Returning to a partial normal routine needs to be considered in Illinois as we begin to learn more about the coronavirus.

That is the message from the Executive Director of the DeWitt/Piatt Bi-County Health Department, Dave Remmert. Last week when a worker at Liberty Village tested positive for the coronavirus, Remmert pointed out 40-percent of the Illinois fatality total from coronavirus in Illinois was in the assisted living population. That is one of the reasons he believes we should start phasing in a return to normal.

Antibody testing in other areas of the country are revealing the coronavirus is more widespread than initially thought and revealing a death rate that is in line with the flu in a typical year. Remmert says that doesn't mean we shouldn't remain concerned for populations that are high risk of the virus.

Last week, Governor Pritzker outlined his reasons for keeping downstate Illinois in a stay home order that was met with much pushback from residents south of Chicago. Remmert indicates the hotspots of the outbreak in other areas of the country, like Chicago, is because of the dense populations.

Remmert believes there is a valid reason for looking at statistics differently than clumping case totals together. He explains epidemiologists look for data that would give a rate for a population to indicate how severe the disease and the fatality rate for a given disease.