Pritzker preps child care to reopen with Phase 3
Governor ‘very disappointed’ legislators won’t act on COVID scofflaw citations
Joined by a sign-language interpreter, Gov. Pritzker delivers the daily coronavirus briefing Friday at the Capitol in Springfield. (Illinois.gov)
By Ted Cox
The governor turned his attention to child care Friday as he prepared to ease restrictions on the statewide stay-at-home order “one week from today” with the expected move to the third phase of the Restore Illinois plan.
At the daily coronavirus briefing at the Capitol in Springfield, Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike announced 2,758 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and 110 deaths, bringing the state total to 105,444 cases and the statewide toll to 4,715. But hospitalizations for the coronavirus again dropped below 4,000, and Ezike and Gov. Pritzker maintained that the entire state was ready to see restrictions eased at the end of next week, opening many businesses and returning many Illinoisans to work.
On that note, the governor recognized the need for child care to ramp up as well. Stating that “Illinois has not seen significant transmission of COVID-19 in child-care settings,” Pritzker said, “Child care can be provided safely,” but he emphasized that last word given the uncertainty still surrounding COVID-19.
According to the governor, some 2,500 homes and 700 centers have provided emergency child care thus far in the pandemic to essential workers such as doctors and nurses and others on the front lines, like grocery employees. But that was just 15 percent of the previous statewide capacity before the pandemic,
With the move to the third phase of Restore Illinois, some 5,500 child-care providers will be called on to reopen. Most of those in home settings will see their already limited capacity figures stand, while larger centers would be limited to 10 children in a classroom, bringing the state to about three-quarters of the previous capacity.
The governor applauded critical additional funding to parents and providers granted through the Child Care Assistance Program, but called for more COVID-19 relief along those lines in any additional congressional funding package, saying, “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a red state or a blue state, every state is home to providers who need real assistance in sustaining their business through the coming months. And every child in every state deserves access to quality child care and early learning services.”
As already suggested, children younger than 3 will not be required to wear a mask, but older children will be asked to. “The more people wearing a mask in a group setting, the better,” Pritzker said.
But the governor said he was “very disappointed” the General Assembly appeared reluctant to act on a measure that would allow citations to be issued to scofflaw businesses that ignore the restrictions of the statewide stay-at-home order. “They don't seem to want to help in any way dealing with the COVID-19 crisis by offering us the ability to use a small enforcement mechanism that we've asked for,” Pritzker said. He had previously made the case for such citations by pointing out they set misdemeanor violations that have some teeth, with fines of up to $2,500, but without imposing the “Draconian” punishments of revoking a business license or shutting a business entirely. He dropped an executive order allowing those citations to be issued earlier this week with the expectation that the legislature would codify it instead while meeting in Springfield.
Legislators appeared set to work late into the night Friday to get a budget done, as well as address other pressing issues.
Pritzker rebuffed a question about whether he had “linked” Republican lawmakers to anti-Semitic protesters last weekend in a conscious political tactic. “I didn't link Republican elected officials to Nazi demonstrators. They linked themselves,” he said. “There are elected officials that are in the Bank of Springfield building right now,” where the state House was meeting, “who were out there speaking in front of the crowds that were holding pictures of Hitler, swastikas, and they knew they were there. They were holding up signs that said, ‘Death to tyrants,’ and then they had other signs that depicted me and Hitler. So, I would say that the Republicans have tagged themselves, and for as long as they do not call out the elected officials of their own party they are a part of the very problem that is existent in this country — of allowing hatred and bigotry.”
Even as the state appeared poised in all regions to move forward with the easing of stay-at-home restrictions at the end of next week, both Ezike and Pritzker urged Illinoisans to be cautious about gathering over the Memorial Day weekend. Ezike called on citizens to celebrate in a “safe and socially distanced way,” adding, “We will get to celebrations that we can celebrate with more normalcy in the future.”
“I know this is an unusual time. I ask you to take unusual precautions,” Pritzker said. “Keeping one another safe is the most important thing we can do.”