Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) has signed his state’s 34th coronavirus disaster proclamation, giving himself continued power over all of Illinois’ 102 counties even as President Joe Biden has declared that “Covid is over.”
The Land of Lincoln’s eight-page 34th disaster proclamation was filed on Sept. 16, alerting citizens to the continued threat of the virus and reasserting state aid for vaccines, stockpiling of ventilators, aid for hospitals, and guidance on mitigation, among other state-sponsored programs and policies.
The Illinois governor’s renewing of the proclamation giving himself unchecked power is in stark contrast to the actions of governors in the surrounding states. As Wirepoints noted, Indiana and Kentucky retired their disaster proclamations in March, Iowa ended its in February, Wisconsin ended its in March of 2021, and Missouri’s was canned in December of 2021. Michigan even ended its version way back in October of 2020!
Pritzker continues to accrue to himself emergency powers that greatly increase his ability to act outside the legislature. But he does so as Joe Biden declared the pandemic to be in the rearview mirror.
On Sunday, CBS’s 60 Minutes caught up with the president during the recent Detroit Auto Show and asked about the pandemic.
Anchor Scott Pelley approached Biden and asked, “Mr. President, first Detroit auto show in three years. Is the pandemic over?”
Biden replied, “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.”
Meanwhile, cases of coronavirus as well as deaths attributed to the virus have fallen to new lows. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, hospitalizations in the state have registered a 16 percent drop over August rates and deaths are “relatively stable — and low,” the paper said, with about 12 deaths per day supposedly due to coronavirus. Positive tests have also declined 27 percent over last month.
But unlike most of the rest of the country, where state legislatures have stepped in and put Covid policies in place after the emergency powers of their governors have lapsed, Illinois continues to put these vast powers in the hands of J.B. Pritzker.
Illinois is bucking another trend in this situation, too. As Wirepoints noted, most other states have begun revisiting the emergency powers that governors had prior to the coronavirus pandemic as so many became alarmed at just how much arbitrary power their governors were able to wield during the early days of the pandemic.
While other states are passing legislation to diminish these emergency powers, Illinois continues to imbue its governor with power to run roughshod over the state legislature for a pandemic that even the nation’s president has declared “over.”
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