“We’re kind of in a celebration mode at the health department,” Randolph County Health Department Administrator Angela Oathout excitedly told the Randolph County commissioners at their June 11 meeting.
The reason for the celebratory feeling, she added, was because that day the State of Illinois moved to a full reopening, also known as Phase 5, the final phase of the Restore Illinois plan. With Phase 5, the state eliminated all of the COVID-19 capacity limits on businesses, large-scale events, conventions, amusement parks and all other venues.
Oathout added that the state’s reopening was thanks to reaching and maintaining such good metrics. As of that morning, she added that the state was at a positivity rate of 1.1 percent and Randolph County was below one percent.
She did note that over the past week, there was a slight spike in local cases though. “We will keep an eye out as the state reopens.”
For more from the Board of Commissioners meeting, please see this week’s print edition.