In Chicago's Uptown Community, 'Masks Required' Signs Have Come Down And Many Are Optimistic, But Some Will Stick With Masks At Least Some Of Time

CHICAGO (CBS) -- COVID-19 mask and vaccination requirements were lifted for many businesses across Illinois on Monday, and many places in Chicago have already done away with the signs reminding people of those requirement.

CBS 2's Asal Rezaei went to the Uptown community Monday night, where she found a sense of positivity coming from both business owners and just people walking around the neighborhood.

Along the vibrant business strip on Broadway in Uptown, there were hardly any "masks required" signs left on the storefronts Monday night. Indeed, those signs we've been getting so used to seeing are slowly, but surely disappearing.

Josh Herbener, the manager of Drink & Ink – a popular bar adjacent to a tattoo studio at 4443 N. Broadway – said he couldn't he happier to do away with his "masks required" sign.

"I did tell last night's bar manager, 'At the end of the night be sure to please take the sign down,'" Herbener said. "I don't want the sign up starting today like as people are even walking by."

All that's left of the sign is the tape that once held it up.

Herbener said it has been a pretty rough couple of years for so many businesses in the city – and this day almost felt like a victory lap.

"We're happy to do our part and we enforced the mandate when we had to, but we're very excited to move forward and see each other's faces again," He said.

Such is especially true in an intimate setting like Drink & Ink, where patrons often become friends.

"We're looking forward to maybe seeing some old faces that I know they've been nervous, so haven't been coming, so we're looking forward to maybe getting them back out again," Herbener said.

For health care worker Sami White, after almost two years of not leaving home without a mask, she said she will most likely go on keeping one handy.

"I like the anonymity of it, in public and kind of on the CTA," she said.

And while White has grown pretty accustomed to wearing a mask, she is comfortable with the mandates being lifted – especially since it has already happened in many other states.

"But I think Chicago's done a really good job of being pretty, like, thorough about it - especially if we're keeping masks on in health care environments and just lifting them on for more like recreational, social things," she said.

Employees at many businesses in Uptown said they will continue to wear their masks at work as a precautionary measure. All of them said they will cease to require it from their customers.

Any places that still do have "masks required" signs up plan to take them down on Tuesday.