CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- While Chicago's beaches remain closed, the park district is allowing beach-side restaurants to reopen and salvage what is left of a summer season.
Beaches remain off-limits and parking lots remain closed, so people will have to walk or bike to get to restaurants such as The Dock at Montrose Beach, Caffe Oliva and The Shore Club at North Avenue Beach. Others at North Avenue, Montrose, Oak Street and the 63rd Street Beaches will reopen this week, and some started Tuesday right after the news was announced.
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The businesses will be under the same COVID-19 restrictions as other city restaurants.
Although experts say outdoor transmission of COVID-19 is much lower than inside gatherings, Lightfoot is still not budging on opening the beaches. However, in July she ordered splash pools to open so Chicagoans could still get some heat relief during the summer.
Other beaches around the country have opened with special social distancing guidelines, like in New York. In Florida, beaches closed shortly after they opened due to the rise in COVID-19 cases and a lack of social distancing. And in recent summer weekends, Illinoisans have flocked to open beaches in Wisconsin and Indiana to get outside.