Ill. Joins California in Shelter-in-Place Order

Chicago Tribune

IIlinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Friday issued a “stay-at-home” order for the entire state starting Saturday at 5 p.m. through April 7.

A dramatic-sounding measure, to be sure, but it largely codifies the recommendations and previous orders issued by state officials. Pritzker said his latest decision was based on conversations with “some of the best medical experts, epidemiologists, mathematicians and modelers.”

“I’ve asked every one of these experts, What action can I take to save the most lives?’” he said. “Well, they’ve come back to me with one inescapable conclusion: To avoid the loss of potentially tens of thousands of lives, we must enact an immediate stay-at-home order for the state of Illinois.”

Residents can still go to the grocery stores, put gas in their cars, take walks outside and make pharmacy runs, the governor said at a Friday afternoon news conference. All local roads, including the interstate highways and tollways, will remain open to traffic, as well.

Grabbing takeout, ordering an Uber, taking a long walk or dropping off dry cleaning are all still permitted. The order even allows liquor stores to remain open for business.

In short, residents who have heeded calls to work from home, maintain a social distance and repeatedly wash their hands will have no problem adjusting to the governor’s latest directive.

“For the vast majority of you already taking precautions, your lives will not change very much,” Pritzker said of the shelter-in-place directive.

As to how the order would be enforced, Pritzker said, “to be honest, we don’t have the resources, the capacity, or the desire to police every individual’s behavior.

“Enforcement comes in many forms, and our first and best option is to rely on Illinoisans to be good members of their communities and good citizens, working together to keep each other safe. I’ve instructed law enforcement to monitor for violations and take action when necessary, but that is not an option that anyone prefers,” he said.

The reopening date for schools statewide has been tentatively postponed until April 8, Pritzker said. It had been March 31.

In addition, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago park facilities and libraries will be closed as of 5 p.m. Saturday. People will still be able to walk around in the park space, she said.

Pritzker indicated that local towns and villages will make decisions about their parks on an individual basis. State parks already are closed.

The goal, Pritzker said, is to have people maintain social distancing. “For the most part I think that people will have the ability to go out and recreate,” he said.

Lightfoot said “now is not the time for half measures” and urged people to follow the order.

“You must stay home,” she said. “This is not a lockdown, or martial law.”

Lightfoot also urged people not to run to grocery stores and wipe them out. “Be mindful of your neighbors and do not hoard supplies,” she said.

Dr. Emily Landon, from University of Chicago medicine, has been consulting with the governor and said the stay-at-home order was the only way forward.

“(The virus) spreads before you even know you have it,” she said. “Our health care system does not have any slack.”

“It’s really hard to feel like you’re saving the world when you’re watching Netflix from your couch. But if we do this right, nothing happens,” Landon added. “A successful shelter in place means you’re going to feel like it was all for nothing.”

The governor said Friday’s stay-at-home order wasn’t an easy decision.

“I fully recognize, in some cases, I am choosing between saving people’s lives and saving people’s livelihoods. But ultimately you can’t have a livelihood if you don’t have your life,” he said. “Of all the obligations that weigh on me as governor, this is the greatest. If there are actions that I can take to save lives in the midst of this pandemic, no matter how difficult, then I have an obligation to take these actions.”

Pritzker also urged patience in the fast-evolving health crisis.

“We don’t know yet all the steps we’re going to have to take to get this virus under control,” he said.

Pritzker said it’s too soon to know whether the stay-at-home order could be extended beyond April 7.

“We believe that gives us time to see whether or not this social distancing and this stay-at-home order is having the desired effect of bending the curve,” Pritzker said.

Suburban Oak Park also issued a shelter-in-place order as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, after two emergency room physicians at Rush Oak Park Hospital tested positive for COVID-19. Residents have been ordered to stay in their homes except for “essential” travel as outlined by village ordinance. They can go to work, for example, if their businesses remain open, especially if they have essential jobs such as first responders, sanitation workers or healthcare providers.

Pritzker laid down the groundwork for a potential order Thursday, telling parents to prepare for the statewide school closure to extend past March 30. Though the governor acknowledged he has discussed imposing more stringent rules on the general public, he said that no matter what he decides, interstate highways, gas stations, grocery stores and pharmacies would remain open.

“There is no need to run out and hoard food, gas and medicine,” the governor said Thursday. “Buy what you need within reason. There is enough to go around, as long as you do not hoard.”

Though the governor activated the Illinois National Guard earlier this week to help combat the virus, the service members will have no role in enforcing any potential order. Instead, 60 service members will be deployed to establish drive-up testing sites, help with food delivery to disadvantaged families impacted by school closures and possibly prepare closed hospitals to reopen.

The vast majority of currently activated troops are health care professionals—doctors, nurses, medical technicians—who would not be tapped for a law-enforcement assignment.

“We have never even discussed a quarantine mission for the Illinois National Guard,” Lt. Col. Bradford Leighton said. “It’s never come up.”

Leighton said he understands anxieties are high amid the pandemic, but the Guard is not the boogeyman.

What does shelter in place mean? San Francisco provides an idea of what the rules could look like.

In the San Francisco area, six counties are on lockdown until at least April 7, with only people with essential jobs or government functions allowed to work outside their homes.

Jobs deemed essential there include health care workers, grocery store employees, pharmacists, hardware store workers, plumbers, electricians, day care providers, bank tellers and roles that are essential to a business’ operations such as payroll and security. Police, firefighters, paramedics and sanitation workers will not be quarantined.

Like Illinois, San Francisco has shut down schools and bars, moving all restaurants to takeout or delivery only. Gyms and theaters have been closed, but gas stations, laundromats, dry cleaners, banks, supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores have remained opened per the order.

Bay Area residents are allowed to leave their homes to care for the elderly, minors, dependents, persons with disabilities or other vulnerable persons. People also can engage in outdoor activities such as hiking, running or walking as long as they maintain a social distance of 6 feet.

They also may venture out to get food for their families and pets.

“These measures will be disruptive to day-to-day life, but there is no need to panic,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Monday.

There were 412 confirmed coronavirus cases in the San Francisco area as of Thursday, including four deaths in Santa Clara County attributed to the virus.