Chicago mayor loosens COVID-related capacity restrictions for businesses including bars, restaurants

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday loosened COVID-19-related capacity restrictions for businesses such as bars, restaurants and health clubs, a move that will go into effect later this week.

The new guidelines, which will take effect on Thursday, will increase indoor capacity to 40% for certain businesses, reopen bars for indoor service and increase maximum group sizes for fitness classes and after-school programming, a statement from the mayor's office said.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis)