BOURBONNAIS – Indoor dining in Kankakee and Will Counties is officially dead, beginning August 26th. New mitigation tactics for Region 7, which includes Kankakee and Will County, includes no indoor service among bars and restaurants.
The South Suburban region has seen three days of a test positivity rate at or above 8%, which is the threshold for new restrictions. Monday the county was at 8.3% for the second consecutive day. It first crossed the 8.0% threshold on Saturday.
The new restrictions were announced Monday afternoon by the Illinois Department of Public Health and Gov. J.B. Pritzker and will go into effect on Wednesday.
The greater Will and Kankakee County areas have seen a positivity rate exceeding 8% for three days in a row — which triggers additional restrictions to slow the spread of covid-19.
Read the new mitigations @IDPH and I are announcing today: https://t.co/6GMipV6GWT pic.twitter.com/fD5HPdVsC9— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) August 24, 2020
Some Kankakee elected officials were quick to shift blame to peers in Will County. Jim Byrne, who sits on the County Board representing District 23, called for each of Illinois 102 counties to be in their own region.
Kankakee has been on and off IDPH watch lists itself for weeks since being placed into the newly formed Region 7. The County was one of the first in Illinois to allow indoor dining back in late May. Prior to Illinois’ reopening, several restaurants in the Kankakee area were reportedly encouraged to reopen indoor service, located in Bradley and Manteno.
More restrictions could be applied over the course of the next two weeks if Region 7 fails to fall under a 6.5% positivity rate. The Kankakee County Sheriff Department has yet to comment on today’s news.
New restrictions announced by the State of Illinois 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% of overall room capacity
• No party buses
• Gaming and casinos close at 11:00pm, are limited to 25% capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable
