Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis said it's time for the governor to talk with downstate leaders about a process to begin reopening their economies before the end of May.
Ardis pointed to a plan from Adams County in western Illinois, which has drafted a four-phase approach to reopening based on various goalposts.
"We can do this without jeopardizing our health and safety, and that should be our number one objective," he said.
The mayor said while he's generally been supportive of Gov. Pritzker's stay-at-home order, he believes both health and economic metrics need to be weighed in the ongoing conversation about gradually reopening the economy.
On Monday, Pritzker defended his statewide approach to the stay-at-home order he recently extended to the end of May, noting that communities outside the Chicagoland area see some of the highest infection and death rates per capita.
“It would be doing a massive disservice to our downstate residents if we governed only by raw numbers, no matter where you live,” he said.
Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson said reopening talks can't happen without discussion of the Peoria region's largest employment sector: healthcare.
"It's not siloed just public health only. And it's not siloed just economics only," she said. "And in Peoria, because they're so mirrored by our healthcare systems being in both lenses of that, it's going to be really a conversation that has to happen on different levels."
Ardis has previously mentioned testing data from the three new Heartland Health Services COVID-19 testing sites will give a better picture of how pervasive the virus is in the Peoria area. He said that data could be used to make a phased, regional reopening argument to the governor.
Hendrickson said the next few weeks will be imperative, and she said localized expanded testing is a plus. But she also noted that Peoria's hospital systems take in patients from as far away as Rock Island, Quincy, and Springfield.
"I get nervous because of one thing and one thing alone: our hospitals and our economy is not based on Peoria County alone," she said.
In Peoria County, 10 of the 69 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far were diagnosed at an expanded testing site in the past week.
Ardis said Peoria-area state lawmakers are in agreement about the need for a reopening plan and are working to facilitate discussions with the governor's office. The city of Peoria is facing up to $50 million in cuts and borrowing due to decreased tax and fee revenues linked to the COVID-19 stay-at-home order issued in March.
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Ardis: Pritzker Needs To Consider Both Health And Economics
