Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: 163 new cases, one more dead
Next Post: Executive Order now online
Posted in:
* Gov. JB Pritzker started today by expressing condolences for the latest Illinois death. He then talked about all the experts he has consulted on the pandemic…
Well, they’ve come back to me with one inescapable conclusion. To avoid the loss of potentially 10s of thousands of lives, we must enact an immediate stay at home order for the state of Illinois. So that is the action that I’m announcing today.
We have looked closely at the trajectory of this virus in countries like Italy and China left unchecked cases in Illinois will rise rapidly. Hospitalization systems will be overwhelmed protective equipment will become scarce, and we will not have enough healthcare workers or hospital beds or ventilators for the overwhelming influx of sick patients. The only strategy available to us to limit the increase in cases and ensure our healthcare system has capacity to treat those who become ill, is to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus in the most robust manner possible.
I don’t come to this decision easily. I fully recognize that in some cases, I am choosing between saving people’s lives and saving people’s livelihoods. But ultimately you can’t have a livelihood. If you don’t have your life.
Of all the obligations that weigh on me as governor. This is the greatest. If there are actions that I can take that will save lives in the midst of this pandemic. No matter how difficult, I have an obligation to take these actions.
Therefore, starting tomorrow evening Saturday, March 21 at 5pm, until the end of April 7, all our residents will be subject to a stay at home order, there is a great deal of misunderstanding about what a stay at home order means. So I want to clarify it for everybody.
Here’s what will stay the same.
You’ll still be able to leave your house to go to the grocery store to get food, you’ll still be able to visit a pharmacy go to a medical office or hospital or to gas up your car at a gas station, you’ll still be able to go running and hiking and walk your dog. Many, many people will still go to work for the vast majority of you already taking precautions, your lives will not change very much.
There is absolutely no need to rush out to a grocery store or gas station on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and every day thereafter, those will be available to you.
Agriculture and the press, veterinarians and plumbers, laundromats and banks, roadsm bridges and transit. The fundamental building blocks that keep our society safe and steady will not be closing down.
You can still pick up dinner from your local restaurant, pick up your prescriptions and just spend time with your family. We are doing all that we can to maintain as much normalcy as possible while taking the steps that we must to protect you.
That brings me to what will change all non essential businesses must stop operating. If you can work from home and aren’t already doing so, now is the time when you must. The heroes of this moment are healthcare workers, first responders, law enforcement officers and the individuals and organizations like the Illinois AFL CIO and other workers who keep our grocery stores and pharmacies running cannot stay home. We need you.
This executive order is fundamentally about the rest of us. And what we can do to support the people on the front lines of this fight, and the people most vulnerable to its consequences. We know this will be hard. And we’re looking at every tool that we have to help you through this crisis. For our essential workers we’re going to make sure you have safe daycare, to take care of your children, while you do the critical work to save us and to keep us safe.
* Evictions…
To those that we are asking to stay home, we’re ordering municipalities across the state to halt all evictions. We need our local leaders to help ensure our families do not lose their homes. I’m also directing additional resources to organizations across the state to serve those experiencing homelessness, for our students, your school district will continue to provide you with meals, and we will back them up in this.
* Schools…
I wish I could stand up here and tell you when your schools will safely reopen. But that is not an answer that I have at this time we’re postponing our tentative reopening date statewide until April 8 and we’ll continue to update you with new information as we have it.
* Enforcement…
To be honest, we don’t have the resources, the capacity or the desire to police every individual’s behavior enforcement comes in many forms and our first and best option is to rely on Illinoisans to be good members of their communities and good citizens, working together to keep each other safe.
I’ve instructed law enforcement to monitor for violations and take action when necessary, but that is not an option that anyone prefers.
* The future…
The easy thing to say today is that soon, everything will go back to the way it was. But I want to be honest with you about that too. We don’t know yet all the steps, we’re going to have to take to get this virus under control.
* Mayor Lori Lightfoot…
So many Chicagoans have already heeded our calls to stay home and are practicing social distancing. And for those residents, today’s announcement won’t drastically change the day to day changes you’ve already taken. But while many have listened, some have not. It’s clear that the time is now for us to be very definitive in telling people that you must stay home and the governor explained what this order is and what it requires from each of us.
And I want to say to be clear, this is not a lockdown or martial law.
As the governor said and I want to reiterate, Chicago’s grocery stores pharmacies and clinics will remain open. And there’s absolutely no need to change your normal purchasing patterns. What I mean is, do not take this direction as a reason to run to the stores, buy everything inside and hoard vital supplies. Please, the grocery stores will remain open and stocked, so be mindful of your neighbors, and do not hoard supplies. Hospitals, will continue to treat patients, the city’s essential services will not cease. The CTA will run, airports will be open and your garbage will be collected.
* Lightfoot to close parks and libraries…
I also want to announce it in light of this order, we will be closing fully Chicago parks and libraries for the duration of this order. Some of these facilities may be repurposed to help support some other essential services by third parties, but effective tomorrow at 5pm, all city parks and libraries will be closed.
* Press release…
U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today released the following statement after Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker ordered a statewide Shelter-in-Place amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic:
“Governor Pritzker’s shelter-in-place order is critical to slowing the spread of COVID-19. This pandemic will continue to disrupt our daily lives, but it is more important than ever for all Illinoisans to follow official health and safety guidance, practice social distancing, and do everything in their power to avoid infecting themselves and others in their community. Our actions today will save lives tomorrow.”
* Today’s updated graph…
* On to questions for the governor. He explained the consequences for violating the order…
We’re calling on people to use their best judgment to follow the guidance that we’re giving them. We’re, of course, authorizing that the members of law enforcement, if they see somebody who’s maybe violating this order, they would go talk to them and ask them not to. And then if the people who are violating the rule refuse to comply, a police officer could get a cease and desist order they’d have to go get one at a court to do that. And then finally in a, you know, in the last resort really, you know. There is the kind of reckless conduct misdemeanor that someone could be charged with, but look we anticipate that people will follow this order.
Mayor Lightfoot said “We’re going to educate people into compliance.”
* Rumors about martial law, etc…
There have been a lot of rumors circulating around that are completely inaccurate, rumors that there’s martial law that’s going to be imposed, that we’ve called out the Guard or the military somehow to impose their will upon the state of Illinois.
Those are all false and I want people to take a deep breath, people who have heard these rumors. Remember, in addition to people who just like to forward rumors around on Twitter or on Facebook, there is also, I hate to tell you, an effort by the Chinese government and the Russian government to feed into that paranoia, that people have about what’s going on the COVID-19 challenge.
* Childcare…
We are working very hard to provide childcare, especially for essential workers. We want to make sure that we’re standing up. Remember, we don’t want to put too many children or childcare workers in the same room together in the same facility. So we’re actually working to provide the right size, small sizes of perhaps a half a dozen children.
* What about the 225 juveniles held in detention…
Department of Juvenile Justice in the state, we do not have very many kids who are in those facilities in general, it’s a little over 200 as was suggested. And then we are making sure to maintain social distancing in those facilities, and you know where we can we’re certainly going to look at the possibility of those kids being allowed to return home, but most importantly we want them to have shelter we want them to be safe and healthy. We’re going to work very hard to make that make sure that that happens
* State prisoners…
Wwe know that there’s a risk as there is anywhere where you might put a lot of people together that there would be an infection. And so we’re working very hard to make sure there are areas for segregating people who may get the flu or get a cold or some other condition that you know if COVID 19 was something that might infect them there wouldn’t be a comorbidity as they call it. And so we’re working hard in our prisons to make sure that happens. And as I mentioned at the point in an earlier, press conference, we’re also looking at the possibility of people with nonviolent offenses, who have served much of their time that the possibility of alleviating some of the burden in the Department of Corrections by allowing them to be paroled with a lot of conditions associated with that.
* You’ve said this order is until April 7th, but how do you know it might go longer than that…
I think you’ve seen that we’ve had to work quickly act, with haste, based upon the information that we’re given guidance by the CDC, what the experts are telling us. So I’m not going to tell you, as I said earlier, I’m not going to tell you that I know that the end of April 7 is ultimately the end date.
-30-
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:17 pm
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: 163 new cases, one more dead
Next Post: Executive Order now online
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Nice that mayor lightfoot inserted political commentary into her press announcement.
Comment by Anon Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:24 pm
===Nice that mayor lightfoot inserted political commentary into her press announcement.===
The continued awfulness of the Trump administration in handling this crisis needs to be repeated often and oftener.
Comment by Nick Name Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:26 pm
Anyone have a link to the Executive Order?
Comment by IBEW Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:28 pm
I appreciate that Chicago Public Library will close after 5 pm tomorrow as part of this order. It made no sense that City Hall was closed but not the Library.
Comment by Christopher Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:29 pm
Where did JB find this lady, can she be more dramatic?
Comment by Dakota Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:32 pm
===The continued awfulness of the Trump administration in handling this crisis needs to be repeated often and oftener. ===
The continued flogging of the federal administration for what has traditionally been a state and local responsibility is really amazing.
There is a stark contrast between how some commenters on this blog view the administration’s actions and how people in the red states surrounding Illinois view them. It is lost on many here.
Comment by Ex. Prairie Stater Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:34 pm
I’m guessing that she had a double major, with one being Drama. I had to turn it off.
Comment by SSL Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:35 pm
===what has traditionally been a state and local responsibility===
Nope.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:36 pm
Where does the tens of thousands of lives number come from and how do we trust it is accurate? Or even how this number is knowable? Don’t give me a generic because some scientists say so. Describe the process used to arrive at the conclusion. After all, some scientific sources now quoted as gospel originally said this virus was not transferrable among humans. If the conclusion this is all necessary to save tens of thousands of lives is in fact correct then drastic action is justified. But outside your little bubble here, there is a fair amount of skepticism mixed in the with the fear.
Comment by Captain Obvious Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:37 pm
It’s counterintuitive, but she’s right: we can do the most good by basically doing nothing.
Comment by Nick Name Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:38 pm
“It is lost on many here.”
We know full-well that Trump said this crisis is a hoax and purposely downplayed it, which is grossly irresponsible and dangerous.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:39 pm
====Where does the tens of thousands of lives number come from and how do we trust it is accurate?
You are asking for an entire college major of learning in a comment section. Maybe go do some reading.
Comment by ArchPundit Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:40 pm
===what has traditionally been a state and local responsibility===
Explain FEMA, for one example
=== It is lost on many here.===
Florida beaches, still open.
It’s not lost me the danger that is causing, even now.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:41 pm
@Ex Prairie
== state and local responsibility ==
That’s what Herbert Hoover said
Comment by Hamlet's Ghost Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:42 pm
Ex Prarie Stater
Just watched Gov Parsons speech on channel 12. Basically he has no intention of disrupting business. When asked medical questions, literally left the podium and had someone else answer them.
That’s Missouri.
Comment by efudd Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:43 pm
===The continued awfulness of the Trump administration in handling this crisis needs to be repeated often and oftener.===
Sure, it isn’t as though we haven’t heard it each and every single day, more or less nonstop, since the last election.
Add yet more to it, I’m sure that will be very helpful and interesting.
Comment by Hi There Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:43 pm
The CDC was created for national problems in 1946: https://www.cdc.gov/about/history/index.html
We are no longer an agrarian nation, but a large industrial and technologically sophisticated nation that is interconnected. It is a fantasy to think that state and local governments can handle this kind of crisis.
Comment by ArchPundit Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:46 pm
===But outside your little bubble here===
To help you get outside YOUR bubble, here’s a little light reading on how exponential growth works, the wheat and chessboard problem:
https://tinyurl.com/kcjqszp
Comment by Nick Name Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:47 pm
If our neighbors want to roll the dice with their lives to avoid some inconvenience, that’s their choice. Personally, I’d rather avoid any undue health issues for myself or anyone I’m close to. Glad we have a governor willing to make a tough call like this as opposed to passing the buck.
Comment by Fixer Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:48 pm
~~But outside your little bubble here, there is a fair amount of skepticism mixed in the with the fear~~
@captain obvious
Can you link to some?
Difficulty level- not a politician, reporter, or finance guy.
While you’re at it, could you explain what happens to someone when the 384 ventilators that were available are all in use in a couple days?
Comment by jimbo Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:49 pm
===There is a stark contrast between how some commenters on this blog view the administration’s actions and how people in the red states surrounding Illinois view them.===
Red states gotta red state. See: Florida beaches and efudd @3:43 p.m.
Comment by Nick Name Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:49 pm
I’m praying for all you guys and hoping for the best.
Reality is, economically, this is going to be doomsday for just about every indistry.
Comment by Praying Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:51 pm
- Captain Obvious -
Time to change your moniker. You clearly cannot see the obvious.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:53 pm
=== It’s lost on many here ===
Does Ohio count?
Here is the news from Rolla, Missouri where conservatives sound none-to-happy:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.therolladailynews.com/zz/news/20200320/new-ad-from-conservative-group-targets-trump-on-coronavirus-messaging%3ftemplate=ampart
Comment by Thomas Paine Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:54 pm
@exprairiestarter This is a national problem so it can’t be addressed solely by the states. By doing at state level we run into problems as demonstrated by yesterday and today in the Federal press conferences. Yesterday the President said that it was up to the states to order needed supplies. Today he was asked about states not being able to get the needed supplies because the Federal government is beating them out in ordering. That is why there needs to be true leadership truly coordinating this.
Comment by illinifan Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:57 pm
That is such an uuuugggglllllyyyy chart.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 3:59 pm
=== ===what has traditionally been a state and local responsibility===
Nope.====
Rich not sure how you restrain yourself. Sometimes the simplest answer is the best.
I write a lot of stuff before I post and then end up deleting it. But that’s mainly because I don’t want to be banned.
Comment by Been There Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:03 pm
=what has traditionally been a state and local responsibility +
Because, of course, viruses don’t cross state lines.
~rolls eyes~
Comment by JoanP Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:04 pm
It is time to take deep breaths. Relax. We are in something we have not faced in our lifetimes. We have a real threat in this virus and we must work together for the common good. The life and wellbeing of your parents, children, grandchildren and everyone you hold dear are threatened by something we cannot see and few really understand.
Spend this time with family if you are in that position. Remind yourself what is important.
Rich, an Oscar post would be appreciated by many.
Comment by FormerParatrooper Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:05 pm
The two biggest concerns I have on how to approach this are the period before it kicks in and how long the virus remains on surfaces. Both estimates seemed to have increased a lot in just the last week.
Comment by Been There Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:06 pm
I’m fortunate enough to live in the middle of nowhere, probably not 50 people within a mile of my property.
I’m blessed. Keep your heads up people, we’ll get through this.
Comment by efudd Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:09 pm
=This is a national problem so it can’t be addressed solely by the states.=
Exactly. There’s no IL Fed or bank to solve the monetary and liquidity problems we’re now facing. No IL CDC or FEMA. No stimulus package that our representatives can put together. We need a coordinated federal, state, and local response. That federal government has to lead this effort. States have been forced to take action because Washington has been asleep at the wheel.
And if it’s not too much to ask, honesty and a little empathy would be appreciated as well.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:21 pm
Speaking to the question of where the “saving tens of thousands” comes from, it’s in the nature of contagion to expand exponentially. In schools they sometimes teach this to kids using “the lily pad problem”:
A lily pad grows so that each day it doubles its size (area). On the 20th day of its life, it completely covers the pond. On what day of its life was the pond half covered? Answer: day 5.
That’s the nature of exponential infection spread. Change “lilly pads” to “infected homes”. One casual disbelieving skeptic out defying the precautions thus has effects way out of proportion to what they think.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:26 pm
What about the thousands if not 10s of thousands of businesses that have been closed?
What about the 10s of thousands if not 100s of thousands of workers now out of work?
Many of these businesses will never reopen.
Many of these workers will never get their jobs back.
None thought to ask that question?
No platitudes for them?
What about the inability to be serviced through IDES? People will need unemployment benefits but they get no response.
What about people making child support payments? How will they be treated if they are no longer working?
Maybe theses measures are necessary but it is not definitly so.
The governors cavilier attitude towards the working people of illinois id unfathomable
Comment by Stickman Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:33 pm
This.
This is it in a nutshell;
===I am choosing between saving people’s lives and saving people’s livelihoods. But ultimately you can’t have a livelihood. If you don’t have your life.===
Start your arguments here.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:34 pm
Epidemiologist Dr. Emily Landon from U of C gave an excellent explanation of why shelter at home is important.
Comment by Wensicia Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:37 pm
The problem he is not applying these same rules to his own agencies. They are denying telecommuting and still running near normal resident movement in DHS and DOC.
Comment by Southern Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:41 pm
@stickman- what Willy said. I watched Pritzker today. There was nothing cavalier about him. He acknowledged the serious problems that will result from his actions.
On another front, Trump is a “fan” of an unproven cure. Debunked by the man standing behind him. Trump ran on and got testy about his “feeling”.
Pritzker talks facts.
I’ll go with that.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:42 pm
OW
So there is two choices.
Die or be without means of sustenance.
They both look like the same thing to me.
As I said this action many be necessary but you can’t ignore the situation these people are in.
Comment by stickman Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:46 pm
=The governors cavilier attitude towards the working people of illinois id unfathomable=
I think he’s been anything but cavalier, actually. Look, the questions you’re asking are valid, and there are no easy answers. On the one hand, we can let the virus run unchecked and a million and a half Americans will die. On the other hand, we can destroy the economy in the short term, with thousands of casualties along the way, in an effort to save those lives. I think most people, the Governor included, have made the difficult decision to preference lives over the economy see the quote OW cited. But I’d be interested to hear your argument for saving the economy at the cost of a million lives if you’d like to make it.
Comment by LakeCo Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:46 pm
=Die or be without means of sustenance.=
Are you being maybe a *smidge* dramatic? There is unemployment insurance and the possibility of other work (I hear Amazon is hiring) and food banks and the kindness of family and neighbors who are pulling together in this crisis, and the certainty that the economy WILL rebound one day, however far away that is.
Death, on the other hand, is pretty permanent and irreversible.
Comment by LakeCo Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:50 pm
Southern:
You’ve been here with that same complaint for several days now. Should they be limiting the movement of inmates? Absolutely. But you continue to complain about not being allowed to telecommute. That isn’t going to happen if you work in a facility. Everybody that is able to telecommute has been sent home to do so. If a person is at work its because they need to be there.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:50 pm
JS Mill
Acknowledged generic problems but provided no specific solutions for the unemployed
Comment by Stickman Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:51 pm
==you can’t ignore the situation these people are in==
I don’t think anybody is ignoring. I think they are painfully aware of it.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:52 pm
It isn’t an either/or choice. If this virus is allowed to run its course unchecked there will be a very large number of deaths which will also destroy the economy with the economic fallout lasting over a longer term. I prefer the reduce the number of deaths which is likely to also result in less total damage to the economy. Pritzker is striving to manage both the short and longer term damage from a bad situation instead of tying his arms in knots trying to pat himself on the back like a pseudo leader.
Comment by former southerner Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:54 pm
Watching JBT after watching DJT makes one appreciate his actions and demeanor that much more.
The DJT answer to the question what he would say to Americans who are worried was, um, downright surreal. He gets what I would consider a softball question and just gives an awful, awful answer.
Comment by Original Rambler Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:55 pm
=== Die or be without means of sustenance.===
No.
“I am choosing between saving people’s lives and saving people’s livelihoods.”
The governor can speak for himself, and frankly, I don’t think he, or anyone wants *me* to speak for them… but it reads to me, saving more lives means sacrifices, and no sacrifices may mean not saving lives.
===They both look like the same thing to me.===
“The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.“ - Full Metal Jacket
Here’s the thing, only for me, not this governor or his administration… this is indeed effecting me, my family, those close to me, friends… but like disasters, any disaster, being around after it is still the better alternative.
I don’t know who will get it, who won’t, how this will play out with me, my family and friends, but their safety is at risk. I know that. The rest I’ll have to piece together from all that is broken.
===many be necessary===
Then it’s necessary. The choice of what the necessity means, well, that’s the nutshell we find ourselves.
With respect.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 4:57 pm
Everybody that is able to telecommute has been sent home to do so. If a person is at work its because they need to be there.
Your replies that last couple of days puts you in an obvious category- AFSCME leadership. There are a lot of people that shouldn’t be walking around these facilities right now. AFSCMEs silence will make them just as responsible as the administration if this spreads throughout these facilities.
Comment by Southern Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 5:01 pm
==== So there is two choices.
Die or be without means of sustenance.
They both look like the same thing to me.
As I said this action many be necessary but you can’t ignore the situation these people are in.====
So taking what is basically a long vacation, albeit with no pay, is on par with dying? Not having a paycheck can have very serious consequences. But there is always a chance for things to change. Dying? Pretty much that’s all they wrote. Unless you believe in reincarnation.
Comment by Been There Friday, Mar 20, 20 @ 7:26 pm