(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday said he does not expect to lift indoor restrictions on bars and restaurants and gatherings before the first of the year.
This is because of the concerns health officials have that holiday gatherings could trigger a spike in new COVID-19 infections, Pritzker said.
“What we don’t want to do is swing back and forth between mitigations and not having mitigations within days or a week or two of one another,” he said.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported more than 6,700 new cases of coronavirus and 135 more deaths.
Illinois is generally trending in the right direction with its coronavirus metrics, the IDPH has indicated, but members of the public are urged to continue wearing masks and social distancing outside their homes as the first vaccines are distributed to frontline medical workers.
Illinois officials feared a major uptick in coronavirus cases after the Thanksgiving holidays. That surge did not materialize across the state.
The ban on indoor dining and bar service is unpopular with businesses that have been decimated by the pandemic.
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