really no controls were put on the money that was handed out.”
Pritzker and Ezike said they expected to address the state’s hospital capacity in the face of an expected increase in patients at their daily briefing on Tuesday. “Right now, we’re in decent shape across the state,” Pritzker said. “We’ll see over the next couple of weeks. We want to make sure we’re bending the curve.”
The drop in one-day new cases registered is an undeniable sign for optimism, however, if it can be sustained.