Chicago’s mayor now wants restaurants and bars to open up to prevent unsafe lockdown parties

Lightfoot had previously received criticism for fencing off parks to sunbathers and for strict new measures she introduced for Thanksgiving weekend, including prohibiting people from being in another household, even with family members.

Now, according CBS, Lightfoot has come out in favor of restaurants and bars re-opening, contrary to the mitigation plan for Illinois, which is very similar to Chicago's own anti-coronavirus measures. Lightfoot wants to cut down on private parties where people don’t take proper precautions to limit the spread of the virus.

Lightfoot said recently, "They’ve gone above and beyond to put in mitigation controls inside of the restaurants. I feel very strongly that we are very close to a point when we should be talking about opening up our bars and restaurants."

"If we have people and give them an outlet for entertainment in the restaurant space, in the bar space, we have much more of an opportunity, in my view, to be able to regulate and control that environment. People are engaging in risky behavior that is not only putting themselves at risk, but putting their families, their co-workers, and other ones at risk. Let’s bring it out of the shadows. Let’s allow them to have some recreation in restaurants, in bars, where we can actually work with responsible owners and managers to regulate and protect people from COVID-19."

At the state level, however, this is pretty far from becoming a reality, as the mitigation plan in place has opening restaurants for indoor dining at the very end of the re-opening. Illinois would need to pass through Tiers 3, 2 and 1 of their re-opening plan in order to get there.