In the first weekend that bordering states Indiana and Wisconsin largely were open for business, many Illinoisans, feeling confident they won’t get sick and tired of being sheltered in their homes, crossed state lines to patronize stores, restaurants and bars.
As protesters stood in front of the Thompson Center downtown Saturday calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to “reopen” Illinois, Chicagoans Roberto Mangione and Giovanna Gianfortone browsed shops on the main street of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
“It’s too bad we can’t go to our Lakefront and that the shops downtown are closed,” Gianfortone said.
The couple said they drove to the popular Wisconsin town 90 miles away to get out for the day and were not concerned about catching the coronavirus.
Lat week, the Wisconsin state Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers extended stay-at-home order, leaving it up to business owners to decide how and when to reopen, though a number of local governments - Milwaukee and Madison, among other places - quickly restored some restrictions in their areas.
Still, many businesses in Lake Geneva and other parts of the state were open Saturday. Some, like the town’s movie theater, remained shuttered, while others had signs asking patrons to social distance and limited how many people can be inside.
For Mangione, being able to go into shops and restaurants was a nice change.
“We’ve been locked up. It’s my first weekend off, and we wanted to come up and walk around and have lunch,” said Mangione, who lives in Dunning and works for the Defense Department.
Sam Martel of Darien, who was in Lake Geneva for the weekend with his wife Neala to celebrate their wedding anniversary, said Pritzker is in a no-win situation.
“If he opens and people get sick, they will blame him. If he doesn’t open soon, businesses will blame him for putting them out of business,” Martel said. “He should have left it up to the mayors just like [President] Trump left it up to the governors. Instead, people are going to come here and spend money.”
Indiana largely reopened as well. Unlike Wisconsin, where restrictions are left to the individual business owners, restaurants in Indiana are limited to seating a maximum of 50 percent of their capacity.
In Michigan City, Indiana, Gabby Bernal of Cicero visited the Lighthouse Place Premium Outlet Mall Friday afternoon with her three sisters, all of whom wore face masks.
“We’ve all been in the house since mid-March and just needed to get out,” Bernal said. “As long as we have face masks and practice social distancing, we should be fine.”
In nearby Portage, Nancy Simpson, executive director of the Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce, welcomed people from Illinois, saying the shutdown has hurt a lot of businesses.
“Our businesses are looking for business and don’t care where the customers come from,” Simpson said.
Not every business owner agreed with opening up the state, however.
Dianna Smith-Scott, owner of the Lakefront Day Spa in Michigan City, said she is waiting until June 1 to evaluate things, adding that she’s been taking a lot of appointments from residents of Illinois.
“I know they are dying to get their hair done, but I don’t want them to literally die,” Smith-Scott said.
Asked if Indiana and Wisconsin being open will put more pressure on Illinois, Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, said while he is looking forward to having restaurants in Illinois be fully open, safety is his priority and that if all goes well in Indiana and Wisconsin, he will push to reopen restaurants here.
“Let’s see if COVID-19 spikes in Indiana and Wisconsin over the next two weeks,” Toia said. If not, “then we would love to talk with the governor and the mayor, showing them plans that we think we could open safely in Phase 3 of the governor’s plan instead of Phase 4.”
