Double-standard in CHI

But it doesn't make sense for a taproom with no patio to have its business siphoned to a restaurant with a patio for the next 3 weeks.

No that's why the only person outside your group that comes to within 6 feet of you has a mask on and they sanitize the tables after use. The same thing that 38 other states have deemed safe and our governor says will be safe and legal here in 3 weeks.

I would compare it very favorably to shopping. At the restaurant you only come within six feet of one person whose not in your group, which is the server. You only touch items that were touched by the server. At a grocery store you are constantly touching items that were touched by many other people such as carts, door handles, & product. No matter what, while shopping you usually come into close contact with several people and even though they are wearing masks many are dangling half way off their face etc.

 

Went to Une Annee last week after hearing about all the precautions they had put in place to adhere to local regulations. You had to reserve a table in advance. You placed your order online and went up to the counter to pick up food and beer when your name was called. Bathrooms were single (maybe double) occupancy, and there were signs indicating that people shouldn't form a line. They went out of their way to make it clear that people were to wear a mask when not at their table and to social distance as much as possible.

When we walked in, there was only 1 other table with a couple of guys, every other table was empty. We sat down at a table that was at least 15 feet away from them and started ordering food/beer. Five minutes goes by and a couple with their 5 children (ages ~4-12), sits down at the table right next to ours, the kids (being kids) are running around touching all the tables. Parents walked in with masks on, took them off as soon as they sat down and never put them on again. Walked past us a few times to pick up their orders, walked to the restroom, never putting the mask on. There were at least half a dozen tables to pick from that were further away, and had shade or were in the sun, whatever, and they chose to sit as close as they could to us.

You can put measures in place, but if patrons don't follow them, or they aren't enforced, especially when people are drinking, it's gonna lead to the possibility of an uptick.

 

I know this thread is titled about the double standard, but my comment wasn't about the double standard, it was about the rationale for why being indoors at a restaurant isn't the same as being indoors at a large store. Your later response to another post focused heavily on touching common items, but the main vector of spread is respiratory. That is the reasoning for why not ever indoor area is the same.

I agree that bars and breweries should be able to have patio seating, as restaurants have been allowed to do. That wasn't something I disagreed about in my previous post. Again, my personal belief is that it makes sense to be cautious about opening and it makes sense that Illinois, particularly Chicagoland, will be behind most of the country. The bar/restaurant distinction seems unnecessary to me, I would think it will be updated soon.

 

We're also seeing a big rise in cases in states that have already re-opened. I get life involves risks and the response in Illinois is not necessarily consistent across the board, but to act like it's no problem, that every restaurant/bar will follow procedures to the letter of the law, etc. is just not living in reality.

 

Yes it does. One is safer than the other.

And the reason there's a 3 week difference is that timeframe allows for more evaluation. It's possible that after 3 weeks the indoor restaurants will still be deemed unsafe and get pushed back further. Or even outside serving could get pulled. I'm with the comments above - I think I have to trust leaders who have scientists helping them evaluate. And whatever they say I'll probably be more conservative for my own personal sake than the rules (it will be a long time before I eat or drink inside a restaurant or get a haircut).

 

So you have me believe that one person, A1, could have infected 9 other people with one sneeze? I don't subscribe to your magic ah-choo theory sir. If this was correct, why were there other sneezers sighted by witnesses behind the screen walls?

 

I went and read the link and it's pretty clear the issue to Lightfoot is that bars have a focus on alcohol, and that makes it more likely people won't follow the guidelines. And I have to say she does have a point. Things that increase risk of COVID-19 transmission are being indoors, not following social distancing guidelines and talking, shouting or singing loudly. And we've all been in brewpubs where those things occurred. After a couple of beers some people are going to disregard the guidelines.

People are going to find all kinds of exceptions - some restaurants get very rowdy, some brewpubs are almost always quiet and laid back, etc. But it looks like it's the focus on alcohol that is the issue.

I've only been to the Dovetail taproom twice and it was very laid back both times, and it looks like there is plenty of space outside to put seating. But Lightfoot can't have one set of rules for Dovetail and another for other bars, so I see places like Dovetail getting screwed.

The Dovetail request for an exemption for a pilot program seems very reasonable but with everything else going on I don't see it getting a lot of traction unless they can get a local politician on their side.

 

Death from starvation is more assured than death from coronavirus so restaurants get to reopen. The risk of dying from not having beer is significantly less and in most cases self inflicted by alcoholism.

 

Someone could have too much to drink and doing some really crazy like visit a beach or walk home on the 606.

 

Taprooms can sell food, as long as it is prepared off-site in a licensed kitchen, or prepared on-site by a third party with proper permitting. But the taproom itself does not have a licensed kitchen, so it is not considered a restaurant. The difference between a brewpub and a taproom (and a lot of small breweries opt for the taproom license because of other legal/tax benefits).

 

Thanks for the info - I am not familiar with that stuff really. And it’s also stupid how they have some of these different rules. There may be some valid reason for some of them but I also think it’s just to line somebody’s pockets.

 

That's why they should just go through with it instead of suffering. If everyone saw them operating very responsibly even without a permit, it would more likely lead to a permit being issued than any penalties.

 

A lot of it is to better balance the ecosystem of bars/restaurants/taprooms (with different lobbying groups pitted against each other). Taprooms already have a tremendous advantage of selling product they make on-site, so margins are much better than bars/restaurants. To balance this out, there are restrictions to this license, like not being allowed to sell liquor or wine (cider and other breweries' beer were recently allowed). But if you really want to make food, you can get that license and have a full bar and food, but on the other hand you you're subject to all those inspections and other byzantine structures, plus you give up your ability to self-distribute in the state of Illinois (although very few breweries take advantage of this nowadays).

I think the taproom license (actually called "incidental on-premise") is a pretty fair license. Mostly because it's a more recent development in the last decade or so that allowed a lot of breweries to open their own shops. It's a lot of the older liquor laws that are out of whack. But, of course, they all failed to account for extenuating circumstances like a pandemic.

 

On Tuesday, for the first time in ninety days, I had broadband internet access at the local branch of the Portage-Cragin Public Library.
Being inside a Chicago Public Library for more than sixty minutes is prohibited.
I had to download new versions of Firefox [v77.0.1] and TorBrowser [v9.5], and eighteen MicroSoft® Windows security patches for both Windows® 7 and Windows® 8.1.
It was very close, but I made it.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I had a sporadic interaction with a venue patron noticing I was typing on the keyboard of my laptop, who then interjected "Are you actually working here?". Yes. Yes. There are a number of necessary things an individual has to do on-line which cannot be successfully accomplished on a v.92 connection.
The point being made here is: There is no food or beverage consumption occurring inside a Chicago Public Library. But there is still a time limitation on how long you can be there, because of the closed air circulation.
I would enjoy going to a craft beer venue. The number of venues I have been to, and which were on my regular bookmark page, which have since announced they shall not reopen is up to four. But I remain unwilling to die in order that they can live.

 

Excellent! Can’t want to take my dog and 1 year old to the Metropolitan deck soon! Kidding, not kidding.

 

Anyone know which "West Loop brewery" got shut down?

https://news.wttw.com/2020/07/13/6-...ery-shut-down-violating-covid-19-restrictions

 

I think it's a mistake and they meant bar. They only talk about one place being shut down, Wise Owl, which isn't a brewery.