Sobering Stats in the INbox.

Here’s the coronavirus news and other stories you need to know to start your day.

• Illinois officials on Wednesday announced 192 coronavirus-related deaths — a record high for one day — and 1,677 new known cases, bringing statewide totals to 3,792 deaths and 84,698 known cases
• The U.S. has the largest coronavirus outbreak in the world by far: nearly 1.4 million infections and over 83,700 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday
• Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 4.3 million people and killed some 296,000, according to Johns Hopkins on Wednesday.
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  Added:  Hope on the Horizon?
  

  6:45 a.m.: Archdiocese of Chicago, dioceses of Joliet, Rockford, Peoria announce phased plans to reopen churches

  The Archdiocese of Chicago, as well as the dioceses of Rockford, Joliet and Peoria, late Wednesday announced phased plans to begin reopening churches, starting in Chicago with small gatherings for baptisms, weddings, funerals, and confession as early as May 23.
  

  
  Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been under increasing pressure in recent days as smaller churches have sued the state, trying to lift the almost two-month-old stay-at-home order. The Catholic bishops reached an agreement with the state Wednesday, according to letters posted on their dioceses’ websites.
  
  

  In the Archdiocese of Chicago, smaller gatherings could start as soon as May 23, depending on preparations in each parish. But because “our movements will be restricted as that plan unfolds in different phases, your pastors and bishops will continue for the present time to offer Mass in private each day and to livestream" Masses, Cardinal Blase Cupich said in his letter.