Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks at a campaign event in November 2022. | JB Pritzker/Facebook
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks at a campaign event in November 2022. | JB Pritzker/Facebook
Illinois is one of eight states to still have COVID-19 disaster declarations in place nearly three years after the pandemic started. That will change in May.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently announced plans to lift the state’s COVID-19 disaster status on May 11, according to the Chicago Tribune. The governor also said the disaster declarations were needed to ensure access to federal resources, including expanded benefits for food stamp recipients.
“Let me be clear: COVID-19 has not disappeared,” Pritzker said. “It is still a real and present danger to people with compromised immune systems — and I urge all Illinoisans to get vaccinated or get their booster shots if they have not done so already.”
Some have criticized the declarations and Pritzker for renewing them every 30 days, the Tribune reported. Controversial mask mandates ended in February 2022.
Pritzker first declared a statewide emergency on March 9, 2020, two days before the World Health Organization (WHO) labeled the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. At the time of the declaration, Illinois had 11 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and no deaths, according to the Tribune.
President Joe Biden also recently announced plans to end COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11, the Tribune reported.
Chicago’s public health department, which has released COVID-19 data on cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccinations on a daily basis, will roll back that reporting to a weekly release, according to the Tribune.
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