The Governor of Illinois has issued a stay-at-home order at a state press conference Friday afternoon.
What We Know:
- Illinois is one of the latest states to make such an immediate mandate in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.
- California issued a stay-at-home order Thursday also, and New York’s governor mandated that all nonessential businesses keep workers at home.
- “I don’t come to this decision easily,” he said. “I fully recognize that 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.”
- Governor J.B. Pritzker stated that residents will be able to leave their homes to do normal tasks such as buying food, picking up a prescription at the pharmacy, or going for a walk.
- The goal of the stay-at-home order is for people to continue maintaining social distancing, if they haven’t already.
- In addition, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged the community to take the order seriously. “This is a make-or-break moment for our city and our state,” she said.
- The order is expected to become effective Saturday evening and will remain in place until April 7 but could go longer, according to the Governor.
- Illinois has had 585 confirmed cases and 5 deaths as of Friday evening. The first confirmed death was announced on Tuesday, a woman in her 60s that had an underlying health condition.
Since then, Pritzker announced three more deaths on Thursday.
