St. Charles City Council to discuss whether to require proof of vaccination for restaurants, other businesses

In the face of hospitals across the nation becoming overwhelmed with new COVID-19 patients, St. Charles aldermen on Monday will discuss whether to require people going to restaurants, entertainment venues and fitness centers to show proof of vaccination.

Aldermen will discuss the issue during the City Council’s Government Operations Committee meeting that will follow the City Council meeting at 7 p.m. Starting Monday, Chicago and suburban Cook County will require proof of vaccination for those entering restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters, concert venues, arcades, sports arenas and anywhere food and drink are served.

With the highly transmissible omicron variant spreading quickly across the country, Gov. JB Pritzker is asking other municipalities to follow their lead. St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek said she would not be in favor of implementing such a mandate.

“I am adamantly against that and some of the aldermen I’ve talked to are as well,” she said. “I wouldn’t anticipate that St. Charles is going to require that. Obviously we’re concerned about health and safety, but we’re not in the business to enforce that either. I don’t know how Chicago is going to do it.”

According to a memo from St. Charles City Administrator Heather McGuire, under the vaccine order, businesses must display signage about the mitigations and develop a written protocol with details for how they will check vaccine status and how they will enforce the order.

“Businesses that violate the order can be fined, but first the public health department will try to contact the noncompliant businesses and assist them,” McGuire said. “Those with multiple complaints may be referred to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, which is the legal authority that would discipline them.”