Photo of the Day - October 30, 2020

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Unity's wins on the road, Knudsen scores 24

Unity's Elyce Knudsen goes up for a shot on Urbana's Kynzee Boastick during their non-conference game on December 9, 2019. The senior finished the night with a team-high 24 points, making 10 of 12 attempts from the free throw line to help her team to a 59-49 road win over the Tigers. Later in the 2019-20 season, Knudsen would surpassed Unity's all-time scoring mark in a home game in February held by Rocket alumnus and 12-year NBA veteran Brian Cardinal, who drained a career 1,812 points during his prep career.

(Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

Northern Illinois restaurant gets TRO to remain open despite Governor's orders

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by Joe Tabor, Senior Policy Analyst
Illinois Policy

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FoxFire restaurant can stay open while the challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s exercise of emergency powers works its way through the courts, a Kane County judge has ruled.

On Oct. 26, Judge Kevin Busch granted the Geneva, Illinois, steakhouse’s request for a temporary restraining order against Pritzker’s Executive Order 2020-61, specifically as it relates to FoxFire’s ability to conduct indoor dining. The judge barred the governor, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Kane County Health Department from enforcing the order.

The order applies only to FoxFire and allows the restaurant to operate with indoor seating until the next hearing, or until the state appeals the ruling. FoxFire’s petition for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction argued that all of Pritzker’s COVID-19 subsequent disaster proclamations after the initial March 9 proclamation were invalid. That first proclamation expired on April 7.

Pritzker’s authority to issue executive orders limiting the operation of restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic comes from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. The Act limits the exercise of emergency powers to 30 days after the governor has issued a disaster proclamation, but Pritzker has continuously issued new proclamations to extend the timespan of his emergency powers to almost 250 days so far. The Act itself is silent as to whether Pritzker can extend his emergency powers indefinitely, and the governor’s actions have met numerous legal challenges as well as criticism.

The General Assembly could resolve these questions with legislation, but has so far declined, leaving Illinois to be governed by a series of executive orders when it comes to the state’s COVID-19 response. As it stands, these challenges will work their way through the court system.

The governor is expected to appeal the ruling in favor of the Geneva restaurant, but for now, FoxFire is the only restaurant in its region legally open to indoor dining.

Restrictions were reimposed Oct. 28 on the Metro East region and will be imposed Oct. 30 in Chicago, leading to a public debate between Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over the need to again close bars and restaurants to indoor operations.

Half of the counties in Illinois are at a warning level for COVID-19 positivity, with the statewide 7-day average at 6.7% on Oct. 28. Of the 11 regions designated for COVID-19 restrictions, six have a positive test rate of at least 8%.

As many as 21,700 Illinois restaurants and food establishments could permanently be shuttered as a result of the pandemic and repeated closure orders.

The Illinois Restaurant Association is also looking at legal remedies, President and CEO Sam Toia told Crain’s Chicago Business. He said many in the industry feel they are being unfairly singled out, and that the restrictions used at the pandemic’s start are no longer helpful or effective.

"The science surrounding COVID-19 has evolved," Toia said. "So must the metrics for mitigation."

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Originally published by Illinois Policy on October 28, 2020. Published by permission.

Area COVID cases climb, positives triple in less than a week

When it came COVID mitigation, The Sentinel area was looking really good last week. The number of area cases steadily declined in each village to impressive number unlike other rural areas of the state. Last Saturday, there were just 13 active cases total in the six communities that The Sentinel actively covers.

Today, a mere six days later, that number has vaulted to 45 according to the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District data.

County-wide there were an additional 433 new cases confirmed by health officials. Out of the 790,767 test performed Champaign County residents, 6,330 came back positive. As of today there are 506 active cases and 1,540 individuals who have been in contact with an infected individual now in quarantine to avoid the additional spread of infections.

The rise in positive cases reflects the overall statewide trajectory occurring statewide and in surrounding neighboring states.

In Governor JB Pritzker's coronavirus briefing yesterday, he said the state is saw a new high in cases with 6,363 reported on Thursday. Records show that the state set a new seven-day average high of 5,043 new cases per day.

"The two highest seven-day average number of cases we reached in one day in the spring was 2,565 in early May. That came down to about 590 in mid-June,” he said. "Today, we are at a new high, a seven-day average of 5,043 new cases per day – closing in on twice what we saw in May."

Yesterday, the seven-day positivity rate for the East Central Illinois region Champaign County is included in the state’s mitigation map (Region 6) increased from 7.9 to 8.1 percent. If the region remains above 8.0 for more than three consecutive days, the area would see increased mitigation requirements from the state. Nearly three-quarters of the state is or will be subject to additional restrictions by Sunday.

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 currently apply to schools.

Compared to Rantoul, with a population of 12,691 and has recorded 511 positive cases as of today, there have been only 312 cases confirmed among the 11,108 residents that live in six zip codes covered by The Sentinel.