SPRINGFIELD, Ill – The Illinois Public Health Director is pleading with residents to still take this pandemic seriously. It comes as she announced 176 new deaths in the last 24 hours. That brings the total number of fatalities to 2,838 deaths due to COVID-19. Illinois is also reporting 65,962 cases.

Dr. Ngozi Ezike said she knows it is May now and acknowledged that there is an increased sense of cabin fever. However, she warned we are still at war with an enemy.

 “If this was a traditional war, where there were soldiers outside of our doors, and people would be risking their lives to be outside of their homes, no one would think about the need to go to work, no one would think about getting their dog groomed, no one would think about getting their car washed,” said Ezike. “But this enemy is so different, it’s invisible, we have underestimated the power and the destruction of this enemy.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a modified stay-at-home order starting May 1, allowing more businesses to reopen.

Dr. Ezike says while more places are opening, people still need to take personal responsibility and wear a covering in public.

“The fact is, we are still battling the same virus we were so united in fighting just two months ago,” Dr. Ezike said. She also warned that many people have the co-morbidities that put a large percentage of the population at risk.