Governor Pritzker Reduces COVID-19 Measures for Some Sectors
On Tuesday, July 12th Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2022-16 which reissues previous pandemic-related Executive Orders with some notable changes, particularly for members in the healthcare and education space.
In the release accompanying the Executive Order, the Governor's office writes the following regarding healthcare employees:
Currently, Illinois requires at least weekly testing of health care staff who are unvaccinated. Under the updated requirements, long-term care facilities with the most vulnerable residents, including skilled nursing homes, will now test staff who are not up to date with their COVID-19 vaccine weekly if located in an area of moderate community level transmission and twice weekly in areas of substantial or high community level transmission, as recommended by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Unvaccinated staff at hospitals and other healthcare facilities that are certified by CMS will now be required to test weekly only if located in areas of high community level transmission.
Vaccine mandates for emergency medical service providers were not reissued.
Concerning the higher education space, vaccine mandates for employees and students were not reissued either.
Read the Governor's press release here.
Read the full executive order here.
President & CEO Maisch Radio Interview on Inflation
Earlier this week, President & CEO Todd Maisch joined 92.7 WMAY for an early morning conversation about the latest national inflation numbers. Maisch warned that the Illinois and national economy may be facing coming trouble, but also said that the State is positioned to weather the storm if policymakers act prudently.
In the interview, Maisch said that Illinois has to use this opportunity to send a signal to the business community. That is whether or not the State can maintain sound fiscal footing while not raising taxes or imposing burdensome policies in potential times of trouble.
Listen to the full interview here.
