Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives an update on the coronavirus in Illinois on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020. (WTTW News)
Starting Friday, indoor service at restaurants and bars will halt in DuPage, Kane, Kankakee and Will counties due to rising coronavirus positivity rates that triggered the state to tighten restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19.
All bars and restaurants in those regions must close by 11 p.m. and all patrons must be seated at outdoor tables, according to the mitigation plan. Additionally, gatherings must be limited to 25 people or 25% of a room’s overall capacity.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker made the announcement Tuesday during his afternoon press briefing on the pandemic — those briefings are now set to take place each weekday afternoon as they did in the spring.
Officials disputed the notion that they were targeting bars and restaurants indiscriminately. Pritzker said there are “piles of studies” showing that those types of businesses are sources of the spread of the virus. Likewise, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said contact tracing efforts in the state have identified bars and restaurants as among the top sources of COVID-19 spread.
Region 5 in southern Illinois, which includes 20 counties, will begin operating under stricter mitigations starting Thursday; they were imposed earlier this month in Region 1, which includes Rockford and Galena.
While cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been steadily rising across the state over the past week, Pritzker ruled out another stay-at-home order at this time, saying officials are focusing on addressing the situation at a regional level.
“The pandemic is not over – not by a long shot,” said Dr. Justin Macariola-Coad, interim chief medical officer at Advocate Sherman Hospital. “Wisconsin is already surging and northern Illinois is likely next.”
On Tuesday, officials reported 3,714 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 41 virus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing statewide totals to 350,875 cases and 9,277 deaths.
Five Cook County residents, including a woman in her 50s, were among the deaths reported Tuesday.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity rate is 5.5%, up a full percentage point from the rate of 4.5% reported a week ago, according to IDPH.
“We have a deadly virus that is still prevalent throughout Illinois,” Ezike said, calling for residents to work together to defeat the virus by wearing masks, watching their distance, getting flu shots and washing their hands often.
In Cook County, the preliminary seven-day statewide positivity rate is 7.1%, while in Chicago it’s 6.7%, according to state data.
As of Monday night, 2,261 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, and of those, 489 were in intensive care units and 195 on ventilators, according to IDPH data.
Contact Kristen Thometz: @kristenthometz | (773) 509-5452 | [email protected]
