Related
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Illinois moves into the relatively freer Phase 4 of reopening on Friday, but Gov. JB Pritzker warns he won’t hesitate to impose restrictions for regions that lose ground to COVID-19.
More businesses, including gyms and movie theaters, will resume operating with safeguards beginning Friday, and restaurants can serve meals indoors at reduced capacity. This measure of progress if only possible, Pritzker said, because the state has managed to tame its once-alarming coronavirus numbers.
The number of daily COVID-related deaths have dropped 65% from a high from six weeks ago, while the number of new cases are down 76% during a similar time period, Pritzker said. Hospitalizations and ventilator use are also down significantly, the governor said.
Pritzker cautioned that the numbers could go the wrong way if Illinois or parts of the state experience the types of surges and spikes that are being seen in Western and Southern states, such as Texas, Florida and Oklahoma.
“We’ve seen what’s happened in other states that have allowed politics or short-term thinking to drive decision-making,” Pritzker said at a Thursday media briefing. “Many other states are now seeing significant increases in cases, hospitalizations and intensive-care bed usage, and they’re being forced to move backward and stay at home.”
Previous restrictions could return here, he said. For example, the governor said, he could suspend elective surgeries again if hospital beds become scarce in some areas of Illinois.
Illinois has become a model in preventing the spread of coronavirus spread, health officials say, because residents have followed directives to wear masks in public, washing their hands and keeping their social distance. Pritzker and his public health director, Ngozi Ezike, urged residents to stay the course on these precautions.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 984 new cases of novel coronavirus disease, including 41 deaths. The statewide “positivity” rate — the number of people tested who are determined to have the virus — is currently 3%.
That is slightly higher than the 2% from earlier this week, but Pritzker said it’s best to look at trends over the longer time frame.
"Right now I would call it stable," the governor said.
Pritzker has said a return to prepandemic normalcy in Illinois won't happen until there is a coronavirus vaccine or successful therapy.