Illinois Bars, Restaurants Can Reopen In 4 More Regions

ILLINOIS — Indoor dining, group recreational activities and social events can resume with some restrictions in Dupage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties after the state shifted Regions 8 and 9 to Tier 1 mitigations on Tuesday.

The move comes a day after the Illinois Department of Public Health announced Regions 1 and 2 could shift to Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan, which means even fewer restrictions on bars, restaurants, retail shops and group activities. Those regions include Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Kendall, Knox, La Salle, Lee, Livingston, Ogle, Stephenson, Tazewell, Warren, Whiteside, Winnebago and Woodford counties.

"With all regions of Illinois now out of Tier 3, we can now see that the entire state is headed down the right path," Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Friday in a statement.

"During the summer, we were on this same path," she cautioned. "We know that we must continue to take precautions and be smart about how we relax some of the mitigation measures, which are in place to protect our health and safety."

Under Tier 1 restrictions restaurants and bars that serve food — or otherwise make food available — can reopen for up to 25 people or 25 percent of a space's overall capacity, whichever is smaller. In Phase 4, indoor dining and drinking is allowed for parties of 10 or fewer, museums can reopen at 25 percent capacity with guided tours limited to groups of 50 or fewer, and meetings and social events can resume with 50 or fewer people or 50 percent room capacity, whichever is smaller.

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But even as the state loosens restrictions, eight new cases of the B.1.1.7 coronavirus mutations first identified in the United Kingdom have been detected in Illinois. Officials say the variant of the virus could be 70 percent more transmissible thanks to a mutation in its spike proteins that allows it to more easily stick to cells in the nose.

The first case in Illinois was found in Chicago on Jan. 15, making for 9 total cases — all in Cook County. Officials said the people diagnosed with the new strain of virus range in age from 12 to 63 years.

“With reports of this variant already in many states in the U.S., we anticipated its spread here in Illinois,” Ezike said. “Early studies have found that this variant spreads more easily than what we have seen with the current prevailing variant. We are following closely to see if there is evidence that infections by this variant cause more severe disease or death. Based on the information available now, the vaccine will still be effective. Continued masking and vaccination when it is your turn remain our best path to defeating this virus as quickly as possible.”

Since the start of the pandemic, 18,883 Illinoisans have died from COVID-19, including another 87 on Tuesday. In all, 1.1 million cases have been reported across the state.

As of Monday night, 3,001 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 across Illinois, including 608 in intensive care and 320 on ventilators. The statewide case positivity rate — a rolling, seven-day average — is now 4.6 percent. The test positivity rate is 5.7 percent.

Out of 1.7 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine delivered to providers across the state, 719,995 shots have been given to date — about 30,000 per day, according to state health officials.

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Coronavirus by the numbers:

Illinois:

• Total number of coronavirus cases: 1,108,430

• Confirmed Deaths: 18,883

• People tested: 15,553,319

• Vaccine doses administered: 719,995

• Recovered: Illinois does not provide exact numbers of recovered cases, but says the recovery rate is 97 percent.

Nationwide:

• Total number of coronavirus cases: 24,137,812

• Deaths: 399,828

• People tested: 281,142,160

• Vaccine doses administered: 22,734,243

• Recovered: Latest data unavailable

Global:

• Total number of coronavirus cases: 99,900,714

• Deaths: 99,900,714

• People tested: No data available

• Vaccine doses administered: No data available

• Recovered: 55,213,614

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, CDC and IDPH

This article originally appeared on the Across Illinois Patch