SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  — Illinois inmates who meet the medical criteria may be granted furloughs to minimize the spread of coronavirus in state prisons.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order Monday that gives the Illinois Department of Corrections permission to allow “medically vulnerable” inmates out of prison temporarily for as long as the governor’s disaster proclamation is in effect.

So far 62 inmates and 40 Corrections Department staffers had been confirmed to have COVID-19.

Two inmates at Stateville Correctional Center have died of the disease.