Lou Mitchell’s, a traditional starting or ending point in Chicago for Route 66 travelers, and other Windy City restaurants have closed indefinitely because of restrictions imposed by the governor among an upswing of coronavirus cases there.
In a Facebook post, Lou Mitchell’s stated it was only its second closure in 98 years.
“We hope to be back serving the ‘Best Breakfast on the Planet’ soon! Stay Safe!!” the restaurant stated, with a final word: “Can’t wait for 2021.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered Chicago bars and restaurants to close indoor dining effective Oct. 30.
In addition, Region 4 that includes the metro-east area near St. Louis saw the reimposition of those restrictions. Virtually all of northern Illinois also is under an indoor-dining ban.
This map from the Illinois Department of Health shows the precarious situation the state is in. No matter what region you click, you see an increase of the COVID-19 caseload.
And COVID-19 has entered a new stage where the number of cases seems to be up everywhere. The U.S. saw its number of confirmed cases hit 100,000 in a single day just a few days ago.
New Mexico, where I live, has broken daily records for cases and deaths in the past week. Ditto for Oklahoma about a week ago. Missouri set a record for COVID-19 cases two weeks ago. Amarillo has seen near record-high numbers of cases in recent days, with a 27% hospitalization rate.
About the only places that aren’t seeing scary trends are Arizona and California, and even those are inching upwards.
It’s going to be a rough winter for many Route 66 businesses and people, and this pandemic isn’t going to end until there’s a vaccine.
(Image of Lou Mitchell’s restaurant in Chicago by seanbirm via Flickr)