Region 7 Under COVID-19 Mitigation, Region 4 Warned

Aug. 25, 2020

Will and Kankakee counties (Region 7) will be under new COVID-19 mitigation efforts starting Wednesday, Aug. 26, after the positivity rate was at or above 8% for three consecutive days.

Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) are implementing the new restrictions as part of the state’s COVID-19 Mitigation Plan. In addition, Governor Pritzker and IDPH warned the Metro East area (Region 4) that further mitigations will likely go into effect on Sept. 2 if the positivity rate, which is above 9%, continues to increase.

Since Aug. 18, Region 4 has been under Phase 4 mitigations now facing Region 7. They include:

• No indoor bar or restaurant service;   
• Bars, restaurants and casinos closing at 11 p.m.;  
• No seating of multiple parties at one table;   
• No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting; and   
• Limits of 25 guests or 25% of overall room capacity, whichever is less, for meetings, social events and gatherings.

The measures will remain in effect over a 14-day period, when more stringent mitigations can be implemented if metrics do not improve. Mitigations do not currently apply to schools.

IDPH will track the positivity rate in Regions 4 and 7 to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, additional mitigations are required or current mitigations should remain in effect. If the positivity rate averages less than or equal to 6.5% over a 14-day period, Regions 4 and 7 will return to Phase 4 guidelines under the Restore Illinois Plan. If the positivity rate averages between 6.5% and 8%, the new mitigations will remain in place and unchanged. If the positivity rate averages greater than or equal to 8% after 14 days, more stringent mitigations will be applied to further reduce spread of the virus.