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* WREX TV
Less than a week after a state mandate shuttered bars and restaurants for indoor dining in the Rockford region, Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara and State Rep. Maurice West call on Gov. JB Pritzker to remove such restrictions in place due to rising COVID-19 cases.
Among closing indoor dining, the restrictions, which went into effect Oct. 3, said bars and restaurants must close at 11 p.m. The restrictions were in response to the region’s rising positivity rate, which Thursday sits at higher than 8 percent for the 11th day in a row.
Mayor McNamara and State Rep. West request the governor move Region 1 from Tier 2 mitigation status of the Restore Illinois Plan, to Tier 1 status, which would allow restaurants to maintain indoor dining capacity at 25 percent.
“As you also know, residents and businesses in IDPH Region 1 are struggling with the economic challenges brought on by COVID-19,” the letter said in part. “Now, we are seeing small businesses, and especially restaurants, bearing the brunt of the recent move to Tier 2 mitigation status of the Restore Illinois Plan.”
* But…
The Rockford region’s COVID-19 test positivity rate is moving in the wrong direction to get itself removed from the list of places required to operate under additional state restrictions.
Since additional COVID-19 mitigation rules went into effect Saturday, the region’s positivity rate has gone up instead of down. Positivity rate is a key measurement the state uses to determine whether a region can remain in Phase 4 of Restore Illinois, the state’s plan for reopening the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.
The nine-county region’s seven-day rolling average for COVID-19 test positivity was 8.7% on Sept. 30, the same day Gov. JB Pritzker announced that the Rockford region would move into resurgence status and that area businesses — specifically bars and restaurants — would be required to adhere to a new set of rules, such as closing at 11 p.m. and shutting down indoor dining and bars.
Winnebago County’s average positivity rate is 10.1 percent.
* And this is from a CDC report on an amazing success in Arizona…
The average number of daily cases increased approximately 151%, from 808 on June 1, 2020 to 2,026 on June 15, 2020 (after stay-at-home order lifted), necessitating increased preventive measures. On June 17, local officials began implementing and enforcing mask wearing (via county and city mandates), affecting approximately 85% of the state population. Statewide mitigation measures included limitation of public events; closures of bars, gyms, movie theaters, and water parks; reduced restaurant dine-in capacity; and voluntary resident action to stay at home and wear masks (when and where not mandated). The number of COVID-19 cases in Arizona peaked during June 29–July 2, stabilized during July 3–July 12, and further declined by approximately 75% during July 13–August 7. Widespread implementation and enforcement of sustained community mitigation measures informed by state and local officials’ continual data monitoring and collaboration can help prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and decrease the numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Emphasis added for obvious reasons. These mitigation measures are effective. Work the program.
* Meanwhile…
Several organizations and city leaders in Champaign County wrote and signed a letter addressed to Governor JB Pritzker, D-Illinois, and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) asking to make Champaign County its own region.
If Region 6, the region Champaign County is currently in, reaches above 8% positivity rate three days in a row, mitigation efforts will be applied.
Last week, Champaign County data started to be excluded from Region 6 data to give an accurate representation of what testing is being done without the influence of the University of Illinois’s testing sites.
The region’s 7-day rolling average positivity rate [without Champaign County] is currently on the downswing, however. It peaked at 7.6 percent and declined over four days to 6.9 percent. So, maybe they’ll dodge the bullet.
We’ll know later today whether the Metro East Region 4 will escape mitigation measures. The positivity rate has been under 6.5 percent for two straight days.
* In other news…
Also, remember the jammed international terminal at O’Hare on March 15, 2020, as Americans in Europe scrambled to fly home ahead of the travel ban?
Few masks. No distancing. What a disaster. pic.twitter.com/wjlarsCqAd
— Brian Mackey (@BrianMackey) October 9, 2020
* Related…
* Illinois tops 3K new COVID-19 cases for 1st time since May
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 3:20 am
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I get the precautions. Yesterday a friend and I got breakfast in Hampshire at a nice cafe. He lives in Genoa and they are under quarantine. It just seems a little off when eating at one place is ok and eating another place nearby is not. But I get that happens a lot with laws near borders.
Comment by Dutch Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 4:36 am
I’m tired of local leaders complaining about mitigation but staying silent on mask usage and cornhole. If you really cared about your local economy you’d chastise your residents, not the governor. The data shows that mitigation is often the only way to get their attention. Put on a mask and save your local economy people. It couldn’t be any simpler.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 7:57 am
What evidence exists that prove O’hare on March 15 was a transmission vector? It was not a disaster. Simply people trying to travel to/fro while they could. Retrospective tweet words that reframe history are nothing more than judgmental revisionist click bait. Please do better.
Comment by Orca Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 8:06 am
“Work the program.”
I’d be happy if folks would even admit they have a problem.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 8:27 am
I remember seeing a Canadian Gov Public spot featuring a doctor saying masks are not needed, just wash hands and don’t touch your face.
Things like that were a pretty big mistake, and I think account for a lot of mask skepticism today.
Comment by Fav Human Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 8:56 am
This sentence from the story about Champaign County trying to avoid lockdown gave me pause: “Surrounding communities in region 6 are increasing testing over the next few days to help bring the positivity rate down.” I’m all for increased testing, but not as a way to game the system.
Comment by TheSeeker Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 9:07 am
Region 1 isn’t getting it. Mask wearing is down and complaining is up. This is hardcore trump country so no further study is required.
Work the program, force enforcement. Health departments and sheriffs here are not even looking the other way.
Comment by JS Mill Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 9:11 am
TheSeeker,
Sssh. Don’t tell them their actually being helpful. If they increase testing to cover more of their population then that actually is good news. High percentages mean not enough testing so adding more testing is good and catching asymptomatic carriers is good.
Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 9:16 am
Orca,
It is not judgemental to say that that scene in O’Hare at that time was a disaster. The disease was already present and spreading rapidly in Chicago in February and this was mid-March. There has been work done using genetic sequencing with viruses to show which strains affected which cities and the patterns of spread in those early days.
Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 9:18 am
Northwestern just released some data from an antibody study showing 20% of Chicagoans have already gotten COVID.
Comment by Chicagonk Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 9:25 am
A different version of NIMBY. Don’t make me deal with precautions, it’s worse in other areas. This lack of self responsibility is why we’re doing so poorly in dealing with the pandemic.
Comment by Norseman Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 9:40 am
==Among closing indoor dining, the restrictions, which went into effect Oct. 3, said bars and restaurants must close at 11 p.m==
I may be an old-timer, but shouldn’t bars and restaurants close at 11PM anyway to begin with? Pandemic or not.
I live in Chatham and even though I’m not a bar attender or drinker, I don’t know of a bar or restaurant with bar that stays open beyond midnight there.
Unlike in Springfield where some 3AM bar licenses exist (including downtown such as the Alamo, Wet Bar, etc.). And there have been problems at the 3AM bars in recent years.
Comment by Chatham Resident Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 10:19 am
As the cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to pile up In Illinois, Wisconsin and the US, it’s amazing how willful ignorance and arrogance prevail.
Comment by VerySmallRocks Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 10:21 am
Listen, if and when we spike again during the winter, restaurants are going to have to close to indoor dining again for many months at a time. Unlike March-May where we didn’t have a great grasp on how to most effectively fight this virus, we do now.
The choices we make now will have a significant effect on our local economies. Save your local small businesses by social distancing, wearing a mask, and if you are not comfortable dining out, order take out.
It’s really not that hard.
Comment by Dee Lay Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 10:28 am
My daughter was working on the departure level of Terminal five at O’Hare on March 15th. I have never feared this virus more than that date while we watched pictures of the chaos on the News and Social Media. Made me a confirmed ,mask wearer, hand washer social isolator since then.
Comment by Peters Piece Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 10:31 am
On the one hand, I like the idea of restrictions at the county level instead of region level, because counties are a distinct unit of government with a health department, enforcement, and voter constituency, whereas regions lack such a defined power and accountability base.
That said, keeping Champaign in Region 6 puts pressure on UIUC to roll out their SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell program to a wider area. They are working on it, but it was needed a month ago.
Comment by thechampaignlife Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 10:32 am
=That said, keeping Champaign in Region 6 puts pressure on UIUC to roll out their SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell program to a wider area. They are working on it, but it was needed a month ago.=
THIS. While we appreciate that the U of I developed its’ own program, the fact is that many of the other Counties in the Region still have awful testing dynamics that include driving 75-100 miles round trip to get tested in Champaign County.
This is the only place that many can get tested without questions, hassle, et. al. and get results in 48 hours. We are seven months in. . . . .
No to Champaign County going it alone. Yes, to branching out to help their geographic neighbors.
Comment by Go Big Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 10:47 am
===and get results in 48 hours===
Those tests should never be used for individual results. The White House relied on rapid tests for individual results and see what happened there.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 11:03 am
==That said, keeping Champaign in Region 6 puts pressure on UIUC to roll out their SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell program to a wider area. They are working on it, but it was needed a month ago.==
Is this going to be extended to UIS and to the rest of Springfield and Sangamon County?
Comment by Chatham Resident Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 11:04 am
===Is this going to be extended to UIS and to the rest of Springfield and Sangamon County?===
It is already in place at UIS. It should be in place for Sangamon County within the next 3-4 weeks I believe.
===Those tests should never be used for individual results.===
UIUC’s test (PCR, the gold standard) is different than the rapid tests the White House pushed. UIUC just has the infrastructure and developed an improved process to speed up the results.
Comment by thechampaignlife Friday, Oct 9, 20 @ 12:25 pm