What does the shelter-in-place order mean for daily life in southwestern Illinois?
On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order requiring all Illinois residents to “shelter in place” until at least April 7. Here’s how that order affects daily life for metro-east residents.
Most essential workers are health care professionals
The order still allows for essential trips, including to the doctor’s office, hospital and pharmacy.
If you think you have symptoms of the coronavirus and have been screened by a physician or health department to be tested, there are a few options for you in the St. Louis region.
SSM Health had set up drive-thru testing sites in Mount Vernon and in Centralia. Memorial Hospital and the St. Clair County Health Department also have a drive-thru testing site in Swansea.
Across the river, BJC HealthCare has opened a testing site in St. Louis city and Mercy opened a testing site in Chesterfield.
The following healthcare professionals were deemed crucial workers in Pritzker’s order and continued to be open during the order: clinics, dental offices, pharmacies, public health entities, healthcare manufacturers and suppliers, blood banks, medical cannabis facilities, reproductive health care providers, eye care centers, home healthcare services providers, mental health and substance use providers and veterinarians.
Benefits are available if you can’t work from home
Illinois is expanding its unemployment benefits to people whose jobs may not be deemed essential, but who can’t work from home.
The Department of Employment Security adopted emergency rules that make the benefits system “as responsive to the current situation as possible,” according to the agency’s website.
Anyone temporarily laid off due to COVID-19 closures can qualify for benefits. Applicants won’t have to prove they were seeking employment as long as they plan to return to their jobs as soon as their workplace reopens. Nor will applicants face the typical week-long period before qualifying for benefits.
Out-of-work employees can apply for benefits at https://bit.ly/33qI5sx. Illinois Department of Employment Security customer service can be reached at at 1-800-244-5631 or 1-866-488-4016.
You can still get food and supplies
Restrictions were placed on bars and restaurants in Illinois, even before the Pritzker’s shelter-in-place order was issued Friday, but little has changed since
Restaurants are still allowed to offer drive-thru, delivery and curbside pickup.
Pritzker also deemed trips to the grocery store as essential.
Some items, however, were still hard to find at stores after shoppers hoarded toilet paper, hand sanitizer, paper towels and disinfectant wipes amid the COVID-19 pandemic announcement. Stores are restocking overnight with some limiting the number of high-demand products shoppers can buy.
Some stores, like Schnucks, Dierbergs and Target, implemented designated hours throughout the day for elderly shoppers, as they are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Most banks also are open, though they encourage their customers to manage their accounts online when possible.
Teachers still providing lessons
Last week, Pritzker extended the ordered closure of all public and private schools in the state until April 8.
Teachers can continue to work and serve students, however, when it comes to “purposes of facilitating distance learning, performing critical research, or performing essential functions,” the order states.
Many are providing lesson plans and materials to students via the internet, some even taking attendance with Google Hangouts, Facetime and other apps.
For students who relied on school for meals each day, bus drivers and cafeteria workers in Belleville, East St. Louis and other districts still are providing free and reduced-price meals to needy students.
Keep the gathering small or put it online
Since last week, people have not been allowed to meet in groups of 50 or more in Illinois. The Center for Disease Control has gone further to suggest that groups of more than 10 were also unacceptable, which prompted Pritzker’s shelter-in-place order.
Like teachers, churches have taken things online, live streaming Sunday services. The Diocese of Belleville also canceled masses until further notice, but Bishop Edward Braxton has encouraged parishioners to tune into their online live stream as well.
Movie theaters had also shuttered indefinitely due to the virus. Major life events, like weddings and civil unions, were limited at both the St. Clair and Madison county courthouses.
Though funeral services were also deemed essential, funeral homes had already been limiting the number of mourners allowed at services last week.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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