Coronavirus uptick leads Illinois Gov. Pritzker to clamp down on bars, restaurants in some areas

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is rolling back economic reopenings in four counties amid a resurgence in the spread of COVID-19 cases.

Bars and restaurants in DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, and Will Counties are prohibited from serving customers indoors beginning on Friday. Additionally, social gatherings in the counties will be limited to 25 people, down from 50.  

The counties are home to about 2.25 million people, or more than 17% of the state’s population.  

“There is no easy fix for the effects of this virus on our economy and our public health,” Pritzker said at a press conference on Tuesday. “But we can and will manage through this.”

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Pritzker’s decision comes as positivity rates for COVID-19 tests in those areas have been trending higher. DuPage and Kane Counties, located west of Chicago, have seen 10 consecutive days of a rising positivity rate, which reached 9% of those tested on Saturday. Will and Kankakee counties, south of Chicago, have an 8.6% positivity rate.

Illinois has, in recent weeks, experienced a second wave of infections that surpassed the state’s daily case count peak that was reached in May.

More than 3,700 residents tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total case count to 350,875; 9,277 people have died.

Rising case counts are not just confined to regions south and west of Chicago. The virus is spreading throughout the Chicagoland area.

Chicago's Cook County, as well as neighboring Lake and McHenry counties, have all seen their positivity rates reach at least 6.7% as of Saturday. Those counties could see their reopenings scaled back after three consecutive days where the seven-day rolling positivity rate reaches 8% or higher.    

Despite case counts seemingly rising across the state, Pritzker isn’t yet ready to call for the statewide lockdowns that were first announced in March.

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Stay-at-home orders are “not something that we’re considering right now,” he said.

An earlier version of this story said the population of DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, and Will Counties was 12.25 million people. The population is about 2.25 million people.