CHICAGO — The death toll of coronavirus in Illinois is nearing 3,000.

Wednesday the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 2,270 new cases of COVID-19 and 136 additional related deaths have been confirmed over the past 24 hours. This brings the total to 68,232 COVID-19 cases and 2,974 related deaths across 97 counties.

Among the victims is Lolo Ijeoma Afuke, a mother who worked in a nursing home on Chicago’s North Side.

Afuke was 35-years-old and the mother of a toddler. She worked at the Mado Health Care Uptown nursing home as a certified nursing assistant on Chicago’s North Side.

 Her family said she complained to her husband Chief JJ Afuke about conditions for the staff and a lack of PPEs. But her family said because of her dedication to the residents, she pushed on.

She began developing symptoms of COVID-19 and was admitted to Stroger Hospital.

She passed away April 29.

Afuke did not have underlying health conditions according to her family.

“I know she had expressed to my uncle that the work environment was extremely cold,” her niece Adaku Otuonye said.

According to state health records, there have been 46 cases of COVID-19 at Mado and two people have died.  It is unclear if that includes Afuke.

   Like so many others who have passed for COVID-19 she did not have a chance to say goodbye to her loved ones. They have started a GoFundMe page to help pay for burial expenses.

 More than 40 percent of coronavirus-related deaths in Illinois are connected to long-term care facilities.

Wednesday politicians and relatives of people receiving care said most places aren’t doing enough to slow the spread.