Vaccination Proof Discussed In Lake County Portion Of Deerfield

DEERFIELD, IL — With the omicron variant causing a surge in COVID-19 cases in Illinois, the Deerfield Village Board discussed Monday the implementation of proof-of-vaccine requirements for entry to local businesses like restaurants, bars and fitness centers.

After a nearly 20-minute discussion, the Village Board said it will discuss the matter again at its Jan. 17 meeting, but opened the door to a special meeting sooner if warranted due to the fluidity of the situation.

Like nearby Buffalo Grove, portions of Deerfield can be found in both Lake County and Cook County. For Deerfield, the Cook County portion is located south of Lake Cook Road.

Though the Cook County portion of Buffalo Grove is following countywide mandates that require patrons of businesses to show proof they've been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, the Village Board is opting not to do the same in Lake County.

RELATED: Vaccination Proof Not Required In Lake County Portion Of Village

In suburban Cook County and the City of Chicago, a proof-of-vaccine mandate went into effect on Monday. Meanwhile, the Lake County Board and Lake County Health Department have not established any similar requirements.

"We do know that the Lake County Health Department is not going to institute something similar to what Cook County has," Deerfield Village Manager Kent Street said. "That has been confirmed within the last couple of days."

Andrew Lichterman, director of community development, said the village reached out to around a dozen businesses for feedback.

"We heard from two that were adamantly against it [proof-of-vaccination enforcement], thought it would hurt their business," Lichterman said. "One was in favor of it, and everybody else was either not going to respond or go on the record."

He said he also talked to the Deerfield Bannockburn Riverwoods Chamber of Commerce, who said they haven't been receiving much feedback from the business community.

Mayor Daniel Shapiro said enforcement of the mandate for the Cook County businesses is being handled by the Cook County Department of Public Health and not Deerfield police. As private entities, Deerfield businesses located outside of Cook County’s jurisdiction will retain the ability to implement their own proof-of-vaccination requirement if they so desire at this time.

"I did a rough count in my head of the restaurants in Deerfield. I think we have eight or nine south of Lake Cook Road and maybe twice that many in the Lake County portion," Trustee Mary Oppenheim said. "There's a split and this will be handled differently [at various locations]."

She added that Deerfield is in a unique situation in that it can see how things go in the Cook County portion of the village before deciding whether to implement mandates across the entire village.

Cook is currently the only county in Illinois to have a "home rule" in place, whereas it has the authority to prevent state government intervention with its operations.

In Highland Park, which does not have a health department, the city council endorsed an emergency order issued by the mayor last month that mandates bars and restaurants require patrons to show proof they have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, effective Friday. Council members voted to extend the state of emergency that was declared earlier in the day of the meeting by Mayor Nancy Rotering.

RELATED: Highland Park Restaurants Must Check For COVID-19 Vaccine Proof

Rotering said enforcement of the order would be handled by her office, rather than the police department or the Lake County Health Department.

"Knowing other cities and having been in other cities that have implemented these mandates, the confidence level actually has raised their business exponentially because people are more comfortable going in, so places are fairly crowded again," Deerfield Trustee Rebekah Metts-Childers said.

This article originally appeared on the Deerfield Patch