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Four Illinois Restaurants Join Together In Reopening Against State Restrictions

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Josh Grega Contributor
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Four restaurants in Lake County, Illinois, have teamed up to reopen with limited indoor dining in defiance of the state’s orders against it, according to ABC7 Chicago.

Kaiser’s Pizza and Pub in the village of Gurnee announced with a Facebook post on Jan. 7 that it, Gurnee restaurants Timothy O’Toole’s and Stevens’, and The Shanty in neighboring Wadsworth would all “responsibly reopen” on Jan. 15 at “25% social-distanced reduced indoor capacity.” This goes against the state’s mandated Tier 3 mitigation rules, according to ABC 7 Chicago.

The reopening announcement reads, “Our teams have sacrificed a lot since March with two full indoor shutdowns, but we stand together and are very proud of the decisions we’ve made as a restaurant community.” It continues, “We are all fully united in our decision to safely reopen next Friday, and have great respect for the safety-first approach each of our businesses have taken from the very beginning.”

These restaurants are not the only establishments in the Chicago metropolitan area to reopen in defiance of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. The Riverside Café in Gurnee was also planning on reopening with 25% capacity, ABC 7 Chicago reported. (RELATED: 400 Restaurants Band Together To Fight Whitmer’s COVID-19 Rules)

The coalition of four restaurants said that it has reached out to local health officials regarding its plans to reopen and the Lake County Health Department announced that it was “aware” some restaurants were reopening on Jan. 15.

While it didn’t specifically mention the reopening restaurants, a statement from the Illinois Department of Public Health said Lake County does not qualify for loosened restrictions, according to ABC 7 Chicago.

“Lake County does not meet the metrics to return to previous tiers,” the statement read.