Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has extended the state’s stay-at-home order through the end of May, with some modifications, designating new essential businesses and allowing some nonessential businesses to restart certain operations as the state grapples with coronavirus.
Pritzker on Thursday announced he would sign a modified order “based on data from scientists and health experts,” which would go into effect on May 1.
“Make no mistake, Illinois has saved lives. By staying home and social distancing, we have kept our infection and death rates for the months of March and April thousands below the rates projected had we not implemented these mitigation strategies,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “I know how badly we all want our normal lives back. But this is the part where we have to dig in and understand that the sacrifices we’ve made as a state to avoid a worst-case scenario are working — and we need to keep going a little while longer to finish the job.”
Pritzker also announced that the state is projected to see a peak or plateau of deaths per day from coronavirus in late April and early May, but noted that if the stay-at-home order were lifted this week, the model “anticipates a second wave of the outbreak in Illinois starting in May, which would claim tens of thousands of lives and greatly exceed the state’s hospital capacity.”
The new executive order will allow a phased reopening of state parks and will allow fishing and boating in groups of no more than two people. The order will also allow residents to go “under strict safety guidelines” and when social distancing is followed.
The order also designates several new essential businesses, including greenhouses, garden centers and nurseries, as well as animal grooming services — which are all required to follow social distancing and enforce the use of face coverings. – READ MORE
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