Prairie State Wire

An update of the Illinois Restore Illinois COVID-19 reopening plan has some elected officials saying the new pathway to normalcy is too slow.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker publicized the Bridge to Phase 5 plan on March 18 as transitional between phases 4 and 5 as the state takes stepped-up efforts to lower COVID-19 metrics.

"Unfortunately, COVID-19 has not gone away. Each day people in Illinois and across the nation are getting sick and being admitted to the hospital with this deadly virus, and people are still passing away from it," Pritzker said. "But the light that we can see at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter as more people get vaccinated."

The state will advance within the Bridge to Phase 5 that allows for increased occupancy rates once at least 70% of the aged 65 population is vaccinated. Other metrics to move forward include at least 50% of 16-year-old residents and up to get vaccinated.

"This week it's a bridge, tomorrow it's a ferry, maybe next week it could be another flight to Florida for his family," Illinois State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) said in a statement. "Despite declining numbers of people who are sick and increasing numbers of those who are vaccinated, the governor continues to drag his feet on the process of letting Illinoisans get back to work and live their daily lives."

Pritzker appears to be altering the Restore Illinois plan from the initial return-to-normalcy standard, which called for the development of a vaccine, the availability of a treatment option or "no new cases over a sustained period," Illinois State Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) said in a March 18 Facebook post.

Pritzker's adherence to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines is appreciated, Malea Jessen said on Tracy's Facebook page.

"Yes, he altered his plan as the pandemic is a very fluid critter," Jessen said.

As of March 23, the IDPH reported a total of over 1.2 million cases of coronavirus, with 21,116 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois.