Chicago bars and restaurants can stay open until 1 a.m., boost capacity to 50%, Lightfoot announces
Chicago will allow bars and restaurants to boost indoor capacity to 50% and remain open until 1 a.m. in the latest move from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to ease COVID-19 restrictions and help businesses.
Lightfoot also will allow liquor stores to sell alcohol until 11 p.m. and boost the number of people allowed at indoor fitness classes to 20, the city said. Indoor capacity for bars and restaurants will be capped at 50 people per space, the city said.
“We have made incredible progress in recent weeks and months, and I thank our business community for their ongoing commitment to saving lives,” Lightfoot said in a statement announcing the moves.
In recent weeks, the city has touted decreases in caseloads to support lowering restrictions on local businesses.
The indoor dining expansion was “another step in the right direction” to Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association. But Toia said he believes the city and state can offer more to his industry. He wants the cap for private gatherings in Illinois to go up from 50 people to 150 as spring approaches and weddings, communions, bar mitzvahs and other events might happen.
Toia also said restaurant workers deserve to be in the current phase of vaccination in Chicago and Illinois, which includes front line essential workers and people 65 or older. Adults with existing health conditions also are eligible to get vaccinated in certain parts of the state, but not the city.
“We feel that our employees are crucial components of the food supply chain and an integral part of the state’s infrastructure,” Toia said. “They’re as essential workers just like grocery store workers are, so we would like to see that.”
Toia said his group has lobbied Gov. J.B. Pritzker to bump restaurant workers up in the vaccine line. He said in response, Pritzker’s staffers said they would consider the move should they get more vaccine supply.
“They didn’t shut us down, but they didn’t give us the green light,” Toia said.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health did not immediately respond to request for comment
Check back for updates.
