State reverses decision to ban indoor service in southwest IL after facing pressure
Editor’s note: An original version of this story, published Monday, incorrectly listed future possible restrictions for the metro-east. The incorrect restrictions were removed and the story was updated at 10:52 a.m. Tuesday.
State health officials reversed a decision to preemptively ban indoor dining in the metro-east after facing pressure from lawmakers and mayors, St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency director Herb Simmons said Monday.
The state was planning to reimpose a ban on indoor dining and drinking at bars and restaurants in the metro-east Wednesday as the region sees a resurgence of coronavirus cases — a week before the original deadline they’d given regional leaders to reduce cases.
Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike told mayors in a Monday morning conference call that their communities could see restrictions this week because cases are increasing so rapidly, said Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
But area mayors and county leaders reacted with outrage and frustration at being cut short by a week.
“It is so enormously frustrating that the state of Illinois has put our communities in this kind of financial jeopardy,” said Lebanon Mayor Rich Wilken.
Restrictions put in place earlier this month are still in place, but the region will now have until Sept. 2 “before the state must move to impose further mitigation in the region” if the trends continue, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Democratic State Reps. Jay Hoffman of Swansea, LaToya Greenwood of East St. Louis, Nathan Reitz of Steeleville, Katie Stuart of Edwardsville and state Sen. Christopher Belt of Cahokia “worked to combat the additional restrictions set to be imposed,” the county emergency management agency posted on social media after the reversal.
Under the current restrictions, bars, restaurants and casinos were ordered to close by 11 p.m. Party buses were not allowed to operate in the metro-east and gathering sizes were limited to the lesser of 25 people or 25% of room capacity. Hospitals had to limit visitations and elective surgeries.
The additional restrictions follow others that went into effect on Aug. 18 after the region reached three consecutive days above the state-set 8% threshold for positivity rate amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The region — which includes St. Clair, Madison, Randolph, Clinton, Monroe, Washington and Bond counties — was given two weeks to bring coronavirus rates down. But the state decided to step in earlier, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern said before the state made an announcement that the changes could go into on Sept. 2.
The virus is spreading primarily in bars and restaurants and at private parties, Simmons said. At one party in Lebanon with people of “a younger generation,” 12 people were infected, he added.
IDPH leaders said the numbers in the region are going up with a projected positivity rate over 10%.
“They’re saying we don’t want to wait until it gets higher. We’re going to take additional mitigations,” Kern said.
But Kern called the plan to implement restrictions early “tone-deaf.” He said it wouldn’t have allowed enough time for the county or the state to see the effects from the first tier’s restrictions.
“We just went to this stage six days ago. We haven’t had time to see if it works,” Kern said. “ ... We advocated for at least a little longer window on this, take us to the Sept. 1 you promised and let’s see what the number looks like then.”
Bars and restaurants would have suffered if food they ordered goes bad because they weren’t given enough time to plan, he added.
O’Fallon Mayor Herb Roach warned business owners that officials from state police, the gaming board and liquor commission could be patrolling to check on compliance.
“We thank you for your help in complying with these requirements during these unprecedented times. We also know that all these requirements and restrictions are not easy for your business. We will get through this together,” Roach wrote in a post on Facebook.
The Illinois Department of Public Health’s website on Monday reported a 9.4% positivity rate for the metro-east, the highest in the state.
Another region hit the postitivity rate threshold on Monday: Region 7, which includes Kankakee and Will counties in northern Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health website. The region had a 8.3% positivity rate, Capitol News Illinois reported.
COVID restriction tiers in Illinois
There are three tiers, each with more restrictive guidelines that can be triggered if the positivity rate holds at above 8%, such as the closure of bars and restaurants. If the positivity rate falls below 6.5% on average, the restrictions will be removed.
State health officials announced 1,612 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Illinois, including 8 additional confirmed deaths for a total of 221,790 cases and 7,888 deaths since the pandemic began.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 3:43 PM.
