Chicago’s travel advisory has expanded to the rest of the U.S. except for one state, and the city is now recommending more stringent quarantine and testing for unvaccinated people starting this week.
With the delta variant of the coronavirus surging nationwide, all other states and territories except Vermont are now on the city’s list of high-risk travel areas from which unvaccinated travelers are advised to take extra COVID-19 precautions, public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in a Tuesday news conference.
Previously, those precautions included either quarantining for 10 days or testing negative no more than 72 hours before arrival. But now, the city will recommend unvaccinated travelers get tested twice: three to five days before traveling, and three to five days after traveling.
They must also quarantine for seven days after arriving in Chicago, even if they test negative. If they do not get tested upon return, they should quarantine for 10 days.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
[Most read] Watch live: President Biden addresses the nation on ending the war in Afghanistan ？
“Unfortunately COVID is surging across the entire United States,” Arwady said. “We’re doing much better than that here in Chicago, but nevertheless the news remains not good from a COVID perspective at the national level.”
Demonstrators protest against mandated vaccines outside of the Michigan State Capitol on Aug. 6 in Lansing, Michigan. There were 44 counties in Michigan at high or substantial levels of community coronavirus transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions case and test positivity criteria as of Aug. 5. (Emily Elconin / Getty Images)
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Washington, D.C., and Guam were added to the advisory this week because they surpassed the threshold of 15 daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
The travel advisory was downgraded from mandatory to optional late June, but since its introduction in July 2020, it has not been strictly enforced. Vaccinated people do not have any additional recommendations for travel beyond wearing a mask while in airports, planes, trains and other public transportation settings.
Asked about what unvaccinated children who travel for Labor Day weekend should do about balancing the quarantine recommendation with in-person schooling, Arwady deferred to individual school districts’ policies.
“I would not recommend traveling if you’ve got unvaccinated children,” Arwady said. “I know that’s hard for people, but we’re just trying to avoid infection.”
[Most read] Illinois church camp and conference led to 180 COVID-19 cases, likely fueled by the delta variant, CDC report says ？
Arwady noted the updated travel advisory was based on new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but quarantining is still not mandatory for travelers arriving to Chicago.
The latest citywide COVID-19 data have begun to show the current delta-driven surge might be flattening, Arwady said. Chicago is averaging 473 daily cases, which is a 2% increase from a week ago, while test positivity slightly decreased to 4.4%. Arwady said that plateau is good news even as the caseload remains at a high-transmission risk territory.
“I think having the masks on universally indoors has really helped slow that increase,” Arwady said.
The numbers for hospitalizations and occupied intensive care unit beds, though still at lower risk for now, will likely creep into the substantial risk category since those metrics tend to lag behind increases in positive cases, Arwady said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday at an unrelated event in Decatur that it’s “always good news” when measures of coronavirus transmission begin to slow down.
[Most read] Chicago Bears roster cuts: The latest moves before the 3 p.m. deadline, including Riley Ridley, Dazz Newsome and Thomas Graham Jr. going on waivers ？
“The fact is that I think we’ve all lived through this long enough now to not jump the gun and say, ‘Oh gosh, it’s flattened out, everything is so much better,’” Pritzker said. “We’ve got to really see the curve heading downward. But I’m very hopeful of that.”
Pritzker pointed to the statewide data on new patients being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19-like illness as one potential sign that the delta surge may be leveling out.
While hospitals are seeing higher and higher patient loads, the numbers aren’t rising as quickly as they had been.
The seven-day average of new hospital admissions statewide increased from 115 per day during the week ending Aug. 1 to 209 per day during the week ending Aug. 15, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. That’s an increase of nearly 82%.
By the week ending Saturday, the most recent data available, an average of 233 patients per day were being admitted to Illinois hospital admissions for COVID-19-like illness, an increase of only about 11% since the week ending Aug. 15.
[Most read] Fired tech CEO from Inverness pleads guilty in US Capitol siege on Jan. 6 ？
Overall, an average of 2,201 COVID-19 patients per day were filling hospital beds statewide during the week ending Monday, up from an average of 2,021 the previous week and an average of 827 per day a month earlier.
State health officials on Tuesday reported 4,871 new confirmed and probable cases of the COVID-19. That pushed the seven-day average of new cases above 4,000 for the first time since the week ending Jan. 28, when the massive fall surge was subsiding.
The state reported 26 more fatalities Tuesday, bringing the statewide death toll to 23,953 since the start of the pandemic.
Chicago now asks unvaccinated travelers to quarantine — even with a negative COVID test — and advises against Labor Day travel with unvaccinated kids
7m
Lawmakers returning to Springfield to vote on new legislative maps but energy overhaul may also be on agenda
Aug 30, 2021
Nation & World Watch live: President Biden addresses the nation on ending the war in Afghanistan
1h
Coronavirus Illinois church camp and conference led to 180 COVID-19 cases, likely fueled by the delta variant, CDC report says
2h
Chicago Bears Chicago Bears roster cuts: The latest moves before the 3 p.m. deadline, including Riley Ridley, Dazz Newsome and Thomas Graham Jr. going on waivers
49m