Illinois Dept. Of Health Head Dr. Ngozi Ezike Delivers Inspiring Mother’s Day Message Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Illinois has seen 1,000 mothers die due to COVID-19, according to a Mother’s Day address given by the state’s head of the Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike.

Ezike gave the address on Sunday at Hope Church in La Grange, a suburb of Chicago.

“And on these Mother’s Days’ we usually think of beautiful weather, we think of reuniting all the family with Mom going to church together, but no that’s not mothers day 2020,” Ezike said. “This Mother’s Day is especially challenging — that’s putting it ever so mildly — no one will ever forget Mother’s Day 2020.”

In Illinois there have been more than 77,700 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and more than 3,400 deaths, as of Friday evening. In Cook County alone, where Chicago is located, there have been 38,668 cases and 1,673 deaths, as of Friday evening.

“Many of us cant visit and celebrate this day in person with our mothers in the traditional way,” Ekize said. “For some a visit would be putting our beloved mother at risk of contracting this virus that we’ve all become intimately aware of.”

“Some of our mothers are in a nursing home, where visitation is now banned, again, for their safety. Maybe your mother is no longer with us on this side of Earth,” she said.