South West Illinois News

Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi said that because the state is divided into only four regions, areas in southern Illinois likely will not reach Phase 3 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's five-phase plan to reopen Illinois until the end of June.

According to the Du Quoin Call, Pritzker has previously said no region in the state would reach Phase 3 before May 29. Phase 3 includes offices, retail, manufacturing, salons and barbershops reopening with 10 or fewer people. Regions cannot enter Phase 3 until the region's rate of infection, along with the number of patients being admitted and needing ICU beds is either stable or declining, the newspaper reported.

As of June 20, Illinois reported 136,104 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 6,625 deaths. Perry County has had just 44 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Alongi told the Call that after speaking with local physicians, the region won't even reach peak levels for another two to three weeks.

"Right now, we're not stabilizing and we're not in decline," Alongi said.  

Alongi said if people would wear masks, things could move quicker, but only about half of people are wearing them. He also said while he supports the governor's stay-at-home orders, he has issues with the five-phase plan and would prefer it if local health departments could decide when businesses should reopen.

"Here in southern Illinois, where we are not affected as much as Chicago, I'm not sure we need to play by the same rules," Alongi said. "We've got businesses drying up and people are hurting – they were hurting two weeks into this. Having southern Illinois not open is 10-fold worse than businesses in Chicago not open."

Alongi told the Call that the Du Quoin City Council will continue holding council meetings via telecommunication until at least July 1. He said he takes issue with Phases 4 and 5, stating that local businesses cannot wait as long as it will take to reach those phases before they are forced to close permanently.