CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said his administration is working on a plan to reopen and he plans to "give people a view" of how that could happen ahead of the expiration of the state's stay-at-home order on May 30.
"You don't have to wait until May 30," he said during his COVID-19 briefing on Monday.
There have been 2,662 deaths due to COVID-19 in Illinois as of May 4 and 63,840 confirmed cases, according to data on the state's website. There have been 333,147 tests performed.
He said 33% of the state's ICU beds are occupied.
Despite some positive statistics, Pritzker cautioned there could be a spike in cases and people need to adhere to the stay-at-home orders and social distancing restrictions.
"If your numbers flatten and get better, it's because people have followed the rules," he said. "They're going to cause us to go back into a previous executive order or a more stringent lock down if there's a spike in cases."
Pritzker said enforcement of the stay-at-home orders should be left up to local authorities.
"If people are being persistently defiant, I think local law enforcement should step in," he said.
Pritzker also said the state will build up "a workforce of thousands" of contact tracers and will roll out plans to hire them in the coming weeks.
The state is under a stay-at-home order through May 30.
Pritzker holds daily briefings at 2:30 p.m.
