Pritzker Warns of ‘Significantly Greater Mitigations' If COVID Metrics Don't Decline
Published August 24, 2021 • Updated 2 hours ago
Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned Tuesday that if Illinois' COVID metrics don't decline, "significantly greater mitigations" could be imposed in the state.
"We're consistently looking at the menu of options that we may need to impose in order to bring down the numbers," Pritzker said during a press conference. "I will remind you that if we are not able to bring these numbers down, if hospitals continue to fill, if the hospital beds and ICUs get full like they are in Kentucky -that's just next door to Illinois - if that happens, we're going to have to impose significantly greater mitigations."
As of Tuesday, 37 Illinois counties and Chicago were at a "warning level" for intensive care unit bed availability, according to data from the state health department.
For a county to reach "warning level," it must have below 20% ICU bed capacity, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported.
All counties in Illinois, except one, are also seeing "high" community transmission of COVID-19, placing the most of the state in the category in which everyone over the age of 2 should resume wearing a mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status, health officials say.
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https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/coronavirus/pritzker-warns-of-significantly-greater-mitigations-if-covid-metrics-dont-decline/2597381/
