Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state is “going it alone” without much help from the federal government in the fight to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
On CNN’s "State of the Union," Pritzker was asked on Sunday what Illinois would need from the federal government to get to an estimated 64,000 daily tests before reopening measures can begin.
“We’re going it alone as the White House has left all of the states to do,” Pritzker said. “We’ve done well spinning up testing. We will continue to do our testing. We have the ability to do that on our own.”
Many state officials, including Pritzker, have said the state will need financial assistance from the federal government to shore up current and upcoming budgets.
He also responded to criticism of his reopening plan from the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, which wrote that Pritzker was “moving the goalposts” with his reopening targets.
“We all are going to have to change the way we do things until we are able to eradicate [COVID-19,]” he said. “If the Chicago Tribune thinks that everything’s going to go back to completely normal without us having a very effective treatment or a vaccine, they’re just dead wrong.”
The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday more than 74,000 unemployment claims the week prior and more than 1 million since March 1. Businesses and their associations have criticized Pritzker’s five-phase plan to lift the state’s restrictions. Bars and dine-in restaurants, the plan said, would only be able to open in their respective region if there was no increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness for 28 days.
As of Sunday, 77,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and public health officials said the virus has killed more than 3,400 in Illinois.