UPDATE: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a “stay-at-home” order for the entire state starting Saturday, a dramatic-sounding measure, but it largely codifies the recommendations and previous orders issued by state officials to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Pritzker said his latest decision was based on conversations with “some of the best medical experts, epidemiologists, mathematicians and modelers.” Read the story here.
Oak Park residents awoke this morning to find themselves on lockdown, the subjects of a dramatic “shelter-in-place” order that essentially commands them to stay in their homes as officials try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
And the rest of Illinois could soon be joining them.
Oak Park residents can still go to the grocery store, keep their doctor appointments, make pharmacy runs and get some fresh air. They’ll also able to go to work, especially if they have essential jobs such as health care providers, first responders and sanitation workers.
Otherwise, they’re mostly be required to stay home, perhaps foreshadowing the stringent rules the entire state could find itself living under in the coming days. Gov. J.B. Pritzker confirmed Thursday that his staff was considering a similar order and would rely upon public health experts to help make that call.
The governor is scheduled to hold his daily update media briefing at 3 p.m. Friday.
“My team and I are working day and night, closely considering every option on the table,” Pritzker told reporters Thursday. “We’ve seen measures adopted in other countries, as well as places in the United States, like San Francisco. We’re looking at every aspect of those steps to look at how best to keep Illinoisans safe.”
The Oak Park order is in effect until April 3, which means local schools will be closed a week longer than the governor has commanded. While the order states that violations can result in a misdemeanor criminal charge, Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb said the goal is not to place people in jail, but rather to use the ordinance to explain the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is not to penalize people,” Abu-Taleb said. “This is to help people protect themselves and protect others. We are not interested in making it more difficult for people (to live their lives), but we do have staff that will communicate with those folks who may not be taking this as seriously as they should. This is a way to reach out to people who may not know how serious this is and how this virus uses us against one another to harm us.”
Oak Park residents clearly understand the seriousness now, but uncertainty about the shelter-in-place requirement remains.
“It’s sounds like what we need to do, but it’s confusing because no one knows what it means,” said Kathy Osler, a mental health worker who has one son at Oak Park and River Forest High School and another in college in San Diego. “For example, if my teenager wants to go hang out with friends, can he go over and hang out? I don’t know. It’s not ‘essential,’ so I guess it’s not OK.”
To help calm concerns, village officials sent an email Thursday explaining that residents still could go to work if their businesses was open and they could walk pets outdoors as long as maintained the recommended social distance of at least 6 feet. Walking, hiking and running are fine, but even small gatherings with people from different households are not.
The clarification, however, did not stop people from rushing to local supermarkets or ordering groceries for delivery. Arthur Paris, the owner of Carnival Grocery in Oak Park, reported traffic three to four times what’s typical on Thursdays and not unlike the shopping rushes before Christmas and Thanksgiving.
“Yesterday and today, we’ve been extremely busy,” Paris said. “We’ve seen a lot of new faces in the store today. Everybody’s in an upbeat mood though and it’s a community atmosphere.”
Longtime Oak Park resident Davis Farnham said he believes the order will help people grasp why it’s important to avoid social situations, especially with kids suddenly sent back from college.
“A lot of people are still not really understanding what it means to maintain distance, and really a lot of the kids are getting together and congregating,” he said. “They haven’t seen each other. They’re home from school. It’s understandable.”
Even doing tasks the order cites as “essential” can be unsettling, though.
“I went to the grocery store, and that’s an uncomfortable feeling, absolutely, because you’re still with people,” Farnham said. “I also am a volunteer at the Beyond Hunger food pantry. I did a stint over there today. I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
The long-running hunger relief service says on its website that it will continue to serve clients through the COVID-19 crisis.
Mayors in neighboring River Forest and Forest Park have issued “voluntary” shelter-in-place orders, creating different rules for the three closely connected communities. For example, there are no penalties for flouting the recommendation in either town.
Abu-Taleb said that since Oak Park has its own village health department, it has the ability to issue such an order. The mayor’s own restaurant in Oak Park — the popular Maya del Sol — will remain closed during the lockdown, which lasts several days longer than the governor’s order to close dine-in restaurants until March 30.
“We have the expertise and officials that can advise us on this matter,” Abu-Taleb said. “What we are trying to do here is to make people understand the gravity of the situation. In the meantime, we don’t want people to panic.”
On Thursday, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle said she would prefer a more uniform approach, with everyone following the same rules.
“This is a decision that that municipality made,” she said while announcing 17 more suburban Cook cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 75. “I guess my basic view is that it would be best if we had a consistent statewide policy on this issue.”
Illinois would be the second state to impose a shelter-in-place directive, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued one Thursday night. The San Francisco area was placed under one Tuesday. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also has told his residents to prepare for a possible order, though New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo dismissed the idea, saying his previous edicts are akin to a lockdown without the panic-inciting language.
On Thursday, Pritzker laid down the groundwork for a potential order in Illinois, telling parents to prepare for the statewide school closure to extend past March 30. Though the governor acknowledged he has discussed imposing more stringent rules on the general public, he said that no matter what he decides, interstate highways, gas stations, grocery stores and pharmacies would remain open.
“There is no need to run out and hoard food, gas and medicine,” he said. “Buy what you need within reason. There is enough to go around, as long as you do not hoard.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot also said she would consider putting Chicago on lockdown if necessary as the number of confirmed cases rises. On Thursday, her administration ordered anyone with the new coronavirus or who is exhibiting its symptoms to stay home, though it’s not clear how police and health department officials will enforce it.
Illinois has been headed toward a shelter-in-place command for the past week, as Pritzker closed schools, restaurants and bars for the next fortnight. He also issued an order that limited gatherings to fewer than 50 people, a move that shuttered fitness centers, bowling alleys, private clubs and theaters. And he urged the public to limit gatherings to fewer than 10 people.
Pritzker seemed to hint at more dire measures earlier this week, shortly after the first Illinois resident died from COVID-19. The Chicago woman, a retired nurse in her 60s, had underlying medical conditions.
“There are going to moments during the next few weeks and months when this burden feels like it is more than we can bear. But we will bear it,” Pritzker said Tuesday. “We will get through it. We will thrive and celebrate and gather and paint the river green for St. Patrick’s Day and have weddings and parties and election night rallies again. And for the time being we will be strong because that’s what this moment calls for.”
Illinois had 422 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus across 22 counties as of Thursday, according to the state Department of Public Health. There have been four corona-related deaths, including three announced Thursday.
Chicago Tribune’s Dan Petrella and Gregory Pratt contributed.
