Ted Dabrowski | File photo
Ted Dabrowski | File photo
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski is adamant in expressing his belief things won’t improve for the state in the battle to control COVID until Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s completely readjusts his strategy
“The real problem the governor has is he continues to be focused on the general public when he needs to be concentrated on veteran’s homes, retirement homes and long (-term) care facilities,” Dabrowski told the Lake County Gazette. “That’s where about 90% of the COVID deaths in Illinois are now happening. The governor needs to have his focus there while allowing the rest of the economy to reopen. With the way he’s doing things, the destruction of the economy is coming on top of everything else the state is having to deal with.”
As it is, Dabrowski said it’s no great surprise a new survey by small business referral network Alignable found 56% of all the state’s bar and restaurant owners were unable to make full rent payments in December as the sting of the governor’s ongoing ban on indoor dining took greater effect.
Nationally, that figure stands at 61%, up 19% from just a month earlier with the harshest part of the winter season still yet to come. In Illinois, the number of restaurants now unable to make full rent payments has already more than doubled since September.
Dabrowski fears things could get worse before they get better if drastic change doesn’t quickly come to Springfield.
“There’s going to be more poverty, we’re going to lose more businesses, we’re going to see even more lives wrecked and not just financially,” he said. “The governor is ignoring all that. He’s got no proof that restaurants are any more dangerous than any of the other establishments allowed to continue operating. You see other states reopening their businesses and schools, but we continue to be shut down and it’s hugely damaging the future of the state.”
Dabrowski adds even before the pandemic hit the state was already distinguishing itself for all the wrong reasons when it comes to its reputation for treating businesses.
“I think all this will help people understand just what an extreme outlier this state has become in terms of policy and politics,” he said.
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