Pritzker warns of ‘significantly greater mitigations’ if COVID metrics don’t improve

CHICAGO (WREX) �� Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says if the metrics for COVID-19 don’t start to improve in the state, “significantly greater mitigations�� could be imposed.

“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,�� Governor Pritzker said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Pritzker did not provide specifics as to what these “significantly greater mitigations�� would look like, but reiterated that’s not what the state wants to do.

“Those are things we don’t want to go back to. Those are phases, situations, things on the menu that I think we don’t want to go,�� Pritzker said.

As of Tuesday, all of Illinois is at high risk of transmitting the coronavirus, .

It’s been three weeks since on some masking guidelines saying that that even vaccinated people should return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging.

It further narrowed that guidance to counties that have substantial or high risk of transmission of COVID-19. The guidance looks at where new cases are more than 50 per 100,000 people or where the 7-day positivity rates are more than 8%.

Pritzker said the state has already implemented across the state, , a and a .

“We want everyone to wear a mask everywhere indoors, and we’ve recommended it,�� Pritzker said.

Illinois health officials on Friday reported 24,682 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, along with 126 additional deaths and nearly 235,000 new vaccine doses administered. Those are increases in all metrics as the state continues to see a surge fueled by the delta variant.