The region of Illinois that includes McDonough, Knox, Warren, Fulton, and Henderson counties is now in Tier 1 for the state's coronavirus mitigations.
According to the Restore Illinois Mitigation Plan, that means:
- Indoor service is allowed, limited to lesser of 25% or 25 persons per room
- No tables exceeding 4 people indoors
- Suspend indoor service if not serving food
- Outdoor, delivery and takeout service continues under updated hours
Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker said Illinois Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike is sure this move is safe.
“The trajectory of the data in each region has given Dr. Ezike and IDPH some confidence that a careful and limited reopening of bars and restaurants…will not lead to a resurgence,” Pritzker said.
To move to Tier 1, a region must report a seven-day rolling positivity rate of less than 8% for three consecutive days, at least 20% ICU and surgical bed availability on a three-day average, and no sustained increase in the number of people with COVID-19 in the hospital for 7 of the last 10 days.
The majority of Illinois remains in Pritzker’s most stringent Tier 3 mitigations due to their COVID metrics.
The loosening of mitigations comes as state health experts have detected the more contagious UK variant of the Coronavirus, which could lead to another surge as it spreads.
