Full IL Reopening Plan Expected This Week; Masks A 'Mainstay'

ILLINOIS — Fully reopening in Illinois won't be an on-off switch but more like a dial, Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Monday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

State health officials are working on a phased reopening and said a return to normal may be close, although it may be awhile before Illinoisans can take off the masks.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to lay out the path to a full reopening later this week, gradually lifting remaining coronavirus restrictions over the coming months, WGN reports.

Pritzker unveiled his "Restore Illinois" reopening plan in May 2020.

"There is no modern-day precedent for this. We are literally writing the playbook as we go," Pritzker said at the time. "I'm not afraid to redesign the playbook if the rules change."

Though state and local authorities have tweaked the plan over the last 10 months, the governor has largely stuck to it, maintaining that normalcy would only be possible once a vaccine was widely available.

"Here's the truth, and I don't like it any more than you do," Pritzker said in May. "Until we have a vaccine, or an effective treatment ... the option of returning to normalcy doesn't exist. We have to figure out how to live with COVID-19 until it can be vanquished."

Now that a vaccine does exist, many are eager to get back to their lives. But officials said it will be months before enough people have been vaccinated to constitute "herd immunity," and in the meantime, many more people could die if masks and social distancing fall by the wayside.

As of Monday, more than 4.1 million vaccine doses had been administered across Illinois. Nonetheless, less than a third of Illinoisans have been vaccinated, and even fewer have been fully vaccinated with the two doses required by both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine only requires one dose and is becoming more available as time goes by.

About 102,000 vaccine doses have been administered per day over the last week. To increase that number, on Friday, the state health department launched a vaccine call center to help Illinoisans get a vaccine appointment.

The call center is staffed from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week; it offers English- and Spanish-speaking agents, with other translation services available. For help scheduling a vaccine appointment, people can call 833-621-1284. The number is toll-free and can take TTY calls.

“We want to make sure our most vulnerable populations — such as our seniors and individuals in heavily impacted communities who may not have access to online services — are able to make appointments to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” Ezike said in a statement. “While vaccine is still limited, our allocations are increasing significantly, and we want all Illinoisans to have access as quickly and easily as possible.”

The state is currently in Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan. In Phase 5 of the governor's reopening plan — dubbed "Illinois Restored" — festivals and large events will again be permitted, and businesses and schools can operate with fewer restrictions.

Ezike said there would likely be one more phase before the state reaches Phase 5.

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance saying it is OK for fully vaccinated individuals to gather maskless with others who are fully vaccinated. But the CDC still recommends wearing masks in public to protect those who are not vaccinated.

State health officials echoed those recommendations to state lawmakers during a Senate Health Committee hearing on Monday.

“We’re not getting rid of masks,” Ezike told lawmakers. “We think masks have to continue to be a mainstay.”

As more people get vaccinated, she said, fewer people will be hospitalized with the disease, so hospitalizations will be the key metric to watch in judging when restrictions can be lifted.

As of Monday night, 1,112 Illinoisans were still hospitalized with COVID-19, including 277 in intensive care and 95 on ventilators. The seven-day statewide test positivity rate is 2.6 percent.

State health officials reported 782 new cases on Monday and 12 additional deaths, including:

• Cook County: 1 female 30s, 2 males 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 female 90s
• DuPage County: 1 female 80s
• Kane County: 1 male 80s
• Peoria County: 1 male 60s
• Will County: 1 female 70s

President Joe Biden predicted in a speech last week that small gatherings would be possible by the Fourth of July. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said that prediction was reasonable — if Americans continue to wear masks and practice social distancing.