Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is expected to announce a new reopening plan later this week that may ultimately bring the state back to normal, but under new guidelines.
Illinois is currently in Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan, which the governor announced at the start of the pandemic last year. Then it would be Phase 5, which marks a complete reopening, but requires a widely available vaccine or highly effective treatment for the coronavirus.
But at a state Senate health committee meeting on Monday, Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said a new reopening plan could be announced “later this week”.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Ezike said “there may be one more phase” between Phase 4 and Phase 5. Few details have been revealed, but one thing is certain: masks will continue to be mandatory in the state, she said , adding that “the masks must remain a mainstay.”
A spokesman for the governor confirmed that Pritzker is in “discussions with industry and health experts”.
Earlier this month, Texas became the largest state to lift the mask rule, joining a growing movement of governors and other US leaders to loosen restrictions on COVID-19, despite calls by health officials to don’t let your guard down yet.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said he was getting rid of most of the mask orders he imposed to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He is also removing most other restrictions, including restaurant seating limits.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has also announced that she will extend the term of the state’s mask until April 9, but will suspend the request after that date.
With vaccination against coronavirus in Illinois increasing and eligibility expanding, a complete reopening is approaching, but Pritzker said repeatedly that the state has not yet arrived.
“You know, I said from the beginning that what we need is an effective vaccine that we can distribute widely and a very effective or very effective treatment that we can distribute widely and we are getting there,” said Pritzker earlier this month. “I mean … about one in seven Illinois residents already has their first dose in their arms. We need to move closer to collective immunity so that everyone feels, you know, that we are beyond phase four and that we can really be able to reopen everything completely. “
Herd immunity is defined by the World Health Organization as “when a population is immune through vaccination or immunity developed by a previous infection”, although the group notes that for coronavirus such immunity “must be achieved by protecting people through vaccination, not because of their exposure to the pathogen that causes the disease. ”
The exact amount of herd immunity needed to reopen further remains unclear, particularly with increasing concern about the virus variants that are emerging in the United States and around the world and whether current vaccines will continue to offer protection.
“We are still learning about immunity to COVID-19,” reports WHO. “Most people infected with COVID-19 develop an immune response in the first few weeks, but we don’t know how strong or long-lasting that immune response is, or how it differs in different people. There have also been reports of people infected with COVID-19 by the second Until we understand better the COVID-19 immunity, it will not be possible to know how much of a population is immune and how long this immunity lasts, let alone make future predictions. “
However, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city could see a summer more like “what we normally experience,” and the governor’s office noted that McCormick Place may also bring back some events.
“We know a lot more about the virus, how it spreads than we did a year ago,” said Lightfoot last week. “We know, in particular, about external events – that we can manage them in a safe way that is consistent with public health guidelines. So, as I said, I think the summer of 2021 is more like what we normally experience ”.
Illinois earlier this year suspended its layered mitigation plan, bringing all of its regions back to Phase 4 guidelines, as cases and hospitalizations continue to steadily decline in the state. The move to Phase 4 brought back in-house restaurants and reopened several businesses, while expanding capacity limits in others.
The first coronavirus vaccinations were administered in Illinois in January, when health professionals and residents and staff at long-term care facilities began receiving doses.
Since then, the state has entered its next phase of vaccine implantation, called Phase 1B, opening vaccines for essential frontline workers and residents aged 65 and over. This group has expanded to include people aged 16 and over with certain comorbidities and high-risk medical conditions. Chicago, along with several suburbs and health systems, chose not to enter the expansion phase, citing supply constraints.
On Monday, Pritzker said Illinois plans to exceed President Joe Biden’s promise to make all adults eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1.
“I just think people should start thinking a lot about … the fact that we’re going to open this up to everyone relatively sooner than I think people expected,” said Pritzker during an individual interview with NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern .
In all, Illinois received 5,038,635 doses of the vaccine, and a total of 4,102,810 were administered in the state.