SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois taxpayers can follow the state's spending on thwarting the coronavirus with an online database.
State comptroller Susana Mendoza debuted the portal Tuesday. It shows that since Gov. JB Pritzker declared the COVID-19 pandemic a state disaster on March 9, officials have spent $174 million on medicine and protective equipment for health care workers to prevent transmission of the potentially deadly virus.
Spending will be updated daily. You can check out the COVID-19 spending on the Illinois State Comptroller website here.
On April 14, the Illinois Department of Health announced 1,222 new cases and 74 new deaths, bringing the totals to 23,247 cases and 868 deaths.
On Tuesday, Gov. Pritzker gave an update on hospitalizations in the state, ventilator use and efforts to "flatten the curve".
Illinois has seen its doubling rate increase in recent days, a strong sign that efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 are working.
The doubling rate is the number of days it takes for coronavirus cases, hospitalizations or deaths to double. The shorter the doubling rate, the steeper the curve and faster the growth. The higher the doubling rate, the slower the growth. The doubling rate is seen as a key statistic in determining the flattening in the curve.
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