ROCHELLE  — Businesses and local officials in the Hub City are reacting to new face covering and public gathering enforcement rules from the State of Illinois and the Illinois Department of Public Health, which were announced during Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s press briefing on Friday, Aug. 7. The new guidance was approved by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules on Tuesday.

The IDPH filed emergency rules for schools, businesses and childcare facilities Aug. 7 that will implement a three-tiered enforcement system for entities that don’t comply with the state’s current mandates on face coverings and public gatherings. The emergency rules will allow local law enforcement officials and local health departments to give warnings, dismiss patrons and potentially fine businesses, schools and childcare facilities as much as $2,500.

Violations

First violations will result in written notices with encouragement for entities to voluntarily comply with public health guidance. Second violations will lead to orders dismissing patrons from the premises as needed in order to comply with public health guidance. Third violations include a Class A Misdemeanor as well as fines ranging anywhere from $75 to $2,500. The emergency rules do not apply to individuals and penalties will not exceed misdemeanors or fines.

With schools gearing up to reopen under a hybrid learning model this fall, Rochelle Superintendent Jason Harper said students and staff have done well throughout the summer to comply with the state guidance, and Harper doesn’t anticipate any issues when students return. 

“We have yet to start school with students in the building, but if summer meetings with students are any indication, students have been willing to follow the mandated state guidelines,” Harper said. “We will continue to work with students to adhere to these guidelines. In order to stay in compliance with the IDPH and ISBE guidelines, the schools will work to ensure all students and staff are following the required health and safety measures, not just for face coverings.”

Rochelle Police Chief Eric Higby said the department hasn’t needed to take much action to enforce the state’s guidance regarding face coverings and public gatherings. 

Some businesses including T-Byrd Lanes have been proactive in enforcing the state guidance, posting signage and stepping in when necessary to remind patrons about face coverings and staying distant.

“Our employees are required to wear masks and they do,” T-Byrds owner Deb Wyka said. “We have signs on our doors that indicate we require masks when inside the building. We haven’t had any problems at all with our customers. We had a couple of people enter without masks to use the gaming machine, but our bartender stepped up and showed them the signage and they put masks on right away. We also carry extra masks for our customers to put on and keep.”

The State of Illinois has reported 200,047 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 7,696 deaths since the pandemic began, with 421 cases (0.21 percent) and five deaths (0.06 percent) coming from Ogle County. Of those 421 cases, 207 have stemmed from the 61068 area code, which includes Rochelle, Creston, Hillcrest and Kings, according to the IDPH online database.

“We’ve received a few calls about people not following the guidelines, but they’re usually gone by the time we arrive,” Higby said. “I think everybody we’ve observed has done a good job of following the guidelines overall. I don’t envision us needing to step in and enforce the guidelines and I hope that our community continues to take the guidelines seriously.”