With an eye on what’s happening on the coasts, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has begun talking with his peers in other Midwestern states about adopting a joint policy on reopening the Midwest economy as the COVID-19 pandemic curve appears to be flattening.

Pritzker’s office is confirming that both he and key staff members have been on the phone as governors in the Northeast and Pacific Coast areas step up regional coordination in advance of an expected national move by President Donald Trump that may or may not fit local priorities.

“The governor is interested in exploring something like what’s happening on the East and West Coasts for the Midwest,” spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh told me in a phone call. “It would be some sort of regional cooperation.”

“The conversations are being had,” she said, while declining to confirm whether Pritzker has spoken directly with his counterparts in Indianapolis, Madison or elsewhere. “I think our goal is to work together on things such as what do you do about stay-at-home orders, legalities and so forth.”

The question being asked: “Should we do this? Are you on board?”

Trump yesterday said he has the sole power when it comes to deciding how to proceed now to revive the national economy, even though the stay-at-home orders that hobbled the economy and forced millions of layoffs were imposed separately by some, but not all, governors, including Pritzker.

Beyond that, while all of the West Coast and all but one of the Northeast states have Democratic governors and are culturally similar, the Midwest is somewhat more varied with Democrats and Republicans splitting control of the governorships and legislatures.

But Abudayyeh pointed to Ohio as an example of a state which has a Republican governor, Mike DeWine, and adopted stay-at-home rules early.

Here in Illinois, the possibilities for adopting a joint policy might best lie in the two other states that comprise portions of the Chicago metropolitan area, Indiana and Wisconsin, since the metro area essentially is one large economy of nearly 10  million people.

Wisconsin has a Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and Indiana a Republican one, Eric Holcomb, but COVID-19 cases have been rising rapidly in Indiana and all three states have huge manufacturing industries.

Abudayyeh declined to say how other Midwestern governors are responding so far, but added that some announcement could come as soon as later this week.