More suburban restaurants cleared to reopen as COVID-19 kills 87 more across Illinois

Restaurants and bars that serve food have now been cleared to reopen at limited capacity in 10 of the state’s 11 regions as infection rates are down to their lowest levels in three months.

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Customers eat inside at Valois Cafeteria in the Hyde Park neighborhood Saturday as Chicago and suburban Cook County moved to Tier 1 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 mitigations.

Customers eat inside at Valois Cafeteria in the Hyde Park neighborhood Saturday as Chicago and suburban Cook County moved to Tier 1 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 mitigations.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file

Bars and restaurants across Chicago’s north and west suburbs were allowed to reopen for indoor service for the first time in over two months Tuesday, as COVID-19 infection rates continue declining across Illinois — but a more infectious strain of the virus looms. 

Two regions comprising DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties advanced to Tier 1 of the state’s coronavirus mitigation plan, which allows for dine-in service at 25% capacity or 25 people per room, whichever is less.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered last call for indoor service in mid-November to stem an all-time high surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Pritzker had pointed to numerous studies suggesting bars and restaurants are viral super-spreader sites, but he began loosening restrictions last week as statewide infection numbers have fallen to their lowest points since mid-October. 

Restaurants and bars that serve food have now been cleared to reopen at limited capacity in 10 of the state’s 11 regions. Only the downstate Metro East region remains at Tier 2 of Pritzker’s mitigation plan, but it’s poised to enter Tier 1 within a few days. 

The average statewide testing positivity rate is down to 4.6%, a key indicator of transmission that has shrunk by almost half over the past three weeks. Coronavirus hospital admissions are down to their lowest level in about three months, with 3,001 beds occupied statewide as of Monday night. 

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced another relatively low total of 3,667 new cases of the disease detected statewide Tuesday among 69,285 tests. Officials also reported 87 more people died with COVID-19. 

The state has added 4,557 new cases per day on average over the past week, less than half the rate compared to the beginning of December. Illinois’ average death rate has steadily fallen over that span, too, from about 154 daily fatalities now down to about 86 per day. 

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Thirty-three of the latest victims were from the Chicago area, including two Cook County men in their 40s. 

Nursing homes and long-term care facilities account for about half the Illinois death toll, which has climbed to 18,883 over the past 10 months. More than 1.1 million residents have been infected throughout the pandemic. 

But officials on Monday announced eight more cases of the more infectious B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, first identified in the United Kingdom, have been identified in Chicago and suburban Cook County. The first such case was identified in Chicago Jan. 15, while officials are on the lookout for other variants first spotted in Brazil and South Africa. 

“No matter which region you’re in, remember, our progress can be reversed if we’re not careful,” the governor said in a tweet. “Keep masking up and social distancing.”

Meanwhile, only about 146,000 people in Illinois have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far with the required two doses, accounting for 1.1% of the population (roughly 12. million people). 

The federal government has delivered a total of almost 1.8 million vaccine doses to the state so far, but only about 720,000 have so far made it into people’s arms. 

About 3.2 million more people became eligible to receive shots this week entering Phase 1B of the state’s vaccine distribution plan. 

Officials hope that means they’ll be able to rapidly ramp up administration, which has averaged about 30,180 doses per day over the past week. 


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