Capitol Fax.com – Your Illinois News Radar “*** UPDATE x2 ***” Go Read All “

* Hannah Meisel from WUIS takes a look at what’s going on and what we’ve been through with IDPH mitigations. It’s a solid read, so take a look …

Governor JB Pritzker will unblock all 11 regions of Illinois on Friday from the alleged level III coronavirus mitigations he implemented statewide in November as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic raged .

But that doesn’t mean the automatic return of meals indoors in Illinois. First, a region would have to qualify to exit Level III mitigations and then roll back through Level II and I mitigations. Only then would a region enter phase 4 of the economic reopening plan of Pritzker’s Restore Illinois, where indoor dining is permitted.

Pritzker’s tiered mitigation program includes restrictions on industries beyond restaurants and bars, but these companies have both been the loudest on restrictions, and their shutdown for domestic service has been the most obvious change for most Illinoisians, making it the emblem of mitigation.

After Pritzker revamped his Illinois restoration plans in July – including dividing the state into 11 regions instead of four and implementing a multi-tiered mitigation strategy to deal with a probable resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall – two regions saw a halt in the restoration inside August. Region 4 (Eastern Metropolitan Area) and Region 7 (Kankakee and Will Counties) triggered Level I mitigations when their positivity rates (based on a seven-day moving average) reached 8 % or more for three consecutive days.

Like the title says, go read it all. I have already bookmarked it for future reference.

*** UPDATE 1 *** The Governor’s PowerPoint presentation describing the days ahead is here.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Important news …