The 21st Show

COVID-19 emergency orders are coming to an end. Where does Illinois go from here?

Produced by Christine Hatfield
 
Zainab Yusuff-Akimbo has worked as a COVID tester with SHIELD Illinois since March 2023. With the end of the emergency declaration, the SHIELD testing site at the University of Illinois will close May 26, though the organization says it may reopen at a new location in June.

Zainab Yusuff-Akimbo has worked as a COVID tester with SHIELD Illinois since March 2023. With the end of the emergency declaration, the SHIELD testing site at the University of Illinois will close May 26, though the organization says it may reopen at a new location in June. Emily Hays/Illinois Public Media

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Pritzker announced in January that the public health emergency would end today, May 11, at the same time as the national public health emergency also comes to an end. The pandemic is still ongoing – according to the CDC, dozens of Illinoisans are still dying from COVID weekly, and thousands are still getting infected with it. Many more are reckoning with the effects of long COVID on their lives. But the end of the emergency declarations will mean drastic changes in not only how we track COVID, but also how we respond to it.

To unpack all of it, The 21st was joined by a professor of infectious diseases, the Illinois state epidemiologist, and a journalist that's been following the story.

GUESTS:

Dr. Vidya Sundareshan 

Professor and Chief of Infectious Diseases, SIU School of Medicine | Medical Advisor, Sangamon County Department of Public Health

Jonah Meadows

North Shore Editor, Patch

Graham Briggs 

State Epidemiologist, Illinois Department of Public Health

 

 

Prepared for web by Owen Henderson

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