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Illinois has been in Phase 4 of the governor’s 5-phased
reopening plan for months. Restrictions include capacity limits
for restaurants and sporting events.
On Tuesday, Anne Caprara told a Senate committee she and the
governor hoped to have restrictions lifted soon.
“I think we both hope that we are going to be in a place to move
to Phase 5 in the beginning of the summer,” Caprara said. “I
always hesitate to say definitively where we are going to be
because we have now ridden through several rises and falls of
COVID cases.”
During a news conference Wednesday in Rockford, Pritzker said
not so fast.
“I wouldn’t characterize it as saying that the reopening starts
as the summer starts,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker once again said there are metrics to meet, including
about 5 million Illinoisans, or 50% of the state’s population
older than 16, needing to be fully vaccinated. According to the
New York Times Vaccine Tracker, 19% of people in Illinois are
fully vaccinated.
The governor also has two other metrics that must be met before
restrictions are lifted. For 28 days, hospitalizations and
intensive care bed numbers have to be stable or decreasing.
“The number of hospitalizations is increasing, the number of
cases of people going into ICU beds is increasing, and that is
of great concern to us,” Pritzker said.
As of Tuesday night, 1,710 people were reported to be in an
Illinois hospital with COVID-19, including 353 in the ICU.
On Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported
3,790 new confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus, an
increase from the day before.
The state has reported 21,423 deaths from COVID-19 since the
pandemic started.
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