Southwestern Illinois Republicans criticize plans to reopen from coronavirus pandemic
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plans for reopening the state on a regional, phased basis drew criticism from area Republicans.
For weeks, GOP leaders urged the governor to take a regional approach to slowing the virus’ spread, calling for increased local control. But the governor’s plan fails to help Illinoisans, said state Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville.
“While I recognize and appreciate the fact that the Governor has finally provided his vision for moving Illinois forward, it is, unfortunately, a plan that fails to address the very real concerns and challenges facing many Illinoisans,” he said. “In my opinion, this is not a plan to re-open Illinois. It is a baseless year-long, modified stay-at-home order with almost zero accountability or transparency.”
State Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, said the governor’s plan does not help small businesses.
“Governor Pritzker’s plan to reopen Illinois is a plan to keep Illinois small businesses closed indefinitely while ignoring (U.S. Centers for Disease Control) recommendations to safely reopen,” Meier said. “The people of Illinois continue to make tremendous sacrifices to help Illinois slow the spread of the coronavirus. The virus should be taken seriously, but it doesn’t mean all small businesses and the service industry should remain closed for months or years until a vaccine is available.”
But state Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, commended Pritzker for the plan, saying it incorporated ideas from GOP leaders.
“Most importantly, this plan removes some of the uncertainty associated with this pandemic by letting the people of Illinois know the pathway back to full economic activity,” Schimpf said.
Meantime, members of the House Republican Leadership Team called on Pritzker to call the legislature back into session immediately.
“This plan was created with zero input from the General Assembly,” said Minority Leader Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville. “Like all other state government decisions since mid-March, this policy was created unilaterally by a governor who is leading the state via executive order. ... We have co-equal branches of government for a reason. We provide necessary checks and balances that are completely absent right now. The legislature should have been involved with the creation of a plan of this magnitude. It affects every single Illinoisan in every one of our districts.”
Public health officials on Wednesday reported 2,270 new cases of coronavirus in Illinois and 136 additional deaths for a total of 68,232 cases and 2,974 deaths.
Laboratories processed a total of 14,974 tests in the 24 hours before the governor’s daily news briefing. Of those tests, 2,270 came back positive, a 15% positivity rate.
Officials use the positivity rate for making regional decisions on a phased reopening for businesses. To move from phase two to three, a region would need to see no more than 20% all COVID-19 tests come back positive, increasing no more than 10 percentage points over two weeks.
Southwestern Illinois coronavirus cases
Here’s a breakdown of the 1,452 COVID-19 cases in southwestern Illinois as of Tuesday. These numbers are updated by 4 p.m. daily at BND.com.
- St. Clair: 592 positives, 51 deaths, 2,449 tests administered, 49 tests pending
- Madison: 371 positives, 27 deaths, 78 hospitalizations, 108 recoveries
- Clinton: 114 positives, six deaths, 545 tests administered, 20 recoveries
- Randolph: 197 positives, two deaths, 75 recoveries
- Monroe: 74 positives, 11 deaths
- Macoupin: 35 positives, one death, 720 tests administered, seven tests pending, 27 recoveries
- Perry: 32 positives
- Jersey: 14 positives, one death, nine recoveries
- Washington: 14 positives, nine recoveries
- Bond: Eight positives, one death, 140 tests administered, six tests pending, three recoveries
- Calhoun: One positive, one recovery
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 3:24 PM.
