Portion of state cleared for indoor dining, but suburbs must wait

State health authorities cleared the way Sunday for limited indoor dining in some portions of Illinois, but restaurant owners and patrons in the suburbs will have to wait a little longer before eating in with official consent.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Region 2, which covers 20 counties in the north central portion of the state has met the metrics to move out of Tier 2 mitigations and into Tier 1, which permits indoor dining, social gatherings of up to 25 people and some group sports activities.

The suburbs remain in Tier 3 but are nearing Tier 2 status, which would allow museums and casinos to open with limited capacity, indoor fitness classes with a 10-person limit, and low-risk youth and recreational sports with restrictions, but not indoor dining.

The announcement Sunday came as health authorities reported 4,162 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 - the fewest in three weeks - and 29 additional deaths. It is just the second time since mid-November the daily death toll has fallen below 30.

Among the deaths reported, 24 occurred in Cook County, and one in DuPage County. The remainder were downstate.

As of Saturday night, there were 3,408 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Illinois, up two from Friday night. Of those, 720 were in intensive care and 387 were on ventilators.

The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from Jan. 10 to Jan. 16 is 7.1%, down from 7.5% reported Saturday. The rate is used to determine the level of spread throughout a specific population, and health officials use a seven-day average to smooth out any daily anomalies in new cases and test results.