(WSIL) -- Tuesday in Illinois, GOP lawmakers sounded off on the Democratic governor's announcement to roll back coronavirus restrictions for area restaurants and bars.
They take issue with the data used to make the decision.
Starting Thursday there will be no-indoor dining or bar service and gatherings of 25 or more people are prohibited.
Governor JB Pritzker announced a state-imposed mitigation in Region 5 after 3 consecutive days of an 8% or greater positivity rate.
"Ours will not be one of the states that takes no action in response to rising cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Following public health recommendations to bring our numbers down, save our economy,� said Pritzker.
Southern Illinois Lawmakers say they aren't too happy with the decision including GOP Congressman Mike Bost who's recovering from COVID-19 himself.
"The concern that I would have is what are the regulations that are being implemented in the states around us and are we losing businesses and how does that compare to the fact that we may be losing our small businesses here in the state of Illinois to the other states around us," he said.
House Republican legislatiors like Terri Bryant and Patrick Windhorst say the positivity rate metric is not a reliable indicator for the restrictions.
"The positivity rate is almost solely dependent on the number of tests. In fact, if you look at the region that has Champaign or Urbana, it has a very low positivity rate because the university there has been conducting a lot of tests. so we are being placed under mitigation solely on the fact that our testing's lower," said Windhorst.
Windhorst added that hospitalization rate and intensive care unit beds would be more accutrate to determine mitigation
State Senator Dale Fowler says while everyone's health is important this will be a blow for business owners.
"You know disappointing. You know, our restaurants are struggling and they've been struggling for several months and to go back to mitigation is difficult for them," he said.
Fowler says he wants to help with preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
"My office is working really closely with the Illinois Department of Public Health to increase our mobile testing. We have more mobile testing coming this week, actually and working toward getting more," he said.
Fowler says he encourages everyone to get tested and follow safety guidelines like washing hands and wearing facemasks.
