IDPH says indoor dining may resume in La Salle, Bureau, Putnam and Livingston counties as region moves to Tier 1

Taverns that don’t serve food cannot reopen for indoor services just yet

La Salle, Bureau, Putnam, Livingston and other neighboring counties within the Region 2 health region met the metrics Sunday to move out of Tier 2 mitigations and into Tier 1 mitigations, which will allow limited indoor dining.

The Illinois Department of Public Health made the confirmation Sunday afternoon, as some restaurants remained closed to indoor services Sunday afternoon throughout the region.

Capacity is limited to the lesser of 25 people or 25% capacity per room, with tables of no more than four people, Gov. JB Pritzker said Friday.

Establishments offering indoor service must offer food, according to the state’s guidelines.

All restaurants and bars must close at 11 p.m. and cannot reopen any earlier than 6 a.m.

After spending the past two months in Tier 3 mitigations, which prohibited indoor dining, the health region reached Tier 2 on Friday, which opened movie theaters and resumed video gaming at gambling establishments Saturday morning. Now Sunday, it reaches Tier 1.

To move forward to Phase 4 mitigations, which would further ease restrictions on indoor dining and reopen taverns that don’t serve food, the region must have three consecutive days below 6.5% positivity, have three days in a row above 20% hospital bed capacity (which it has met) and seven of 10 days with hospitalization decreases (it is meeting).

The positivity rate Sunday was 7.3%, meaning it would have to come down to 6.5% for three days in a row before the region could move to phase 4 mitigations.