'Containment phase' on coronavirus
State, cities, counties move to ban public gatherings of more than 1,000 for a month as seven new cases registered of COVID-19
Gov. Pritzker leads Thursday’s coronavirus briefing, backed by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, state Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike, and Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady. (Illinois Information Service)
By Ted Cox
State and local officials moved to ban public gatherings of 1,000 people or more for 30 days across Illinois over concerns about the coronavirus on Thursday, as seven more COVID-19 cases were confirmed, bringing the state total to 32.
Speaking at a daily briefing on the outbreak at the Thompson Center in Chicago, Gov. Pritzker led local officials in counseling calm, but also “strongly suggesting” prevention in the spread of the disease.
“We will not let you down in these challenging times,” Pritzker said.
The Illinois primary “will proceed forward on Tuesday,” Pritzker said, as election officials take additional measures to sanitize polling places throughout the day, but major sporting events and other gatherings of what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called “conferences, banquets, concerts, and such” will not be allowed out of a sense of precaution.
All gatherings of 1,000 people or more are cancelled for the next 30 days, and officials urged that gatherings of more than 250 people be put off until at least May. Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s commissioner of public health, said those figures were not reached arbitrarily, but were based on science and the current likelihood that an infected person might turn up at those gatherings and how conducive they are to transmission of the virus. Major sporting events are likewise banned until May.
Calling it a “containment phase,” or tipping point, Arwady said, “Now is the time for people to be taking these recommendations seriously.”
“We have seen what works and what doesn’t work from other countries around the world,” Pritzker said. “Don’t be fooled into thinking that your community is immune. It is not.
“Don’t be fooled into thinking that your community is immune. It is not.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (WLS-TV Channel 7)
“I wish I could tell you that going about your everyday lives with no adjustments was the best course of action right now. It is not.”
But Chicago Public Schools and other school districts will remain open, although Pritzker cautioned again about sporting events and drew a sharp contrast between a contained classroom and a major school assembly.
“At this time, CPS will remain open,” Lightfoot said, citing what is now a low chance of spreading the infection among children — although one of the seven new cases announced Thursday was of a child. She dismissed calls for schools to be closed, pointing out that many children rely on schools not just for education but for meals, while parents would potentially see their ability to work disrupted. “We’re not there yet,” she said, “and we may not get there.
“The health of others is dependent on common-sense decisions that we make today, the decisions each of us makes,” she said. “We are a city that is well-prepared, we are a state and a county that is well-prepared.”
Lightfoot said Chicago would be releasing a new policy on sick leave for government employees on Friday, adding, “We encourage private employers to do the same.
“We recognize that there are going to be economic consequences,” she added, “but this is a time when we have an opportunity to bend the curve and the arc of this virus in a different direction, and I think people understand and appreciate why we’re doing this and why we’re making these suggestions.”
Lightfoot advised those noticing COVID-19 symptoms — which resemble a cold or influenza at the onset — to “seek treatment without fear.”
Access to the Thompson Center will be limited to those doing state business. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said county government meetings will be canceled through April, but for the Finance Committee and the County Board, which will meet March 26 with a limited agenda. Lightfoot said next Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting would likewise proceed with a limited agenda.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the seven new cases included two in Chicago, again including the one Illinois child infected so far, with three in Cook and one each in Kane and McHenry counties, both of which had previously registered cases.
“Anyone can be infected with this virus,” she said, but again counseled calm and cited the relatively low incidence among children. “You may not have a case in your community now. We anticipate that there will be. We need to look not only where the virus is now, but work preemptively to try to mitigate additional cases that will be coming.”
“Our data in Illinois is very similar to what we’ve seen internationally,” Arwady added, with about 80 percent of cases “relatively mild,” 20 percent presenting “more serious illness” requiring hospitalization, and 5 percent requiring intensive care. The mortality rate has remained between 1 and 2 percent.
While some Illinoisans have already been treated for the disease and released, “We do have some cases in serious condition,” Arwady said. When the number of cases statewide more than doubled from 11 on Monday, when the governor issued a disaster proclamation, to 25 on Wednesday, she called that a “trigger point” calling for stronger containment measures.
“I ask you to be guided by the science and by the recommendations that we’re giving,” Arwady said. “It’s not a time for panic. It’s a time for planning and a time for taking the guidance seriously.
“The time is now for all of us to take this guidance and put it into action,” she added.
Pritzker said the federal government had delivered “a few thousand more tests” for the virus, but added, “We have had not enough tests … and there still are not enough tests.”
According to Pritzker, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially tried to impose a monopoly on testing, but faced with the expanding national outbreak had allowed local research facilities to begin trying to develop their own. He said Vice President Pence, placed in charge of the federal response, had told him the new tests would be available last Friday, but they have yet to turn up. “I know they’re all working on it,” he said, “but we don’t have the tests yet.”
He was unsparing on the response to the crisis by President Trump, saying, “Let me remind you that the president of the United States said that anybody who needs a test can get a test. That was not true. It still is not true.”
Pritzker and Lightfoot urged residents to pull together, with Lightfoot telling citizens to “be a good neighbor,” especially in checking up on senior citizens and those with underlying medical conditions, such as weakened immune systems.
“Find your way to be a helper,” Pritzker said. “And together we’ll find a way to the other side.”