Mayor Lori Lightfoot pushing for Chicago bars and restaurants to reopen for indoor dining ‘as quickly as possible’
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she wants the city’s bars and restaurants to reopen for indoor service “as soon as possible” and plans to discuss the issue with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“I am very, very focused on getting our restaurants reopened. If we look at the various criteria that the state has set, we are meeting most if not all of those. So that’s a conversation that I will have with the governor,” Lightfoot said at a news conference about the city’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution sites. “But I want to get our restaurants and our bars reopened as quickly as possible.”
Ultimately, it’s Pritzker who will make a decision about when bars and restaurants can reopen for indoor service. The city can set rules that are stricter than the state’s but not rules that are looser.
While making her public pitch, Lightfoot said restaurants are highly regulated, receive regular inspections and have gone “above and beyond to put in mitigation controls inside of the restaurants.”
“They are going to be one of the safer places,” Lightfoot said.
The mayor also said people are holding underground parties that spread COVID-19 and reopening bars and restaurants to indoor service could help.
“Let’s bring it out of the shadows, let’s allow them to have some recreation in restaurants, in bars, where we can actually work with responsible owners and managers to regulate and protect people from COVID-19, so I feel very strongly that we are very close to a point where we should be talking about opening our bars and restaurants,” Lightfoot said.
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Lightfoot criticized Pritzker in October when he announced that he would be closing indoor service at bars and restaurants due to a spike in coronavirus cases but later dropped her objection.
In recent months, Lightfoot has attempted to position herself as a friend to bars and restaurants though she has also faced criticism for the city’s anticoronavirus measures, including stricter rules on liquor sales which she’s since rescinded.
The mayor has also been criticized for how she’s handled the reopening of Chicago Public Schools amid COVID-19.
Earlier this month, Lightfoot reiterated a stay-at-home advisory telling people not to go out unless it’s necessary. Schools are exempt from the advisory, but the Chicago Teachers Union has said the order and reopening schools are contradictory.
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