*** UPDATE *** Click here to read the full plan in its entirety.
* Press release…
Building on data, science, and guidance from public health experts and after consulting with stakeholders across the state, Governor JB Pritzker announced Restore Illinois, a five-phase plan focused on saving lives, livelihood, and safely reopening Illinois.
“”We have to figure out how to live with COVID-19 until it can be vanquished – and to do so in a way that best supports our residents’ health and our healthcare systems, and saves the most lives,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Restore Illinois is a public health plan to safely reintroduce the parts of our lives that have been put on hold in our fight against COVID-19. This is also a data-driven plan that operates on a region-by-region basis, a recognition that reality on the ground looks different in different areas of our state.”
The five-phase plan is guided by public health metrics designed to provide a framework for reopening businesses, education, and recreational activities in each phase. This initial plan can and will be updated as research and science develop and as the potential for effective treatments or vaccines is realized.
The five-phase plan is based on regional healthcare availability and recognizes the distinct impact COVID-19 has had on different regions of our state as well as regional variations in hospital capacity. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has 11 Emergency Medical Services Regions that have traditionally guided its statewide public health work. For the purposes of Restore Illinois, from those 11, four health regions are established, each with the ability to independently move through a phased approach: Northeast Illinois; North-Central Illinois; Central Illinois; and Southern Illinois.
The five phases of reopening for each health region are as follows:
Phase 1 – Rapid Spread: The rate of infection among those tested and the number of patients admitted to the hospital is high or rapidly increasing. Strict stay at home and social distancing guidelines are put in place and only essential businesses remain open. Every region has experienced this phase once already and could return to it if mitigation efforts are unsuccessful.
Phase 2 – Flattening: The rate of infection among those tested and the number of patients admitted to the hospital beds and ICU beds increases at an ever slower rate, moving toward a flat and even a downward trajectory. Non-essential retail stores reopen for curb-side pickup and delivery. Illinoisans are directed to wear a face covering when outside the home, and can begin enjoying additional outdoor activities like golf, boating and fishing while practicing social distancing. To varying degrees, every region is experiencing flattening as of early May.
Phase 3 – Recovery: The rate of infection among those tested, the number of patients admitted to the hospital, and the number of patients needing ICU beds is stable or declining. Manufacturing, offices, retail, barbershops and salons can reopen to the public with capacity and other limits and safety precautions. All gatherings limited to 10 or fewer people are allowed. Face coverings and social distancing are the norm.
Phase 4 – Revitalization: The rate of infection among those tested and the number of patients admitted to the hospital continues to decline. All gatherings of up to 50 people are allowed, restaurants and bars reopen, travel resumes, child care and schools reopen under guidance from the IDPH. Face coverings and social distancing are the norm.
Phase 5 – Illinois Restored: With a vaccine or highly effective treatment widely available or the elimination of any new cases over a sustained period, the economy fully reopens with safety precautions continuing. Conventions, festivals and large events are permitted, and all businesses, schools, and places of recreation can open with new safety guidance and procedures in place reflecting the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Until COVID-19 is defeated, Restore Illinois recognizes that as health metrics tell us it is safe to move forward, health metrics may also tell us to return to a prior phase. With a vaccine or treatment not yet available, IDPH will be closely monitoring key metrics to immediately identify new growth in cases and hospitalizations to determine whether a return to a prior phase is needed.
As millions of Illinoisans continue working together by staying at home and following experts’ recommendations, the result has been a lower infection rate, lower hospitalizations, and lower number of fatalities than without these measures. As the state’s curve begins to flatten, the risk of spread remains, and modeling and data point to a rapid surge in new cases if all mitigation measures are immediately lifted. The governor and his administration continue to urge all Illinois residents to follow the state’s stay at home order and to follow the guidance issued by the state and public health experts.
Click here or on the image discussing the phases if you’re having trouble seeing the pic.
Discuss.
…Adding… I’ve asked what this “continues to decline” stuff means. For how long must these rates decline?
*** UPDATE 1 *** I’m told a multi-page plan is about to be sent out, so we’ll get the answer to that question I posed soon, apparently.
Pritzker clarified that Phase One ended on April 30. Phase 2 is where the state is right now.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The governor is going into more detail today…
IDPH will watch the identified health metrics closely to determine when regions have attained them so each can move from phase two, to phases three and four. And more specifically those metrics are:
First, a region must be at or under a 20% test positivity rate and increasing by no more than 10 percentage points over a 14 day period, and a region must have either not had an overall increase or must have maintained overall stability in hospital admissions for COVID like illness in the last 28 days, and a region must maintain the availability of a surge threshold of 14% availability of ICU beds of medical and surgery beds and ventilators.
Because May 1 marked the beginning of phase two in which we loosened and modified a number of mitigations, that is the first day for the 14 and 28 day measurement periods to begin, meaning that the earliest that a region can move to phase three is May 29.
Changes to mitigation strategies in each phase will impact the data in each phase. So the assessment period begins when each new phase begins. IDPH will be tracking each of the four regions on these metrics, and we’ll make that available data available online to you every day, so that the public can track it to. Importantly, just as public health indicators will tell us when to move forward at any time. They could also signal that we need to move backward. IDPH will be tracking metrics here as well, moving backward is honestly the last thing that anyone wants to do. But if the virus begins to attack more people or the healthcare systems are heading toward becoming overwhelmed in any region swift action will need to be taken.
We have named phase four “revitalization” because it is in this phase that everyone in Illinois will be rebuilding what school and work will look like for a while, until we reach the other side of this pandemic.
The only way that we can cross into phase five “Illinois restored,” with all the sectors of the economy running with completely normal operations is with a vaccine, or a widely available and highly effective treatment or with the elimination of any new cases over a sustained period of time.
It brings me no joy to say this, but based on what the experts tell us, and everything we know about this virus and how easily it spreads in a crowd, large conventions festivals and other major events will be on hold until we reach phase five.
* More from the governor…
I spent decades in business, so I understand the urge to try and flip the switch and reopen our entire economy. Here’s the problem: that switch simply does not exist with a virus that can’t currently be eliminated by medical science. And I won’t open the door to overwhelming our hospital system and possibly 10s of thousands of additional deaths by exposing everyone to the virus today just because a loud but tiny minority would like to indulge in that fantasy.
On that note, I do want to touch on the enforcement of these phases at the state level. We don’t have the capacity or the desire to police the individual behavior of 12.7 million people. Enforcement comes in many forms. And our first and best option is to rely on Illinoisans working together to see each other through this pandemic. But we are also working with local law enforcement, and I’ve asked for their assistance to monitor for violations and consider taking actions when necessary, but that is not the option that anyone prefers.
It’s important to remember that we put this plan together not only because the state needs a plan, but because mayors need a plan, because small business people need a plan, workers need a plan every day Illinoisans need a plan. But this plan as vetted and data driven as it is, is a plan for responding to and recovering from a global pandemic in the 21st century, there is no modern day precedent for this. We are quite literally writing the playbook as we go. The scientists learn more about this virus every day. And we can, we will make our restore Illinois plan, smarter, as we move forward. I’m not afraid to redesign the playbook if the rules change.
He then went on to give a pep talk to the state.
- Stuff Happens - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 2:50 pm:
A regional approach makes sense if you travel by horse and buggy.
- In 630 - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 2:50 pm:
I look at the stages and notice there isn’t a commitment to continued expansion of testing, or isolation efforts and I wonder how much resource limitations are keeping us from the kind of reopening plans that experts seem to be putting out as models
- OpentoDiscussion - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 2:53 pm:
Looks like a good start to recognizing differences that, at least so far, are quite striking throughout the state.
As to the regions that are listed I am not certain as to whether each one will be guided by the trends in that “whole region” or whether there will be potential differences recognized on a county by county basis. For example what may be the situation in Dekalb county may not even be remotely the same as in Putnam county.
- Dotnonymous - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 2:54 pm:
Looks good…on paper…overall compliance will be the determining factor.
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 2:59 pm:
Now what are the benchmark numbers that go with the plan?
One question about the plan, does that happens in a large population center in a region, say Chicago, mean that the entire region is affected? Reason for the question is Kankakee County is in the Chicago region. That means, Kankakee will be under stay at home order much longer than its neighboring counties.
- bogey golfer - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:05 pm:
At least we now have a plan, flawed as some will maintain. Will high school football games with fans be on hold until Phase 5 is reached?
- Fighter of Foo - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:05 pm:
“I’m not afraid to redesign the playbook if the rules change.”
Bravo for this statement.
- Larry Saunders - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:05 pm:
Going forward then, regions 7 - 10, can easily count on being closed the rest of this year, as can regions 1 due to Rockford and region 4 due to Chester/Menard. Smart plan though, especially publicizing it so the public can’t claim ignorance now as to where it stands. It will switch pressure onto local authorities to try much harder to control local hotspots since they will be the obstacles to anyplace reopening.
- Gruntled University Employee - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:08 pm:
Think of it this way, if you can get the Covidiots in your region to comply with the social distancing orders your region will open much quicker. Maybe we should approach this like a regional challenge, shame, cajole and brow beat the Covidiots in your region to comply and we get to be the first region that gets to open back up?
- Nick - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:09 pm:
Overall this seems well thought-out.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:10 pm:
This seems to have been rushed out, because it simply isn’t going to work. You can’t have Phase 3’s “Manufacturing, offices, retail, barbershops and salons can reopen to the public” without first having Phase 4’s “child care and schools reopen under guidance from the IDPH”. What are people supposed to do, leave their kids at home? Employers are going to tell their workers they have to show up because the state says they can, and workers aren’t going to be able to because they won’t have child care. This is a Pritzker fail
- Chatham Resident - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:13 pm:
Will State Offices be reopening, and state employees back to regular work, when Phase 3 is reached?
- 618er - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:15 pm:
I was thinking more along the lines of how can we go out for dinner and drinks through facemasks. Kinda seems pointless
Lester does bring up something… Maybe not a total fail, but yeah, it makes sense to get kids back in school and businesses going again.
- Ed Equity - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:18 pm:
Science is part of the decision making process, so are ethics. Perhaps our Governor needs the voices of ethicists weighing in on the restoration process as well?
- cermak_rd - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:21 pm:
Lester Holt’s Mustache,
My company is a manufacturing company and considered essential service. Therefore it is open now. Somehow the people with children are managing. Remember I think we’re only dealing with children younger than 14 here. Older ones can be left at home.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:21 pm:
Maybe move childcare to phase 3, with extra precautions, and keep schools in phase 4? I assume there will be a limit on the number of kids allowed. Day care providers are going to want direction, they’re going to be under a lot of pressure if they have to pick and choose which parents can bring their kids back and which cannot. That part needs more thought, but the rest seems like a good plan
- Larry Saunders - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:21 pm:
Pritzker was just questioned on the assertion that staff at Taylorville Correctional are having to bring in their own masks from home while all prison inmates are being issued an N95 mask once a week. Pritzker denies knowledge of this, says he will check on it, but says that’s NOT how it’s supposed to work. Taylorville is not the only place. My inmate friend at the Menard Medium-Security Unit was surprised last week when he and all the other inmates there were also issued N95 masks to replace earlier paper masks. He said the guards then stopped wearing THEIR masks, and thinks that the guards are now happy to not be burdened with having to wear them. Pritzker can’t afford to let up oversight on how IDOC implements even the smallest Covid measures. IDOC is a very stubborn agency and will try to evade or twist to it’s convenience whatever it is doing or should do.
- Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:23 pm:
Have to get into the details, but it seems at least to have objective criteria based on science and medicine. Certainly better than the alternative plan — Open now, duh…
- In 630 - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:24 pm:
Reading the fuller plan document- it’s the test and trace marks that will be tougher to hit. The testing isn’t quantified but when you look at what they describe and how flat our test numbers are- no one should expect to get to the next level soon.
- CEA - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:27 pm:
The Eastern Bloc won’t be happy about being thrown in with us science-worshipping commies up here in Champaign, but this seems like a fairly credible starting point. If nothing else, it’s a cut above the “plans” we’re seeing from other states which amount to jumping out of the plane and flapping their arms really, really fast.
- Lynn S. - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:28 pm:
@Lester Holt’s Moustache,
Phase 3 says “can”, it doesn’t say “will”.
Given the beating everyone’s income has taken, how much consumer demand will there be for manufactured products?
I suspect many of the businesses in phase 3 will be on reduced hours, reduced shifts, have fewer employees for a while (possibly a long while) than they did on March 1, 2020.
Perhaps phase 3 should be amended to say “limited number of daycare spaces opening, subject to social distancing, health department regulation, and guidance from epidemiological authorities.”
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:29 pm:
== Somehow the people with children are managing. ==
Obviously it wouldn’t affect absolutely everyone, but you’re taking about millions of workers. JB telling them all “you’ll manage somehow” isn’t really a good plan.
- NIU Grad - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:33 pm:
Interesting how Lake and Kendall are divided up into different regions. Cook I can understand.
- OPer - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:35 pm:
Agree with Lester Holt’s mustache. And also, how does this work with kids going back to school in the fall-some regions will go back while others will not? It seems that once again, CPS students, will be disadvantaged.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:36 pm:
=== Kendall===
The Kendall split makes perfect sense…
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:36 pm:
== how much consumer demand will there be for manufactured products?==
Hi Lynn. It might be higher than you think, but remember this also includes retail and office workers. You’re talking about millions of workers here. If you think people are mad now, wait until several thousand people get fired from their jobs because daycares are closed and they can’t show up for their shifts. I’ve worked in retail, they generally aren’t the most understanding of employers. I’m sure the administration will get it figured out eventually, but as of right now, this is going to cause a lot of problems.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:37 pm:
Getting to Phase 5 will take multiple 30-day EO extensions
- Orwell - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:37 pm:
Lester Holt is right. This plan is a nightmare of bureaucracy for people with kids. My kids summer camp will be dependent on monitoring hospital utilization metrics? Good luck planning for that Also, if my work opens in phase 3 but I have nowhere (except for expensive nanny-type care) to take my 7-year old until phase 4, how do I go to work? Only a public bureaucrat could think that this could actually work in the real world
- Soccermom - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:40 pm:
This is great, and I think Pritzker and his staff are doing an amazing job.
But here’s an issue: Soccersister has been coughing and running a fever for almost two weeks. We finally prevailed on her to get tested — but the Winnebago Health Dept. says it will take 7 to 10 days to get results. That’s problematic. What’s happening with testing capacity — not just swabs taken, but samples analyzed and results reported?
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:41 pm:
For some reason my previous post got caught in the covidiot snare.
This is the first cut at a plan to reduce the stay at home orders. I am sure that as time goes on and as new information is learned, that the plan will be adjusted.
So let’s take a deep breath. We are talking about steps three and four, when we have just taken the second step.
- CrazyHorse - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:43 pm:
==Until COVID-19 is defeated==
The goal posts have now moved to the parking lot. The stay at home order was established to “flatten the curve” i.e. the number of cases requiring hospitalization/ventilators would be “spread” out so as to avoid surges that overwhelmed the facilities. Now we are going to remain in this state of semi-paralysis until Covid is eliminated? The old bait and switch.
- Saul Goodman - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 3:50 pm:
The devil will be in the details of course, but the criteria are mainly related to the degree that COVID-19 is a threat to public health and are reasonably transparent. On first impression this is okay.
- Hamlet's Ghost - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:00 pm:
Jobs for parents with daycare needs are a chicken & egg problem that will need more thought.
However schools and daycare settings can accelerate the spread of the virus and therefore telling people without children they cannot re-open might be problematic as well.
- MiddleGround - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:01 pm:
As I read this with “gathering” restrictions, no sporting events with fans until we can move to stage 5 which requires a vaccine, treatment or no new cases - correct?
- levivotedforjudy - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:04 pm:
A lot of people were unhappy without a plan. They wanted thresholds and benchmarks. They also wanted concern towards regionalism. Well now that all three are here, a lot of people will still be unhappy. Personally, I’m glad JB is my governor. If he and his team had specific dates, they would have provided them. The problem is the virus controls the calendar on this. Nice job guv.
- Cubs in '16 - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:07 pm:
I’m guessing this plan is fluid and will be tweaked as issues arise. As the governor said, this is unprecedented and they’re figuring this out as they go. Pritzker has proven to be flexible and I don’t think this situation will be any different.
- Pundent - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:10 pm:
=The stay at home order was established to “flatten the curve” i.e. the number of cases requiring hospitalization/ventilators would be “spread” out so as to avoid surges that overwhelmed the facilities. Now we are going to remain in this state of semi-paralysis until Covid is eliminated?=
No. We’re going to make sure that all of this effort wasn’t for naught and we don’t end up right back where we started.
- olddog - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:12 pm:
Now we are going to remain in this state of semi-paralysis until Covid is eliminated? The old bait and switch. ==
No, not really. It was always known that mitigation measures, including social distancing, would go back in effect if or whenever the number of new cases spiked and again threatened to overwhelm the health care facilities.
- Strannik - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:13 pm:
“The stay at home order was established to “flatten the curve” i.e. the number of cases requiring hospitalization/ventilators would be “spread” out so as to avoid surges that overwhelmed the facilities. Now we are going to remain in this state of semi-paralysis until Covid is eliminated? The old bait and switch.”
I don’t see the contradiction. The stay-at-home order, as you said, was intended as a mitigation measure, not a solution. Every country except Belarus is banning large gathering precisely because it seems like such an obvious way for a virus to spread, and makers contact tracing and isolating clusers harder. Plus, without the vaccine and/or herd immunity, the risk of clustering flaring up is always going to be with us. If nothing else, Pritzker is acknowledging that simple reality.
- thoughts matter - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:15 pm:
Read the updated document. I see three obvious omissions right away
Our elderly in assisted living facilities are suffering from social isolation. They cannot have visitors, they cannot congregate in the dining hall for meals or activities with the rest of the residents. They cannot leave the property without being self-isolating for 14 days. they are dependent upon others to do all their outside shopping.. These are not nursing homes, they are people that just cannot live on their own 24-7.
Congregate living facilities are not addressed in this plan at all.
People are expected to go back to work during the summer with no day care.
The plan says employers should make accommodations for vunerable workers. Define accommodations and define vunerable workers.
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:27 pm:
New Zealand and Fiji have successfully eliminated the virus from there countries using much more strict methods. Granted they are small island countries and they closed their borders. However, coupled with strict quarantine, they have eliminated the spread of covid19.
We are pikers compared to them. Me, me, me. Our attitude is not what is good for society, but my “rights” are being violated because I can’t go play golf or fishing. My religious rights are violated because I can’t go to church because I don’t like the other means to attend worship services.
What was it the US District Court judge said, “Without life, there cannot the the pursuit of liberty or happiness.”
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:31 pm:
Appreciate the effort to present a path forward taking into regional differences into account, but somehow I don’t think it’s gonna work to put Morris on the same timetable for reopening as Chicago.
- LakeCo - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:40 pm:
=This seems to have been rushed out, because it simply isn’t going to work. You can’t have Phase 3’s “Manufacturing, offices, retail, barbershops and salons can reopen to the public” without first having Phase 4’s “child care and schools reopen under guidance from the IDPH”. What are people supposed to do, leave their kids at home? Employers are going to tell their workers they have to show up because the state says they can, and workers aren’t going to be able to because they won’t have child care.=
THIS times a billion, and thank you so much Lester Holt for saying this!!!! Childcare and schools are an integral part of reopening the economy - working parents depend on them. No childcare, no parents working. Figuring out what to do with my kid going forward when camps and schools are closed is seriously stressful.
I hope ISBE is thinking long and hard about this, too, as it considers options like staggered starts and remote learning in the fall. These kinds of plans assume that there is someone at home to be with the kids when they’re not at school. If parents start to head in to work, this won’t be the case.
- dbk - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:55 pm:
This is a serious plan informed by both science and reflection.
In an ideal world, the separation of the state into regions should / would provide motivation to recalcitrant towns/cities/counties to observe social distancing, wear masks, stay at home, etc. But will it? The criteria set for moving from one phase to another are pretty clear.
I too have some questions about schools - I think they’re being opened in the correct phase (does that include cc’s, universities btw?) but the issue with day care is a significant one. Wonder if people on the Governor’s staff are trying to figure out a solution.
Hope we can discuss further once we’ve all had a chance to read the plan as initially published.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 4:55 pm:
OW ===The Kendall split makes perfect sense…===
Reminds me of my 9th grade typing class.
“The quick brown virus jumped over the Fox”
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:01 pm:
=== Reminds me of my 9th grade typing class. “The quick brown virus jumped over the Fox”===
Yikes, you’re gonna “age” us all with the typing class reference, lol
We in Kendall County understand what is different, and the same, in our beloved county.
:)
- Chatham Resident - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:05 pm:
State gas pump inspections will be “reopening” soon. Ag has now called back the 26 inspectors in their Weights and Measures division:
https://www.wcia.com/news/capitol-news/state-gas-pump-inspectors-called-back-to-work-despite-covid-19-concerns/?fbclid=IwAR2G6QK2cMEyKYDR164MaacgZlM5Yto7lHS6MD_e26JF-sAbresS4boz2pc
- tea_and_honey - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:07 pm:
I see several comments on whether sports can proceed just with no fans, but if the 50 or less guideline is enforced I don’t see how you have team sports at all. For most sports just the players, coaches, referees/umpires, and staff add up to over 50.
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:11 pm:
“typing class”
50 years later, I can still hear the god awful records playing some tune with a beat, while banging out f j f j f j on a huge manual typewriter.
Typing lessons didn’t stick. Now use the HPS method.
- Oh boy... - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:23 pm:
How can salons and barbershops open back up before spas what is the real difference? Putting these services who touch people in a phase before restaurant and bars in ignorant. Salons and Barbershops are a touch based business, you get right in peoples personal space. Do you really do that in a bar/restaurant?
- tea_and_honey - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:31 pm:
==Oh boy==
Anecdotal example, but when I go see my nail tech I’m alone with her in an enclosed room. She is wearing a mask and every surface and implement has been sanitized prior to me entering.
At a restaurant you have easily 3 or 4 other tables within the six foot radius, you are touching things like plates and glassware that have been touched by likely 3 or more people before they arrive at your table, and then you are putting those items near your face as you eat and drink.
I’ll feel comfortable going back to my nail tech way before I’m comfortable in a restaurant.
- Mason born - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:31 pm:
It looks like a start but i think there’s an unintended consequence of the daycares and business opening in different phases. I could see a lot of those kids ending up at Grandma’s as the last option. If you have no daycare and can’t arrange your schedules so that mom or dad can be home there may not be another option for younger kids.
- tea_and_honey - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:35 pm:
Anecdotal example, but when I go see my nail tech I’m alone with her in an enclosed room. She is wearing a mask and every surface and implement has been sanitized prior to me entering.
At a restaurant you have easily 3 or 4 other tables within the six foot radius, you are touching things like plates and glassware that have been touched by likely 3 or more people before they arrive at your table, and then you are putting those items near your face as you eat and drink.
I’ll feel comfortable going back to my nail tech way before I’m comfortable in a restaurant.
- tea_and_honey - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 5:45 pm:
Apologizes for the repeated post
- AP - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 6:01 pm:
Overall I think it’s a solid plan, but it definitely poses problems for folks with kids. The lack of childcare in phase 3 is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed thoughtfully. But there’s also the other aspects of life with children; libraries, playgrounds, recreational spaces like trampoline parks or roller rinks, etc. This plan doesn’t mention them at all.
I hope Pritzker addresses this soon.
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 6:10 pm:
Read the plan. Child care is part of step 3 and states “… Education and child care: … Limited child care and summer programs open with IDPH approved safety guidance. …”
Step 2 is child care for essential workers. Step 3 is limited child care under IDPH guidelines.
If your day care provider can abide by step 3 IDPH guidelines, you ought to be able to go to work and not worry about your child care.
- thoughts matter - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 6:49 pm:
Limited child care is not child care for the masses.
- nadia - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 6:58 pm:
Just like a negotiations, once the employer responds to the concerns of the employees, the employees shoot holes in the response. And just like negotiations the final version will look much different than the first one. IMO, measured patience usually yields the best product.
- RDB - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 8:03 pm:
What I would tell the Eastern Bloc people is that most of the people living in the downstate regions will be a patient at either a single or two hospitals if they develop this virus. Carle Hospital is the medical center of choice for many people in a multi-County region, most of the “region”, with the rest at Sarah Bush Lincoln. Many of us travel to Champaign or Bloomington each week, so this makes sense.
- teacher - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 8:06 pm:
Has anyone seen a daycare where children under the age of 6 can follow classroom rules well, let alone a 6 foot “social distancing” guideline?
And since children are spreaders of all virus, seems to me daycares will be impossible to run until “covid19 is defeated”.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 9:40 pm:
== Read the plan. Child care is part of step 3 and states “==
You apparently can’t follow your own advice. Read the plan again, because you don’t seem to have done so the first time. Phase 3 specifically says “gatherings of less than 10”, which then leads into “limited child care and summer camps”. What day care operator is going to go through their list and pick the 10 kids that can come, and tell the rest of the parents to figure it out for themselves? Maybe even less than 10 kids, if you’re counting day care employees..
The administration didn’t think this part through all the way, it’s ok to admit it. You don’t have to slavishly defend each and every point. They can always fix this part of the plan.
- RNUG - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 10:37 pm:
== Our elderly in assisted living facilities are suffering from social isolation ==
I’ve seen pictures of family visiting through closed windows, writing notes on paper. For people living in single story facilities, that is a possibility.
- RNUG - Tuesday, May 5, 20 @ 10:44 pm:
== These kinds of plans assume that there is someone at home to be with the kids when they’re not at school. ==
Whoever drew that plan up either was not considering the potential impact on possible elderly grandparent babysitters or they are trapped in the 50’s vision of a 2 parent home where only one parent works.
Really does need more thought and refinement.
- thoughts matter - Wednesday, May 6, 20 @ 12:26 am:
= I’ve seen pictures of family visiting through closed windows, writing notes on paper. For people living in single story facilities, that is a possibility.=
If my parents had a window instead of french patio doors, I’d be willing to try that. My Mom wouldn’t be able to resist opening the door. She has seen me drop off groceries at the front door Of the building multiple times and moved towards me every time even though she’s not supposed to. The staff now comes outside to get the groceries partially to head off things like that.
I call her daily, but it’s not the same.
- Social Distancing - Wednesday, May 6, 20 @ 7:38 am:
I wish more thought would have gone into childcare. I don’t know how anything can reopen without it. Kids haven been out of school, some “eLearning” for weeks while their parents have to stay home - missing work or balance trying to keep their jobs and work from home. It’s unsustainable stress on parents. And in some cases, we exchanging young healthy people that could care for children with their grandparents, that are the most vulnerable population.
There has to be more balance on reopening. I don’t want to see people die of Coronavirus. I’m very concerned about people with depression and isolated - thinking of suicide. And the people stuck at home with their abusers or do not have enough to eat. I feel like we could do more to protect people vulnerable to the virus and reopen to protect and prevent unintended casualties of this virus.
- Child Care - Tuesday, May 12, 20 @ 10:03 am:
How do we get the governor to address this issue in phase 3? My daycare center would like to open, but has no guidelines in place to be able to do so. No on is able to clarify what “limited child care” is.