Largest One-Day Total Of COVID-19 Cases In Illinois: 4,014

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Tuesday saw a record jump in Illinois COVID-19 cases, but the number of deaths hovered over the 100 mark.

The head of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, announced the COVID-19 findings for the last 24 hours.

"Since yesterday, 4,014 new cases were reported for a total of 83,021 cases for Illinois," Ezike said. "Unfortunately, this includes 144 additional deaths, for a total of 3,601 lives lost to COVID-19."

More than 471,000 COVID-19 tests have been taken thus far.

Governor JB Prizker urged the lawmakers to pass legislation for more aid to those out of work or whose businesses need to restart after being shut down because of the stay-at-home order.

"We must pass a law to distribute funds to small cities and towns, to support their need to support first responders and basic services that could fall apart from COVID-19 related revenue loss," Pritzker said. "As we work to keep our residents safe and gradually reopen businesses, I hope the legislature will act expeditiously to support the jobs, and economic recovery."

The governor cautioned those who are anxious and are looking at the end of May time frame to have the stay-at-home order lifted to continue to be aware of the dangers of the coronavirus. Pritzker admitted that the peak of the spread was originally set for May has been pushed back to June.

"This virus is still out there and it's still killing people. So everybody wanting to go back and open up their businesses and just put people at risk willy nilly needs to look at the data, take a look at the science, recognize that we're going to have more people in the hospital, more people dying if they don't follow the path of gradual reopening," Pritzker said.

The governor introduced a multi-million dollar initiative for municipalities seeking assistance.

"I am announcing a program to provide $25 million in grants to help local governments jump start public infrastructure projects for the summer construction season. These grants are a part of a $50 million program through Rebuild Illinois that we are expediting to help cover local projects that may have otherwise been canceled do to revenue loss do to COVID-19," Pritzker said.

Called the Fast Track Program, it "will help restore key public works projects that may have otherwise been cancelled and will help skilled labor return to the job in time for the construction season. Funds can be used to support projects such as expansions of water and sewer systems and reinvestment to modernize schools and other public buildings."

Those municipalities eligible for grant, along with other public entities with big infrastructure projects could start work within 90 days of getting the funds.

The projects eligible for grant funding "must be public assets, must be permanent in nature and must not have recurring project expenses."

Anyone interested in applying can visit the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Development website for more information.

This is a developing story.