FILE – In this April 13, 2020 file photo, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives a daily state update on the coronavirus outbreak in Chicago. (Tyler LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP File)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Residents in six central and southern Illinois counties filed lawsuits Thursday against state-ordered restrictions on social interaction prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The actions taken in Bond, Clay, Clinton, Edgar, Richland and Sangamon counties seek court orders declaring there is no public health emergency as defined by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Public Health Department. Springfield, the state capital, is in Sangamon County.

Plaintiffs in each case seek injunctions against Pritzker’s disaster declaration which restricts public interaction to slow transmission of the virus.

The state has reported 7,367 deaths among 167,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases – mostly in Chicago and Cook County.

Pritzker’s general counsel said no one should question basic safeguards during a pandemic.