Political Quotes

“I would like to address the issue which will be before us at noon on the vote, but, preceding that, I would like to say a word on a different topic that certainly is on everybody's mind, and that is the coronavirus. I was recently notified by my Governor, Governor Pritzker, that we have run into a shortage in our State of the test kits that are necessary. Some 330 Illinoisans have been tested to date, and these are people who, on physician's orders, should be tested because of exposure to coronavirus or because of the vulnerability of the patient and the suspicion that they may have been exposed to the virus. The difficulty that we have run into is that the testing process apparently is coming to a stop. We are running out of the test kits, and there has been contact made with the Centers for Disease Control to determine why we are not getting responses on this need for additional kits in our State to test people who are truly vulnerable. I don't believe our situation could be unique. I imagine other States are facing this same challenge. I reached out to the Centers for Disease Control within the hour and had a lengthy conversation about the situation that we are facing. Originally, the coronavirus test kits faced a shortage of reagents that were necessary to take the initial test. It turns out they are now facing a new challenge: It is an issue of the global supply of enzymes that are used by laboratories to analyze the test results.…”