CHICAGO (CBS) — Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday said Chicago restaurants and bars need to be allowed to reopen “as quickly as possible” not just to help those businesses survive, but to cut down on instances of private parties where people don’t take proper precautions against COVID-19.
Under the state’s virus mitigation plan, Chicago’s restaurants and bars were forced to halt indoor service in late October. While Gov. JB Pritzker has said some regions of the state can begin rolling back some COVID-19 restrictions starting Friday if they meet certain virus thresholds, reopening of indoor dining wouldn’t happen until each region moves back at least three more phases, and Chicago is not yet on track to begin easing restrictions.
Thursday morning, Lightfoot said she plans to have a conversation with Gov. JB Pritzker about how to begin rolling back virus mitigation efforts ASAP.
“I want to get our restaurants and bars reopened as quickly as possible,” she said.
Lightfoot noted the restaurant industry is highly regulated and would be “one of the safer places” for people to visit as state restrictions start to ease.
“They’ve gone above and beyond to put in mitigation controls inside of the restaurants,” Lightfoot said. “I feel very strongly that we are very close to a point when we should be talking about opening up our bars and restaurants.”
However, public health experts repeatedly have said bars and restaurants are among the riskiest places for catching the virus, because eatin… (Read more)
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