© Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday that Illinois State Police will start
patrolling bars and restaurants in regions of the state where coronavirus numbers are surging, and
establishments that disregard his new restrictions could face sanctions including the loss of their liquor or gambling licenses.
On another record-setting day for new COVID-19 infections, Pritzker announced the police patrols in four area of the state. The officers will be authorized to disperse crowds and issue citations for violators.
Pritzker previously downplayed enforcement while begging for compliance, but he said times have changed.
"It is very serious right now, folks, and if we need to close down restaurants or bars or take away their liquor licenses, take away their gaming licenses, we will do that because we are now headed into a peak that is beyond, potentially, where we were in March and April," Pritzker said during a visit to the St. Clair County Health Department in Belleville.
Earlier, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had a similar message. Starting Friday,
she ordered nonessential businesses to close by 10 p.m. and urged residents to limit gatherings to six people because of the troublesome rise in coronavirus cases. Bars that don't serve food also have to stop serving customers indoors, and all restaurants and bars have to stop liquor sales at 9 p.m.
"We are — no doubt whatsoever — in a second surge," Lightfoot said. "This is what it looks like."
Comment: France has
expanded useless curfews to cover 46 million people. PM Castex blatantly lied to the public, saying: "No one can consider themselves safe from this, even young people." In Ireland, Dublin police
arrested 11 anti-lockdown protesters for the horrendous offence of "breaching public health regulations."
Spanish regions are
calling on the government to implement their own curfew.
Comment: Is Sullivan looking for a way out? Defense Attorney Sydney Powell has his back against the wall: