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Metro East returns to Phase 4, allowing indoor dining, after Pritzker praised ‘enormous progress’
Metro East’s return to Phase 4 of the plan to Restore Illinois came too late to save indoor dining for fish Friday at Marko’s Fish House, but it might be offering it next week, perhaps with an extra day added to the usual schedule. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
The Metro East area returns to Phase 4 in the guidelines to Restore Illinois, effective at 5 p.m. Friday.
That means, most notably, a resumption of indoor bar and restaurant service, and an end to tightened restrictions limiting gatherings to 25 people or 25 percent of an area’s capacity.
“After surpassing an 8 percent positivity average in August — later reaching a peak seven-day average of over 10 percent — Metro East leveled off between an average of 7 and 8 percent positivity for several weeks and, as of this morning, has secured the progress necessary to end the increased mitigations in Region 4,” Gov. Pritzker said in a statement. “All of this takes place in a landscape where Illinois is continuously increasing our ability to test for and monitor this virus: we are now pushing an average of nearly 60,000 tests a day — and we surpassed 6 million tests to date. There is testing available to you if you need it. If you were potentially in contact with a COVID-19 case, if you’re feeling unwell, or if you just want to check in, you are able to get a test at no cost.”
At Wednesday’s weekly coronavirus briefing, Pritzker cited that Region 4, basically the Metro East area across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, had dropped to a 6.3 percent positivity rate on COVID-19 testing, below the 6.5 percent threshold allowing the area to return to Phase 4 if sustained over three days. “That’s enormous progress,” Pritzker said.
On Friday, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced that the positivity rate in Region 4 — including Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair, and Washington counties — had dropped to 5.8 percent. The region had the tightened restrictions imposed Aug. 18, when its posivity rate rose above 8 percent for three straight days, and it peaked at 10.5 percent on Aug. 27.
“We are excited to see that, after weeks of mitigation measures and sacrifice, Region 4 has reduced its positivity rate and can return to Phase 4,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “It takes communities working together to reduce the spread of the virus and lower the positivity rate. I want to thank Region 4 for its hard work to decrease the risk for all of Illinois.”
Region 1, however, including the northwest corner of the state and the cities of Rockford and Galena, remained under stricter mitigation measures banning indoor dining imposed last Saturday, with a positivity rate holding above 8 percent, according to the Health Department.
Metro East’s return to Phase 4 came too late to save fish Friday at Marko’s Fish House in Madison, which is open but serving orders to go, but store owners said it would be resuming indoor service next week, perhaps with an extra day. It’s currently closed Saturday through Monday. Later Friday, Marko’s announced on Facebook that it would resume indoor dining Wednesday, with hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 10 to 7 on Friday.
The Health Department confirmed 2,818 new cases of COVID-19 Friday, taking the state total to 313,518, with 35 new deaths bringing the statewide toll to 8,945. But with Illinois having topped 6 million tests total on Wednesday, and another 72,000 conducted Friday, the statewide seven-day positivity rate stood at 3.8 percent.
The department had 26 counties on a warning list for rising coronavirus infections as of Friday, including Case, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Effingham, Fayette, Henderson, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lake, Lee, Mason, Massac, Pulaski, Richland, Saline, Shelby, Union, Vermilion, Whiteside, Winnebago, and Warren counties.