Southwestern Illinois lawmakers urge Gov. J.B. Pritzker to ease COVID-19 restrictions
Southwestern Illinois lawmakers urged Gov. J.B. Pritzker to ease coronavirus restrictions on the metro-east as the region saw recent improvements in COVID-19 metrics.
The metro-east, known as Region 4 as defined by the Illinois Department of Public Health, was the last in the state as of Thursday to remain under the second-tightest tier of restrictions where indoor dining at bars and restaurants is not allowed.
The 10 other IDPH-defined regions were under either Tier 1 mitigations or were back in Phase 4 of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan. The metro-east remained in Tier 2 though the region came close this week to meeting requirements to have the rules loosened.
Given how close the metro-east was, local lawmakers urged the governor to allow the the move into Tier 1, which would allow indoor dining and more youth sports. Democratic state Sens. Christopher Belt of Centreville and Rachelle Crowe of Glen Carbon along with state Reps. LaToya Greenwood of East St. Louis, Jay Hoffman of Swansea and Katie Stuart of Edwardsville sent a letter to Pritzker Thursday.
Much of the metro-east has access to hospitals in St. Louis, the lawmakers argued, saying the state should take that into consideration. IDPH does not count ICU availability in Missouri as part of the data it uses to determine a region’s status.
“We ask that the governor immediately reconsider this situation, and to move our region into the Tier 1 mitigation efforts, which would allow our school sports practices to resume and our restaurants and bars to reopen and put more people back to work,” the lawmakers said. “It is unfair to business owners, employees and local residents to remain in a tier of mitigation efforts based on a number that does not accurately show the whole picture of our communities and the availability of healthcare resources that exist regionally.”
To move from Tier 2 to Tier 1, a region must see a seven-day rolling average positivity rate below 8% for three consecutive days, a 20% or greater three-day rolling average of intensive care unit and medical/surgical bed availability for three consecutive days, and no sustained increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations for seven out of 10 days on a seven-day average.
As of Thursday, the region had met the positivity rate and hospitalization metrics, but not the percentage of ICU availability, which was at 18% for the second day.
