Party crackdown: Chicago rolls out new task force targeting gathering violating COVID-19 guidelines

CHICAGO (WLS) -- If you are planning to throw a party during the pandemic, you might want to think twice.

The City of Chicago has rolled out a new task force that will target large gatherings and the business owners who organize them.

After just the first weekend of the crackdown, a West Chicago warehouse is now closed.

City officials say they have issued the owner of the event space several citations for hosting a party during this pandemic and operating without appropriate business licenses.

The new task force, backed by Chicago's Business Affairs and Consumer Protection department, says they will go after business hosting gatherings that do not adhere to the city's COVID-19 guidelines.

RELATED: Cook County officials release new voluntary guidelines as COVID-19 cases rise

The guidelines issued by the county are considered, for now, voluntary.

So far, the BACP Commissioner says there are eight businesses that had COVID related citations and one resident.

However, the promoters for Friday's event in West Chicago say they tried to have a safe networking event for artists and pointed out that the violations were for the event space owner, not them.

"We had masks...we had ways to accommodate for COVID-19," said Jonathan Ainoo with Indy Promo Connect.

"This was just a hiccup," said Ainoo's colleague Mikelah Brown, "so we don't have these problems."

The promoter with Indy Promo Connect says they will try again to host a COVID -19 safe event because they know people are meeting on their own and not meeting using safe practices.