East Central Reporter

Illinois state Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) believes that Illinois should be one of the states moving toward restarting at least part of its economy in the coming days.

“People in my district are saying they’re going back to work shortly, whether Gov. Pritzker approves it or not,” Miller told the East Central Reporter. “Small business owners and independent contractors down here look around and see there’s no pandemic, but they're bleeding badly from this shutdown. Everyone understands the dangers of the virus, at the same time they can’t help but feel like politics is fueling at least part of this.”

May 1 is the date the federal government recently established for states to restart their economies. With the original stay-at-home order he enacted slated to expire on April 30, Gov. J.B. Pritzker hasn’t publicly said what he plans to do going forward, though he recently announced that the state has joined in partnership with six other neighboring states to restart the region’s economy in a phased alliance.

For his part, Miller says he’s embracing President Donald Trump’s plan for a phased restart that leaves the final decision for states based on where things stand in their areas.

“To begin with, we’ve only had a few cases down here, and everybody has recovered and is back home,” Miller said. "Meanwhile, the biggest hospital in the area just laid off hundreds of doctors and nurses because they stopped performing elective surgeries and the COVID-19 surge that was predicted never happened.”

Miller says that people have had enough of the politics.

“That’s a big part of the hysteria,” he said. “A lot of people are playing on the fears of some, and others are taking advantage of the uncertainty that’s out there. More and more, some people are seeing this as just another attempt to attack the president.”