Indoor Dining Ban Lifted As Will Co. Moves To Tier 1 Mitigations

WILL COUNTY, IL — Public health officials lifted some coronavirus restrictions in Will County Thursday, meaning the county has moved to the least restrictive of the state's three tiers of COVID-19 resurgence mitigation measures.

The Illinois Department of Public Health said in a news release that Region 7 (Will and Kankakee) will be moving from Tier 3 to Tier 1. This means, restaurants and bars in Will County can reopen at 25 percent capacity. In addition, all bar and restaurant guests should be seated at tables. Ordering, seating and congregating at bars is prohibited, and bar stools should be removed. Tables must also be six feet apart under Tier 1 mitigation measures.

Meetings, events and gatherings are limited to less than 25 guests or 25 percent of overall room capacity. View full list of restrictions here.

"I am excited that 10 out of our 11 regions have moved out of Tier 3 mitigations," said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike in the release. "However, this does not mean we can let our guard down. We must continue to practice actions to protect ourselves from the virus — wear our masks, avoid large gatherings, and get the vaccine when it is our turn. This is particularly critical as new variants circulate, which early studies show spread much more rapidly. We are headed in the right direction once again, so let’s stay the course."

To move into Tier 1, Will and Kankakee counties collectively met the following IDPH metrics:

• A test positivity rate below 8 percent for three consecutive days, as measured by the seven-day rolling average.
• Greater than or equal to 20 percent available ICU and medical/surgical hospital beds for three consecutive days, on a three-day rolling average.
• No sustained increase in the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 for seven out of 10 days.

As of Sunday, the positivity rate in Region 7 had been under the 8 percent threshold for three straight days, while hospitalizations have been dropping steadily. The region's positivity rate stood at 7.4 percent Sunday, the most recent day for which testing data is available.

IDPH will continue to closely monitor test positivity, ICU bed availability, and the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19. Should data show regions trending in the wrong direction, based on the established mitigation metrics, regions could once again find themselves in a higher tier with increase measures.

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