Indoor Dining Is Off The Table In Chicago Suburbs As COVID-19 Continues

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday (October 20) that indoor dining will no longer be allowed at bars and restaurants in Chicago suburbs in hopes of curbing COVID-19 infections.

Restrictions will impact bars and restaurants in Will, Kankakee, Kane and DuPage counties, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

That’s in addition to a cap of 25 people at social gatherings and an 11 p.m. curfew, WAVY noted.

“All the studies that have been done about bars show that these are significant spreading locations,” Pritzker said. “There are a lot of people that have resisted because they didn’t know anybody who had COVID, they didn’t know anybody who got sick from COVID-19…“Back in March and April, I think there were many people who live in rural areas of the state who didn’t see many cases, didn’t see many people getting sick, and they looked at Chicago and Cook County and the collar counties and said, ‘that’s a problem for them. That’s not our problem. We don’t need to change our lives.’”

“That situation, to some degree, has reversed: that is to say that Chicago has one of the lower positivity rates in the state, and it’s the rural areas of the state that have the highest positivity rates,” he continued.

Chicago, where many restaurant owners have begun installing mechanisms to keep outdoor dining alive as the weather changes, isn’t in the clear from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic yet.

Officials say the “second surge” of coronavirus cases is here, reaching the highest daily rate since the last surge in May.

"Please do not invite anyone over to your house or apartment," Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in a press conference Monday (October 19). "This is not the time for non-essential gatherings, period…The virus is just looking for opportunities to spread.”

“This has me — and it should have you — very concerned,” she said. “If it is not essential, do not invite people to your home who do not already live there…If it is essential, you must wear a mask, even in your own home.”

Photo: Getty Images