Illinois will enter bridge phase May 14, 2021

Illinois will enter the bridge phase – the last step before a full reopening out of the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 14, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday, May 6, 2021. “The light that we can see at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter as more people get vaccinated,” Pritzker said.

In the bridge phase, restaurants can increase indoor capacity to 30% and outdoor dining capacity to 50%, and health and fitness centers, offices, personal care businesses, museums, spectator events, theaters and performing arts, and zoos can increase to 60% capacity. Meetings, conferences and convention centers can increase capacity limits to 1,000 people or 60% capacity, whichever is less. The bridge phase will last 28 days, which is two coronavirus incubation cycles to allow for monitoring, Pritzker said. If there is not a sustained increase in hospitalizations, hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness, new cases or deaths over that 28-day period, the state will advance to Phase 5. With Thursday’s announcement, the target for Phase 5, a full reopening of the state with no capacity limits on businesses, would be June 11.