Guv welcomes Biden leadership on COVID
Pritzker approves new stricter resurgence mitigations on collar counties, southern Illinois
Gov. Pritzker is imposing new stricter resurgence mitigation measures on southern Illinois and Will, Kankakee, Kane, and DuPage counties. (Illinois.gov)
By Ted Cox
As COVID-19 cases increased across the state, Gov. Pritzker welcomed the leadership already being shown by President-elect Joe Biden.
“Americans voted for national leadership dedicated to decency, unity, kindness, and equity,” he said Monday at the daily coronavirus briefing at the Thompson Center in Chicago. He praised voters across the nation who “looked out upon this country’s leadership over the last four years and said, ‘I know we can do better than this.’”
Pritzker welcomed Biden’s immediate appointment of a COVID-19 task force, as well as the president-elect’s call Monday for a national mask mandate along with expanded testing, saying, “Today is even more about action than accomplishment.” Calling it “the sorely needed national action on this issue,” he said, “We will continue to work with the federal government, soon with at least one fewer major impediment,” clearly meaning President Trump.
The state, however, couldn’t wait for Biden’s inauguration in January to take action. Newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 10,000 for the fourth day in a row, with 10,573 announced Monday, after hitting a new record of 12,438 on Saturday. Illinois was on course to pass 500,000 total cases on Tuesday, and 14 new deaths attributed to the disease took the statewide toll to 10,210.
“We may have a real problem on our hands,” Pritzker said. “It’s only going to get worse.” In the “war” against COVID-19, he added, “the virus is winning the war right now.”
With that, the governor announced stricter resurgence mitigations on southern Illinois, Region 5 in the plan to Restore Illinois, and Regions 7 and 8, Kankakee, Will, Kane, and DuPage counties, effective Wednesday. The testing positivity rate has hit 11.5 percent in southern Illinois, with coronavirus hospitalizations doubling since August, and Regions 7 and 8 have positivity rates of 13 percent.
They’ll all join Region 1, northwest Illinois, in seeing public gatherings limited to 10 people, whether indoors or out, along with a “table cap” of six people in being served outdoors at restaurants and bars.
The governor insisted these steps would once again “bend the curve,” in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, saying, “If people will follow the mitigations, the numbers will go down.” He expressed sympathy for the way northwest Illinois has seen positivity rates remain stubbornly high, and pointed out that the region is closed in by Wisconsin, where positivity rates have hit 44 percent, and Iowa, which has seen 30 percent positivity on tests.
Yet he also warned, “Mitigations are only effective if they’re followed. Too many local officials across the state are ignoring their local public health departments and doing nearly nothing to assist their residents in following even the most basic COVID-19 guidelines.
“Some elected leaders are allowing this continued rise in positivity to balloon out of control while taking no action,” he added. “These mayors and city councils and county boards and state’s attorneys need to take some responsibility for keeping their constituents safe.
“So it’s a challenge, no doubt about it,” Pritzker said. “We do need people to listen and follow those mitigations.” He concluded, “We really need local officials to take more responsibility.”