Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

* UPDATED x1 * State mitigation for Will, Kankakee counties, and more restrictions likely on the way for Metro East

Posted in:

Illinois
Updated Posts

* As expected…

Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) are announcing new COVID-19 mitigation efforts will be implemented in Region 7, the greater Will and Kankakee County areas, beginning Wednesday, August 26 after the region reached 8 percent positivity for three days. Region 4, the Metro East region, which is already operating under additional mitigations, continues to report increasing COVID-19 positivity rates and will have until September 2nd at their current mitigation level before the state must move to impose further mitigation in the region.

For Region 7, mitigation measures taking effect August 26, 2020 include the following:

Bars

• No indoor service
• All outside bar service closes at 11:00pm
• 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 11:00pm
• 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% of overall room capacity
• No party buses
• Gaming and Casinos close at 11:00pm, are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable

These mitigations do not currently apply to schools and the measures will remain in effect over a 14-day period after which time more stringent mitigation measures can be implemented if metrics do not improve. View the new mitigations online here.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) continues to monitor each region in the state for several key indicators to identify early, but significant increases of COVID-19 transmission in Illinois, potentially signifying resurgence. Indictors include an increase in COVID-19 cases with a simultaneous decrease in hospital capacity, or three consecutive days greater than or equal to 8% test positivity rate (7 day rolling). These indicators can be used to determine whether additional community mitigation interventions are needed for a region to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

IDPH will track the positivity rate in both regions to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigations should remain in place. If the positivity rate averages less than or equal to 6.5 percent over a 14-day period, then Regions 4 and 7 will return to Phase 4 mitigations under the Restore Illinois Plan. If the positivity rate averages between 6.5 percent and 8 percent, the new mitigations will remain in place and unchanged. If the positivity rate averages greater than or equal to 8 percent after 14 days, more stringent mitigations will be applied to further reduce spread of the virus.

* Kelsey Landis at the BND…

The state could reimpose a ban on indoor dining and drinking at bars and restaurants in the metro-east [next] week as the region sees a resurgence of coronavirus cases, according to area mayors.

The rules are not final, St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern said […]

State health officials informed mayors of two new regulations in a call on Monday.

*** UPDATE *** Governor’s daily public schedule…

What: Gov. Pritzker to join local leaders to discuss the COVID-19 response in Will and Kankakee counties.
Where: Will County Health Department, 501 Ella Avenue, Joliet
When: 12:00 p.m.
Watch live: https://www.Illinois.gov/LiveVideo

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 4:42 pm

Comments

“These mitigations do not apply to schools…”

Ah yes, still pretending that kids somehow don’t spread this.

Comment by tea_and_honey Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 4:45 pm
Bars should have never been opened in the first place. It is impossible to social distance at a bar. If they can have tables distanced outside then that’s fine. People need to sit down and stay separated from each other. If a bar isn’t set up for that then they need to be closed.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 4:49 pm
In Grafton (Metro East) - thousands gathered every weekend in span of a few blocks. Staff without masks. Customers not distanced. Bar stools right next to each other. State may have to consider that bars just can’t operate right now, for any length of time. Bars and casinos are open, but schools are not. Let that sink in for a while.

Comment by Downstate Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 4:54 pm
Wear A Mask, no matter what your region.

Comment by Wensicia Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 4:58 pm
Edwardsville School District (District 7…Region 4) has already prepared to go fully remote beginning 8/31 due to Metro East numbers. Plus, with first day of classes at SIUE today expect numbers to spike.

Comment by Jvslp Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 5:33 pm
Indoor dining needs to be shut down too. If NYC is in much better shape than we are and can’t find a way to reintroduce indoor dining than we should not be allowing it either. Cold and flu season is coming and this is going to really get bad if we don’t get our Covid 19 infection rates back down. Everyone is tired. Everyone wants their lives back. We aren’t anywhere close to being able to do that right now and the more people fight against the restrictions the worse this will get and longer we will need them.

Comment by Moderate Mom Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 5:37 pm
And as usual, the “Pritzker Sucks” crowd is gathering on The Daily Journal comment section to fat shame Gov. Pritzker and claim that they don’t have to follow his rules because they don’t listen to any Democrat.

Comment by Aaron B Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 5:51 pm
All bars and restaurants should be closed for any indoor service - i understand it is some people livelihood but its everyone’s lives at risk.

Comment by tiredofit Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 6:53 pm
Moderate mom. The Aug 3 edition of the NYtimes cites sources that predict 1/3 of NYC 240,000 small businesses will close for good. Is that what you want?

Comment by Blue Dog Dem Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 7:08 pm
@Blue Dog: And health experts predict that if we don’t get a handle on this, hundreds of thousands more will die and many more than that will be permanently injured. Is that what you want?

Put aside the rhetoric and propose real solutions. Don’t pretend to value only one half of the ledger.

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 7:33 pm
These mitigations do not apply to schools…”

I guess the Gov doesn’t think kids are important. J.B. keeps complaining about the lack of a nationwide plan but refuses to enact a statewide plan for schools.

Comment by Southern Dude Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 7:35 pm
The restaurants I frequent are doing what they are supposed to do about social distancing and masks, they aren’t at all crowded. I don’t think they are the problem. But crowded restaurants and bars should not be allowed right now.

Comment by thoughts matter Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 9:03 pm
ISU is at 18%

Comment by Not a Billionaire Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 9:09 pm
It seems to me that schools ought to be the last things to open. But gimme a break with the “Pritzker doesn’t care about kids” nonsense. You know better.

I don’t agree that schools should be open in person, by governing is prioritizing and making tough choices. I assume the governor is weighing the relative safety of kids with the need for parents to work. Maybe you’d balance these concerns differently. Maybe you should run for Governor?

Comment by I am Batman Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 9:10 pm
@Contrarian: The problem with looking at the number of deaths relative to population is that it doesn’t consider how many more people could be infected. If a small number of people are infected, then the number of deaths will be small. But if the positive rate is going up, that means the number of infections is going up at a faster pace, which means the number of deaths will likely increase at a faster pace.

Things keep changing, but I bet if you try you can keep up.

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Monday, Aug 24, 20 @ 9:52 pm
The South Korea Strabucjs . More proof masks work. Also bars and indoor dining are impossible.

Comment by Not a Billionaire Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 4:36 am
I don’t agree that schools should be open in person, by governing is prioritizing and making tough choices. I assume the governor is weighing the relative safety of kids with the need for parents to work. Maybe you’d balance these concerns differently. Maybe you should run for Governor?

When he threatens to place a ban on indoor dining and at the same time piles kids in an indoor cafeteria is one of the reason people believe there are a lot of politics in his decisions. This virus supposedly doesn’t recognize state lines but does recognize school districts?

Working parents would have a lot more options if he would have made a statewide policy weeks ago on schools. Many working parents have grandparents picking up their kids from school. If these kids bring Covid home to the grandparents- families now run the increased risk of losing a family member and someone to watch their kids.

As for running for Gov, you must be new to Illinois politics. It’s a millionaires game on both sides of the aisle, and unfortunately most of us don’t qualify.

Comment by Southern Dude Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 6:12 am
My school is open. The kids are not piled in the cafeteria. They are eating outside on the lawn. In inclement weather they will eat in their classrooms, where there are no more than 9 kids to a room.

Comment by historic66 Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 6:34 am
We will only have Applebee’s to eat at in Illinois when this gets done that’s my fear.

Comment by Scott Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 8:00 am
Is there an example in Downstate, in St Clair or Madison County, or Will Or Kankakee of a City (Mayor) or County (Health Dept) enforcing any of the requirements for bars or restaurants? Any example of the fine now allowed actually being given to an establishment ? Because there are plenty of examples of establishments blatantly ignoring the requirements for masks on employees, spreading out the bar stools, tables, etc. Until we actually get serious about enforcement hot spots will continue, spikes will re-emerge and the time until we can be back to “normal” will keep being extended.

Comment by Downstate Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 8:35 am
=I don’t agree that schools should be open in person=

I wish people would stop talking about k-12 schools. Few if any of you know what is actually happening.

There will be little to no spread of COVID via school attendance. Our students are wearing masks and practicing social distancing. They are doing this FAR BETTER than adults and without complaint. I am astonished at how maturely our students are handling this. I asked some of our high school students how it was going, they said fine and that the masks were not a problem even in our non-air conditioned building.

That is not to say that students won’t bring COVID-19 with them to school. The chances of it spreading are greatly reduced because of mitigation efforts.

We are on an alternating schedule, so our building has 1/2 the normal students. This has made cafeteria usage much lighter and manageable. I have stated before that the challenges of the big districts and large buildings is different than ours. But kids are doing far better than adults. As an educator I have always said kids are easy, adults are the real challenge. that has never been more true than now.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 8:49 am
@Aaron B. - I wonder aloud whether certain establishments in Kankakee County will try to defy the order, and if so, what consequences there will be, if any.

Comment by DirtLawyer Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 8:49 am
JS Mill is spot on. This risk to kids is no different than seasonal flu. If that. Businesses are already too far gone I’m afraid. Look at the strip malls starting to vacate.

Comment by Fighter of Foo Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 8:59 am
=== There will be little to no spread of COVID via school attendance.===

… until a teacher is told they need to quarantine because a student tests positive and they’ve been going home to vulnerable house mates.

Then… yeah… “who cares”

Money over lives when we’re at 171,000+ dead is a sad way to see life

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 9:10 am
Remember when Will & Kankakee counties screamed bitterly about being in the same region as Chicago? How did being split off work for you?

I envy countries with populaces that are at least somewhat scientifically literate, thus understanding the need for masks and social distancing, and therefore have been able to largely reopen their economies. It’s apparently too much to ask for here in ‘Murica. We have only ourselves to blame for our current plight.

Comment by Zim Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 9:45 am
JS Mill - Until little Timmy picks it up from Johnny and brings it home to Mom and Dad and then it spreads from there. Asymptomatic or otherwise.

So my question for you: How many deaths are acceptable for you so kids can be back in school?

I’m glad you feel so safe.

Signed,
Parent of a K-12 children with immunocompromised family members

Comment by Dee Lay Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 11:33 am
=Then… yeah… “who cares”=

I care.

=So my question for you: How many deaths are acceptable for you so kids can be back in school?

I’m glad you feel so safe.=

So masks and science do not matter to you?

If your child is immunocompromised you should keep them home. No question.

But I guess for some there is only one way? Again, science.

And although your question was baiting and hyperbolic, my answer is zero deaths. That is why we are following the protocols from the IDPH.

Maybe someday you will be a grown up and be able to have a real conversation.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 25, 20 @ 2:57 pm