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Watch: Pritzker holds briefing on COVID-19 pandemic

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is set to update the state on the response to the coronavirus pandemic, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020.
Credit: AP
Gov. J.B. Pritzker responds to questions regarding a police shootout and looting during news conference at Morgan Park in Chicago, Monday, Aug. 10, 2020. Hundreds of looters descended on downtown Chicago early Monday following a police shooting on the city's South Side, with vandals smashing the windows of dozens of businesses and making off with merchandise, cash machines and anything else they could carry, police said. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

ILLINOIS, USA — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is set to update the state on the response to the coronavirus pandemic, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020.

Pritzker said Region 2, the region the Illinois Quad Cities resides in, saw an increase in positivity rates from the previous week along with Regions 3, 4, 7 and 9. Regions 1, 5, 10 and 11 all reported around the same positive coronavirus cases as the previous week. Regions 6 and 8 were the only to have seen a slight drop.

Pritzker discussed the Business Interruption Grants (BIG) Program through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). In the first round of the program, a total of $60 million was allocated to "businesses experiencing losses or business interruption as a result of COVID-19 related closures," the DCEO website said.

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The Rock Island County Health Department reported a man in his 80s who was isolating at home died from COVID-19. In the county, 40 people have now died from the coronavirus. 

The county is also reporting 21 new cases of COVID-19, meaning 1,821 people have been infected with the virus. Currently, 12 people are hospitalized in Rock Island County.

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