CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mayor Lightfoot said she’s urging Governor Pritzker to allow Chicago restaurants and bars to reopen for indoor service "as quickly as possible."
At one of Chicago’s COVID-19 mass vaccination sites, Mayor Lightfoot noted that restaurants are heavily regulated and have inspections on a regular basis. She said restaurants have gone "above and beyond to put in mitigation controls," and have made changes in procedures, ventilation, and seating to comply with health guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
"I am very, very focused on getting our restaurants reopened. If we look at the various criteria that the state has set, we are meeting most, if not all, of those. So that's a conversation I will have with the Governor. But I want to get our restaurants and our bars reopened as quickly as possible," Lightfoot said.
All things considered, she said, restaurants may be "one of the safer places" for people to gather and that the eateries can easily be monitored for compliance.
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"What we have seen since the restaurants shut down is a couple of things. One is people going into privates spaces, whether it is hotel rooms, whether it is underground venues, and having these parties with no masks and putting themselves more at risk. If we have people and give them an outlet for entertainment in the restaurant space, in the bar space, we have much more of an opportunity, in my view, to be able to regulate and control that environment," Lightfoot said. "People are engaging in risky behavior that is not only putting themselves at risk, but putting their families, their coworkers, and other ones at risk. Let's bring it out of the shadows. Let's allow them to have some recreation in restaurants, in bars, where we can actually work with responsible owners and managers to regulate and protect people from COVID-19. I feel very strongly that we are very close to a point where we should be talking about opening up our bars and restaurants."
When asked when, and whether it would be weeks or months, the Mayor said she would like to see it "as soon as possible," but has to follow state guidelines.