New state rule: Always wear mask in presence of restaurant, bar server
Illinois diners and bar patrons will be required to don their masks around restaurant and bar servers starting Wednesday.
The rule applies to patrons - inside and outside - who are having their orders taken by a server, being served, picking up orders and even having food delivered.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the new mandate Tuesday at a news conference in Joliet.
"This new requirement will help keep people safe while moving the economy forward, and that's a goal we all believe in," Pritzker said.
The requirement was made in consultation with the Illinois Restaurant Association.
The change comes as Illinois Department of Public Health officials announced 29 more COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, along with 1,680 new cases of the disease.
That brings the state's death toll to 7,917, with 223,470 residents contracting the virus since the outbreak began.
The state's seven-day average infection rate is at 4.1%, with the state averaging 1,982 new cases each day over the past week and 48,825 tests daily.
The new mask policy wasn't the only restaurant-related issue Pritzker was dealing with Tuesday.
The governor said it was a "mistake" that his administration was talked into letting restaurants in the seven-county Metro East region continue allowing indoor dining after the area had exceeded warning levels for COVID-19 infections nearly two weeks ago.
State health officials are being stricter with restaurants in the region that includes Will and Kankakee counties, which is set to have restrictions on business operations and gatherings put in place Wednesday. That includes no indoor dining at restaurants and bars in those counties.
Republican lawmakers complained Pritzker's decision to impose stricter business restrictions in Will and Kankakee counties was a "double standard."
A joint news release from GOP state Sens. John Curran of Downers Grove and Sue Rezin of Morris stated: "Backroom political deals should not be how public health decisions are made. The same rules should apply to all regions, and they should be based on science, not politics."
Meanwhile, Pritzker said he is allowing restaurants in the Metro East area near St. Louis to continue to have indoor dining for the full two weeks he promised when the restrictions went in place last week, though he acknowledged the folly as the region continues to see a spike in the COVID-19 infection rate.
"That has not worked," he said at Tuesday's news conference. "It was a mistake in my view to make that adjustment to the region."
Since the restrictions were put in place in the Metro East region, the daily average positivity rate there has continued to climb. Illinois Department of Public Health officials reported an average of 9.4% of all test results returned each day over the past week are positive for the virus.
The average positivity rate for the region with Will and Kankakee counties is at 8.4% as of Saturday, according to IDPH figures.