SE Illinois News

A downstate lawmaker especially feels for small business owners crippled by the lingering effects of the coronavirus crisis.

“You go pass the big box stores like Walmart, Target and Lowes and the parking lots are full and to some extent it's business as usual,” state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) told the SE Illinois News. “Meanwhile, the hole gets bigger and bigger for small businesses because of all the restrictions we’ve imposed. We’re going to have to do something more if many of those businesses are going to have any chance of surviving.”

Bailey argues the time for that conversation, along with the question of when and how to completely re-open the economy as a whole, is already upon us. 

“When we started, we put all these policies in place to slow this disease because it was the right thing to do,” he said. “That doesn’t mean things have to stay that way, you change course when you need to and after you learn more about ways to handle this monster the way we have.”

Bailey said business owners and residents alike are growing more frustrated with what they’re seeing from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office.

“It’s just this one-size-fits-all approach to everything,” he said. “We need to focus on where the hot spots might be for extra work and try to get our economy back going in places where we can as we take every precaution.”

As it is, Bailey said hospitals in the area of his downstate community are actually being forced to lay off workers because of policy put in place not to do any elective surgeries in anticipation of a surge of coronavirus related cases that never came.

“We’re working hard to make sure the governor is aware of what we’re feeling,” Bailey added. “We’re looking for answers and pushing for change and don’t plan to stop until we get them.”