Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now recommending anyone above 2 years old wear a coronavirus mask indoors, regardless of whether or not they’ve gotten a vaccine – even as she’s still urging Windy City residents to get their shots.
“Based on our current COVID-19 data, we’re now recommending that everyone over 2 years old, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public indoor settings,” her city-run account tweeted Tuesday. “Get vaxxed.”
She’s also asking unvaccinated travelers from almost 20 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to self-quarantine for 10-days or provide a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of landing in Chicago.
The move follows a major update in guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that prompted a push for renewed mask mandates in several states and cities last week.
CHICAGO MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT ATTENDS LOLLAPALOOZA MUSIC FESTIVAL AMID REINSTATING COVID RESTRICTIONS
The CDC says people should wear masks indoors in communities where the risk of COVID-19 transmission is “substantial” or greater – a threshold Chicago crossed last week when it reached an average of 200 new coronavirus cases a day.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
Last week, Lightfoot was publicly discussing the possibility of a new mask mandate should the city reach that infection rate.
“If we start to see consistently going over that, we’re not only going to look at a mask mandate, but we’re going to look back at other tools that we’ve been compelled to use,” she told the New York Times columnist Kara Swisher on an episode of her “Sway” podcast.
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However this week, she stopped short of reinstating one and instead said she is recommending masks for Chicagoans. And masks will remain optional outside.
Over the weekend, the mayor attended the fan-packed Lollapalooza music festival, a potential super-spreader event, where she was photographed without a mask of her own as coronavirus cases once again climb in Chicago.