Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) are announcing COVID-19 resurgence mitigations will be implemented in Region 6—East-Central Illinois—beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, November 2, 2020. The region has seen a 7-day rolling average test positivity rate of 8 percent or above for three consecutive days, which exceeds the thresholds set for establishing mitigation measures under the state’s Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan. Region 6 includes Iroquois, Ford, Dewitt, Piatt, Champaign, Vermillion, Macon, Moultrie, Douglas, Edgar, Shelby, Coles, Cumberland, Clark, Fayette, Effingham, Jasper, Crawford, Clay, Richland, and Lawrence counties.

The administration continues to provide relief for small businesses impacted by the ongoing pandemic, distributing more than $32 million in emergency grants and assistance to Region 6 alone. Moving forward, businesses in Region 6, as well as other regions currently under additional mitigations, will receive priority consideration for the current round of the historic Business Interruption Grants (BIG) program. To date, through BIG, more than $42 million has been directed to regions currently under mitigations or where mitigations will soon take effect. These programs are guided by an equity framework and seek to address the hardest hit communities with emergency relief dollars.

“As of this morning, Region 6 has now sustained an average positivity rate of 8 percent or higher for three days, today hitting 8.6 percent – meaning that, starting Monday, they will join the majority of the state in operating under resurgence mitigations,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “With community transmission rates on the rise all around our state, it’s more important than ever to take caution, mask up, avoid gatherings and ensure your family gets through this as safe as can be. Let’s remember that the quickest way we get kids back into schools and businesses open and workers employed is to bring down infections, positivity rates, and hospitalizations in our communities – and that means mask up, wash up, back up, and sleeve up to get your flu shot.”

“We are on the precipice of the entire state entering into mitigation,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.  “These last few regions have seen rapid increases in test positivity, one right after another, because of increasing disease spread throughout our communities. We need all people to adhere to both the community mitigation measures and well as personal and family measures so we can swiftly turn our entire state around.”

Mitigation measures taking effect November 2 in Region 6 include: 

Bars 

• No indoor service

• All outside bar service closes at 11:00 p.m.

• All bar patrons should be seated at tables outside

• No ordering, seating, or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed)

• Tables should be 6 feet apart

• No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting

• No dancing or standing indoors

• Reservations required for each party

• No seating of multiple parties at one table
  
  

Restaurants 

• No indoor dining or bar service

• All outdoor dining closes at 11:00 p.m.

• Outside dining tables should be 6 feet apart

• No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting

• Reservations required for each party

• No seating of multiple parties at one table
  
  

Meetings, Social Events, Gatherings 

• Limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25 percent of overall room capacity

• No party buses

• Gaming and Casinos close at 11:00 p.m., are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable
  
  

These mitigations do not apply to schools or polling places.

From the onset of the pandemic, support for small businesses has been one of the central features of the Pritzker administration’s COVID-19 response. Since March, the administration has launched a menu of small business and community relief programs – with over $500 million in grants and programs launched by the Illinois Department for Economic Opportunity (DCEO), including emergency hospitality grants, a downstate small business stabilization program, Fast Track Capital, and more. For more information on programs available for businesses and communities, please visit DCEO’s website.

DCEO is also actively processing reimbursements for local governments impacted by COVID-19 via the state’s Local CURES program. Thus far, nearly $5 million has been awarded to governments in Region 6 to help cover the costs of the emergency response, with eligible costs including PPE and other public health expenses. All eligible governments in Region 6 can submit their certification to the department and begin submitting reimbursement requests. For more information on programs available for businesses and communities, please visit DCEO’s website.

Region 6 is currently seeing an 8.6% positivity rate, an increase from 5.2% in mid-September, a summer peak of 6.2% over Labor Day weekend, and a low of 1.1% in late-June. While nearly every region is seeing sustained increases in both positivity and hospitalization rates, today the COVID-related hospital admissions in Region 6 have tripled since mid-September now averaging 18 admissions per day.

In the coming days, IDPH will continue to track the positivity rate in Region 6 to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigations should remain in place. If the positivity rate averages less than or equal to 6.5% for three consecutive days, then the regions will return to Phase 4 mitigations 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 may be applied to further reduce spread of the virus.  

Every region is being closely monitored since as of today, including Region 6, a total of ten of the state’s 11 regions have triggered one of the state’s failsafe state-action metric. Regions 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 will all operate under Tier 1 mitigation measures by the end of this weekend, given that these regions continue to report a 7-day rolling positivity rate above 8%.  Regions 10 and 11 are now operating under Tier 1 mitigations after triggering additional mitigations based on sustained increases in both positivity and hospitalization rates. Region 1 is currently operating under Tier 2 mitigation measures after continuing to see a rise in positivity even under the Tier 1 mitigation framework, with the highest rolling positivity average in the state. 

As part of the administration’s robust response to the pandemic, the state continues to strengthen its nation-leading testing operation. Today, Illinois reported a record high of 95,111 tests in a single day. The administration is building upon this groundbreaking progress, given that testing remains a critical step to reduce further spread of the virus. For a more targeted approach, the state provides mobile testing allowing testing to be directed toward communities most impacted by COVID-19. In Region 6, mobile testing has been deployed in Richland County today, in Effingham on Sunday, and in Macon at the Decatur Civic Center from today through Sunday. Next week, Region 6 will have a testing site from November 2 through November 8 at the Danville Area Community College. To find the nearest testing center, please visit DPH.Illinois.Gov/Testing.

IDPH will continue to work closely with local health departments in Region 6 to provide education to the public and offer information to businesses and organizations on keeping residents safe. The significance of face coverings, social distancing, and hand washing have been consistently emphasized by the administration throughout the pandemic.

A full list of mitigation measures pertaining to some businesses and industries may be found on the DCEO website at www.dceocovid19resources.com/restore-illinois.