Illinois House Republicans fear the latest restrictions on indoor dining and bar services in a large part of the state including Southern Illinois and the Metro East Regions will leave businesses in ruins.
GOP leader Jim Durkin fears the latest restrictions on indoor dining and bar services will leave businesses in ruins.
“The restaurant owners and business owners are barely hanging on by a thread throughout the state. People who have built their businesses for decades are watching them disintegrate right before their eyes forced into a government-mandated bankruptcy.”
Durkin says the Governor shouldn’t be making these decisions without input from lawmakers.
“We are operating in a state where the Governor has taken over the authority of the legislative branch. You get things done by bringing people together and having a discussion and determine whether or not if the evidence and metrics they have makes sense.”
Illinois Senate Republicans Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady called Wednesday for a public hearing at which Pritzker would lay out the numbers he says show that the autumn surge in COVID-19 is fueled by close contact among restaurant and bar patrons.
Bar and restaurant owners say they have been taking precautions such as social distancing, wearing masks, and sanitizing frequently. They question assertions that their businesses are home to a good deal of COVID transmissions.
Illinois Public Health Official on Wednesday reported the second-highest number of new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The 6,110 confirmed cases raised the state’s seven-day positivity rate to 6.7-percent. There were also 51 additional deaths statewide.
The Southern Illinois region’s positive for the week ending October 25th remained at an even nine percent. The Metro East positive rate increased two-tenths of a percent to 8.5-percent. The East Central Illinois rate is now over the 8-percent mark for the first time and is at 8.1-percent. Three days at that level would result in the region that includes Fayette, Clay and Effingham Counties into the enhanced mitigations now in effect for the rest of Southern Illinois and the Metro-East.
