NOTE: Any press conference from Government JB Pritzker Friday will be broadcast live in the player above.
Government JB Pritzker will give a COVID-19 update on Friday in which it is expected to set out which regions can lift Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions.
Pritzker will deliver the update at 12 noon at the Thompson Center in Chicago according to his public schedule. The news conference can be watched live in the video player above.
Pritzker is expected to announce which regions could begin pushing back the restrictions that have been in place for months, suspend indoor eateries in the state and close museums and casinos.
All 11 regions of Illinois have been under Tier 3 mitigation since November 20th.
According to the governors’ office, some regions will return to Tier 2, others possibly to Tier 1, and some will remain in Tier 3 – according to data reported on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s going to be a mixed bag,” a governor’s spokesman said.
As of Thursday, however, no region has complied with the guidelines for bringing back indoor eateries, although some were nearby, the spokesman said.
Although it remains unclear what exactly the governor will announce for each region on Friday, a region could move to Tier 2 mitigation according to state guidelines if it sees a test positivity rate of less than 12% and more than 20% for three consecutive days. of the ICU and hospital beds are available, as well as declining COVID-19 hospitalizations in seven of the previous ten days.
Regions with a positivity rate averaging 6.5 percent to 8 percent are likely to fall under Tier 1 guidelines, although the state may still choose to monitor it before further restrictions are lifted.
To move on to phase 4, however, the positivity rate must, on average, be less than or equal to 6.5 percent over a period of three days.
Currently, the region closest to the benchmark is Region 3 in Western Illinois, which has an average positivity rate of 6.9%. But the region is currently faltering on the point of insufficient availability of hospital beds and ICU bed capacity, which would mean it remains in Tier 3.
In addition to Region 3, Regions 1, 2, and 5 – which include Kendall, Grundy, LaSalle, and DeKalb in the Chicago area – also currently meet the guidelines to start working back some restrictions.
Regions 7 and 8 in the Chicago area are also close to the criteria for leaving Tier 3. (Click here for a full breakdown of region by region)