Pritzker Slaps Suburbs with COVID-19 Restrictions
Governor JB Pritzker speaks at a 2019 news conference at the State Capitol.
Governor JB Pritzker has announced his largest COVID-19 related restriction since lifting his stay-at-home order at the end of May. He has slapped four suburban counties with restrictions on indoor dining, group sizes, and operating hours of three major casinos.
Pritzker announced mitigations will kick in Friday for DuPage, Kane, Will, and Kankakee counties, which represents about 2.3 million people in northeastern Illinois. The restrictions mirror those announced Monday in southern Illinois and mitigations already in place for most of the month in the northwest corner of the state, including Rockford.
The four counties, which make up two different regions in the Governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan have reached three days in a row over 8% positivity.
Most notable for the counties is banning indoor service at all bars and restaurants as well as forced early closures of the casinos in Joliet, Aurora, and Elgin.
The full restrictions are:
Bars
No indoor service
All outside bar service closes at 11:00 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 11:00 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 11:00 p.m., are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable
The new restrictions do not apply to schools, as in-person instruction follows different guidelines.
Pritzker says studies show bars and restaurants are “significant spreading locations” of the coronavirus.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, says contact tracing shows clear commonalities in many COVID-19 cases.
“When you look at the top three places that come up over and over region to region statewide, it comes up as people’s workplace, school, and restaurants and bars,” she said.
Dr. Justin Macariola-Coad, Interim Chief Medical Officer at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, says while he understands people have “pandemic fatigue,” it is not the time to stop being vigilant.
“The actions we take today to slow the spread of the virus will define what happens in the coming weeks to months,” he said. “Wearing a mask, washing your hand, and keeping your distance, will help prevent the spread of this illness, and, ultimately, save lives.”
Pritzker says with rising positivity rates and winter months looming, COVID-19 is not going to go away soon.
“The truth is, we’re going to have to tough this out a little bit longer,” he said.