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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker warned Thursday that a “mandatory” stay-at-home order is possible “if things don’t turn out in the next few days.”
Speaking for the first time since the state’s health department issued new guidelines urging residents to stay home and work from home when possible, Pritzker said: “We’re running out of time and we are running out of options “.
“The numbers don’t lie,” Pritzker said. “If things don’t change in the next few days, we’ll quickly reach the point where some form of mandatory stay-at-home order will be all I have left. With every fiber of my being, I don’t want us to make it happen, but right now that seems to be where we’re headed. ”
He called on heads of state who do not follow state directives and “anti-masks” who refuse to follow directives.
“What will it take for this to be real to you?” He asked. “Do we have to achieve a 50% positivity rate as we are seeing today in Iowa?” Expect your health workers to get sick to the point where you don’t have enough staff at the local hospital to cover them. What if your hospitals become so overcrowded that your sick and dying have nowhere to go? ? Because I promise you, even if you fail to take responsibility in your city and county, that day is approaching – and be upon you. ”
Illinois health officials again reported more than 12,000 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases on Thursday, setting a record for the highest one-day report of new cases for the third day in a row.
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Wednesday issued new guidelines urging residents to stay home and only leave for “essential activities.”
The guidelines, which come just before the Thanksgiving holiday, recommend that for the next three weeks, residents “stay home as much as possible, leaving only for necessary and essential activities, such as work that needs to be done. outside the home, COVID- 19 tests, visit to the pharmacy and grocery store. “
IDPH Director Dr Ngozi Ezike talks about the latest coronavirus measurements for Illinois.
The guide also urges employers to have employees work from home as much as possible during this time.
“We are asking employers to make accommodations for this,” a department statement said. “Our goal is to reduce transmission as the holidays approach so that businesses and schools can stay open.”
Additionally, health officials suggest limiting travel and gatherings.
“In our current situation, with an increasing prevalence of the virus, attending even small gatherings that mix up households, or going to areas that experience high rates of positivity, is not advised and is potentially dangerous,” says the statement: “Please travel only if necessary.” “
Likewise, Chicago issued a stay-at-home advisory, which goes into effect Monday, urging residents to stay at home and implementing new assembly restrictions in the city.
Already, all of Illinois’ health regions were under increased state mitigation, shutting down indoor food and bar services and limiting the size of gatherings.
Three of those regions entered Level 2 of the state’s mitigation plan on Wednesday, limiting group sizes to tables for outdoor dining and further restricting the size of gatherings. Only one other region was already subject to such restrictions.
Gov. JB Pritzker said parts of Illinois have seen more than triple the number of coronavirus hospitalizations compared to the first wave of the pandemic and that a group of doctors have warned the state may “overtake its capacity in intensive care beds at Thanksgiving “.
The state also saw its number of hospitalizations continue to rise on Thursday, with 5,258 residents currently in hospitals due to coronavirus-like illnesses. Of these patients, 956 are currently in intensive care units and 438 are on ventilators.
The three statistics are the highest metrics the state has seen in their respective categories since the first spike in COVID-19 cases earlier this year.
“Our growth in new cases is now exponential,” Pritzker said. “We are seeing current numbers and future projections that are worse than what we saw in the spring. We’re more used to responding to this virus now, so we have a large stockpile of PPE, we have overflow capacity already provided for by our hospitals, and we have a lot more testing. But that will not slow down the spread of the virus. ”
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