Bar and restaurant patrons across the state will be required to wear masks during “any interaction” with servers or other employees when they’re dining or drinking out, starting Wednesday.
The new statewide rule applies to both indoor and outdoor bars and restaurants, replacing a policy that’s been in place for months that required patrons to wear masks at restaurants and watering holes except when eating or drinking at a table or bar.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the new rule Tuesday, as the state reported 1,680 newly confirmed cases and 29 more COVID-19 deaths, raising the statewide totals to 223,470 known cases and 7,917 deaths.
The new statewide facial covering requirement for bars and restaurants takes effect Wednesday, as a rollback of reopening in Will and Kankakee counties also kicks in, which will mean no indoor dining or bar service until that region’s COVID-19 test positivity rate decreases to a state-set threshold.
The new restaurant and bar facial covering rules stem from a recent increase in coronavirus cases, and apply to patrons when they are placing food and drink orders, when a server is dropping off food and drinks at a table and also applies to food service areas within entertainment venues and museums, according to Pritzker’s office.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike admonished people to “stop wearing your face mask incorrectly” at a news conference Tuesday in Joliet. Many people, for example, improperly wear their masks with their lips covered but their nostrils exposed.