Illinois Quad-Cities Moves To Tier 2 Covid Mitigations TODAY. What Does It Mean For You?
As first reported on QuadCities.com, TODAY the Quad-Cities region is moving from Tier 3 to the lesser Tier 2 covid-19 mitigations.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s press conference on covid mitigations in the state earlier this week confirmed the move. Illinois Region 2 — including Rock Island, Bureau, Stark, Henry, and Mercer counties — will step back from Tier 3 mitigations and move
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
down to Tier 2.
But what does that mean for you?
Here’s a full list of what the new mitigations allow — including larger numbers allowed at sporting events and other recreational activities:
All bars and restaurants close at 11pm and may reopen no earlier than 6am the following day. There’s no indoor service, but outdoor is ok, as long as tables are six feet apart. There’s also no congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for table seating, and you have to have reservations for each party. Oh, and there’s no more than six people per table.
Meetings, social events and gatherings (including weddings, funerals, potlucks, etc.) are limited to 10 guests in both indoor and outdoor settings. This is not applicable to students participating in classroom learning, sports or polling places.
There are no party buses allowed, but casinos and gaming are allowed to open with a close time of 11 p.m. and are limited to 25 capacity.
Organized group recreational activities (including sports, but excluding fitness centers*) have a limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25% of overall room capacity both indoors & outdoors.
Groups are limited to 10 or fewer people, and the All Sports Guidance effective August 15, 2020, remains in effect.
The Illinois mitigations have helped flatten the curve for the spread of covid in the state.
Outdoor Activities (not included in the above exposure settings) continue per current DCEO guidance.
According to the metrics put forth by Pritzker on Nov. 20, a region can move down to Tier 2 mitigations if it sees a test positivity rate less than 12% for three consecutive days and more than 20% of ICU and hospital beds are available, as well as declining COVID-19 hospitalizations in seven of the previous 10 days.
JB Pritzker during his press conference.
Illinois has been in Tier 3 mitigations since Nov. 20. The restrictions shut down indoor dining and other indoor recreation venues like theaters, casinos and live performance venues, suspended indoor dining entirely, and lowered capacity for outdoor dining and other activities.
Pritzker touted the mitigations as helping the state avoid even more catastrophic numbers, saying Illinois “did not experience the post-Thanksgiving uptick that plagued much of the country,” and that the mitigations and their duration has put the state on the course to open up more safely.
“Since Nov. 30, I have maintained – at the advice of Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, the [Illinois Department of Public Health] and other infectious
disease experts – that it would be unwise to downgrade any region from our current Tier Three mitigations while in the holiday season, when people were particularly prone to gather in multi-family groups and do it without masks – the things that could deliver the worrisome ‘surge upon a surge,’” Pritzker said during an online press conference. “I’m cautiously optimistic as there are some early signs indicating that some regions have made real progress and won’t reverse that progress this week or next.”
For more info on the region metrics in Illinois click here.
For ongoing coverage of the situation, check in with your free, fact-based local media, QuadCities.com.
