As we continue into the summer and phase 4 of the “Restore Illinois” plan during the COVID-19 Pandemic, doctors are reminding everyone to continue taking precautions to slow the spread of the corona virus. In Illinois alone, there’s an average of 800 to 1,000 new cases each day in recent weeks.
“In our local area, our labs are getting a handful of positive new cases every day,” says Dr. Jonathan K. Pinsky, M.D. of Edward-Elmhurst Health‘s Infectious Disease department. “So [COVID-19] is still out there.”
However, the case count is still low enough that businesses and organizations can operate, indoors and outside, with some restrictions, such as limiting groups of participants or customers to 50 per location, having no more than six people sit at a table, and mandating that masks be worn upon entry and while walking around (but can be removed while seated and eating).
Continued Precautions
Safety measures to continue to fight the spread of infection during Phase 4 include:
- Wearing protective masks
- Washing your hands throughout the day and after touch surfaces
- Keeping physical distance of at least six feet between you and others
“If we do all these things, we should be good to move forward with opening schools and see a decline in COVID cases,” says Pinsky.
