Executive Order in Response to COVID-19

Dear Hickory Hills Neighbor,

As you probably know, this afternoon Governor Pritzker declared a Stay at Home Order for the entire State of Illinois, effective Saturday, March 21, 2020 beginning at 5 p.m. and lasting through April 7, 2020. Attached please find a copy of the Governors Executive Order and FAQ that you might find helpful in determining what is deemed essential and non-essential activities. Importantly, you may continue to travel to grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacy, doctor and dentist appointments, travel to work, purchase cleaning supplies and hardware goods, pick up carry out food, hire tradesmen to perform work on your home, just to name a few.

You may also enjoy outdoor leisure activities such as going for a walk, run, bike ride, etc.

Police Chief Hobart Chief Hobart noted that there are despicable scam artists out there peddling COVID-19 apps and even door to door people peddling COVID-19 testing (none known around here). Please ignore or if you have any questions, please call our police non-emergency phone number at 708/598-1313.

This Executive Order is no doubt a great inconvenience to many. However, you all deserve honesty in the assessment of this situation and the fact is that these measures are absolutely necessary to save lives. It is not an exaggeration to say that following these stay at home directives is a matter of life and death. I say this because we have barely scratched the surface of testing and there already are now nearly 500 COVID-19 cases throughout ¼ of Illinois counties.

Doctor Emily Landon, Epidemiologist at the University of Chicago, said it best this afternoon when she stated since there is no vaccine, staying at home and following this Executive Order right now is the only way to avoid thousands of deaths in Illinois.

We are all in this together and I have no doubt that we all are willing to make these shared sacrifices for the greater good of our neighbors, friends loved ones and our country. Over this past week I have been on enough phone conferences with leading medical experts and scientists to confidently recommend that we all should heed the advice of public health experts. Contrary to what non-medical experts may be saying, these measures are NOT an overreaction and this virus IS much worse than the flu. If family members and friends are not taking proper precautions, it is up to all of us to help them understand that their actions put themselves and others at risk.

We will get through this together as a community.

Good health to you and your loved ones.

Mayor Mike