With Travel Beginning to Spike, State Officials Pleading for Cancellation of Thanksgiving Plans
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Health care leaders, public health officials, and government leaders like Governor JB Pritzker have all been encouraging the public to cancel large Thanksgiving dinners and travel for weeks. But it appears the public may be ignoring those requests, leaving officials pleading Monday for stop helping a potential spike in COVID-19 cases.
The Transportation Security Administration reported over 1,000,000 screenings at airports around the country just Sunday, around double from two weeks ago. Thousands of travelers passed through O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago and Lambert airport in St. Louis this weekend alone.
“I’m concerned about people just thinking this doesn’t effect them. And, of course, it does,” said Pritzker at his Monday COVID-19 update news conference. “So we’re gonna see the effect of that after the Thanksgiving holiday and I hope that we are prepared.”
Some hospitals around the state are already being stretched thin with climbing patient admissions and staff falling ill with COVID-19.
“Thanksgiving hasn’t happened yet. People can still change their plans and change the outcome,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director D,r Ngozi Ezike. “We don’t have to have super spreader events at homes throughout our state and throughout the country and then bringing it back. Please reconsider your plans and see if we can be part of the solution to decrease infections “
Meanwhile, pushback against the Governor’s orders continue, especially downstate. Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyille) posted on his official Facebook page Sunday that Pritzker had no jurisdiction on Halbrook’s Thanksgiving celebration.
Halbrook and a number of southeastern Illinois lawmakers has banded together to sue Pritzker multiple times for his emergency orders, but courts have struck down the cases, allowing the Governor’s orders to continue.
