(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The city of Chicago has upgraded its indoor public mask advisory to a full-blown mandate, after the number of new coronavirus cases ballooned to more than 400 per day.
The city’s Public Health Commissioner, Allison Arwady, on Tuesday said everyone over the age of 2, regardless of vaccination status, will be expected to wear a mask or face covering in indoor public settings. The order is effective Friday.
Under the mandate, masks will be required in indoor settings that include bars and restaurants, health clubs and common areas in condominiums, multi-family buildings and private clubs. As in previous periods when mitigations were in effect, people at bars and restaurants may remove their masks when they are eating and drinking.
"Our goal is to remain open -- but careful," Arwady said at a news conference.
Late last month, Arwady announced a less-strict mask recommendation for public indoor settings as the city flirted with about 200 new COVID-19 cases per day. On Tuesday, the city’s health agency reported the daily average was more than 400.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests people wear masks indoors when local transmission risk is high. Many new infections are blamed on the especially contagious Delta Variant of the novel coronavirus. Younger, unvaccinated people are among the latest wave of patients.
Arwady portrayed the stricter strategy as a way to help get through the Delta surge, which is occurring nationwide. She noted that some of Chicago's metrics, including new hospitalizations and additional deaths from COVID-19, remain relatively low. She did not rule out imposing further restrictions, depending on how the numbers go.
Dr. Arwady was asked if the increase in cases changes the plan for students in Chicago Public Schools to return to classrooms.
“We are not reconsidering at all the opening of school, and obviously CPS makes that decision, but we are 100 percent moving ahead with in-person education on Aug. 30. And that is the right thing to do,” she said.
Students, instructors and staff will be expected to wear masks.
Arwady said more than 60 percent of Chicagoans in all age groups over 18 have received at least one vaccine dose. But she estimates that about 800,000 Chicagoans have no immunity at all.
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