Citing models that showed a peak in COVID-19 deaths between late April and early May, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced plans Thursday to extend the state’s stay-at-home order, with modifications, through May 30. 

Here are some of the modifications announced for May 1:

• Masks or face coverings will be required for those over two years of age and medically able when in “a public place where they can’t maintain a six-foot social distance.” 
• Greenhouses and other plant centers, some state parks, and animal grooming services will reopen. 
• Pick-up and delivery for nonessential retail stores will be allowed and some “non-life-threatening surgeries” can resume.

“I know how badly we all want our normal lives back. But this is the part where we have to dig in and understand that the sacrifices we’ve made as a state to avoid a worst-case scenario are working — and that we need to keep going a little while longer to finish the job,” Pritzker said.

The statement comes less than a week after Pritzker moved schools statewide to remote learning for the remainder of the academic year. It also comes a week after the White House released federal guidelines for state officials to follow in lifting restrictions, which includes phases and criteria for reopening states and sparked debate over when states should open.

Pritzker defended the extension by citing the disparity between earlier models and the current rates as evidence that continual social distancing will save lives. and saying leaders should account for worst-case scenarios in preparing their health care systems

“By staying home and social distancing, we have kept our infection and death rates for the months of March and April thousands below the rates projected had we not implemented those mitigation strategies,” Pritzker said.