Chicago City Wire

On April 9, Gov. J.B. Pritzker suggested that organizers of summer events and gatherings consider cancelling them, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

He issued a stay-at-home order on March 21, and said on April 9 that he saw those efforts were beginning to show signs of “bending the curve,” and lessening the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I think everybody needs to think seriously about canceling any large summer events,” said Pritzker in a Chicago Sun Times article. “I just don’t, from my perspective today, I do not see how we are going to have large gatherings of people again until we have a vaccine, which is months and months away.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker

He has not ordered those events cancelled, nor indicated whether that would include baseball games and street festivals, but a spokeswoman for Pritzker’s office, Jordan Abudayyeh said that decisions will be “based on science.”

“COVID-19 is a novel virus that medical experts are still learning about as we deal with this crisis,” said Abudayyeh. “Gov. Pritzker believes we must be able to test expansively, closely trace the virus and offer treatment before we can return to mass gatherings.”

Some staples of summer in Chicago have already been cancelled, like the 20th Chicago Kids and Kites Festival at Cricket Hill in Lincoln Park. But, that doesn’t mean that all of them are cancelled yet – like the Blues Fest from June 5-7, the Taste of Chicago starting July 8, and others, have not yet been cancelled. Lollapalooza organizers are still planning to host the event, starting July 30, and are “well underway with planning for Lolla to take place as soon as its safe for us all to be together in Grant Park,” said organizers in a tweet in March.

“The health and safety of our patrons is our number one priority, which is why City of Chicago departments and sister agencies continue to follow the rules laid out by the stay-at-home -order, and will continue to do so, regardless of its duration,” said DCASE officials.

Citizens aren’t thrilled with the stay-at-home order, or the idea of cancelling summer events though.

Twitter user Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) quoted the governor on the social media platform.

“Illinois Gov. Pritzker just now making news: “I think everybody needs to think seriously about canceling any large summer events. I do not see how we are going to have large gatherings of people again until we have a vaccine, which is months and months away,” Pratt tweeted. 

In response, Twitter users are suggesting common sense, and rejecting the idea of cancelling summer events.

“No deal. Not living in fear," Chris Vivian (@cvivian32) wrote.