Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday that the state is banning gatherings of more than 1,000 people for the next 30 days over fears of spreading the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

All large-scale events exceeding 1,000 individuals will be cancelled for the next 30 days.



Until May 1, all major sporting events will be canceled and community events of 250 people or more are recommended to be cancelled or postponed. — Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) March 12, 2020

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Additionally, all major sporting events will be canceled until May 1 and the governor is urging the heads of community events of 250 people or more consider to cancel or postpone their gatherings.

Though the governor is not ordering schools to close, he did encourage employers to allow their employees to work remotely.

“We have seen what works and what doesn’t work from other countries around the world – especially in the earliest days of community spread of this virus,” Pritzker tweeted. “Don’t be fooled into thinking your community is immune.”

There are 32 cases of the virus confirmed in Illinois, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering.