2020/08/24 - Mayor's Column: New COVID-19 Restrictions Postponed
“An Open Door to O’Fallon”
A Weekly Note from Mayor Herb Roach
Note: After this column was published, the State of Illinois announced that there would be one more week at the current mitigation level before the state must move to impose further mitigation in the region. This would mean that the state would reevaluate the situation on September 1, 2020 before announcing that the new mitigation measures would go into effect.
Two weeks ago, our business community was given further restrictions from Springfield due to the rising test positivity rate of COVID-19 in Region 4 (which includes O’Fallon). The positivity rate had climbed to 8.5% which had exceeded the State’s maximum threshold of 8%. Those restrictions, which went into effect on August 18th, drastically reduced the allowed indoor capacity at many businesses, eliminated the sitting at bars, and set closure times for 11 p.m.
At that time, the State of Illinois said that Region 4 would have to get its test positivity rate down to 6.5% before the restrictions would be lifted. They also stated that they would monitor the situation for 14 days to see how these changes impacted the spread of the COVID-19 virus. It was understood at that time that the rate would probably rise slightly before it began to lower, and the results of those mitigation steps could be evaluated.
When those measures went into effect on August 18, 2020, O’Fallon’s businesses were told that we would operate under the same hours and operation standards as the businesses in St. Louis. This made sense because we are so close to the State of Missouri and St. Louis metro area.
This Sunday evening (August 23, 2020), only five days after the new restrictions went into effect, I received a call from the State asking to be available on Monday morning (August 24, 2020) for a discussion on possible further restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19. Despite the many concerns and objections from myself and others on the phone, we were notified that the State of Illinois was proposing to prohibit all indoor dining options at our local bars & restaurants. There was immediately a lot of questions that we had.
Why did the State make this decision in only five days when they earlier stated that it took 14 days to evaluate? Why can casinos (who have hundreds or thousands of patrons) stay open but small restaurateurs trying to make a living cannot? Why can two major auto races (which will bring thousands of people to the area and have them seated in close proximity) be allowed to proceed but our small businesses have to close their bars and dining rooms?
To me, these actions are not being done equitably and are going to hurt our small business. Just as our small businesses were starting to see a return of their badly needed revenue, they once again will have to see their doors closed, inventory go to waste, and employees laid off. All while a vast majority were in full compliance with the guidelines.
This is not good for our local business community or our citizens that work there. I hope that the State will reconsider these new mitigation measures. At the very least, I ask that they give the initial mitigation measures a chance to succeed.
In line with this, I want to point out to people that have a concern about the number of cases of the COVID-19 virus in the 62269-zip code, our zip code takes in more than the City of O’Fallon. It also includes a significant part of Shiloh and other areas and totals about 45,000 people. This is about 30% of the entire population of St. Clair County. So, when you see the number of cases in 62269 please realize that this zip code is approximately 30% of the entire population of the county but has only about 8% of the virus cases. In addition, the positivity rate in the 62269-zip code is considerably less than that of the St. Clair County or Region Four.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open (virtually, at least)!