CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The peak of the novel coronavirus pandemic won't come in Illinois until mid-May, rather than in late April, which likely will influence the stay-at-home order residents are under, Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday.
The governor shared the revised projection on a Facebook livestream with the Washington Post Tuesday morning. He said Illinois' stay-at-home order -- issued last month, before many other states did the same thing -- blunted the spread of coronavirus but also delayed its downward trajectory here.
"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. So, it's been pushed out now, according to the models, to maybe mid-May -- at a lower level," Pritzker told the Post's Robert Costa. "We're moving, inching toward that date."
On the positive side, the governor said, Illinois headed off more infections and hospitalizations and the greater need for ventilators through its aggressive approach.
On the negative: It seems unlikely the governor's stay-at-home order will end on April 30, although Pritzker continues to leave the door open to a staggered approach to reopening the state.
“We will be making some changes to the stay-at-home order, as it is, but it is true that it is working,” Pritzker said later Tuesday, at his daily media briefing in Chicago. “To remove it entirely is to simply open everything back up to infection.”
Pritzker said the coast isn’t clear until 14 days after the virus peaks, to ensure the number of infections truly goes down. He said he’ll consult with experts and industry representatives to determine how the Illinois stay-at-home order could be relaxed, if at all.
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Tuesday announced 1,551 new cases of coronavirus disease, including 119 additional deaths. That takes the statwide total of coronavirus cases to 33,059 --including 1,468 deaths.