Prairie State Wire

Jeff Carter, a general partner at West Loop Ventures, thinks current policy decisions make no sense.

"Looking at the calculations, if the numbers are accurate, kids in K-12 generally won’t die from the coronavirus," he said. "Nor will those under 60 unless they have underlying conditions like asthmas or cardiovascular disease."

Most Illinois teachers retire between the ages of 55-59, according to Illinois Policy.

“There are certainly people we ought to be concerned about. But I am not sure keeping schools closed is a net benefit to them,” the Points and Figures blog author said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order ending in-school instruction. Illinois school systems had already been previously instructed to switch to remote learning.

“I’ve said time and time again, our decisions are hard ones, but they follow the science — and the science says our students can’t go back to their normal routine,” Pritzker posted on his Facebook page.

“I think that home schooling will catch on with some people,” Carter said.

"Companies like Brilliant.org try to fill the void," Carter said. According to Brilliant's website, their online services help students “build quantitative skills in math, science, and computer science with fun and challenging interactive explorations.”

“It seems a lot of policy decisions don’t make sense. Why are certain stores closed and certain ones open? Shouldn’t clothing stores be open?” Carter asked. “If we can shop at the grocer, shouldn’t we be able to shop for new clothes and shoes.”

People are walking a lot, staying home and eating. Carter told Chicago City Wire he wants to know why only Amazon and Target are benefiting?

“The idea of the quarantine wasn’t that no one would get sick. It was simply to slow the spread,” he said. “Extending the quarantine doesn’t do much when we know that hospitals are not anywhere close to being stressed.”

"The daily counts of new cases and deaths are meaningless," he said. "We need to know the rate of change in cases and the capacity use of hospital systems."

Carter thinks we need to know the rate of change in cases and the capacity utilization of our hospital systems.

As of April 20, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported that Marion region hospitals had 48 of its 83 ICU hospital beds available. At the same time, 92 of its 101 ventilators were available.

"Most of the beds used were not being used by COVID-19 patients," Carter said.

While the public sector does not appear to suffer, it is different for the private sector.

“I have not heard of one government employee in any government position, which includes teachers and staff, getting laid off or getting a pay cut. They will be unaffected,” Carter said.

“Private sector employees have been affected greatly. People I know are losing their life savings and their careers because of a mandated government shutdown,” he said.

Holberg Financial and other companies strive to relieve financial stress by training employees to see to their own financial well-being.

“Clearly, it seems like a one size fits all policy for the entire state doesn’t make sense. Chicago is not Carbondale,” Carter said. “What makes sense in urban Chicago probably doesn’t make sense in West Frankfort or Cairo where COVID-19 cases are not plentiful.”

Illinois has big financial problems that current proposals will not solve.

“The proposed new Green Energy Bill and proposed progressive tax hikes will do nothing to plug the gigantic hole that the economic shutdown has brought to Illinois,” Carter said. “Illinois was bankrupt before the shutdown.”

The venture capitalist and angel investor said municipal bonds are being traded as “junk” bonds now. That means higher interest rates for governments, paid for by taxpayers.