What to Know
- The order is set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday and remain in effect until further notice.
- The move comes as states across the U.S. see surges of coronavirus cases, many shutting down bars and restaurants in an effort to quell or prevent a spike.
- The quarantine period is 14 days, health officials said
Chicago issued an emergency travel order Thursday directing anyone who visits one of 15 states in the U.S. currently experiencing a rise in coronavirus cases to quarantine for 14 days.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said travelers entering or returning to Chicago from "states experiencing a surge in new COVID-19 cases" will need to quarantine "for a 14-day period from the time of last contact within the identified state."
The order is set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday and remain in effect until further notice.
States included in the order are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
The move comes as states across the U.S. see surges of coronavirus cases, many shutting down bars and restaurants in an effort to quell or prevent a spike.
New cases have surged in several states across the nation, setting new records almost daily, driven mostly by expanding outbreaks in the American South and West. Florida, Texas, California and Arizona are just some of the states that reported record-high counts of daily new cases last week.
New York and New Jersey are also asking visitors from 16 states from the Carolinas to California to quarantine themselves for two weeks.
In the Midwest alone, Indiana postponed its move to phase five, instead opting to move to a so-called phase 4.5. Public health officials also closed indoor service at bars in Madison, Wisconsin, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday said she was closing indoor seating in bars in parts of the state, including a city with a bar that has been linked to a rising number of infections.
California closed bars, theaters and indoor restaurant dining all over again across most of the state Wednesday.
Some distant states and cities that seemed to have tamed their outbreaks, including Colorado, Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey, hit pause or backtracked on some of their reopening plans for bars and restaurants as they watched the crisis unfold from afar.
Chicago moved to phase four last Friday.
"Cases all over the country on fire," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday. "Record numbers of new cases and deaths from across the country and all around Chicago- that's not going to be our story."
It remains unclear if the rest of Illinois will follow suit.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said guidance from health officials and scientists has not yet indicated such a move is required.
"That's not something that we are looking at implementing right now," he said last Wednesday. "Going forward, if we got the advice to do it we might."
