Prairie State Wire

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday that he won't allow children to play summer team sports, including little league baseball and softball, during the upcoming summer.

The announcement came as Pritzker revealed his "five point plan" for reopening the state, which he closed officially on March 21, ordering all Illinois residents to stay at home.

Pritzker said he is banning gatherings of more than ten people-- which would include all youth team sports-- until at least May 30, when he plans to allow citizens in certain regions of the state to leave their homes and freely associate with others.

The first-term Democrat strongly suggested Chicagoland would not be one of those areas, however, saying his reopening plan will be "region by region." 

Kids don't spread, get sick from COVID-19

Children who get COVID-19 have typically been asymptomatic and unaffected, or mildly affected, by the virus.

Unlike the seasonal flu, which the U.S. Center for Disease Control says has killed more than 200 children this year, and Swine Flu, which killed more than 1,000 children in 2009, COVID-19 has barely impacted children.

Conducted last month in Australia, the comprehensive study yet of whether children can spread COVID-19 found conclusively that they don't spread the virus to anyone, and never to adults. The country's National Centre for Immunization Research and Surveillance reviewed 863 contacts by 19 infected individuals and found zero new adult cases.

"COVID-19 is not the flu. Far fewer children are affected by COVID-19, and the number of transmissions from children to children and children to adults are far less," Australia's deputy chief medical officer said.

Pritzker isn't citing his own research, but he disagrees. 

He said he is also contemplating banning fall sports, including football, requiring "a vaccine or highly-effective treatment widely available" or complete "elimination of new cases" to re-open events of more than 50 people.

This makes for an undetermined timeline, as a vaccine has never before been developed for any corona virus like COVID-19. And Pritzker has banned usage of corona virus treatments in Illinois that have been used successfully with existing patients elsewhere, like hydroxychloroquine.

Pritzker's stay at home order is now in its seventh week. He has remained in Illinois for the order; the governor's wife and two children have spent the lockdown at their $12 million family equestrian estate in Florida.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed restaurants there to re-open on Monday. Pritzker indicated he might allow Illinois restaurants to re-open at some point in June, in some regions of the state.