St. Clair County suspends liquor licenses for COVID-19 violations at two businesses
St. Clair County announced Thursday it has suspended liquor licenses at two bars after warnings about violating COVID-19 restrictions.
H’s Bar on Dutch Hollow Road, near Belleville, and George’s Pub on Front Street, East Carondelet, both had their liquor licenses suspended effective Dec. 3, 2020, until Dec. 31, 2020. Both establishments also were fined $1,000, according to the orders issued by Mark Kern, St. Clair County’s local liquor commissioner, who is also the county board chairman.
“The county actually took action today at a liquor hearing on two different establishments that went through the process of being warned on numerous occasions,” Herb Simmons, the county’s emergency management agency director, said at the daily COVID-19 briefing.
Health Department Executive Director Barb Hohlt described the county’s policies and procedures for enforcing Tier-3 restrictions after receiving a complaint.
“The first time, we’ll do an educational contact to the individual — either call them or visit the facility and ensure that they understand what the rules mean and educate them,” Hohlt said. “Again, as we have said in the past, we don’t want to be punitive. We want people to follow the rules as they are outlined by the mitigation orders.”
A second validated complaint results in a compliance notice, Holt said.
“We’ll issue a compliance notice that we put it in writing on such and such date, you were either indoor dining or no mask or not social distancing or violating the mitigation rules in whatever fashion,” she said.
A third validated complaint could result in a restaurant losing a food permit. Hohlt also noted that throughout the entire process, when the complaints are validated, they are forwarded to the local mayor and police department, “to make them aware of the complaints we’re getting about what’s going on in their community.”
“The third time around, they get a written violation ... we’re evaluating those situations and we have the right by our policy and by state law and our food sanitation ordinance to suspend their food permits,” she said. “ So for those that are blatantly violating the laws and endangering the safety of the public and the public’s health because we have all these gatherings ... we will be suspending food permits.”
With a vaccine forthcoming, Simmons pleaded with the community to continue staying the course and remaining patient.
“It’s rough. We understand it’s rough on businesses,” he said. “We sympathize with them. But we also have to look at the public safety of the citizens of the county. If we could all just take a day at a time here .... the vaccine is that light at the end of the tunnel. That light, it’s getting brighter. We understand everybody is suffering. We know everybody’s stress level is way up. Everybody’s angry.
“Everybody’s wanting to go out and get things done. We sympathize with everybody. With the holidays here, it’s even that much more difficult. But our enemy — the invisible enemy, that virus — doesn’t care that we are suffering. It’s our enemy ... but we will get through this. Again, there is light at the end of that long tunnel.”
Hohlt is still leery of a post-Thanksgiving spike.
“Typically, after a large gathering or holiday, you usually see the spike come a week or two afterwards ... a week ago today was Thanksgiving,” she said.
Added Simmons, “Any day, we should be seeing those numbers there.”
Metro-east positivity rate remains steady as hospitals fill
The metro-east’s positivity rate remained static Thursday.
Region 4’s rolling seven-day average was 14.1% — the same as Wednesday — the Illinois Department of Public Health reported. The new rate is based on tests recorded as of Nov. 30. A region’s positivity rate is its percentage of positive COVID-19 tests versus the number of tests taken over a seven-day period.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 86.3% of staffed hospital beds in the metro-east were in use as of Thursday, up from 85% on Tuesday. Additionally, 16.2% of the metro-east’s ICU beds were available for patient use Thursday, up from 15.9% on Wednesday.
Under rules set by the Restore Illinois plan, if a region falls below the 20% threshold of clinically staffed hospital beds, the state may impose tighter restrictions. Thursday’s figures marked the region’s 11th consecutive day under the 20% threshold for hospital bed availability and the 10th consecutive day under that threshold for ICU bed availability.
Regarding the continuing concern with hospital-related issues, the Randolph County Health Department released the following statement on Thursday:
“Our local hospitals are reporting difficulty in transferring patients who are in need of a higher level of care. Larger regional hospitals are reporting a higher than normal census and will not accept transfers from the smaller rural hospitals. This means that individuals who are ill and need of a higher level of care will remain in the rural facility until a bed is available. This is starting to put a strain on our local health system and we ask that you please follow the recommended guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus and please make smart healthy choices.”
Tier 3 restrictions went into place statewide on Friday, Nov. 20. The third tier tightens restrictions on indoor dining, bars and social gatherings while adding restrictions to casinos, retailers, video gaming and museums.
Over the past weeks, officials have warned about the possibility of the region running low on hospital and ICU beds, prompting some area hospitals to temporarily cease elective surgeries. More recently, officials have publicly worried that the Thanksgiving holiday could lead to another spike in cases and deaths.
The state classifies the metro-east as Region 4, which covers seven counties: St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Bond, Washington, Clinton and Randolph. County-by-county data is available on the state health department’s website.
Additionally, the region reported a daily positivity rate of 17.5% on Thursday, a sharp jump from 13.2% on Wednesday.
Illinois reports new cases, deaths Thursday
This information is provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The number in parentheses shows the difference from the previous day’s increase or total. Some data reported to IDPH is delayed from the weekends, including this past holiday weekend.
New cases: 10,959 (+1,202)
New deaths: 192 (-46)
New tests: 106,778 (+21,271)
Total cases: 759,562
Total deaths: 12,830
Total tests: 10,806,364
Hospitalizations: 5,653 (-111)
People in ICU: 1,170 (-20)
People on ventilators: 693 (-21)
Statewide positivity rate (from Nov. 26–Dec. 2): 10.3% (-0.2%)
Thursday’s COVID-19 breakdown for Region 4
New cases: 614 (-157)
New deaths: 6 (-5) (Monroe County reported 4 new deaths; Madison County reported 1 new death; Clinton County reported 1 new death.)
Daily positivity rate (as of Monday): 17.5% (+4.3%)
Seven-day rolling average positivity rate (as of Monday): 14.1% (no change)
Regional hospitalizations: 229 (+11)
Regional patients on ventilators: 23 (-4)
Hospital bed availability: 13.7% (-1.3%)
ICU bed availability: 16.2% (+0.3%)
New cases from nearby counties outside Region 4: 109 (-66)
New deaths from nearby counties outside Region 4: 7 (+2) (Macoupin County reported 7 new deaths)
ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 209 new positives, 1,622 new tests administered, 263 new recoveries, 10 additional patients hospitalized, 3 fewer patients on ventilators
Total overall: 15,678 positives, 163,061 tests administered, 260 deaths, 13,080 recoveries, 99 patients hospitalized with 9 patients on ventilators
Additional data: New positives include residents who ranged in age from under 1 up to the 90s. Of the 209 new positives, 89 were individuals under the age of 40.
Congregate living facilities: BRIA of Belleville reported 1 new case; Mercy Rehab and Care Center in Swansea reported 1 new case; Caseyville Nursing and Rehab reported 13 new cases; Cedar Ridge Health & Rehab Center of Lebanon reported 2 new cases; and Freeburg Care Center reported 1 new case.
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 15.5% (+1.5%); 7-day average — 13.7% (no change)
MADISON COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 265 new positives, 1 new death, 1,489 new tests administered, 142 new recoveries, 12 fewer patients hospitalized, 1 fewer patient on a ventilator
Total overall: 14,961 positives, 263 deaths, 151,057 tests administered, 7,382 recoveries, 85 patients hospitalized with 14 patients on ventilators
Additional data: New positives include residents who ranged in age from under 10 up to the 90s. Of the 265 new positives, 136 were individuals under the age of 40.
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 16.4% (+3.5%); 7-day average — 13.4% (-0.1%)
CLINTON COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 38 new positives, 1 new death, 193 new recoveries, 2 additional patients hospitalized
Total overall: 3,491 positives, 59 deaths, 2,777 recoveries, 19 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 18.4% (+3.2%); 7-day average — 16.0% (-0.7%)
RANDOLPH COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 50 new positives, 385 new tests administered, 45 new recoveries, 1 fewer patient hospitalized
Total overall: 2,459 positives, 27 deaths, 23,539 tests administered, 2,143 recoveries, 6 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 24.1% (+14.2%); 7-day average — 14.2% (+1.2%)
MONROE COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 30 new positives, 4 new deaths, 4 additional patients hospitalized
Total overall: 2,208 positives, 49 deaths, 20 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 25.5% (+18.0%); 7-day average — 16.3% (+0.6%)
BOND COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 22 new positives, 215 new tests administered, 1 additional patient hospitalized
Total overall: 1,092 positives, 12 deaths, 31,569 tests administered, 3 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 25.4% (+22.4%); 7-day average — 13.9% (+1.3%)
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: No new data
Total overall: 751 positives, 2 deaths, 627 recoveries, 30 patients hospitalized
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily —20.0% (+8.8%); 7-day average — 26.4% (-0.7%)
MACOUPIN COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 69 new positives, 7 new deaths, 11 new recoveries
Total overall: 2,567 positives, 40 deaths, 799 recoveries
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 16.7% (-5.2%); 7-day average — 11.3% (+0.3%)
JERSEY COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 23 new positives, 273 new tests administered, 21 new recoveries
Total overall: 1,384 positives, 13,589 tests administered, 22 deaths, 1,169 recoveries
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 14.1% (-9.1%); 7-day average — 13.9% (+0.8%)
PERRY COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 11 new positives, 32 new recoveries
Total overall: 1,238 positives, 32 deaths, 852 recoveries
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 23.2% (+13.0%); 7-day average — 17.5% (+0.3)
CALHOUN COUNTY
Thursday’s new data: 6 new positives, 12 new recoveries
Total overall: 294 positives, 1 death, 231 recoveries
Positivity rates (as of Monday): Daily — 18.8% (-14.5%); 7-day average — 16.7% (-0.6%)
Editor’s note: The number of new COVID-19 cases for ZIP codes in each county are reported on Mondays. Information comes from county sources and the IDPH website.
State, nation, world COVID-19 statistics
Here are the latest available statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus map as of Thursday afternoon:
- Illinois: 759,562 cases, 12,830 deaths, 10,806,364 tests
- U.S.: 14,333,241 cases, 280,210 deaths, 8,468,702 recoveries
- World: 65,076,962 cases, 1,503,636 deaths, 45,138,263 recoveries
Testing sites in southwestern Illinois
Here are some upcoming coronavirus testing options:
- Friday, Dec. 4: 10 a.m. to noon and 1-4 p.m. at Belle-Claire Fairgrounds, 200 S. Belt E., Belleville
- Tuesday, Dec 8: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at McKendree University in front of The HETT, 400 N. Alton St., Lebanon (drive-thru only)
- Wednesday, Dec 9: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at McKendree University in front of The HETT, 400 N. Alton St., Lebanon (drive-thru only)
- Sunday, Dec. 13: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at New Life Church, 689 Troy Scott Road, O’Fallon (drive-thru only)
- Every Tuesday and Thursday: 9-11 a.m. COVID-19 rapid testing at the Clinton County Fairgrounds, 1899 Methodist St., Carlyle
In addition, the testing site at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis has been moved to the St. Clair Square Mall behind Dillards, still from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
St. Clair County Health Department Executive Director Barb Hohlt said it will be a 4-tent drive thru to where people can stay in their car. It will continue to serve as a COVID testing site and also be a vaccine site once that’s available to the general public, she said.
The Illinois Department of Public Health will continue to deploy mobile testing teams to locations in East St. Louis, including to 4601 State St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday and Monday.
Capacity is limited. Hours of operation are subject to change based on available equipment. For more information, visit dph.illinois.gov/testing.
Additionally, Touchette Regional Hospital and Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation offer daily testing in Belleville and Wood River. Call 618-646-2596 for an appointment.
Staff writer Kelsey Landis contributed to this story.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 5:56 PM.