Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday she wants to reopen Chicago’s restaurants and bars “as soon as possible,” which she said will be a conversation with the governor.
“I am very, very focused on getting our restaurants reopened, if we look at the various criteria set by the state, we are meeting most, if not all,” Lightfoot said. “So this is a conversation I will have with the governor, but I want restaurants and bars to be able to reopen as quickly as possible.”
The mayor added that Chicago restaurants have gone “beyond” to implement coronavirus mitigations, which she said are highly regulated and regularly monitored. Lightfoot said restaurants and bars will be “one of the safest places.”
According to Lightfoot, after closing restaurants and bars, city health officials saw more people moving into private spaces without masks and causing more risk of coronavirus spread.
“In the bar space, in my opinion, we have a much better chance of being able to regulate and control this environment,” Lightfoot said. “People have risky behavior that not only puts them at risk, but puts their families, co-workers and others at risk.”
He added that being “very strong” Chicago is “very close” to a point where officials should discuss reopening bars and restaurants to the public.
Some regions of Illinois could begin lifting Level 3 restrictions already this week if they have met the right metrics, according to Gov. JB Pritzker. However, it is not clear which mitigations would be specifically eliminated.
The governor did not give a specific day when a decision on the elimination of mitigations would be announced, but said last week that the first regions that could leave level 3 would be on Friday.
“Since November 30, I have maintained, on the advice of Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, he [Illinois Department of Public Health] and other infectious disease experts – it would be unwise to lower any region from the current level three mitigations during the holiday season, when people were especially prone to gathering in multi-family groups and doing so without masks – things that could offer “The worrying” uphill climb, “Pritzker said during an update on the state’s coronavirus response Wednesday.
He noted that the state “did not experience the post-Thanksgiving increase that ravaged much of the country” and said state health officials were “closely watching” the post-Christmas and New Year period.
“I am cautiously optimistic, as there are some early signs that some regions have made real progress and will not reverse this progress this week or next,” Pritzker continued.
“So on January 15, exactly an incubation period starting on New Year’s Day, any region that has met metrics to reduce mitigations will be able to get out of level three of our mitigation plan,” he said.
All 11 Illinois regions have been subject to level 3 mitigations since Nov. 20, which have reduced capacity limitations for outdoor dining and other activities, completely suspended the indoor dining room, closed sites indoor recreation such as theaters and casinos and other restrictions have increased.
A region can switch to level 2 mitigations if it sees a test positivity rate of less than 12% for three consecutive days and more than 20% of ICU and hospital beds are available, in addition to decreased hospitalizations. COVID-19 in seven of the previous ten days.