East Central Reporter

Approximately 1,000 protesters gathered at the State Capitol May 16 to voice their opposition to Gov. J.B. Pritizker's COVID-19 restrictions

 drew attention to  disgruntled even under Gov. J.B. Pritzker's modified stay-at-home orders that allow boat rides.

Some 

It was the fourth protest within the past 30 days, according to media reports.

“You can only have two people at a time on a boat, which makes no sense,” said Tom Vahling of Effingham. “If people live in the same house and are riding the same car to the lake, what's the point of having two in a boat when there are six in your family?”

When asked about the policy during a virtual press conference on May 15, 2020, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said, “The reality is that when we see lots of people getting together in a single place, someone could easily bring COVID-19 into that environment and spread it.”

The governor eased statewide restrictions on the same day protesters took to the streets in Springfield and Chicago, allowing residents to leave home for health, supplies and services, certain types of work and caregiving under a statewide plan to slowly reopen the economy in phases of 28 days. Currently, the state is in Phase 2 of Restore Illinois, which allows outdoor activities, such as fishing.

“We have rules in place now of two people in a boat as a limitation,” Gov. Pritzker told journalists. “It's really for the purposes of allowing people leisure time who go fishing and want to have somebody with them. The theory is that a typical boat might allow six feet distance between two people. That was at least the recommendation that we received about boating.”

Dine-in restaurants, bars, nightclubs, entertainment venues, gyms, public events, gatherings and convention centers remain closed, according to the May 1 order.

But as previously reported in the SW Illinois News, Gov. Pritzker’s new order, which expires on May 31, is based on special emergency powers granted to the governor through the Emergency Management Act. The original 30-day disaster proclamation ended on April 9.

“I’d like to see the governor follow the law and let each County health department decide when to reopen but people in power like having power,” Vahling told the East Central Reporter.

Statewide, as of May 15, 2020, there are 90,369  positive coronavirus cases with 4,058 deaths while in Effingham there are 6 positive cases with 1 death, according to the Illinois Department of Health.

Under Phase 3 of Restore Illinois, which is dubbed Recovery, employees of non-essential businesses are allowed to return to work depending upon risk level, telework is strongly encouraged wherever possible, employers are encouraged to provide accommodations for COVID-19-vulnerable employees, health and fitness clubs can provide outdoor classes and one-on-one personal training, bars and restaurants can open for delivery, pickup and drive-thru only while retail stores can open with capacity limits and approved safety guidance, including face coverings.

"When things open up, here's why it's important that you have a period of time that you are gradually opening because you are going to get a higher infection rate," said Gov. Pritzker. "That's just sort of a fact of life in a pandemic with no treatment and with nothing to stop the virus, you are going to get spread. You want this period of time of a gradual opening because it takes weeks and weeks between the time that you open things up, people start interacting with one another and the time they go to the hospital, end up on a ventilator and the time that unfortunately they may pass. The virus knows no boundaries and the virus only knows that it is searching for the next person to infect."