Chambana Sun

Vermillion Republican activist Rick Berner fears Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s handling of COVID-19 could extend Illinois’ suffering far beyond that of other states.

“With all these restrictions, Illinois’ employment increase will lag behind other states and people will be forced to do things they wouldn’t normally do because people won’t be able to make a living in the jobs they’ve had before,” Berner told the Chambana Sun. “It’s kind of characteristic of what we’re seeing in Democrat-run states.”

Citing rising coronavirus infection rates, Pritzker recently warned that he could soon move to reimpose stricter reopening guidelines for all of Illinois as at least 11 counties are now at “warning levels” for the spread of the virus. Cass, Gallatin, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Perry, Randolph, Saline, Sangamon, St. Clair and White counties have all been identified as potential hotspots.

Berner argues the governor’s one-size fits-all-approach to gaining control of the virus is actually having the opposite effect to helping people survive the crisis.

“He’s turning people against one another and making it a ‘you or me' proposition,” he said. “I think businesses are doing their part to protect their customer base and we don’t need Big Brother standing guard and restricting everything that you do to try and save yourself. If they continue with further restrictions, it will only slow everything down even more.”

Berner recently took the governor to task over what he sees as his delayed reopening of the state economy when compared to other nearby states.

“Many of the other states around us have moved a little faster when it comes to reopening their economies,” Berner told the Chambana Sun. “I think we could have started to move things along at a little faster pace than what Gov. Pritzker has set. There’s no doubt that the added weeks of inactivity hurt a lot of businesses.”