No Chicago travel quarantine order update this week
Chicago will not add or remove states from its travel quarantine order this week, the city announced, following an indication last week that Michigan could be added soon.
The city’s public health department tweeted the lack of change Wednesday afternoon after a spokesman on Tuesday said an announcement was delayed because of the election. Residents should “expect a full update early next week” as the current list covers 31 states as well as Puerto Rico.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Last week, the city added Florida to its travel order and warned Michigan could be next as coronavirus cases continued to rise, public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady had said. Should that happen, it would join Illinois’ Great Lakes neighbors Indiana and Wisconsin as the Midwest grapples with a recent surge of outbreaks.
Residents cannot travel to the following areas without quarantining for two weeks: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s self-quarantine requirement was implemented during the Fourth of July weekend. People who have spent more than 24 hours in the high-risk states are required to self-quarantine for 14 days after entering Chicago. Though the order is generally not being enforced aside from signs and billboards telling people that they must self-quarantine, violators are subject to fines of $100 to $500 per day, up to $7,000.
Exceptions to the self-quarantine order include essential workers, those traveling for medical treatment and those for whom “self-quarantine is not possible, practicable or advisable.” The order also does not apply to people who are at the airport for a connecting flight or are driving through the city on their way elsewhere. People who commute across the Wisconsin and Indiana state lines to or from Chicago to work or go to school will be exempt from the quarantine rule.
———
©2020 the Chicago Tribune
Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
