Following many counties, officials and business owners appealing to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to reopen the state last week, by Wednesday, May 20 it was announced that the governor’s office had repealed the controversial emergency rule to punish businesses that reopened early with fines and/or jail time. Also, the governor announced that he was amending Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan.
Currently, all four regions of the state are on track to move into Phase 3 on Friday, May 29, which means many businesses that have been closed since mid-March will be reopening by this weekend.
Announced among the changes to the governor’s reopening plan were: bars and restaurants can reopen for outdoor seating only; hair and nail salons, spas, barbershops and tattoo shops can reopen; all retail stores can reopen for in-person shopping; all state parks to reopen; reopening of indoor and outdoor tennis facilities; foursomes on the same tee for golf; and up to 10 persons boating or camping. Social distancing, safety precautions and capacity limits will be applied.
For more on the state’s reopening process, please see this week’s print edition.