Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker officially announced Thursday that the state is extending its stay-at-home order through May 30.
Beginning May 1, people in Illinois over the age of 2 will be required to wear a face-covering or mask “when in a public place where they can’t maintain a six-foot social distance.”
Essential businesses and manufacturers will be required to provide face-coverings to all employees who are not able to maintain social distancing. These businesses will also have to adhere to occupancy limits and potentially stagger shifts.
Non-essential retail businesses may reopen for online orders and curbside pick-up.
Greenhouses, garden centers and nurseries may reopen as essential businesses, but must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Animal grooming services may also reopen.
Some parks will reopen May 1. Fishing and boating will be allowed in groups of two people or fewer. Golf will be permitted under strict safety guidelines.
Additionally, schools can establish procedures for pick-up of necessary supplies and student belongings.
The new order, including all these measures, will take effect May 1.
Illinois has been under a stay-at-home order since March 21. The original order lasted through April 7, but was later extended through April 30. Last week, Pritzker announced that schools would not resume in-person classes for the remainder of the school year.
“This is the part where we have to dig in and we have to understand that the sacrifices we made as a state are working, and we need to keep going,” Pritzker said.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also announced 1,826 new cases of COVID-19 and 123 additional deaths statewide Thursday. Illinois has now seen 36,934 positive cases of the virus. A total of 1,688 people have died throughout the state. The state has tested 173,316 people.
Pritzker joined an agreement last week with the governors of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Minnesota to coordinate how to reopen the economies of the region. The states do not necessarily have to take the same measures, but they will coordinate and discuss when and how to reopen for business.
States are handling the situation differently across the country. Georgia is allowing certain non-essential businesses to open Friday. Tennessee, Ohio, Colorado, Idaho and North Dakota will open some businesses May 1.
Illinois State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) and other state Republicans have been criticizing the governor’s lack of discussing ways for small businesses to continue despite the stay-at-home.
“What we have been fighting for is opening up our economy where it makes sense with proper health measures in place,” Keicher said. “We need to have some of these businesses that are literally threatened with permanent closure the opportunity to save the livelihood for the people that not only own it but work there. And we can do that in many areas: healthcare, garden centers, recreation activities, dog groomers. There are so many areas where we can if we’re allowing grocery stores to open with measures, where we can safely allow these to open as well.
“I’m hopeful that the governor listens to the feedback of the people channeled through their legislative representatives on addressing these smart, safe, healthy openings. And whether that’s social distancing, face masks or whatever it is, there are many people that are getting sick and tired of staying home, and many people scared to death of getting sick. There’s a balance in the middle that we can identify, and he’s been reluctant to do that so far.”
When asked if he agrees with the stay-at-home order extension: “Let’s see what it says, because we don’t have any insight into what it will actually look like but at the end of the day, the worse thing we can do is allow this disease to remain unchecked.”
Source: The Daily Chronicle