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Gov. J.B. Pritzker visits downstate counties hit with COVID-19 outbreaks: ‘What’s happening here ... is alarming'

Chicago Tribune - 7/27/2020

As Gov. J.B. Pritzker appeared with officials in two downstate counties that have seen coronavirus outbreaks, Illinois on Monday reported 1,231 new known cases of COVID-19, the sixth straight day the tally has topped 1,200.

Eighteen more deaths were confirmed, most of them from Cook County and the rest from DuPage, Peoria and Winnebago counties.

Since the pandemic began, 7,416 deaths and 172,655 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Illinois.

Earlier Monday, Pritzker joined local officials in downtown Quincy in Adams County, in one of four counties placed on a “warning level” for COVID-19 last week, and hinted the state would take action if infection rates worsen.

As of Monday, the seven-day positivity rate for Region 3, which includes Adams County, had increased to 3.8%, Pritzker said. A county health official stated at the news conference that Adams County has 340 reported cases of COVID-19.

“What’s happening here in Adams County is alarming,” Pritzker said. “And if these trends continue in the negative direction, the state will need to take immediate action to impose additional mitigations to slow the spread and keep more people from getting sick.”

Besides Adams County, LaSalle County, just outside the Chicago area, and Peoria County, as well as rural Randolph County in southwest Illinois, were put on a “warning level” Friday. The four counties all saw outbreaks of coronavirus recently related to various risk factors, according to state officials.

Pritzker on Monday said the state has maintained a lower positivity rate than neighboring states but warned that good news could swiftly reverse if people don’t heed warnings to wear a mask in public, avoid crowded indoor settings and keep 6 feet away from others.

During his news briefing’s conclusion, he stressed that “this is not a political virus,” adding that he can relate to the economic hurt felt across the state since the outbreak.

“I was a businessman before I became governor,” Pritzker said. “I understand the challenge that this has brought, I mean really for many people, financial ruin sometimes. And this is horrible. This coronavirus is just horrible. But if we all took off our masks, it would be much, much worse.”

The governor later met with officials in Rock Island County, another community bordering a state with spiking COVID-19 cases. Illinois’ Region 2 under Pritzker’s latest reopening plan, which includes the county, reported a 4% seven-day positivity rate on Monday and is “continuing to head in the wrong direction,” Pritzker said.

Neighboring Iowa’s positivity rate was even higher, at 7.2% for Sunday and 9.3% total since the pandemic started. The seven-day positivity rate of Missouri, Adams County’s next-door state, was 8.6%.

In his Monday appearances, Pritzker reminded Illinois residents living close to other states to take precautions. He blamed uneven enforcement across the nation when it comes to the challenge of stamping out the spread of the coronavirus, especially in border communities.

“You’ve been helping to guide the people of Illinois through this public health crisis amidst a confusing patchwork of messaging nationally,” Pritzker said to a Rock Island public health official at his news briefing. “This is one of the hardest-hit communities, being a border community, so it makes your job that much more difficult.”

As of Sunday night, 1,417 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Illinois, 350 of whom were in intensive care units and 124 on ventilators, state health officials said.

Though Pritzker said the state can fight the outbreak with practices such as mask-wearing, a return to normalcy is not in the near future given predictions that a vaccine likely won’t arrive until 2021.

“My observation is that we’re not going to be able to take off the mask and go about everything we were doing, seven, eight months ago for a few more months,” Pritzker said. “Maybe six-plus months.”

ayin@chicagotribune.com

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