Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order currently is in place for the month of April, but it is “a long way away” from being phased out in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Tuesday.
Lightfoot held a news conference to announce an executive order that she said will ensure Chicago immigrants living in the country without legal permission receive all city benefits.
Pritzker issued the order last month and extended it through the end of April. Asked how the city will determine when the stay-at-home order can be phased out, Lightfoot said, “We’re a long way away from that.”
On what originally would have been the final day of his statewide stay-at-home order, the governor reiterated later Tuesday said that the best way to slow the spread of the virus is for people to continue remaining at home as much as possible through April 30, and perhaps beyond.
“I know that, especially on a warm day like to today, that’s particularly hard to hear,” Pritzker said.
He added: “Believe me, I too would do just about anything for an immediate solution to this. Here’s what you need to know though: That solution isn’t coming tomorrow, or next week or next month. But it is coming. Every day that we support our health care systems, every day that we flatten the curve, that’s another day that the incredible roster of scientists and researchers and innovators in the world come a little bit closer to finding solutions in the fight against COVID-19.”
Pritzker has said projections show the number of cases in Illinois might peak later this month.
“We’ve been talking all along about a peak in the number of cases and then thinking about what the downward slide of that will be,” Lightfoot said. “We are looking at when we think now we will reach that point.”
The city has seen the growth in number of coronavirus cases slow, Lightfoot said. They were at one point doubling every one-two days, but are now doubling every nine-10 days, which she said is progress.
“But we’re not near the peak,” Lightfoot said. “So I don’t want to raise false expectations that it’s coming sometime soon. We don’t know that based upon the modeling that we’ve seen, but we’re closely looking at that and looking at what would be the way in which we would come out of a stay-at-home order.”
Lightfoot added: “That’s a conversation certainly we’re having at the local level and will be engaging the governor and his team about what that might look like considering the stay-at-home order that was issued by the governor himself.”
The mayor also said that, even though Chicago residents endure the winter months for warm spring and summer days, they must continue social distancing efforts. Otherwise, she said, key progress in reducing the speed by which Chicago coronavirus cases are recorded might be compromised.
“This is a moment we live for in Chicago. We weather the winter and the first rays of sunshine and (warm) weather, we embrace it with gusto. Unfortunately at this time … we cannot,” Lightfoot said. “We have to practice the same stay-at-home social distancing that has sustained us and moved us from a doubling of cases from one to two days in March to where we are right now which is nine-10 days. We’ve made that progress because people have complied.”
Lightfoot again said the city’s closure of the Lakefront Trail and push for residents to stay indoors isn’t about preventing people from getting walks, exercising or walking their dogs. The issue is groups of people congregating, she said.
“We want people to stay distant from each other and that’s why we emphasize so much, stay home to save lives,” Lightfoot said.
Asked whether he’d consider rolling back his stay-at-home order on May 1 in areas that have seen fewer cases, the governor noted that the number of counties with known cases continues to grow, along with the number of overall cases and deaths.
“We need to get much further along here before we start to talk about a regional or statewide stand-down of these orders,” Pritzker said.
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