"Building on data, science, and guidance from public health experts and after consulting with stakeholders across the state," the governor’s statement says, the Pritzker administration will pursue "a five-phase plan focused on saving lives, livelihood, and safely reopening Illinois."

The plan, dubbed Restore Illinois, "is a public health plan to safely reintroduce the parts of our lives that have been put on hold in our fight against COVID-19. This is also a data-driven plan that operates on a region-by-region basis, a recognition that reality on the ground looks different in different areas of our state," the governor said during his daily press briefing on the coronavirus crisis.

The four regions—including metropolitan Chicago, the northwest part of the state, Central Illinois and Southern Illinois—will be judged by various health-related metrics, he said. But each will have “the ability to independently move through a phased approach” of reopening, based on those criteria.

Pritzker has hinted in recent days that he was open to a regional approach. But today’s announcement moves him significantly toward the position of some of his critics, who have argued it’s unfair to expect people relatively unscathed downstate areas to limit their activities the same as those in hard-hit Chicago.”

More to come …