Rockford Sun

Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara is taking steps to help the city’s bars and restaurants regain their footing, including waiving outdoor seating permits.

While an application for such a permit still has to be submitted, McNamara added establishments will be able to temporarily set up operations in parking lots, sidewalks and alleys. The mayor added that businesses will also be able to use that address to inquire about micro-enterprise loans for operations of up to just five employees.

“Now is not the time to slow down on social distancing,” McNamara told MyStateline.com. “We must double down on these efforts as a community.”

As of May 28, Illinois reported 115,833 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 5,186 deaths. Winnebago County has 2,091 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Winnebago County Health Department Director Dr. Sandra Martell said the city is hard at work on at least three separate guidelines for reopening the local economy, outside of mandates coming from the State Capitol.

With local business and civic leaders being part of the team, Martell added reopening churches, childcare and summer programs among the guidelines being weighed.

With the state set to move into Phase 3 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan on May 29, Martell stressed that the virus is still active and urged anyone suffering from symptoms of it to remain at home in order to minimize exposure to others.

Going forward, Martell said local employers will be partnering with the health department to monitor the health of employees returning to work, and ultimately could require temperature checks from them.