COVID-19 in Illinois
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COVID-19
Epidemiology of COVID-19in States
The current novel COVID-19started in Illinois state on 24th January when a woman who traveled to Wuhan returned with the United States’ pandemic. Her husband was the first to have the virus, and after two days, there was the person-to-person transmission in the U.S. Community transmission began on 8th March when there was no connection to the first transmission of COVID-19 to the first case. Currently, it has the fourth-highest number of COVID-19in the country (Ghinai et al., 2020).
Background of Response
There was an increase in the number of cases to double figures by the mid of March, where Governor Pritzker provided a state of emergency/proclamation of a disaster as a way of dealing with the crisis. In this regard, there were various ways to prevent the covid-19 spread like the closure of pubs and gatherings restriction. There were stronger policies to deter the pandemic’s spread through shelter order, leading to school closures (Weiner et al., 2020).
Political and Health Players Addressing the Pandemic
Governor JB Pritzker issues a state of emergency in March as a state response to deal with the pandemic. The Governor and Department of Health in Illinois have been conducting press briefing to detail the progress in dealing with the crisis. The state is working with the Health Department and Human Services to provide services to the community in testing sites. The county government has also taken the initiative to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Through the court orders, they have granted access to data for those who have COVID-19. The municipal government is active in dealing with the pandemic, as Mayor Brant Walker has provided weekly briefing through the City of Alton Fb account, guiding the police agencies to use discretion in dealing with those who did not obey the state of the emergency order.
Innovation
There has been an introduction of innovative ways to address the pandemic in the state of Illinois. In this regard, the use of Artificial Intelligence has increased to enhance the level of data reporting. Besides, telehealth tools have been useful in providing home-based care for state residents.
Technical Package
There has been an enhancement of the state government’s role in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, there have been many vital strategies and partnerships between the public and private sectors, which has launched a technical package. These have included rapid mortality surveillance and informed decision-making processes based on the states’ number of cases.
Performance Management
There are various ways to ensure performance management during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first step will involve treating and performance and reward systems separately. Secondly, it is critically important to reward workers employees with fixed salaries and becoming transparent. The performance management will ensure the improved motivation of employees during the pandemic.
Partnerships
There has been a partnership between the government of Illinois with private companies to ensure resources to address the pandemic. Besides, the private sector has provided funds to the government to enhance its efforts to address the pandemic. The private and public sector has also been involved in the sharing of information to ensure prompt actions. The state government has partnered with COVID019 Public Health experts to deal with the pandemic. These Center for Biostatical Development, working with Public Health School to halt the pandemic’s spread (COVID-19 public health experts, 2020).
Communication and Political Commitment
In covid-19, effective communication to the public about new measures that can be taken to control the pandemic is critical. Besides, they should be reminded of the previously used measures to contain its spread. There is also a need to notify the public about new deaths and new cases of infections. Political leaders should be committed to these processes, as it creates awareness among the public.
References
COVID-19 public health experts. (, 2020). School of Public Health Splash Page | the University of Illinois at Chicago. https://publichealth.uic.edu/uic-covid-19-public-health-response/covid-19-public-health-experts/
Ghinai, I., Woods, S., Ritger, K. A., McPherson, T. D., Black, S. R., Sparrow, L., … & Arwady, M. A. (2020). Community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at two family gatherings—Chicago, Illinois, February–March 2020.
Weiner, Z., Wong, G., Elbanna, A., Tkachenko, A., Maslov, S., & Goldenfeld, N. (2020). Projections and early-warning signals of a second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Illinois. medRxiv.