Pritzker lays out plan for surge
Creates suburban region separate from Chicago
SPRINGFIELD — As Illinois’ rolling COVID-19 test positivity rate saw a modest tick upward Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker laid out a new virus mitigation framework dividing the state into 11 regions for purposes of slowing the coronavirus’ spread.
That’s an increase from the four broad regions in the Restore Illinois reopening plan in place before Wednesday’s announcements.
The new regions largely follow the state’s emergency medical regions, including five split between Chicago and its suburbs, one in the St. Louis Metro East area, one Southern Illinois region, a Northern Illinois non-Chicago or suburban region, and each an East-Central, West-Central and North-Central region.
Pritzker, at a COVID-19specific news conference in Chicago, also laid out the metrics that, if hit by any of the regions, would cause the state to implement new restrictions to mitigate spread. No regions were currently hitting any of the metrics as of Wednesday.
Those metrics include a combination of: an increase in the seven-day rolling average for test positivity rate for seven out of 10 days; a sustained seven-day increase in hospital admissions for a COVID-19- like illness; or a reduction in hospital capacity of intensive care unit beds to under 20 percent available.
Pritzker said there would be a “menu of options” to contain the virus, including many of those in place during previous phases of the reopening plan. Bars were of particular concern, he said, along with youth sports camps that have proven to be hotbeds for the virus.
“Local governments have the ability more immediately to do things than state government does, and so we encourage that,” the governor said. “But where state government needs to step in, we do and we will.”
A “failsafe” requiring immediate action, as Pritzker described it, would occur if a region has three consecutive days averaging greater than an 8 percent positivity rate on tests conducted.
The Illinois Department of Public Health announced three tiers of mitigation strategies that could be employed if a region reaches those metrics.
In “higher risk” settings, such as indoor bars and restaurants, some mitigations could be triggered “automatically.” These include reduced indoor dining capacity and suspended indoor bar service in tier one, followed by suspended indoor dining in tier two, then takeout only in tier three.
There are also mitigation factors for hospitals, including visitor limits and reduced elective surgeries, then suspended elective surgeries, or, in tier three, opening alternate care facilities.
Additional meeting size restrictions would also be considered, along with remote work guidance or requirements for offices, and a reversion to other reduced in-person retail and businesses and services that were in place in previous phases of the reopening plan.
Pritzker’s news conference came as the state’s overall positivity rate for tests conducted ticked up to 3.1 percent after four days at 3 percent that followed multiple weeks below that level. There were 1,187 new confirmed cases reported out of 38,161 tests completed over the previous 24 hours.