Governor should quit politicking on virus
Listening to the daily news conference of Gov. Pritzker and his constant bashing of the federal government, is disturbing. He's a self-promoting cheerleader for his "prompt action," causing Illinois to be "one of the first states to take action ..." in dealing with COVID-19. Yet, only two days before his "shelter-in-place" Executive Order, he allowed the Illinois primary election to take place on March 17, intentionally ignoring his advisers, federal government warnings and conclusions he personally expressed several days before the primary.
On March 13, Pritzker ordered all state schools to close effective March 17, 2020. During the announcement, Pritzker stated "having the general public staying home will have a massive effect on bending the curve and that means lives saved." He added "This isn't coming, it's here."
Ignoring his own warnings, Pritzker decided to proceed with the election when he already knew the federal guidelines for social distancing. he knew his executive order for shelter-in-place was imminent. he knew the pool of election judges consisted of mostly elderly individuals who would be exposed to the virus. and he knew that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine ordered a postponement of his state's primary election over a concern for the virus.
Pritzker's failure to postpone the primary exposed hundreds of thousands of voting citizens to the risk of catching the virus. There is no way to determine how many COVID-19 cases were attributed to Pritzker's decision to choose politics over the safety of his constituents.
We aren't just Illinois citizens. We are also U.S. citizens and proud of it.
Pritzker needs to cease the hypocrisy, quit the politicking during this crisis and advocate cooperation with all levels of government if he wants to do everything possible to "bend the curve."
Peter J. Wifler
Hawthorn Woods