Following a decrease in Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic test positivity rates and hospitalizations throughout our state, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced today that regions across the state are now eligible to move out of Tier 3 mitigations—the strictest tier of Illinois’ Resurgence Mitigation Plan—initially implemented shortly before Thanksgiving.
After weeks of careful consultation with public health experts to balance the need to save lives and support our hospital systems with protecting our economy, the Governor announced that regions could resume moving out of the tiered resurgence mitigations (Tier 3, Tier 2, and Tier 1) and back into Phase 4 on a data-driven basis.
Click of the following links to access Restore Illinois’ updated Illinois Resurgence Mitigation Plan and the Governor’s full press release.
As Region 8 (DuPage County) currently stands in Tier 3, the ban on indoor dining at restaurants and bars will remain in place. However, Region 8 is trending to move to Tier 2 subject to health metric possibly within days. The metrics for moving through the mitigation tiers and back fully in Phase 4 are detailed within the update mitigation plan (see page 4).
Page 3 of the document outlines the updated Mitigation Tiers Structure. Please note that the biggest change occurs in Tier 1, which when achieved by Region 8, will allow for limited indoor service and bars & restaurants serving food.
The Governor also announced adjustments to the resurgence mitigations in light of ramped up vaccination efforts across the state, with Tier 1 of the resurgence mitigation plan now allowing restaurants and bars in a qualifying region to resume indoor dining with limited capacity. Youth and recreational sports may also resume play following the Illinois Department of Public Health’s (IDPH) All Sports Policy in all regions moving out of Tier 3.
In addition, the Governor announced Phase 1A of the Illinois COVID-19 Vaccination Administration Plan is on track to be substantially completed next week, with the entire state moving to Phase 1B on January 25. In accordance with local progress, IDPH has permitted local health departments who have already substantially completed their 1A populations to move forward with 1B in order to leave no vaccine on the shelves.
While vaccine shipments from the federal government remain limited, the state is aggressively building out its capacity to prepare, with hundreds of additional pharmacy sites coming online starting January18 and the Illinois National Guard deploying to support local health department vaccination sites starting January 19, both initially only available to the 1A population.