COVID Mitigation Efforts Could Soon Be On The Way In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's one of the busiest nights of the year for holiday parties.
While mask mandates remain in place in DuPage County and statewide, the city of Chicago may soon be upping its mitigation efforts, but those plans remain very much under wraps.
This as suburban Cook County rolled out new recommendations on Friday. CBS 2's Chris Tye reports, new recommendations late for businesses for the Cook County Department of Public Health.
"Establishments are urged to require patrons to be fully vaccinated for entry, and/or provide proof of a negative COVID test within 24 hours of entry."
It is not mandated and it doesn't apply to Chicago. But Chicago eateries will themselves soon be served some new rules to tamp down the COVID spike. What's not clear is what that menu of changes will look like.
"We will roll out soon a complete set of new mitigation," said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. "I don't want to get ahead of that. We are still working through the fine points."
One point Mayor Lightfoot wants to make: closures are not in the vocabulary. The head of the Illinois Restaurant Association says their industry remains fragile and changes need to be business friendly.
In New York City, where proof of vaccination has been required for months to dine indoors, the results have been rocky. The New York State Restaurant Association released this poll at the end of October where they polled 125 New York City eateries about the vaccination card mandate.
*57% of them say business has worsened as a result.
*61%: say customers are canceling future events because of it.
*59% report instances were customers have become hostile, yell or scream at the host upon learning of the requirement.
That survey in New York, where owner operators were polled indicated that less than 7% of them reported business improvement as a result of the new mitigation there.
