The number of new cases of COVID-19 continued to trend downward in Brookfield for the two-week period ending on the morning of Jan. 26, with an average of 42.5 each week since Jan. 12.

That compared favorably with the kinds of weekly numbers the village saw from November through early January, when the village was seeing close to 100 new cases each week. As recently as the week ending Jan. 5, Brookfield had reported 82 new cases.

Brookfield has reported fewer than 50 new cases in one week since late October, when the state saw a dramatic spike in confirmed or probable new cases of COVID-19. By late November, Brookfield also began seeing its first reports of residents dying from COVID-19 since the summer.

On Jan. 22, an 80-year-old Brookfield woman was identified as the 12th village resident to die from COVID-19 and the first since late December.

While new confirmed and probable cases in Brookfield appeared to be trending down, the two-week average for the period ending on the morning of Jan. 26 in Riverside and North Riverside remained essentially flat.

The two-week average in Riverside during that period was 32.5 new cases, pretty much in line with the kinds of weekly totals the village has seen since mid-December. North Riverside’s two-week average of 20 cases ending on the morning of Jan. 26 was also in line with weekly case numbers for the past month-plus.

There were no deaths in Riverside or North Riverside reported in the past two weeks. Each village has lost three residents to the disease since the Cook County Medical Examiner began tracking that data 10 months ago, in March 2020.

The Landmark has chosen to look at the last two weeks of case data, since Cook County delayed its weekly reporting last week due to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 19.

Governor OKs indoor dining in suburban Cook

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced on Jan. 23 that Region 10, suburban Cook County, had moved into Tier 1 of the state’s COVID-19 mitigation plan. 

The move was long-awaited for many businesses, especially restaurants and bars which were prohibited from serving customers indoors during Tier 3 and 2 mitigations, which the region had been under since Nov. 20.

While many local bars and restaurants openly defied the indoor service ban during that time, they can now do so without fear of sanctions from the county, which had sent violation notices to a number of Brookfield establishments from late November through early January.

Under Tier 1, bars and restaurants can once more serve people indoors, with a limit of 25 percent capacity or 25 persons per room, whichever is less. Seating at tables may not exceed four people indoors. For establishments to resume indoor alcohol service they must serve food, meaning they must possess a retail food license.

For restrictions to be loosened even farther, the region must move into Phase 4, which requires:

COVID-19 positivity rate of less than or equal to 6.5 percent for three consecutive days (on a seven-day rolling average),

ICU bed availability of at or greater than 20 percent for three consecutive days (on a seven-day rolling average), and

No sustained increase of hospitalized COVID-19 patients for at least seven out of 10 days (on a seven-day rolling average)

In Phase 4, restaurant capacity is determined by arranging seats a minimum of six feet from each other or service areas, with a 10-party limit per table. Bar capacity is determined by arranging seated parties at a minimum of six feet apart. There is a limit of 25 percent of standing area capacity for unseated customers.

Maria Maxham contributed to this report.

This story has been changed to clarify that, under Tier 1 mitigations, any establishment serving alcohol indoors must also serve food.