|
|
To:
|
Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) Members
|
|
From:
|
Mark Biel, Chief Executive Officer
[email protected] or 217/522-5805
|
|
Re:
|
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update - Barring Any Significant COVID-19 Surge, State on Track for Phase 4 Re-Opening; Pritzker Places “Requests” on Insurance Companies Amid Looting and Vandalism; Virtual CICI Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Committee Meeting Next Thursday, June 18; Update on COVID-19 Cases
|
Barring Any Significant COVID-19 Surge, State on Track for Phase 4 Re-Opening: All four regions of the state of Illinois’ plan for re-opening appear to be on track for starting Phase 4 on June 26, barring any significant surge in COVID-19 cases. Governor Pritzker’s Phase 3 Executive Order expires June 27. It is very likely a new executive order will be issued with more guidance from the state’s public health officials. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) webpage illustrates where all four of the state’s regions are at in terms of the different metrics used to justify moving into Phase 4.
Per Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines that are not yet available for this particular phase, Phase 4 of the plan would allow gatherings of 50 people or less, in-door restaurants and bars re-open with capacity limits, travel resumes, full child care re-opens, health clubs and other personal services can re-open with capacity limits, and movies and theaters can re-open with capacity limits. CICI will keep you abreast of when such guidance becomes available for Phase 4.
Currently, all public and nonpublic schools in Illinois serving pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students may open for limited in-person educational purposes, such as summer school per Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order.
Pritzker Places “Requests” on Insurance Companies Amid Looting and Vandalism: Yesterday, GovernorPritzker held a press conference requesting insurance companies to be generous in processing claims from damage caused by looting and vandalism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. The Administration also imposed a 60-day halt on any policy cancellations or non-renewals to begin immediately.
The Illinois Department of Insurance (DOI) issued this document to insurers, saying they should consider looting and vandalism a catastrophic event and therefore expedite claims, advance payments when possible and “err on the side of the policyholder," even if the business has been unable to make their full premium payment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Insurers also should base payments for loss of business on “activity levels that eliminate the impact of COVID” and “err on the side of the policyholder when considering the use of exclusions.”
Governor Pritzker also stated that he expects compliance, with DOI mentioning possible license sanctions as well as fines and time-consuming performance audits that could be imposed on companies which don’t comply.
Virtual CICI Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Committee Meeting Next Thursday, June 18: There will be a virtual Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Committee meeting on Thursday, June 18 from 9:00-10:00 am. Notices are being sent out and attached to this Update is the agenda. To attend this virtual meeting, RSVP to Lisa Frede at [email protected] to receive your Zoom meeting credentials.
Update on COVID-19 Cases: Since CICI issued this Update 10 days ago, there are currently 129,212 positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, an average 10-day increase of 1,175 new per day. In total, 1,079,182 people have now been tested in Illinois for the virus, an average 10-day increase of 22,370 tests per day.
Unfortunately, during the last 10 days,IDPH is reporting a total of 6,018 deaths, an average 10- day increase of 75 per day.
The average statewide positivity rate for the last 10 days is at 5.2%. Again, IDPH’s webpage tracks positivity and hospitalization rates for the state’s four regions.
You can check where these cases are occurring at the State of Illinois COVID-19 website which also contains more information on this outbreak. Also, IDPH has a case breakdown of the number of positive cases in Chicago and each county relative to the number of fatalities. The IDPH website also now includes a breakdown of the cases under each zip code in the state. In addition, Western Illinois University has an put together this Map of COVID-19 Cases in Illinois & Surrounding States which gives you picture of where COVID-19 cases are occurring in relation to areas surrounding Illinois.
Worldometer also has a site with pertinent statistics on a state by state breakdown and comparison. Also, the City of Chicago has a good categorization of the cases within the city.
|
