This means that restaurants and bars may reopen for limited indoor meals.
SEE ALSO | Covered dinner in Chicago should return from Saturday
The total number of cases in Illinois is now 1,093,375, with a total of 18,615 deaths since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of new positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday is greater than it has been recently and reflects an adjustment in the state’s likely case count, according to IDPH director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.
WATCH: Governor Pritzker gives the latest news on vaccines, restrictions, new variant on January 22, 2021
Region 4 of the eastern metropolitan region also changed to Level 2 on Friday, removing all regions of Illinois from Level 3 mitigations, according to IDPH, however, there are still 3 regions that remain in Phase 4.
Region 4 includes Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties.
“With all regions of Illinois outside Level 3, we can now see that the entire state is on track,” said Dr. Ezike. “During the summer, we were on the same path. We know that we must continue to take precautions and be smart about how we can relax some of the mitigation measures, which are in place to protect our health and safety.”
Region 7, which includes Will and Kankakee counties, has advanced to Level 1.
Some restaurants, including George’s in Lockport, have served customers in the countryside, even when it was officially banned by the state. But the team there is still excited about the news and hopes it will make more customers feel safe enough to check it out. Manager Lauren Straub said she was overjoyed to learn that limited indoor meals can be resumed in Will and Kankakee counties.
State health officials announced Thursday that Illinois Region 7 was moving towards Tier 1 mitigation, allowing in-house restaurant and bar service for up to 25 people or 25% capacity per room, whichever is less.
“People are going to feel comfortable and, you know, want to come in and feel safe enough to come in and have dinner with us,” said Straub.
Straub said his team was already serving people inside because the restaurant, like many, is trying to stay afloat. But she hopes the official green light will boost business.
“Our clientele in the morning, the elderly, so they, I think they will feel safer going out that it’s okay to go out and not be so worried,” she explained.
Some customers, like Karen and John Sadler, were already comfortable eating indoors before the changes – and returned for lunch.
“It’s nice to sit in a cabin again and it’s like coming home, because you know, they are an integral part of our neighborhood,” said Karen Sadler.
In neighboring Romeoville, Gio’s breakfast was still almost empty after the announcement of the resumption of the internal dinner. But manager Giselle Evangelista is thinking that her dining room will be an attractive option for people who want to keep a social distance.
“It’s really quite big,” said Evangelista. “I feel like people are going to see this on our Facebook page.”
And with more meals in person, she hopes her team will see more tips – which have not been so plentiful with takeout orders.
“As our servers depend on tips, this will help us a lot more because that’s basically what we live in,” she said.
WATCH: Why some restaurants don’t reopen even if restrictions are loosened
But as more suburban restaurants obtain this new lifeline, indoor dining remains banned in Chicago.
And even when those restrictions are lifted in the city, some restaurants are not yet going to reopen yet.
“25% (capacity) makes us lose money, 50% (capacity) makes us lose money,” said Jodi Fyfe, owner of Eden in the West Loop.
But for Chicago restaurants that want to reopen their meals indoors, city officials say that this may be possible as early as this weekend, if current trends continue.
Region 6 changes to Phase 4
And region 6, which includes the counties of Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, De Witt, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Lawrence, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, Richland, Shelby and Vermillion, will move to Phase 4 of the Restoration Plan.
“I am excited that 10 of our 11 regions have moved out of Tier 3 mitigations,” said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. “However, that does not mean that we can let our guard down. We must continue to take action to protect ourselves from the virus – wear our masks, avoid large gatherings and get the vaccine when our turn comes. This is particularly critical, as new variants circulate , that the first studies show that they spread much more quickly. We’re going in the right direction once again, so let’s keep going. “
IDPH will continue to closely monitor the positivity of the test, the availability of beds in the ICU and the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19, state officials said. If the data shows regions tending in the wrong direction, based on established mitigation metrics, the regions may once again find themselves at a higher level with increased measures.
You can see a map of the Restore Illinois regions here and the differences between COVID-19 mitigation levels in Illinois on here.
Vaccine registration frustrations
Days before Illinois is scheduled to move into the 1B vaccination phase, some are frustrated by the lack of information on how to register.
“I’m trying to do my part and it feels like I’m always hitting a brick wall,” said James Henry of Elmhurst.
Henry said he was excited when Governor JB Pritzker announced last week that Phase 1B would start in Illinois on January 25 for people aged 65 and over and many essential workers.
RELATED: Chicago COVID-19: The City Moves to Phase 1B Next Week, Arwady Says
But Henry, 72, said he found nothing about how to register for a vaccine on the state or DuPage County Health Department websites.
He ended up finding a local pharmacy to attend 1B appointments and scheduled himself and his wife for the next week.
“And then we got a call today, and Mariano said, ‘We’re sorry, but the county says it’s not launching the vaccine for group 1B,'” said Henry.
Earlier this week, the DuPage County Health Department said that phase 1B of the county was unlikely to begin until early February. But on Wednesday, it issued a press release saying that “… anticipates the start of the transition to Phase 1b from Monday, January 25 …” But due to limited supply “… may take approximately 12 weeks … “to vaccinate everyone in 1B.
There is still nothing on the county website on how to register.
“I mean, at this point, just say, ‘We don’t know, guys,'” said Henry.
In the Chicago area, DuPage County, Cook suburb and the city of Chicago said they would start vaccination 1B on Monday. But in Lake County, officials said it could take one to two weeks. And in Will County, a few weeks.
Kane County said it began vaccinating some essential Phase 1B workers on Thursday. Vaccine consultations for Kane County residents on priority group 1B essential workers and seniors aged 65 and over will begin in the next two weeks.
“In the early weeks of the national vaccination campaign, vaccine supply was limited,” said Kane County Health Department Acting Executive Director Kathy Fosser. “We are pleased to say that we are reaching out to our healthcare professionals 1A and have started vaccinating essential workers 1B.”
Kane County will have more than 40 suppliers of COVID-19 vaccines, such as clinics, pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices in preparation for the Group 1B vaccination.
“We are committed to putting these vaccines in the residents’ arms as soon as we receive them,” said Fosser. “We anticipate that our weekly allocation will increase over time, to allow us to get the vaccine to residents more quickly.”
ABC7 left messages for McHenry and Kankakee counties that were not returned.
Find out how many people can get the COVID-19 vaccine before you
In the last 24 hours, laboratories reported 99,036 samples for a total of 15,083,685.
RELATED: Illinois Coronavirus Test: Where to Test for COVID-19 in Illinois, Chicago Area
As of Wednesday night, 3,281 patients in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19. Of these, 662 patients were in the ICU and 358 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary positivity of the seven-day state test, from 15 to 21 January, is 6.2%, the lowest since the end of October.
The test’s positive rate is a metric that the state began providing in late October. It is calculated using the total number of positive tests over the total number of tests. This is the metric used by state health officials to make mitigation decisions.
On Thursday night, 922,325 doses of the vaccine were delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago, with an additional 524,050 doses allocated to federal government partners for long-term care facilities, bringing the total number delivered to Illinois to 1,446,375 .
RELATED: Illinois’ COVID Vaccine Map Shows How Many Residents Vaccinated by County
IDPH reports a total of 616,677 doses of vaccine, including 93,683 in long-term facilities. The seven-day moving average of vaccines administered is 24,190.
WATCH: World War II veterinarian who survived COVID-19 is vaccinated
IDPH says vaccine delivery numbers are reported in real time and vaccine delivery numbers are delayed by up to 72 hours.
Deaths reported on Friday include:
– Adams County: 1 man 70 years old, 1 woman 90 years old
– Columbia County: 1 woman 80 years old, 1 man 90 years old
-Cook County: 1 woman 30 years, 1 woman 50 years, 3 men 50 years, 8 women 60 years, 9 men 60 years, 1 woman 70 years, 11 men 70 years, 5 women 80 years, 4 men 80 years, 1 male 90 years
– DuPage County: 1 man 70 years old, 2 men 80 years old, 1 woman 90 years old
– Hancock County: 1 man from the 80s
-Kane County: 1 male 60 years old, 2 women 80 years old
-Lake County: 1 woman 70 years old, 1 man 70, 1 man 90
– Madison County: 1 woman from the 80s
– Marshall County: 1 woman, 70 years old
-McHenry County: 1 woman 70 years old
– McLean County: 1 man 70 years old, 1 woman 80 years old
– Montgomery County: 1 man 70 years old, 1 woman 80 years old, 1 man 90 years old
-Ogle County: 1 male 60 years old
– Peoria County: 1 woman 70 years old, 1 man 70 years old
– Piatt County: 1 man from the 90s
-Randolph County: 1 woman 70 years old, 1 woman 80 years old, 1 woman 90 years old
-Richland County: 1 woman 60 years old
– Rock Island County: 1 male 60 years old, 1 male 90 years old
– Sangamon County: 1 woman 70 years old, 1 man 80, 1 man 90
-St. County Clair: 2 men aged 80, 3 women aged 90, 1 man aged 90
-Washington County: 1 man from the 80s
– Will County: 2 women 70 years old, 1 man 70 years old, 1 woman 80 years old, 1 woman 90 years old
– Winebago County: 1 woman 30 years old, 1 woman 90 years old
– Woodford County: 1 70 year old man
Copyright © 2021 WLS-TV. All rights reserved.