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TV6 will update this story daily as new information becomes available locally, nationally, and internationally.

Illinois

On Thursday, Illinois officials reported 869 new confirmed cases and 36 deaths. The Illinois Department of Public Health said there are now a total of 144,882 cases of coronavirus and 6,987 deaths since the pandemic began.

Many of the cases have been reported in Chicago and Cook County.

In the Illinois Quad-City area, local health departments are reporting total confirmed cases to-date:

Visit the state of Illinois’ website for more data.

Iowa

As of 10:30 a.m. Friday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported more than 389 new cases and three deaths over a 24-hour period. That brings the statewide total to 30,355 confirmed cases and 720 deaths. Public health officials say 24,243 people have recovered from the virus.

Locally, confirmed cases as of 10:30 a.m. include:

Visit the state of Iowa’s coronavirus website for more data. The data is updated in real-time.

You can call 211 with any of your questions regarding COVID-19 in Iowa.

CDC guidelines

- How you can protect yourself

- What to do if you are sick

Social distancing and flattening the curve

Social distancing

Social distancing is a term we never used to hear, but now we may hear every day with good reason. To lessen the spread of COVID-19, it's recommended you stay at least 6 feet away from someone else. This way, it's less likely you can catch the virus from someone else.

Flattening the curve

If you look at a chart that shows “flattening the curve” you’ll be able to see a tall or steep curve on the left. That indicates a virus is spiking or spreading rapidly. But the more we isolate from each other or practice social distancing, the fewer people become infected, so the curve becomes much lower or “flattened.” This will also help to ensure hospitals have enough equipment for patients since there will be fewer people infected in at once.

TV6 spoke with Augustana College's epidemiologist Rebecca Heick who says we're doing much better in recent days with social distancing, but not everyone seems to be taking it seriously. She feels that will continue to improve and stresses that the more of us who do it, the fewer who will become ill. Heick says one of the big problems in the Quad Cities right now, like many other places across the country, is the fact that we don't have enough COVID-19 tests here locally to test people for the virus. There's no way to know how widespread it is. Therefore, it's best to go ahead and assume you do have it and act accordingly to protect everyone around you. Heick says we're probably going to continue to see the numbers rise in the QCA, but if we keep social distancing each of us can make a difference and help flatten the curve.

Symptoms

- The CDC asks that you watch for shortness of breath, a fever, and a cough. View more on symptoms.

- Self checker: Click here for a guide to help you make decisions and seek appropriate medical care.

Related links

TV6 News special: COVID-19 Q&A: TV6 aired a COVID-19 Q&A special where we sat down with experts to ask your questions regarding COVID-19. You can find more on that series here.

Live map of global COVID-19 cases as well as a nation-wide county breakdown: Click here to view a live map of the cases of COVID-19 globally.

InvestigateTV consumer news: Click here to view consumer stories involving COVID-19. This includes how small business owners are tackling obstacles trying to get stimulus loans, robocalls advertising fake COVID-19-related products, and more.

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