The latest
Chicago bars, restaurants officially cleared to reopen for indoor service: ‘It feels good to be back’
Restaurateurs across Chicago and Cook County breathed a sigh of relief Saturday as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s health team officially allowed them to invite customers back inside for indoor service for the first time in over two months.
It was welcome news for many customers too, including Marcus Brezina, who, with his family, was among the first back through the doors at Corcoran’s Grill and Pub in Old Town.
“It feels good to be back inside,” Marcus said in the front dining room of the Irish pub. “The precautions are taken seriously and that’s what you want as a patron when you come in. They’re taking the right steps.”
And it took a lot of steps to get there. The governor shut down indoor service at restaurants statewide in November as coronavirus infection rates soared to unprecedented heights. But with most COVID-19 metrics back down to their lowest levels since October, Pritzker so far has put indoor service back on the menu for businesses in eight of of the state’s 11 regions.
Chicago and suburban Cook County improved to the state’s Tier 1 mitigation level, which allows restaurants and bars that serve food to seat customers indoors at the lesser of 25% capacity or 25 people per room. Bars that don’t serve food aren’t allowed to reopen in Chicago unless they partner with a restaurant to deliver on site.
That’s good news for a hospitality industry that’s been almost completely shut down for about half the pandemic.
News
Saturday 1 p.m. Statewide coronavirus positivity rate dips below 5% for first time in 3 months as Chicago restaurants reopen
As Chicago bar and restaurant owners were allowed to open their doors for the first time in almost three months Saturday, Illinois public health officials announced COVID-19 has spread to 5,152 more people and killed an additional 97 residents statewide.
The latest cases were detected among 110,178 tests submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health, lowering the state’s seven-day average positivity rate to 4.9% — and marking the first day since Oct. 15 that key indicator of transmission has fallen below 5%.
After an unprecedented autumn resurgence that saw the average positivity rate soar over 13%, most of the state’s infection numbers have moved in the right direction since the holidays.
The positivity rate is still higher than it was over the summer, when it hovered around 3%, but it’s been on a sharp decline since Jan. 7.
Mitchell Armentrout has the full story.
Analysis and commentary
From Saturday: Take it from Gwen. Get the vaccine
My faithful readers know that Gwen Washington, 87, is feisty and fearless. My mother, as they say, “don’t take no stuff.”
She demands what is rightfully hers, and then some, from the store manager at her neighborhood Walgreens to powerful Chicago politicians. She has stood toe-to-toe with former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
Now we are hearing about “vaccine hesitancy,” especially among African Americans and other people of color.
Gwen isn’t hesitant. She is a self-appointed ambassador for the COVID-19 vaccine. “I would advise anyone who is African American to take the shot,” she says.
