Name: With COVID-19 Peak Now Weeks Away, Gov. Pritzker Hints Against Businesses Reopening May 1
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With COVID-19 Peak Now Weeks Away, Gov. Pritzker Hints Against Businesses Reopening May 1

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With Illinois several weeks from its COVID-19 apex, Gov. JB Pritzker repeatedly signaled Tuesday that he does not plan to permit an early-May reopening of businesses across the state.Doing so, the Democratic governor said, could undo the curve-flattening effects he attributes to his stay-at-home order that has shut down wide swaths of the state’s economy for more than four weeks.“It’s true it is working,” Pritzker said during his Tuesday COVID-19 briefing, referring to his stay-at-home edict that first took effect March 21 and expires on April 30. “To remove it entirely is to simply open everything back up to infection.”The governor vowed not to take Illinois down the same path as a trio of southern states, including Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. Against the advice of public-health experts, they plan to reopen department stores, gyms, nail salons, barber shops and other businesses on May 1, even though the states’ COVID-19 caseloads and death tolls continue to rise.“If they’re all doing the same thing, which is essentially opening everything up, yes, I have ruled that out for the time being. Because as I’ve said time and time again, for us to truly open things up we need tracing. We need testing. And we need a treatment available, and we need a widespread availability of [personal protective equipment],” the governor said. “We don’t have those things available to us today.”Pritzker said he’s also giving weight to federal guidance that recommends 14 consecutive days of declining cases and deaths.The governor’s comments came as new cases and deaths continued to vault higher in Illinois. Pritzker’s administration disclosed 119 new COVID-19 fatalities, bringing the total death toll to 1,468. Additionally, 1,551 new positive cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the state’s overall total to 33,059.Earlier in the day Tuesday, the governor told the Washington Post that&nbsp;the state’s internal modeling is showing that Illinois won’t reach its peak caseload until mid-May, a timeline that’s about a month later than some earlier estimates.That delay should bring with it fewer deaths than previously expected because of the effects of the stay-at-home order, the governor said.“We were the second state in the United States to put forward our stay-at-home rule, and people really have been abiding by it for the most part,” he said. “And so the result of that has been the pushing out of what had been anticipated to be a peaking in the middle or near the end of April.“It’s been pushed out now, according to the models, to maybe mid-May but at a lower level,” Pritzker said, adding that “we’ve had many fewer deaths than had been anticipated.”But when asked about the change in the modeling, and what specifically his administration is basing those projections on, Pritzker declined to answer Tuesday, saying he’d provide more details later this week.And, Illinois may not be out of the woods, regardless of when Pritzker eases his stay-at-home order.State Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike warned Tuesday of a possible second wave of COVID-19 that could strike Illinois this fall.“I think we should be concerned, obviously,” she said. “We’re following information and data that’s coming from all around the world. We know that the fall already is traditionally an established time for flu outbreaks. The flu is our epidemic that we see on a scheduled basis.“So if there was supposed to be any resurgence, we could see why that would be at that time. So if you had COVID as well as flu, it’s very concerning that could be a significant second wave or a second surge,” Ezike said. “So that’s why without a treatment, without a vaccine for COVID, those two overlaid could be very problematic.”In other developments on the COVID-19 front in Illinois:Dave McKinney and Tony Arnold cover Illinois state politics and government for WBEZ. Follow them on Twitter and .0:000:00

With Illinois several weeks from its COVID-19 apex, Gov. JB Pritzker repeatedly signaled Tuesday that he does not plan to permit an early-May reopening of businesses across the state.Doing so, the Democratic governor said, could undo the curve-flattening effects he attributes to his stay-at-home order that has shut down wide swaths of the state’s economy for more than four weeks.“It’s true it is working,” Pritzker said during his Tuesday COVID-19 briefing, referring to his stay-at-home edict that first took effect March 21 and expires on April 30. “To remove it entirely is to simply open...

With COVID-19 Peak Now Weeks Away, Gov. Pritzker Hints Against Businesses Reopening May 1

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