SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Region 1 has met requirements to move into Tier 1 of the state’s Restore Illinois plan, which allows indoor dining.
Region 1 includes the following counties: Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago Counties.
Indoor dining service had been forbidden in Region 1 since October 3rd, 2020.
According to IDPH, this is what is allowed under Tier 1 in Region 1:
Bars and Restaurants
- Indoor service limited to lesser of 25% or 25 people per room
- Establishment must serve food for indoor service
- Reservations required and limited to 2 hours
- No tables exceeding 4 people indoors
- Bars and restaurants close at 11 p.m. and may reopen no earlier than 6 a.m. the following day
Meetings, social events, and gatherings (including weddings, funerals, potlucks, etc.)
- Limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25% of overall room capacity both indoors and outdoors
- Applicable to professional, cultural and social group gatherings
- Not applicable to students participating in-person classroom learning, or sports
- This does not reduce the overall facility capacity dictated by general Phase 4 business guidance such as office, personal care, retail, etc.
Organized group recreational activities (fitness centers, sports, etc.)
- Sports should follow the mitigation measures set forth in the All Sport Guidelines, which outlines appropriate levels of practice and competition based on individual sport risk
- Face coverings must be worn at all times in fitness centers, including while engaged in individual exercise regardless of person or machine spacing
In a statement, the IDPH said the lessening of restrictions on Tier 1 mitigations, to allow indoor dining, was partially predicated on the launch of a surge staffing program to support hospitals and expand capacity.
The IDPH announced a partnership with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to launch the program, which will create a staffing pool that hospitals across the state can draw from in the event of a COVID-19 patient surge.
“With this surge staffing program, IDPH and hospital leaders feel confident that metrics can safely move away from utilizing medical/surgical bed limits to move across mitigation tiers, allowing more regions to advance,” the health department wrote.
Regions 1 and 6 both moved to Tier 1 today. Regions 8, 9, 10, and 11 are currently in the most restrictive Tier 3.
A test positivity rate below 8% for three consecutive days, as measured by the 7-day rolling average, is required for a region to move into Tier 1, along with greater than or equal to 20% available staffed ICU and medical/surgical hospital beds for three consecutive days, on a 3-day rolling average, and no sustained increase in the number of people in the hospital with COVID for seven out of 10 days, on a 7-day average.
Region 1’s 7-day rolling positivity average: 7.1%
- Boone: 11.2%
- Carroll: 4.3%
- DeKalb: 9.1%
- Jo Daviess: 7.3%
- Lee: 1.6%
- Ogle: 6.3%
- Stephenson: 5.9%
- Whiteside: 5.6%
- Winnebago: 8.2%
Regions 3 and 5 move to the less restrictive Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan today.
In order to move to Phase 4, a region must meet the following metrics:
1) A test positivity rate less =6.5% for three consecutive days, as measured by the 7-day rolling average; AND
2) =20% available staffed ICU hospital beds for three consecutive days, on a 7-day rolling average; AND
3) No sustained increase in the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 for seven out of 10 days, on a 7-day average.
https://www.mystateline.com/news/local-news/idph-indoor-dining-allowed-in-illinois-region-1/