Many struggling restaurant owners say that the restrictions could drive them out of business. | Stock Photo
Many struggling restaurant owners say that the restrictions could drive them out of business. | Stock Photo
Henry County leaders and health officials recently met with local restaurant owners to discuss options on how to move ahead from the current deadlock while taking precautions to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently reinstated indoor dining restrictions for restaurants in response to the rising rate of COVID-19 infections across the state.
Many restaurants have ignored the orders, saying that the limits will drive them out of business, the Star Courier reported in mid-November.
“There’s just not data to support that people are getting sick through restaurants,” the owner of Kewanee coffee shop said, the Star Courier reported. “I can’t feed them, I can’t serve them drinks — that seems like it’s just unreal. It makes no sense whatsoever, and that’s why I’m staying open.”
Several restaurant owners questioned whether the county and state officials had the authority to close their restaurants.
Henry County Public Health Administrator Duane Stephens said that the food service portion of current state law gives the health department authority to enforce the state’s restrictions, the Star Courier reported.
Stephens offered a compromise that asked restaurant owners to comply with the restrictions for two weeks while the department investigates the correlation between recent outbreaks and restaurants, the Star Courier reported. He said that if that data shows that restaurants are not a vector for infection, the department will no longer apply the “other conditions” rule to include pandemic restrictions.
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