Governor J.B. Pritzker said the state has enforcement mechanisms for those who purposely violate social distancing guidelines. Pritzker was made aware of a party video that was allegedly shot in a Chicago home this week at his daily press conference yesterday. He says that people in the video have violated the public’s trust and safety:
“Well first I want to remind everyone that by doing that, by standing together, not social distancing, many people not wearing masks, you’re literally putting everyone around you in danger. They are putting you in danger. And very importantly, all of those people are putting their families and their friends who are not there with them in danger because COVID-19 works like this. First, you are asymptomatic. You are a carrier. And you might feel just fine. And you’ll go home. You’ll feel fine, and you might give it to people at home. You’ll see your friends, you feel fine, you give it to one of your friends or more. And then you are a spreader of COVID-19. The whole purpose of social distancing, wearing masks or staying at home, in fact, is that we don’t want to spread this to our loved ones or to others in the community. So I would suggest that all of those people have violated, not only the intention of the order that we’ve put out, but also they violated the trust of their friends and family.”
Pritzker says he’s given people the ability to self-enforce the order. The Illinois State Police and local police have used violations as a means to teach people the value of the order rather than through arrests. Morgan County has only issued 2 citations to date for reckless conduct related to violations of social distancing guidelines. Pritzker said yesterday that police have the ability to detain people who continue to habitually and blatantly violate the order.