Pritzker Asks People to be Cautious after the Thanksgiving Holiday

By Gary Scott on December 2, 2020 at 10:10am

Governor J.B. Pritzker is urging those who traveled for the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend to get tested for COVID-19. Despite being asked by health officials to stay home or limit gatherings to immediate family, several million Americans hit the road for the holiday season this year. Pritzker says people who decided to leave the state need to get a test completed: “IDPH recommends that you get tested between 5-7 days after your return. That’s only if you’re asymptomatic, and you want to go get a test. If you have symptoms, you should get tested right away. This is the time to be extra careful. With a surge of the virus expected, limit your mobility outside your home, and stay home if you don’t feel well. Even if you feel well, other than leaving for work or for school or for essential trips like going to the grocery store, these next few weeks are a time to stay home as much as possible.” 

Pritzker also urged everyone to continue to stay at home as much as possible over the next few weeks ahead of the upcoming Christmas holidays to mitigate any possible large surges that may occur. Pritzker says a small amount of vaccine is on its way to the state. He says about 109,000 doses are coming, which will only cover about 54,500 people due to the need of two shots per person: “And those vaccines, because of the limited numbers of them, will go almost all to health care workers, and if there are enough then, next to, those in long term care facilities, the staff and the residents. Our anticipation at the moment is that the numbers are small enough so that it won’t go beyond those two populations. It may not even get to all health care works at least not in that very first shipment we receive.” 

Pritzker says he hopes more doses will be coming to the state soon to cover more vulnerable populations. He says the state, like everyone else, is limited to restrictions by the FDA.