As part of the state’s effort to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. J.B. Pritzker will extend the statewide stay-at-home order through the end of April, he announced Tuesday.

The new executive order, which Pritzker said he will sign Wednesday, will run through April 30 and prolongs the same requirements outlined in the governor’s March 19 order.

That order, which went into effect March 21 and was set to expire April 7, requires people to stay at home and orders “non-essential” businesses to close.

But businesses that handle legal services and other professional services like accounting, insurance an real estate are included among categories of essential businesses allowed to remain open.

The same exemption is expected to apply to those businesses under the new order.

”If we can end these orders earlier, I’ll be the first one to tell you when we can start to make strides toward normalcy again,” Pritzker said. “But that time is not today.”

Pritzker also used the afternoon news conference Tuesday to address growing concerns over the spread of the virus in Illinois’ prisons.

Officials announced Monday the death from COVID-19 of an inmate who housed at the Stateville Correctional Facility.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 56 confirmed cases of the virus — 32 inmates and 24 staff members — across seven state correctional facilities, according to the IDOC’s website.

The IDOC is reviewing inmate histories “to prioritize the release of older and more vulnerable residents while ensuring public safety,” Pritzker said, adding that nearly 300 female and low-level offenders were released this afternoon.

“We’re working hard to balance the need to free up as much space in our prisons as possible with making sure that we’re not releasing those who may pose a risk to their communities,” Pritzker said, citing an order he issued March 26 that suspends admissions from county jails into state prisons.

As of Monday evening, there were 134 detainees at Cook County Jail and 20 Cook County Sheriff’s employees that have tested positive for COVID-19, according to officials.

“Every step we take with regard to our prison population needs to solve an existing problem, not create a new one,” Pritzker said.

All correctional facilities, Impact Incarceration programs and work camps are under administrative quarantine with no visits. That doesn’t apply to attorneys, who can still visit clients, but are subject to a medical check and temperature screening.

All IDOC staff are wearing personal protective equipment, opening previously closed parts of facilities to facilitate social distancing and working with the Illinois National Guard to set-up temporary on-site medical facilities to treat patients, Pritzker said.

”Any and every one of our DOC residents who falls seriously ill with COVID-19 will receive available medical assistance to get through it, including and ICU bed and a ventilator, if necessary,” Pritzker said. “An incarcerated person is a person, and my administration will not be in the business of claiming one life is worth more than another.”

Hospitals near correctional facilities that refuse to take IDOC patients “will be called out by name” and refuse to operate under the hippocratic oath “can and will be compelled to do so by law,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker also weighed in on the status of criminal justice reform, claiming the issue has bipartisan support and still needs attention.

”We inherited a prison system that has suffered from overcrowding after decades of tough on crime policies, focusing on punishment without attention to rehabilitation,” Pritzker said. “When we get through this immediate crisis, we all need to have a real conversation about criminal justice reform in the status and conditions of our state prisons.”