Metro East Removed from Additional Bar & Restaurant Restrictions
A drone photo of Edwardsville in Madison County, part of the region re-opened to indoor dining at bars and restaurants Friday.
Following more than a full month of bars and restaurants closed to indoor diners in the Metro East region of the state around St. Louis, a decrease in the coronavirus positivity rate has rolled back state mitigations in the region.
Region 4 of the Governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan, Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, St. Clair, Randolph, and Washington counties, had faced mitigation measures from the state since September 2 after positive test rates had climbed over 8%.
Governor JB Pritzker announced an end to the restrictions Friday, allowing bars and restaurants to open to indoor patrons, with reduced capacity, beginning Friday evening.
“We are excited to see that after weeks of mitigation measures and sacrifice, Region 4 has reduced its positivity rate and can return to Phase 4,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “It takes communities working together to reduce the spread of the virus and lower the positivity rate. I want to thank Region 4 for its hard work to decrease the risk for all of Illinois.”
In a daily online briefing, St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said business owners were thrilled to have the restrictions removed, but that everyone needed to be cautious to be sure COVID-19 cases don’t start climbing again.
“Businesspeople are so elated to be able to get back to some sense of normal,” Simmons said. “I really believe that if [we all] continue to spread the word like we’ve been doing, and support those businesses, I believe we’ll see those business owners doing their fair share. This has been rough on them.”
As of Friday afternoon, Region 1, home to Rockford, Dixon and Galena, continued to operate under additional mitigations as the region continues to report a 7-day rolling positivity rate above 8%.