Restore Illinois New Mitigation Plan
On July 15, 2020, Governor Pritzker announced a new
mitigation plan that modifies the existing “Restore Illinois” plan aimed at
preventing another COVID-19 surge in Illinois.
You will recall that the first iteration of the
“Restore Illinois” plan divided the state into four regions, envisioning a
progression through five stages of reopening, each with fewer restrictions on
lives and business as the virus came under control. But, under the new plan,
Illinois is now separated into 11 smaller regions, with the City of Chicago
occupying its own region, with the rest of Cook County County in its own region as well. All of Illinois is currently in Phase 4 of the original “Restore Illinois” plan, and the modified plan does not require any region to make any immediate changes.
Under the original plan, if one
region saw an increase in COVID-19 cases, the entire region, sometimes
comprising dozens of counties, could be bumped back to a more restrictive
phase. This original approach prompted criticism about lumping some downstate
counties with lower case counts together with more densely populated areas
seeing higher infection rates, and subjecting both regions to the same
restrictions in a one-size-fits-all approach. In response, the modified plan adopts
“a more granular approach” with a menu of restrictions to
enable the state to act in a more decisive, targeted way in addressing COVID-19
hotspots without reacting more broadly than circumstances require by imposing
blanket restrictions across large geographic areas or moving entire regions
back to an earlier phase.
Although Illinois has among the lowest positivity-case-rates and
highest testing tallies in the country, the Governor announced the possibility
of taking certain mitigation measures, including moving a region back to an
earlier phase of the reopening plan if cases surge, which could involve renewed
restrictions on businesses and social interactions. The Governor’s new plan lists several factors that could move a
region back to an earlier phase, namely if a region has a sustained increase in
its seven-day rolling average positive test rate, coupled with either an
increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illnesses, or a specific
reduction in hospital capacity. A region could also be bumped back if it sees
three consecutive days of its testing positivity case rate of 8% or more.
It is important to note that altough local governments are allowed to create their own locally-tailored
reopening plans, these plans cannot be less restrictive than the State’s plan.
Post Authored by Eugene Bolotnikov, Ancel Glink
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