Will Bars, Restaurants Close Again? Pritzker 'Will Not Hesitate'

ILLINOIS — Restaurants and bars reopened for indoor dining and drinking June 26 — but Illinois could reinstate restrictions if coronavirus cases continue to increase. On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he "will not hesitate" to close bars and restaurants again if cases continue to trend upward.

While the death rate remains relatively flat, Illinois health officials continue to report increasing numbers of new cases — and daily new cases doubled between July 3 and July 10. On Tuesday, state officials announced another 707 new cases and 25 additional coronavirus deaths.

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"We're watching these numbers very, very closely. I don't wake up on any day and not look at those numbers first thing," Pritzker told reporters Tuesday. "We've been very measured about how we've reopened our state, and there are many people that complain that where we are now isn't open enough. And so I would just say that I will not hesitate to reimpose some mitigations if we see our numbers moving upward."

Despite complaints about continued coronavirus restrictions in Illinois, other states — primarily those that lifted restrictions earlier or more fully than Illinois — are seeing much higher coronavirus spikes.

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Miami has emerged as the new coronavirus epicenter as Florida continued to set grim records in terms of new cases. A surge in cases in California prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to reinstate coronavirus restrictions, closing indoor dining, theaters, wineries, zoos and museums and shutting down salons, health clubs and more in especially hard-hit areas.

In the Chicago area, some restaurants and businesses have temporarily closed again after employees tested positive for coronavirus, and 36 students at one suburban high school were also diagnosed with the virus after some of them were turned away from school athletic camps after failing health screenings.

A new tool to show where coronavirus cases are spiking in Illinois showed most counties are still "on track" in terms of case counts, positivity rate and death rate, but some counties outside the Chicago area — including Adams County in western Illinois as well as Boone County — were at a "warning" level for new cases. Grundy County was also at "warning" status for deaths reported between June 28 and July 4.

Pritzker initially ordered all bars and restaurants closed to in-person dining on March 16. Outdoor dining was allowed to resume on May 29 and indoor dining — with coronavirus safety precautions in place — resumed June 26.