Illinois cases were previously expected to peak in mid-to-late April, but new projections are showing a later timeline.
Governor JB Pritzker announced today that Illinois COVID-19 cases aren’t likely to peak until mid-May. While the peak was originally expected to happen earlier in April, the effectiveness of the stay-at-home order has minimized new cases which has actually pushed back the projected timeline of the state’s largest number of cases to mid-May.
“It’s been pushed out now, according to the models, to maybe mid-May, but at a lower level, and so we’re moving, inching toward that date,” Pritzker told the Washington Post’s political reporter in an interview earlier today.
While the Governor was hesitant to officially declare an extension of the stay-at-home order (presently to remain until April 30) he did suggest that the order is working, and that by removing it would leave the state susceptible to mass infection.
According to NBC Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot stated in a conference call with reporters today that:
“April 30 is no longer, I think, a viable date. I would expect an extension of the stay-at-home order and the other orders that were put in place as a result of the response to COVID-19 to go through sometime in May. It certainly could go into June.”
Their statements follow a wave of major event cancellations in Chicago. Pritzker previously warned that all summer festivals could be cancelled without a working vaccine in place.
Both Pritzker and Lightfoot have reaffirmed that all of their decision making in terms of reopening the city would be based on the latest scientific data.
[Featured image via JB Pritzker’s Daily Update]