Photo courtesy to Pritzker Facebook page
NORMAL, Ill.- The number of Coronavirus cases in Illinois now totals 32, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Seven cases were added Thursday.
The government of Illinois is asking people to stay home and prevent further spread.
Governor J.B Pritzker believes it would be better to criticized for doing too much than not doing enough.
Illinois is officially suspending school across the State of Illinois, which was announced in a press release conference held on Friday, March 13 at 4 p.m.
Pritzker told school superintendents statewide that we he will order schools to close from Tuesday, with classes set to resume March 30.
Pritzker said, “We have been monitoring all the new information that has been relieved. We are weighing issues everyday. We know what the consequences are for closing public schools. The scientists and the doctors are basically coming to the conclusion that social interaction being limited is the answer.”
Illinois is now the eighth state to make this decision.
“In the end, that this is the right answer. Hundreds and thousands of students are already out of school because districts came to the conclusion,” said Pritzker.
The cancellation does not begin until Tuesday and this was to ensure teachers had that extra day to prepare.
Pritzker said that the Illinois government wanted to make sure teachers can make lesson plans and create e-learning solutions.
Pritzker also announced that those students on the free or reduced lunch programs will have food delivered to them because sometimes they need that meal for the day.
“We get new information every day because frankly there is just so much we don’t know. These are hard decisions to make.”
According to officials at the press conference, school personnel will continue to be paid using “Act of God” days or Emergency days.
“No school district will see their state funding cut as a result of this public health crisis,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker also asked for all events that accumulate more than 250 people to cancel. Pritzker has also announced a ban on all gatherings of 1,000 people or more in Illinois.