Type of Intervention: Executive Order
Sectors Involved: Health, Local Government
Intervention Categories: Legal and policy; Declaring state of emergency
Level of Jurisdiction: Illinois
Lead People/Agency: Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker
Overview: JB Pritzker, Governor of Illinois, declared all counties in the State of Illinois as a disaster area on March 9, 2020 (the First Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation) in response to the outbreak of COVID-19
…for the preservation of public health and safety throughout the entire State of Illinois, and to ensure that our healthcare delivery system is capable of serving those who are sick, I find it necessary to take additional measures consistent with public health guidance to slow and stop the spread of COVID-19
Full details here: https://www2.illinois.gov/Pages/Executive-Orders/ExecutiveOrder2020-18.aspx
Type of Justification: Advice of INTERNAL government advisory committee or group, Scientific Evidence (e.g. academic paper, report), Perception of an increased threat
Source of Evidence or Justification: World Health Organisation, National – government, CDC
Evidence/Justification: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel severe acute respiratory illness that can spread among people through respiratory transmissions and present with symptoms similar to those of influenza; and, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic; and, despite efforts to contain COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have declared that it is expected to spread; and, certain populations are at higher risk of experiencing more severe illness as a result of COVID-19, including older adults and people who have serious chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or lung disease; and, in a short period of time, COVID-19 has rapidly spread throughout Illinois, necessitating updated and more stringent guidance from federal, state, and local public health officials; and, social distancing, which requires maintaining at least a six-foot distance between people, is a paramount strategy for minimizing the spread of COVID-19 in our communities; and, current testing availability has identified further spread of confirmed cases throughout the State of Illinois, and it is expected that increased testing capacity would demonstrate that COVID-19 is circulating in communities across Illinois that currently have not identified a confirmed case; and, the number of suspected COVID-19 cases in Illinois is increasing exponentially and across more locations in Illinois, indicating that drastic social distancing measures are needed, even in communities where confirmed cases have not yet been identified, to reduce the number of people who become sick at any given time and the possibility of exhausting our health care resources