
Gov. J.B. Pritzker explains new economic restrictions for Kankakee and Will counties on Tuesday at a news conference at the Will County Health Department in Joliet. Also pictured is area Democratic state Sen. Pat McGuire.
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker has ordered a stricter statewide mask mandate covering bars and restaurants in Illinois as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.
Effective Wednesday, Aug. 26, all bar and restaurant patrons will be required to wear face coverings when interacting with wait staff or other employees. Masks will also be required when food or beverages are being brought to the patron’s table, when placing orders and when picking up carry-out orders.
“Illinois has had a mask mandate since May 1 this year, and in most establishments people are adhering to it,” Pritzker said during a COVID-19 briefing in Joliet on Tuesday. “But it’s important that we treat hospitality employees just as you would in any retail store or establishment. This new requirement asks a little bit more of our residents dining out in order to protect their health and safety and that of our front-line hospitality workers.”

The graph shows the rolling, 7-day positivity rate for tests completed starting on June 1. Illinois Department of Public Health data was used to calculate the averages.
Pritzker was in Joliet Tuesday to discuss new restrictions being put in place in Will and Kankakee counties, which make up Region 7 in the state’s COVID-19 response plan. As of Saturday, Aug. 22, that region had seen the positivity rate rise for seven of the past 10 days and four consecutive days of positivity rates at or above 8%.
Region 7 is the second of the state’s 11 regions to have mitigation measures put back in place since the state entered Phase 4 of its reopening plan. Last week saw restrictions being reimposed in Region 4, which includes the Metro East area on the Illinois side of the St. Louis metropolitan area.
But the new restrictions in Region 7, which take effect Wednesday, are stricter than those imposed in Region 4, where bars and restaurants are still allowed to stay open for indoor dining until 11 p.m. In Region 7, bars and restaurants are being ordered closed to all indoor dining for at least the next two weeks.

The graph shows the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported each day by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Other restrictions in Region 7 that are similar to those in Region 4 include the removal of bar stools from bars to prevent close gatherings. Outdoor dining and bar service will be allowed but limited to table seating. Other mitigation requirements must also be met, such as mandates that patrons remain seated and groups of any size have reservations.
In addition, all bars, restaurants, gaming facilities and casinos must close by 11 p.m. Party buses will be closed and indoor gatherings will be limited to 25 individuals or 25% of a room’s capacity, whichever is less.
“None of these rules are intended to punish or irritate anyone,” Pritzker said. “They are imposed with a sincere desire to keep the people of Will and Kankakee counties safe and healthy.”

The graph depicts the COVID-19 positivity rate of test results reported over a 24-hour period as reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Those rules will remain in place for at least two weeks, at which point they may be lifted if the region’s positivity rate falls to 6.5% or less over a 14-day period. If the positivity rate hovers between 6.5% and 8%, the Department of Health will review the situation to determine whether more stringent restrictions should be imposed. If the positivity rate remains at 8% or higher, more restrictions will be imposed.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, as of Saturday, the seven-day rolling average positivity rate in Region 7 was 8.4%. In Region 4, it was 9.8%.
But the new Region 7 rules infuriated Republican state Sens. Sue Rezin and John Curran, whose districts include portions of Will and Kankakee counties. They accused the governor of caving to pressure from Democrats by allowing looser restrictions in Metro East.
“Why the double standard? Because Democrat elected officials from that region pressured the Governor to change this stance,” the two senators said in a joint statement. “Backroom political deals should not be how public health decisions are made. The same rules should apply to all regions, and they should be based on science, not politics.”
During his briefing Tuesday, Pritzker conceded that it was “a mistake” not to impose stricter measures in the Metro East region, saying, “I will readily admit that that was not a good idea, and it appears now that we want to put those mitigations in place exactly as we had originally intended.”

The graph shows the number of COVID-19 tests completed each day (blue), next to the number of positive cases those tests yield (red), according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Pritzker said that the Metro East area is on a trajectory to have stricter mitigation measures put in place when the initial 14-day period expires on Sept. 2. According to a report in the Belleville News-Democrat, however, the administration had initially sought to impose those restrictions immediately, but backed off of that idea amid pressure from Democratic lawmakers and local officials from that area.
IDPH reported Tuesday that 1,680 new cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed over the previous 24 hours out of 40,859 tests performed. That made for a single-day positivity rate of 4.1% statewide. It also reported 29 additional deaths. The rolling seven-day statewide average positivity rate also stood at 4.1%, decrease of one-tenth of a percent from the day prior.
Those new cases and fatalities bring the statewide totals to 223,470 cases, including 7,917 deaths since the pandemic first struck Illinois.
As of Monday night, 1,549 Illinoisans were hospitalized with COVID-19, including 345 in intensive care units and 135 of those patients on ventilators.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
The Marion mall through the years, from grand opening gala to ghost town
At the drive-in

The Oasis drive-in movie theater is scheduled to open on Friday, Oct. 30 in the parking lot of the Marion mall.
Marion mall opening

Balloons and a band celebrate the grand opening of the mall in Marion in 1991.
Marion mall opening

Balloons, a band and a large crowd celebrate the opening of what was then called the Illinois Centre Mall on Oct. 3, 1991.
Marion mall opening

A show choir performs during the grand opening of the Marion mall in October of 1991.
The Lettermen perform at the opening gala

The Lettermen perform during what The Southern's archives dub the "opening gala" at the Illinois Centre Mall in Marion in October of 1991.
Marion mall under construction

Dignitaries and the press visit the then-under-construction Illinois Centre Mall in Marion in 1991. The mall opened later that year, in October.
Marion mall under construction

Clay Dixon of Pinckneyville pulls lighting wire inside the Illinois Centre Mall for the mall's fountain, ahead of the mall's grand opening in October of 1991.
Marion mall under construction

The inside of the Illinois Centre Mall in Marion is seen on Sept. 5, 1991, about a month before the mall opened to the public.
Illinois Centre Mall: Coming soon

A sign advertises the amenities for the Illinois Centre mall in Marion in 1990 as the structure can be seen rising in the background. The mall opened to the public in October of 1991.
Target at the Marion mall

Rollie Brave, then the manager of the Target in Marion, which served as an anchor store for the Illinois Centre Mall, is pictured outside the store on Sept. 28, 1991, a few days before the mall officially opened to the public.
Former Marion mall manager

Sam Rossi, a former manager of the Marion mall, is pictured inside the brand-new building days before it opened, on Sept. 29, 1991.
Newly opened mall as seen in panoramic

The parking lot of the Illinois Centre mall is shown in 1991 during the early days of its operation in Marion.
Marion mall concept

A concept drawing of the Illinois Centre Mall was provided to the newspaper in 1989, two years before the mall opened.
Marion mall concept

A conceptual drawing of the outside of the Illinois Center Mall in Marion, as seen from above, was provided to the newspaper in 1989, two years before the mall opened to the public.
Marion mall concept, from overhead

An overhead blueprint of the Illinois Centre mall is seen prior to its construction in a concept drawing provided to the newspaper in 1989, two years before the mall opened.
Marion mall under construction in 1990

Entrances to the Illinois Centre mall begin to take shape during construction in a photo taken Nov. 19, 1990, 28 years ago today. The mall opened to the public in 1991.
Under construction

Construction crews work on the Illinois Centre mall in a photo taken on Aug. 26, 1990, a little more than a year before the mall opened to the public.
Under construction

A view of construction work during the building of the Illinois Centre mall in Marion.
Marion mall concept

An artist's conception of the mall in Marion is shown.
Dillard's in Marion on opening day

Shoppers rushed through the doors into the new Dillard's store at the Illinois Centre Mall in Marion on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 1991, following ribbon-cutting ceremonies there.
Marion mall grand opening

Marion mayor Bob Butler (second from right) greets attendees at the mall's opening in 1991.
Sears at the Marion mall

Bill Bruner, then the manager of the Sears store in the Marion mall, poses inside the store on Sept. 29, 1991, just days before the Illinois Centre Mall opened to the public. The Sears in Marion closed earlier this year. The Marion mall announced it also will close by the end of 2018.
Phar-Mor at the Marion mall

Chuck Johnson, former manager of now-shuttered Phar-Mor store in Illinois Centre Mall, is pictured outside his store on Sept. 29, 1991, days before the mall opened to the public.
Santa's area

Santa Claus' area is seen in the then-newly opened Illinois Centre Mall in Marion in 1991.
Talking bear at the Marion mall

A talking bear display is pictured during the early days of the Illinois Centre in Marion.
Marion Mall 2018

The exterior of the mall in Marion is pictured in July of 2018, just months before the mall was set to close down.
Marion mall in 2017

The Illinois Star Centre Mall in Marion is shown behind some weeds sprouting in the parking lot on May 26, 2017.
Marion mall through the years

The interior of the Illinois Starr Centre Mall in Marion is pictured in February of 2011.
Ken Gray Museum leaves Marion mall

Workers from Morthland College in West Frankfort packed up contents in 2016 from the Ken Gray Presidential Museum at Illinois Star Centre Mall in Marion. The museum, run by Gray’s widow, the Rev. Margaret ‘Toedy’ Holley-Gray, closed for good in January of that year. Holley-Gray donated the contents to the college for preservation.
Country Porch leaves Marion mall

Brenda Cody pauses while cleaning out The Country Porch, a store in the Illinois Centre mall in Marion, that she closed in March of 2015 after 15 years in business.
Country Porch leaves Marion mall

Brenda Cody packs up items in The Country Porch store on Thursday, March 7, 2015, at the Illinois Centre mall in Marion. Cody closed the store after 15 years in business.
Marion mall through the years

Shoppers enter the Illinois Centre mall in Marion in March of 2015.
Dark Mall

A darkened corridor at the Marion Mall is seen in a Dec. 14, 2018 photo.
Still Open

A note on the door of the Marion Mall stating Shoe Sensation is still open.
Food Stall mall

An abandoned food stall is pictured inside the shuttered Illinois Star Centre Mall in December of 2018.