It’s been exactly one week since I’ve declared a State of Emergency in Aurora and things have gotten progressively more intense – and often even more surreal - across the country. While Aurora took many proactive measures early on, we are still navigating the consistently-evolving COVID-19 environment every day.

I want to take this moment to say THANK YOU to the people of Aurora. I’ve always been proud of our city, and watching us work together for the good of all makes me even prouder to live and to have the honor of being your mayor.

THANK YOU for complying with Governor Pritzker’s Stay-at-Home Order and doing your part to help flatten the curve of COVID-19.  As the number of confirmed cases continues to grow in Illinois, we are seeing the direct impact on Aurora. With three confirmed cases in Aurora as of today and another with one of our APD supervisors, the health experts tell us to expect more and to emphasize the importance of social distancing and staying at home.

As we know, there are those whose job responsibilities in the community won’t allow them to stay home as we work to fight this pandemic:

• THANK YOU to our nurses, doctors, all health care workers and all public safety first responders for putting themselves directly in harm’s way to help patients and protect the community.
• THANK YOU to our store owners, managers and workers and truck drivers for keeping the shelves stocked as best as possible.
• THANK YOU to our educators who have worked hard to make sure our students are able to be served food and to e-learn in a variety of ways … and to those parents who are taking on additional educational responsibilities at home.
• THANK YOU to our service providers, postal workers, janitors, maintenance staff, food service workers,  local business owners and employees, gas stations clerk and every single worker – whether a business is deemed essential or not. You all matter!
• THANK YOU to our government employees at the all levels, with a special shout-out to our City of Aurora team, including our public works and all public-facing employees who are still maintaining the work levels.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF AURORA because it takes ALL OF US working together to make this all work. We are one Aurora. We are Aurora Strong.

Challenging times not only make us appreciate the “normal” times, but they also show us how strong we really are.  It is true that we never really know how strong we are, until being strong is the only choice we have. There is no other option for Aurora but to be AURORA STRONG and to remember we will get through this together.

My team is committed to keeping you updated at www.aurora-il.org/health and through social media each day.  Thank you for sharing the information. Thank you for encouraging others. Thank you for your patience and sacrifices. Thank you for being the lights in the City of Lights.

Stay strong! Stay safe! Stay well! Stay home!

Mayor Richard C. Irvin