Smaller Restaurants Worry With Possibility Of Return To Phase 3 Restrictions In Chicago Due To COVID-19
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some small restaurants continue to do everything they can to survive the coronavirus pandemic, and they were worried with the warning Monday from Mayor Lori Lightfoot that the city could be pushed back to Phase 3.
CBS 2's Tara Molina on Monday asked some restaurateurs how devastating this could be for those mom-and-pop places.
Nick Carollo and his family know pizza. Flo & Santos at 1310 S. Wabash Ave. has been serving it up in the South Loop for a decade.
But as good as one of their large pizzas is - taken out or delivered - Carollo said it's not enough.
"People will order take out, but at the end of the day, you can't survive solely off it," he said.
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So, like so many other local restaurants and businesses, Flo & Santos is worried about the message from Mayor Lightfoot on Monday.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise, the mayor said, "We're looking at every tool in our tool box including rolling back to Phase 3 restrictions."
Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday announced restrictions are being imposed in Southern Illinois starting Thursday because of high COVID-19 test positivity rates. Indoor dining and bars will close.
Mayor Lightfoot didn't say what Phase 3 restrictions she might put back into place. But under Phase 3 of Chicago's plan, bars and restaurants were not allowed to serve any customers indoors.
Carollo said he hopes for the industry's sake, it doesn't come to that.
"It's hard," he said. "It really takes a toll on us - not only for money purposes, but for seeing faces we like to see."
City and state officials drove some other points home Monday in an effort to stop the spread and prevent rolling back. They said people should be limiting non-essential gatherings as temperatures drop.
Specifically, officials advised that people should not bring others into their home who don't live there, and if they have to, everyone should wear masks and distance.
