Peoria Standard

Businesses and law enforcement in Illinois are continuing to try their best to operate under Gov. J.B. Pritzker's extended stay-at-home order.   

As of May 25, Illinois reported 110,304 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 4,856 deaths. The governor's extended order mandates anyone medically able and over 2 years old to wear a protective face mask or covering when in public or at work, according to Central Illinois Proud. This caused business owners to change their model once again. 

“We issued masks to all our employees, they will be wearing them,” UFS Downtown Outlet Store Manager Gerard Wiegand told Central Illinois Proud. But customers will now have to wear face masks or coverings as well.

Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell said everyone will have to wear a face covering in indoor public areas. 

“Reading that tells me once you’re inside a business or organization, you’d be required, even if you can maintain the social distance minimum,” Asbell told Central Illinois Proud.

Wiegand said he has been preparing his store for further social distancing precautions to help keep staff and customers safe. 

“Sanitizing the carts, sanitizing all the handles on the coolers,” he told Central Illinois Proud. "We’ve got the sneeze guards in front of the registers."

He also said the store will be offering free delivery and pickup for those that don't want to go into the store. People can order online, and if the order is for pickup, the items will be brought out to the person's car. 

Unless a situation gets out of hand, Asbell said law enforcement doesn't plan on getting involved with social distancing and the order. 

“To use an example, the city had a problem at Aldi a couple weeks ago where someone was coughing and saying they were going to infect the produce and other customers,” Asbell told Central Illinois Proud.

Asbell said law enforcement will be forced to intervene in a situation like that. 

Pritzker said the extended stay-at-home order was created with top academic institutions and researchers on the current coronavirus trajectory, according to Central Illinois Proud.