Chicago reinstates indoor mask mandate amid rising cases
Everyone in Chicago who is 2 years of age and older must wear a face mask indoors starting Friday, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Chicago health officials announced the reinstatement of the indoor mask mandate on Tuesday, after the Windy City saw its daily average of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases surpass 400 -- a metric that moves the city from "substantial risk" to "higher risk."
"With the highly transmissible delta variant causing case rates to increase, now is the time to re-institute this measure to prevent further spread and save lives," Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said in a statement. "We continue to track the data closely and are hopeful this will only be temporary and we can bend the COVID curve, as we’ve done in the past."
During a press conference Tuesday, Arwady noted that other COVID-19 metrics, such as the city's test positivity average and hospitalizations, remain at "lower risk."
"A high case count does not automatically translate to a high hospitalization count and a high death count," she told reporters, "and we're hopeful that having the mask in place for everybody will get us through delta while we keep working on getting folks vaccinated."
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Masks will be required citywide in all indoor public settings, including bars, restaurants, gyms, hair salons, private clubs and common areas in residential buildings. As with previous mask mandates, the face coverings can be temporarily taken off for certain activities that require their removal, such as eating and drinking or for facials and beard shaves.
Masks can also be removed by employees in settings that are not open to the public, such as office cubicles, so long as the individuals are static and maintaining at least 6 feet from others. The face coverings remain mandatory on public transportation as well as in educational, health care, correctional and congregate settings.
The new mandate does not include capacity limits at public places, and masks will remain optional in outdoor settings.
"We are not anticipating, at this point, adding additional business restrictions. However, we're watching what happens with these metrics," Arwady told reporters. "Our goal is to remain open but careful."