Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R) says COVID-19 data shows 70% of outbreaks have occurred in long-term care facilities, and is calling on the Illinois Department of Public Health to loosen restrictions on businesses.
“Restaurants, retailers and houses of worship are not the culprits of community spread of COVID-19 and we need to stop treating them as such. IDPH’s own data demonstrates that most outbreaks of COVID-19 in Illinois are attributable to long-term care and other congregate living facilities. With this undisputed fact in mind, destroying people’s livelihoods and forcing people out of work with extreme statewide restrictions is clearly not based on data and science,” Sosnowski said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the IDPH’s data, restaurants have accounted for 1% of the total number of statewide COVID-19 outbreaks; with 1% attributed to bars, 2% attributed to retail sales locations, 2% attributed to places of worship, and 2% to community events.
Gov. Pritzker announced Tier 3 restrictions for all of Illinois, which began on November 20th. The new order limits indoor capacity at retail spaces to 25%, and also closes casinos and shuts down gaming machines, close theaters, limit the number of clients at salons and barbershops, and return office workers to a work-from-home environment.
“The Governor and Dr. Ezike should do a better job of displaying data on outbreaks and not leave data out of their reports to justify their decisions. They should stop creating extreme restrictions and focus their mitigation policies on where most outbreaks happen,” Sosnowski said.
On Thursday, IDPH reported 11,101 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease , including 196 additional deaths in the last 24 hours.
