Responding to questions today about Republicans criticizing his executive orders and the Restore Illinois plan as "extreme," Pritzker said: "What's extreme are lawmakers who don't call out their fellow lawmakers who stand at rallies and call elected leaders domestic enemies, or give the home address of our U.S. Senator and tell them surround their houses."

"The vast majority of the people of the state are following the plans we put out and are supportive of the plan we put out," Pritzker said. "I know there are some vocal leaders across the state, but I think everybody understands that the enemy here is against COVID-19. We ought to be following the science, not the whims of a mayor or a leader of a reopen group, especially those who are carrying vile signs to make their point."

Pritzker also announced that, on a per capita basis, Illinois this week surpassed New York in testing capacity. He also invited Drs. Richard Novak and Emily Landon (whose entreaties to take the virus seriously in March made headlines around the world) to speak about the continued need to stay the course as Illinois begins to show some promising signs of declines in the severity of the virus' effect on hospitalization.

IDPH Dir. Ngozi Ezike reported 1,545 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the state's total cases to 98,030, and 146 additional deaths, bringing the state's total death toll to 4,379.

"There is evidence that the Stay at Home plans are working," Dr. Ezike said. "We could have been seeing tens of thousands of deaths."

Among questions the governor fielded:

• The governor said he would not be seeking a lump sum budget.
• The administration is pursuing PPE fraudsters.
• The Dept. of Human Rights is working with businesses on cases where people may be claiming medical vulnerability in bad faith for the purposes of flouting the face-covering rules.
• The governor said any legal challenges against Stay at Home or business shutdown orders are going to be doomed to failure.
• He encouraged colleges to make sure to forward vote-by-mail ballots to students who aren't on campus and encouraged students to update their registration, and again reiterated that he hopes the legislature will move to expand vote-by-mail.
• Responding to a question about whether safe visitation of elder family members in nursing homes is being considered, Dr. Ezike said this is the last thing that should be considered in light of the overwhelming deaths in elder communities from Illinois and around the world. "Visitation should be the last thing that we should think about."