JOLIET – Restaurant owners in Will County are planning a march this Sunday, November 15th beginning at 1 pm. The march is a direct response to the closure of indoor dining throughout the state of Illinois.
Owners say the goal of the march is to send a message to Illinois officials that without it, they’ll have to close their business. The march will begin at Fireman Teds Bar and Grill at 2771 Black Road in Joliet and end at Skooters at 700 W Jefferson Street in Shorewood.
Since August 1st, contact tracers have traced COVID-19 outbreaks back to 22 bars and 18 restaurants in Illinois, with 3,870 locations traced back to possible exposure locations among COVID positives. Wednesday, Region 7, including Will County, tested a rolling seven-day positivity rate of 17.7%, the highest since the pandemic began.
On Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health asked residents of Illinois to limit trips to essential only after COVID numbers continued to spike statewide.
A total of $220 million dollars in BIG grants have been made available for small businesses in Illinois that have been made available for businesses directly affected by COVID-19 and Civil unrest for months.
