* Gov. Pritzker…

The unemployment claims process has been a source of hardship for all too many Illinois residents as it has been for dozens of states across the nation. So many families are hurting at a scale of this country hasn’t seen ever in our lifetimes. And our state unemployment filing systems which were built a decade ago, for a much lower number of claims, simply haven’t kept pace. This was the painful truth that we discovered when unemployment began to spike.

He’s now going over the same things in his press release from earlier today, so we’ll skip that.

Also, as per usual, please pardon all transcription errors.

* OK, one bit that wasn’t in the release…

These IDES employees did in a month what might normally take most of the year.

* Dr. Ezike…

And talking about unemployment, it’s important to recognize and acknowledge the toll that it takes on individuals as well as communities, not only financially but mentally and emotionally. Unemployment has been linked with a number of psychological disorders, particularly anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and a decrease in self esteem.

Workers’ Compensation can help with some of the financial impacts, but I also ask that we also support each other with the societal and emotional impacts during these tough times

* Illinois Nurses Association exec talks about the change to workers’ comp…

As a result of their sacrifice nurses in Illinois are starting to get sick and infected. Sadly, we’ve seen some employers argue with nurses about where they became infected completely ignoring the obvious risk created by the work they do every day.

Nurses should not be left to deal with the long term and costly consequences of becoming infected with COVID-19 on their own. On behalf of the Illinois Nurses Association, we want to thank Governor JB Pritzker for making this important change in the law to see that nurses and all essential workers receive their rightful benefits under Illinois Workers Compensation Law. Due to this change, there were there will now be a fair and reasonable presumption that a nurse who becomes infected with COVID-19 during this crisis became infected on the job, which will then ensure that she receives the workers compensation benefits that are rightly deserved.

* On to questions for the governor. We’ve learned that a poll worker died on the south side literally 14 days after the election. Should the election have been held?…

As you know, and I’ve said this before, the Governor of Illinois does not have the constitutional right, legal right to shut down the election here. It’s different in different states, we don’t have that here, so I couldn’t shut it down.

What I did do though is in the weeks before the election, I began virtually every day or certainly frequently telling people, you can vote today, early voting you can get a mail ballot today, send in and get one. We were encouraging people not to go to the polls if they could avoid going to the polls, and indeed I think that’s exactly the same thing that we need to do even more so when we get to the general election, I’m advocating that everybody should be applying for a mail ballot if they can, and that’s virtually everybody, and to vote by mail.

He was then asked the question again and gave the same response.

* Republicans held a news conference this morning, very concerned about this same issue of unemployment and said that really you’ve dropped the ball there, should have been more people that could have been quicker. Do you think you now have it in place to help people faster?. The governor went over what he said earlier and in his press release and then said..

I would say that this is still a work in progress. There’s no doubt about it, much better than it was, much better than it was.

I also want to say that, this pandemic, this COVID-19 knows no partisanship. And in the process of my work here on dealing with COVID-19 I’ve had lots of interactions with Republicans and Democrats, many have been extraordinarily constructive in their offering ideas and assistance and the things that we need. Some not so much. And I think that I draw a distinction between those who stand up in this moment and try to help, and those who, you know, hold press conferences to complain.

* Where did you come up with the list for the workers comp on who’s essential and who’s not. And why is the news media not a part of that?…

Overall the essential worker list is something that came from the Department of Homeland Security originally. And then we’ve added, we’ve created a list that’s even larger than the Homeland Security Department, put out with regard to workman’s comp. And we started with what we thought were the people who are very much on the very front lines, the people who are interacting literally daily potentially with someone with COVID-19, they’re treating. Think about a nurse in a hospital right now. I don’t think there’s anywhere that you could be a nurse right now in the state of Illinois, that you’re not in some fashion interacting with a person who has COVID-19 or potentially as COVID-19. And the same thing for the folks the firefighters and you think about what they do, just listen to the list of things that Chuck [with AFFI] said so you know look is it something that the workman’s comp commission could consider expanding to other areas, yes but we felt like the people who are on the very front lines most exposed, those are the people want to make sure it got covered first.

* Asked about McCormick Place…

…If you look back over the course of six days, there’s a kind of a leveling effect right we’ve had days that are above today’s, days that are below, but there’s a leveling effect that you can kind of see in those numbers, and more. So even as you look at the numbers of new cases, it really looks like there’s a leveling there. So, you know, when we look at all of that and then we see well when does someone transfer out to McCormick Place it’s really when the hospitals become full, and they’re not yet full

* Is it President Trump’s decision to end the stay at home order or is it your decision? [This question was asked the other day]…

Well I think he’s gonna issue some advice about it. But it is true that it’s up to the governors to make decisions about the executive orders that we’ve put in place and, and all of the governors that I’ve talked to, and especially me we want to lift these orders as soon as we can, we want to get things back to more normal as soon as we can. But one thing that we have to pay attention to is what direction are these curves going and what are the what is the advice that we’re getting from again the scientists and the doctors who know more about immunology, and about, you know, all the issues of COVID-19, than you know the elected official is not a doctor.

* There’s a lot of people out there wondering, you know, how are we going to reopen schools are you going to go ahead and close them down for the rest of the year and do e-learning…

I promise I will tell you as soon as I know the answer to that question

Is that coming this week?…

At this moment I can’t tell you whether it’s coming this week

And then he went on to explain - again - the reasoning behind this process.

* So to follow up on that what are the some of the conversations you’re having about how you make that happen. I mean do we open the economy, so to speak in phases, or is this something that’s all at once, what are the conversations and what are the effects that they are having and what are the experts telling you sure there’s not exactly a perfect consensus right but but you’ve laid out some of the things that we’re talking about, which is what is a phase I mean we talk about phases what what is phase one look like for about two or three or four, what is the first thing you do and and how does that work what rules you have to put in place does everybody wear a mask, you know, do you require that?…

I’ve encouraged everybody the CDC is encouraged everybody, but there’s no requirement that people who go out and public must wear a mask or go into a grocery store anywhere else. So that’s, you know, a question, what are all the rules for each industry that’s the other thing is you start to talk industry by industry a manufacturer is very different than a clothing store. What are the rules do we have to start thinking, you know, the way that a fire marshal determines how many people can be in your store in your grocery store, based on the number of square feet so that if there’s a fire everybody can get out. Do we now need to have public health administrator, determining, you know how many people at any given time can be in a certain store for us to reopen those stores for decisions that are going to be made over the next two weeks before your current state home order expires. Well, you couldn’t make all of those there’s no doubt about it but but I have been talking to industry leaders, and people who lead workers in those industries, because the most important thing is safety and health, and we have to start with that as some basis of understanding between businesses workers, you know that if people are going to go back to work or if we’re going to open up. You know opportunity for people. You know back in their industries. Will they feel safe, because that’s it’s very important to feel safe and to actually be safe. And that’s what we’re trying to work on. And again, it’s going to be talking about phases, we have to look at these things very much industry by industry, and then ask the question. So, and when does that change to you know how long do you go, what is the gating issue. I told you what the gating issue is for, you know, for any significant moves here, you know testing tracing and treatments. And then, you know, I think, more PPE availability. And then, what’s the next phase I think the next phase is a vaccine. … And I’m also very concerned to make sure that the workers who go back to work, are safe so those are things that I’m spending time on mayor in the room

* Mayor Lightfoot said this afternoon she expects that state home order to be extended. Can you give people any idea when you can confidently say if it’s going to be extended. Or when you might know? [The question has been asked and answered repeatedly today and every day for weeks, so I’m just gonna skip this one.]

* Starting today, independent contractors in Michigan can apply for unemployment benefits. Some gig workers are wondering why the same can’t be done right now in Illinois. Why is it taking longer here and when will Illinois workers be able to apply?…

The federal money that comes to support that new independent contractor support doesn’t come until May. So we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got a system that determines who’s eligible and who’s not before we can distribute money that isn’t here yet.

I mean some states, by the way, have gone ahead and taken something they’ve got in their own coffers and offer that to the gig workers and independent contractors. But that’s not something that’s available to us in the state of Illinois.

* You characterized the emergency rules approved by the workers compensation commission this morning as rules that covered essential workers, if they’re infected by COVID-19 on the job. However, the actual rules don’t read that way. They say all workers deemed essential by your executive order who come down with COVID-19 will be reasonably presumed to have caught it at work. The employment community says that this is not only an egregious overreach but also illegal because they argue such a large change can only be approved through legislation. Is that what was intended?…

My intention is to protect the workers of Illinois, the people who are most affected by this COVID-19 we are in a pandemic in an emergency. This is what we need to do right now to protect people.

* Will the program be fully implemented by the week of May 11 does that mean implementation or people can start to apply in May?…

That’s a great question. I’m glad it got asked because I want to clarify. People can apply now. They can send in their application now. It will be determined to be either eligible or ineligible for the current system and if it’s enabled will because it’s an independent contractor 1099 gig worker that that person’s application will then move to being ready to be processed by the new system that will be stood up and ready to go in early May or early mid May

* Are you considering shifting state workers from other agencies to IDES to help meet demand for unemployment filing, and what do you say to the unemployed Illinois residents who have been trying for weeks and haven’t been able to get through to file claims?…

Well the answer to the second half is everything I just said when I stood up here and told you what it is that we’re working through here, and all the challenges that we’ve had, as to moving workers from other departments.

I want to explain that there are federal rules that apply to those who take unemployment application so those who are responsible for taking your unemployment application at IDES, they have to be trained in a certain way. This is sensitive information for individuals. And so that’s why you can’t just grab people from anywhere and why we’re making sure that the people who are working the call centers, the people that are working at IDES, remember what did I say, I said we’re bringing back retired workers. They’ve all been trained. And so they’re doing from home, but the point is that they’re eligible to be able to do this right away and so we have expanded the workforce and IDES to take those applications by phone and and to help with the applications online.

Not exactly empathetic.

* We’ve received a copy of the cease and desist notice from the state police to the Pekin Country Club. What do you hope is the outcome from that?…

I can’t give you a specific answer to the question, Rebecca . The police are ultimately responsible for enforcing the stay at home order and all of the executive orders that we put in place that would interact with the public. So, you know that’s that’s why the state police are involved.

* Being that it’s been stated that COVID-19 is no one’s fault, how do you balance the extra cost employers and even taxpayers that pay for first responders could bear with this emergency rule from the workers comp commission?…

Well, what I can tell you is that in the middle of an emergency, the only way they have to operate is to protect people as best you can, their health and safety. And to the extent that it’s required that someone has to pick up the tab for that, but sometimes that will fall on the people who are most able to pick up the tab.

Having said that, we have challenges with our unemployment insurance in the state, every state does. Indeed that’s why we’re talking to our federal officials about making sure that they’re going to help us replenish that unemployment insurance trust, because it is, it’s happening everywhere in the country and to a greater degree or lesser degree to each state, but every governor that I’ve talked to has said they’re going to need help.

* And then he was asked a question about why the Supreme Court and the Chicago city council can hold virtual meetings, so “what is the holdup with the state legislature?”

Um, the state can, by statute, waive rules for local governments in an emergency. The governor cannot waive rules for the General Assembly, a co-equal branch. The Supreme Court can make its own rules, which it did. Anyway, here’s his response…

Well, it is, unfortunately, a fact of state law today that the state legislature cannot meet electronically or in any way other than in person. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t meet, and then decide not to meet, and instead have a meeting by Aoom or some other method, but that is not currently state law. In order to change that you’d have to have a meeting of the legislature. So, you know, I know that the leaders on both sides of the aisle are having some discussions about how they might do that effectively. We’re certainly going to assist them to make sure that it’s a method that’s safe and healthy for all the legislators, I don’t know when that will be.

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