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Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) are announcing COVID-19 resurgence mitigations will be implemented in Region 11, the City of Chicago, beginning at 12:01 am on Friday, October 30, 2020.

Region 11 has triggered additional mitigations due to a sustained increase in its positivity rate as well as a sustained increase in COVID-related hospitalizations for more than seven of the past ten days.

These increases exceed the thresholds set for establishing mitigation measures under the state’s Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan.

Region 11 is the second of the state’s 11 regions to trigger additional mitigations based on sustained increases in positivity and hospitalization rates, the first being its neighbor, Region 10 (Suburban Cook County) earlier in the week.

Mitigation measures taking effect October 30 in Region 11 include: 

Bars 

  • No indoor service 
  • All outside bar service closes at 11:00 p.m. 
  • All bar patrons should be seated at tables outside 
  • No ordering, seating, or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed)  
  • Tables should be 6 feet apart  
  • No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting 
  • No dancing or standing indoors 
  • Reservations required for each party 
  • No seating of multiple parties at one table

Restaurants 

  • No indoor dining or bar service 
  • All outdoor dining closes at 11:00 p.m. 
  • Outside dining tables should be 6 feet apart 
  • No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting 
  • Reservations required for each party  
  • No seating of multiple parties at one table

Meetings, Social Events, Gatherings 

  • Limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25 percent of overall room capacity 
  • No party buses 
  • Gaming and Casinos close at 11:00 p.m., are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable

These mitigations do not apply to schools or polling places. 

In the coming days, IDPH will continue to track metrics in Region 11 to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigations should remain in place.

If the positivity rate in Region 11 averages less than or equal to 6.5% over a three-day period, there is a decrease in hospital admissions for COVID-19 like illness over a three-day period, and the three-day rolling averages of ICU bed availability and medical/surgical bed availability is greater than or equal to 20% over a seven-day period, the region will return to Phase 4 mitigations under the Restore Illinois Plan.

Conversely, if the average positivity rate continues to increase over seven out of 10 days and the hospital admissions for COVID-19 like illness continues to increase over seven out of 10 days, more stringent mitigations can be applied. If the metrics remain stable, the region will continue to be monitored.

As of today, including Region 11, seven of the state’s 11 regions have triggered one of the state’s failsafe state-action metric.

By tomorrow, Regions 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 will all operate under Tier 1 mitigation measures given that these regions continue to report a 7-day rolling positivity rate above 8%.

Region 1 is currently operating under Tier 2 mitigation measures after continuing to see a rise in positivity even under the Tier 1 mitigation framework, now at a rolling positivity average of 12.5% as of this morning.

As part of the administration’s robust response to the pandemic, the state continues to strengthen its nation-leading testing operation. Testing remains readily available throughout Illinois.

Chicago has state-run operations in Auburn Gresham that operate daily, in addition to the multiple free testing locations offered by the City of Chicago.

In the past month alone, Regions 10 and 11 each reported an increase of roughly 50 percent in testing. The administration will continue to build upon this progress, given that testing remains a critical step to reduce further spread of the virus in communities. To find the nearest testing center, please visit DPH.Illinois.Gov/Testing.

IDPH will also continue to work closely with the Chicago Public Health Department (CDPH) to provide education to the public and offer information to businesses and organizations on safe ways to operate. The significance of face coverings, social distancing, and hand washing have been consistently emphasized by both the city and the state throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

 A full list of mitigation measures pertaining to some businesses and industries may be found on the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) website at www.dceocovid19resources.com/restore-illinois.

We are seeing a national surge of coronavirus, and Illinois is not immune. Indeed our neighboring states of Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin all have positivity rates and hospitalizations that are soaring.

So it’s perhaps not surprising that over the weekend, two more regions triggered our metrics for additional mitigations. That means reduced sizes of public gatherings to 25 people, and temporary closure of indoor dining and indoor bar service.

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