CHICAGO — Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker gave an update on the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic Sunday afternoon.
Illinois has reported 2,994 confirmed new COVID-19 cases and 63 new deaths in the past 24 hours.
The state also performed 19,417 tests in that time, the highest number of tests it has performed in a single day.
As of May 3, there have been 61,499 total confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,618 deaths, according to the Illinois Department of Health. A total of 319,313 tests have been performed.
Of the state's 102 counties, 97 have confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Most of the cases and deaths have been in the Chicago area.
When asked about what should be done about people who continue to gather in large groups and parties, Pritzker said enforcement was up to local governments and police.
"We are not looking to have police crack down on people, arrest people. That is not the intent here," he said. "But it is true that police have the ability to break up parties, and should."
On April 23, Pritzker announced Illinois would be extending its stay-at-home order through the end of May. The extended order, which went into effect May 1, requires everyone who is able to wear a face mask to wear one when going out into public.
"The projections are clear," Pritzker said during his April 23 briefing. "If we lift the order tomorrow, we would see our deaths per day shoot into the thousands by the end of May, and that would last well into the summer. Our hospitals would be full, and very sick people would have nowhere to go."
