COVID-19 cases continue to rise across Illinois, with 3,714 new cases and 41 deaths reported Tuesday. Some regions, including Kane, Will, DuPage and Kankakee, counties, will return to Phase 3 restrictions.
CHICAGO (WLS) — Gov. JB Pritzker is tightening restrictions in some Chicago suburbs as Illinois sees a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases. Gov. Pritzker resumed his daily briefings at the Thompson Center Tuesday afternoon, where he announced suburban Kane, DuPage, Will and Kankakee counties will return to «heightened resurgence mitigations» on Friday. The rollback was triggered when the four counties that make up Regions 7 and 8 reported rolling test positivity rates of higher than 8% for the third day in a row, Pritzker said. The positivity rate is an alarming 9% in Region 8 (Kane and DuPage) and 8.6 percent in Region 7 (Kankakee and Will). Starting Friday, there will be no indoor service at bars or restaurants and all bars, restaurants and casinos must close by 11 p.m. Additionally, all gatherings will be limited to 25 people or 25% capacity, whichever is lesser. The restrictions will remain in place for at least the next 14 days, Pritzker said.»We’re not going to not have people go to school. We’re letting local health departments and school administrators decide what’s appropriate for themselves with regards to school. And with regards to workplace, there are people who cannot work from home, who have to go to work, so the next thing we can actually act on is the bars and restaurants,» said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Dept. of Public Health. But will these mitigations — which were already imposed on Will and Kankakee counties back in late August — be effective? Especially as health officials now say that it is home gatherings that are driving this new surge?»Why are we doing that when it’s not really helping?» asked State Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Frankfort. «We need to be more targeted. We know more now that we knew in March. Why are we staying with the same measures when we could have more sophisticated, refined, targeted successful measures?»Still, Gov. Pritzker insisted Tuesday these mitigations are needed while announcing that the state will prioritize small businesses in those regions for business interruption grants.»To think that maybe there’s a chance we won’t survive the second round is crushing to me,» said Kasey Hoag, owner of the Six + Cypress Boutique in Batavia.
