There’s been a wide variety of different covid restrictions coming from different state and local governments. Some have been reasonable and evenly applied, some not. Chicago’s application of restrictions seems to fall in the latter category. It seems restaurants and coffee shops, while still under capacity restrictions themselves, haven’t had nearly the limitations placed on them that taverns do. This Good Beer Hunting article by tavern owner Virginia Thomas (also a friend of mine) lays out the unfair treatment taverns have been getting under the Chicago system. I get it that bars are where we’ve been seeing a lot of these scenes of clueless hordes gathering together in apparent super-spreader events. But making the simple availability of food the factor that determines who stays in business or not is short-sighted. Limitations should be based on space, capacity, and the implementation of safe procedures by the operator. The current state of things in Chicago aren’t that and are threatening small taverns across the city.