Indoor Dining Ban For Chicago Starts Friday
ILLINOIS — Chicago is the latest region in the state that will have resurgence mitigations because of rising coronavirus hospitalizations and test positivity rates. Just as in regions 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10, indoor service at bars and restaurants in Chicago will come to a halt.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the additional mitigations for Chicago on Tuesday and said they will be implemented beginning Friday.
Chicago has seen eight days of positivity rate increases and seven days of hospital admission increases, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The most recent data shows Chicago has a 7.8 percent positivity rate.
According to a release from the governor's office, Chicago has triggered the additional mitigations due to the sustained increase in its positivity rate and the sustained increase in COVID-related hospitalizations. These increases exceed the thresholds set for establishing mitigation measures under the state's Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan.
Chicago is the second of the state’s 11 regions to trigger additional mitigations based on sustained increases in positivity and hospitalization rates, the first being its neighbor, Region 10 (Suburban Cook County) earlier in the week.
“Region 11 is now averaging more than twice as many COVID-related hospital admissions per day as it was a month ago, with a positivity rate that has almost doubled since the beginning of October,” Pritzker said in a release. “So, starting on Friday the city, too, will begin operating under our resurgence metrics, with a closure of indoor restaurant and bar service and a restrained gathering cap limit of 25 people. We can’t ignore what is happening around us — because without action, this could look worse than anything we saw in the spring. So please, no matter where you live, what your politics are, where you work or who you love: Illinois: mask up! And we’ll get through this together.”
“When the first several regions started implementing mitigation measures, it was because the seven-day rolling test positivity was above 8 percent for three consecutive days,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a release. “What we are starting to see now, first with suburban Cook County and now with Chicago, is that mitigation measures are needed because COVID-19 hospital admissions are going up alongside increases in test positivity. Based on current trends, we soon could face reduced hospital bed availability and overwhelming our health care systems. Please, for our health care workers, yourself and your community, keep distance between you and others, wash your hands, and always wear a mask when around people.”
Mitigation measures taking effect Friday in Chicago include:
Bars
No indoor service.
All outside bar service closes at 11 p.m.
All bar patrons should be seated at tables outside.
No ordering, seating or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed).
Tables should be 6 feet apart.
No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting.
No dancing or standing indoors.
Reservations required for each party.
No seating of multiple parties at one table.
Restaurants
No indoor dining or bar service.
All outdoor dining closes at 11 p.m.
Outside dining tables should be 6 feet apart.
No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting.
Reservations required for each party.
No seating of multiple parties at one table.
Meetings, Social Events, Gatherings
Limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25 percent of overall room capacity.
No party buses.
Gaming and casinos close at 11 p.m., are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable.
These mitigations do not apply to schools or polling places.
According to a release, the IDPH will continue to track metrics in Region 11 to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigations should remain in place.
If the positivity rate in Region 11 averages less than or equal to 6.5 percent over a three-day period, there is a decrease in hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness over a three-day period, and the three-day rolling averages of ICU bed availability and medical/surgical bed availability is greater than or equal to 20 percent over a seven-day period, the region will return to Phase 4 mitigations under the Restore Illinois Plan.
However, if the average positivity rate continues to increase over seven out of 10 days and the hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness continue to increase over seven out of 10 days, more-stringent mitigations can be applied. If the metrics remain stable, the region will continue to be monitored.
Seven of the state's regions are now under additional mitigations. By Wednesday, Regions 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10 will all operate under Tier 1 mitigation measures, given that these regions continue to report a seven-day rolling positivity rate above 8 percent.
Region 1 is currently operating under Tier 2 mitigation measures after continuing to see a rise in positivity even under the Tier 1 mitigation framework, now at a rolling positivity average of 12.5 percent as of Tuesday.
According to a release, Chicago has state-run operations in Auburn Gresham that operate daily, in addition to the multiple free testing locations offered by the city of Chicago.
This article originally appeared on the Lemont Patch
