* After a quick update on where testing stands, the governor took questions from reporters.

Please remember to pardon all transcription errors.

Obviously the mayor had her news conference a short time ago and a couple of differences in the timetables. Hers talks about 14 day timetables across all of the important metrics. You have 28 days on hospital admissions. Can you explain the difference? Are you considering making revisions to 14 days as well?…

No, but I think if you look at the mayor’s plan, and of course the mayor and I have spoken about this plan before, and indeed earlier today. It really is within the parameters of the plan that we put forward.

In other words, it is likely that, because they have some more stringent parts of their plan that when you put all of the pieces of it together from a timing perspective, it will fit I think nicely into the framework that we put forward.

And I think you know other local governments should be considering doing the same thing, thinking about how they can fit their timetables for opening businesses that are particular to their area of the state within the timetables that we’ve laid out, because those are the kind of the safety guidance and guidelines that we’ve set out, but the local governments, like the city of Chicago, are allowed to be more stringent than the state.

* This is the fourth day in a row of 100 plus fatalities. I believe that’s the first time we hit four days of triple digits. What does this suggest in terms of where we are and what the trend says?…

Dr. Ezike: Again, I think people who studied statistics know that you can’t go by a couple of days. It’s the average and where we’re going.

So I think if you look at our averages per week, we definitely have hit a peak of deaths in two weeks, maybe a week ago, so I don’t think overall this is one of our heaviest weights, even though there may have been a cluster of deaths that were reported that seemed high in four days in a row. But if you maybe take the aggregate and look at weeks I don’t think this week has been worse than last week so again, looking day to day or even looking at several days is a little bit harder. I think when you stand back and maybe take a week at a time, we can get bigger trends and to get a more more balanced view and I think, overall, I think we’re going in the right direction I think definitely this week.

Is that as important of a metric as positivity for hospital admissions?…

Well they’re related, they’re all related. So you could imagine that the deaths might be proportional to people being hospitalized, people being hospitalized will be proportional to the number of people who got infected. So I think it’s a continuum. If you think of how the disease would happen first, there would be the virus, somebody would get infected, somebody might get sick, somebody might get hospitalized, might get into the ICU, so there is a continuum there. So all of these statistics and these metrics actually do relate to one another.

Dr. Ezike then said that the Kawasaki type illness seen in young children lately will be made a “reportable illness” by IDPH.

* Restaurants, they are desperately asking that they can reopen in phase three perhaps at 25% capacity. This is an industry that’s used to being regulated they’re great at compliance, they’re professionals. What are the experts telling you that the scientist and they have to be knowledgeable about why 25% capacity in phase three can’t happen according to your plan?…

This is now secondhand information that maybe Dr. Ezike has something to add to because she’s been in many of those conversations too. But first of all, I mean I want as much as anyone to make sure that small businesses are able to open and so many restaurants and bars out there so people who risk their capital and their time and effort and energy to start those businesses and I know they are devastated and it’s why I support you know Sam Toia who’s the head of the Illinois Restaurant Association, has advocated for and he’s right that there ought to be support for the restaurant industry that comes out of the supports the cares act type supports that come out of Washington DC.

In terms of why the epidemiologists have seen restaurants as more difficult to open than let’s say other kinds of small shops. My understanding of it is that, because it’s very difficult to socially distance as between a server and the food, the server, the food and delivery of the food to the table. It’s also difficult even to seat people at tables the way they’re normally configured in a six foot distance for everybody that’s sitting at a table. So that’s my understanding of why you know as between I think you probably add to that the dishwasher. And the person who’s the chef in the back, the bartender and so on. Just the number of people who kind of come in contact with the thing that you’re ultimately getting delivered to you, and they can’t be delivered in a socially distance way is the reason.

Are you on the phone with Senator Durbin, with other congressional representatives regarding a federal bailout or relief package specific to restaurants because they’re as you indicated they’re really calling for that?…

Yeah, so I’ve been on the phone, I have been in contact with the restaurant association with many of the people in the industry, about that and certainly as I discuss the broader issue of support for state and local governments and small businesses with our federal representatives. I try always to bring in the different industries that I think they particularly a particular day, Illinois. And this is a good example, because we have so many restaurants and so many great restaurants in Illinois that attract people from around the world. So yeah, I try to bring up the industries that are most affected by COVID-19.

Is the restaurants, the [same as] how you went to bat for the hospitals for instance?…

And I do and I just to be clear, I just didn’t want to overstate I mean I do there are other industries that I also talked about I didn’t want to overstate how I talk about restaurants, but I do believe that Sam Toia and the industry is correct, that they deserve support so many small businesses and so many people depend upon those jobs as entry level jobs as well as permanent positions.

[This was followed by very detailed questions about IDES. I’m going to skip them for now because I’m behind.]

* Amy Jacobson from WIND asking you if Chicago sports teams can’t play in front of fans later this summer or fall, do you support the idea of letting them play in neighboring states?…

Well, I would listen we’re gonna work very hard to have a play here. I have spoken with the commissioners of the various major league teams. And they all are looking for ways to do it safely. They want to protect their players. They, none of them have suggested to me, short of getting to stage five really, that they would have fans or many fans in the stands. They are looking for television, the ability to broadcast a game. And so, as far as neighboring states, well we have all the facilities here for them to do it. We would want to see their plan. I’ve suggested that they are putting a plan together, where they already have put a plan together and they intend to submit it to have it reviewed by our medical experts and by me and to make sure that it fits with the stages and considerations that we’ve made for businesses. But look I’m the first person, I want to see sports play and I think it’s good for everybody. I think they can do it here in Illinois, and especially if you look at the timetable, there’s a high likelihood that they could do it within a timetable that we’re hoping that we’ll be able to reopen many businesses.

[Gotta hand it to her. That was a pretty good zinger.]

* Jordan: [A reporter] has a question that we are going to amend so we can get multiple questions out of the way. Governor, are you aware of the back to business plan made by representative Wilhour and Bailey in an effort to reopen Central Illinois regions, is this something you’ll consider? There are also many questions about XYZ plan from various places around the state. So let’s answer that all at once…

I am aware of multiple plans from multiple places around the state of Illinois. I think this demonstrates why there ought to have been a federal plan that was put forward. Because, now what you’ve got is a patchwork of states doing different things, some of us creating pacts in various regions of the country. And now you see counties want to put together their own plans, cities and counties, you know, cities want to work with other cities, mayor’s talking to each other, submitting plans. Everybody’s got a different plan. The truth is, this is why you need leadership. This is why you need to make sure that we’ve got a plan that works for the regions, that allows regions to move forward or backward if they’re meeting or not meeting the requirements for health. ButI have read many of these plans that have been put forward and I’ve included many of those ideas in our [plan].

* Should parents assume that summer camps will be canceled this year?…

I mean I suppose it depends upon the timing. I wouldn’t assume anything and I would look very intently for whether treatments are being developed. That will be appropriate for us to change the playbook because that’s what I’m really hoping we’ll be able to do. And of course in phase four we’ll be able to have 50 person gatherings and that is something that would work with summer programs. Maybe not overnight camps but there certainly could be camps of 50 people together.

* You said the other day that you don’t think the public will want to go to restaurants too soon, has the industry’s response to your reopening plan changed your thinking at all? Also Why doesn’t your plan require a decrease in cases like Mayor Lightfoot?…

I think if you look at other states that have simply flung the doors open on their restaurants you’ve seen that there are you know the expectation was very high that people go rushing back to restaurants they haven’t. And so that’s why I made the comment that I did I did make.

[On the Lightfoot part of the question] That’s a different approach that they’ve taken. That is absolutely something that we considered, but I just want to say that for those who think that we ought to be opening more quickly, I would say that our plan is makes it more likely that one could open at the end of May, than some other plans. And so you know I just say that requiring a decrease as opposed to a stability, when we have hospital availability if you meet all the other criteria then you know making sure you have positivity rates at a certain level hospital availability at a certain level and so on. Those things all work in tandem with one another, to get us you know healthy reopening. So I think the mayor’s plan is a is a good one for Chicago I haven’t looked at details, at least, you know, in the last day. If any changes were made, but it’s a good plan, it fits within the plans that we have for the state.

* Hundreds of thousands of people use public transit in Illinois every day during normal times. When the Northeast Region eventually reaches phase four, where gatherings of 50 or fewer are permitted, what direction will you give the RTA? Will there be limits on the number of people in train cars or buses, will large downtown companies who have a lot of employees coming into the Loop be required to participate in some sort of agreement of staggered work from home days to get ridership down?…

We will certainly be working on staggered work hours with major businesses, and all across the state honestly that are reliant upon mass transit. But that’ll obviously be much, much more concentrated in the collar counties and Cook County.

It is very important that we have our mass transit clean, and make sure that it is COVID free and that we protect all the people who are riding on mass transit. That’s something that I’ve expressed to the mayor and to many of the surrounding county leaders because we just have to make sure that people can use mass transit in a reopening society, on a regular basis. Otherwise, we won’t be able to reopen safely.

* Lori Lightfoot said today she’s determined to open schools this fall. Do you have a response to that statement and whether you’re considering this for the state?…

I think we’re all determined, want very badly for schools to open and that is my hope and desire. I think that’s what she is expressing as well, and planning I think you’ve got to do planning for reopening in the fall. So I, none of us knows what the future exactly holds but I think we have a great hope that and desire for reopening schools.

* Congressman LaHood joined two state lawmakers for a press conference in Quincy today. They say you should visit Quincy to see your impact to the order is having downstate. Will you leave Chicago?…

Yeah, and you know that I have regular contact with people in Quincy/ I certainly understand, read the newspapers, understand the challenges that all the areas of the state are undergoing. I think that someone who lives in Quincy can understand what’s going on in Cook County in the collar counties just as easily as somebody who may be standing in the cook and the collar counties can understand by reading what’s going on in their area. But I look forward to traveling around the state, and to, you know, speaking with elected officials and people about the challenges that people are having.

And, most importantly, I think, rather than traveling is just addressing those challenges which is what we’ve been doing for two months now. You know, this is my 61st day straight on the job, not just standing in front of a microphone, but working for the people of Illinois on this coronavirus crisis. And I’m not going to stop until we overcome it. I’m not going to stop until we revive the economy. It’s our obligation, we’ve got to get things moving again safely for our families.

* A restaurant owner in Southern Illinois reopened his restaurant this morning with plans to space people out, to practice social distancing. He says the local health department called and threatened to revoke his food permit. Now he plans to sue. Why isn’t the state’s criteria to reopen based on an individual business’s ability to practice social distancing?…

Because this virus isn’t limited to the four walls of that one business. That’s why.

* Exelon had its quarterly earnings call today and said it wants Springfield to deliver a subsidy package for its struggling nuclear plants by the end of May, or possibly the summer. Is that a priority for you right now, and how big of a problem is it for Exelon to advance any kind of agenda at the Capitol with all of the investigations into its lobbying activities still unresolved?…

Yeah, I’ve said that, you know, we’re gonna make sure that we work on an energy package for the state and we don’t need the high paid lobbyists to be guiding that for us. I think the legislature has been working on this for some time. I have been working on it for some time. And I can’t tell you exactly when something will get passed on it. My hope is that the legislature has been continuing its work in the working groups that have been created for it, as it has on so many other topics, and I look forward to the legislature getting together again to address so many challenges that we have. But is it true that that there are higher priorities right now? Yes there are higher priorities right now, and that’s reviving our economy.

* The city of Bloomington has canceled the Fourth of July fireworks display. Do you recommend more cities and towns do this considering it’s a gathering of more than 50 people?…

Again, I think people can read for themselves what the health consequences are of not following the rules that we put in place for each phase. So I think those are decisions that will have to be made at the local level. And again, you know I’m hoping that by July there will be some areas that we’ll be able to have gatherings of 50 or less, but there’s no guarantee of that and we’re watching it for the data, the science to determine whether and when these things can take place.

* Massachusetts and Illinois both reached 1000 cases within two days of each other. Massachusetts started contact tracing in April and they now have 1600 investigators. Why is Illinois so far behind Massachusetts?…

Actually we’ve been contact tracing since the very beginning and I think Dr Ezike was suggesting that earlier. Remember we have local county public health departments, they have health workers, neighborhood health workers. So does the city of Chicago, Cook County and other counties.

So there’s it’s not that there’s no contact tracing going on. What we’re spinning up in Illinois is a much more robust contact tracing effort, and it is like the one in Massachusetts. And indeed, you know we are following the model of Massachusetts taking a lot of advice from Massachusetts and we are working hard to spin that up but remember that much of what Massachusetts has is what much of what Illinois will be starting with which is all of the existing contact tracing that’s already going on and then we’ll be adding on workers and volunteers on top of that

[My question was why the state is lagging behind the state of Massachusetts and he did not answer it. I’ll ask again next week, I suppose.]

* Black and Latino people have disproportionately lost their jobs due to this pandemic, according to today’s jobs report. What will the state do to help workers of color who have been impacted by this?…

Yeah, well you know that’s what we’re trying to do as we reopen the economy, is to make sure we’re providing supports for families, as they get their jobs back or as they go seek a new job. It’s very important to me, in particular that we, those communities have been left out and left behind for decades, are the ones who are the first ones that are affected when we’ve got a downturn. And this downturn, which is caused by this invisible enemy, has so badly affected communities of color. So we’ve got to make sure that we’re focused on providing supports for communities. And by the way that also includes everybody else in the state that has been so badly affected. So those supports though in the communities that are poorest are the communities that are most hard hit are vitally important, so that’s part of what we’ll do. And then of course you know trying to revitalize the industries that employ many people across the state in particular communities of color is part of the plan going forward. I’m not, the plan that we put forward for restoring and reopening the state is just a beginning, you know, economic development, encouraging the creation of or the rebuilding of small businesses has got to be a vital part of what we do to build up the economy of the state in the aftermath or at least as we’re trying to deal with COVID-19 in a phase three, phase four and phase five world and that’s one of the reasons that I’ve gone back to Washington DC, to the people in Washington DC to ask them for support for the state so that we can do the work on the ground that a broad federal program can’t do, and that’s helping put back these jobs that have been lost.

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