Sangamon Sun

Illinois state Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) wants to see all the state’s branches of government working as one to address the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

“I don’t think it’s right for Gov. [J.B.] Pritzker to continue to be a one-man army when it comes to how we deal with the virus and I think it’s past time we’re allowed to do the job we were elected to do,” McClure told the Sangamon Sun. “I know the governor has tremendous power, especially when it comes to dealing with an emergency. But at the end of the day, we’re not a one-man government.”

After going along with the governor’s initial 30-day statewide shutdown that forced most small businesses to close as a way of mitigating the spread of the virus, McClure said people have now grown tired of being sidelined and held in the dark in terms of what comes next.

“The plan that the governor just laid out leaves a lot of questions, like why we have a 28-day timeline for reevaluating things when even New York, which is the epicenter of the pandemic, only has a 28-day timeline,” he said. “Even the federal government has only issued a 14-day timeline. On top of that, the regions are too big and we really haven’t seen the scientific data to justify a lot of these restrictions.”

Other elements of the governor’s plan call for a region-by-region reopening of the economy, factoring in that some areas of the state may be ready to move to the next phase faster than others. With Illinois in Phase 2 of the plan, Pritzker said he doesn’t anticipate the state moving into Phase 5, or a complete reopening of the economy, until there is a vaccine or highly effective coronavirus treatment available.

“That’s a scary proposition,” McClure said. “Having to wait for a vaccine would mean a lot of these small businesses not ever being able to come back.”