McHenry County teen diagnosed with coronavirus

State officials have announced eight new cases of coronavirus in Illinois, including McHenry County’s first case, who is a teenager with no known link to others with the illness.

Governor J.B. Pritzker said at a press conference Tuesday that the total number of COVID-19 cases is now at 19.

Officials said at the press conference that 17 of the 19 cases are residents of Cook County.

The two cases outside of Cook County are a McHenry County teen and a Kane County woman in her 60s, neither of whom had a history of travel to an affected area and no connection to a known case of COVID-19.

Public health officials are identifying and contacting all close contacts of those cases. Among the newly announced cases Tuesday, all of them are in stable condition.

“As we anticipated, the number of cases in Illinois is increasing and now includes the first cases outside of Chicago and Cook County,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.

“The State of Illinois continues to take action to reduce spread of COVID-19 in Illinois and we again want to encourage people to start thinking and preparing now in the event they are not able to go to work, if schools are closed, if public transportation is not available, and how else their lives will be disrupted by this outbreak,” Ezike added.

Pritzker reminded the public that people older than 60 and those with pre-existing conditions need to be extra vigilant in staying away from large gatherings.

During the press conference, Pritzker blasted the federal government and said he is “very frustrated” by their lack of response to the coronavirus.

A statewide disaster proclamation was issued Monday in order to obtain additional state and federal resources relating to the outbreak.