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News Illinois

Two more regions of the state moved to Phase 4 COVID-19 guidelines on Monday, Jan. 25, meaning five of 11 regions can now allow both indoor dining and organized sports.
Region 1 in northwest Illinois and Region 2 in north-central Illinois each moved to Phase 4, which allows for indoor dining and drinking and, after last Friday’s announcement from the Illinois Department of Public Health, competitive participation in high school athletics. Regions 3 in west-central Illinois, 5 in southern Illinois and 6 in east-central Illinois are all already in Phase 4.
All regions of the state had moved out of Tier 3 mitigations as the COVID-19 health metrics continue to show improvement statewide. Regions 7, 10 and 11 were in Tier 1 restrictions as of Monday, while Regions 4, 8 and 9 were in Tier 2.
“With all regions of Illinois now out of Tier 3, we can now see that the entire state is headed down the right path,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Friday, Jan. 22. “During the summer, we were on this same path. We know that we must continue to take precautions and be smart about how we relax some of the mitigation measures, which are in place to protect our health and safety.”
Tier 1 mitigations allow indoor dining at 25 percent capacity and bar service only if food is being served.
In order to move out of tier mitigations, regions must meet certain metrics of case positivity, have staffed intensive care unit bed availability greater than 20 percent for three consecutive days and sustained decline in hospitalized COVID-19 patients on a seven-day rolling average.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.