Macon Reporter

State Rep. Brad Halbrook almost thinks Gov. J.B. Pritzker is stuck in some sort of time warp when it comes to the way he is handling the coronavirus pandemic.

“The governor talks a lot about talking to experts and following their models, but a lot of what they’re now saying is different from their thoughts when this first happened,” Halbrook told the Macon Reporter. "We know where the hot spots are now and we’re continuing to put measures in place to mitigate the spread. Now, we need to move forward with re-opening our economy.”

Halbrook recently joined Republican colleague state Rep. Chris Miller of Oakland in calling on Pritzker to do just that.

“It’s past time that we start having these kinds of conversations,” he said. “The question for the governor is what are the metrics he’s using for making that determination? The curve-flattening has been successful and people want to know when we get back to pre-coronavirus life."

Halbrook points to original projections that indicated deaths from the virus could be as high as 2.5 million now be downgraded in some cases to around 60,000 as an example of the curve-bending he’s alluding to.

“The experts continue to revise models and I think the governor needs to take that into consideration,” he said.

Halbrook said to ignore the data only makes all the suffering more pronounced.

“Down here in Central Illinois, we’ve seen hundreds of hospital workers laid off because hospitals stopped scheduling elective surgeries to prepare for the coronavirus surge that in these parts never came,” he said.

Halbrook adds he thinks at some of the restrictions imposed as part of the governor’s stay-at-home order have particularly been unfair to small business owners.

“If I’m some sort of specialty store owner deemed nonessential, I’m completely out of business now while one of the big box stores is open for business and in some cases selling those same items without prohibition,” he said.