CHICAGO — Every state and territory in the United States is now on Chicago’s COVID-19 Travel Advisory.
The entire United States is facing another wave of COVID-19 fueled by the highly contagious Delta surge. Other parts of the country have seen deaths soar and hospitals fill up.
The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, has said unvaccinated people should not travel due to the risk. And the city asks unvaccinated people who do travel to get tested before and after their trip and to quarantine upon getting to Chicago.
“Given the current surge across the country, unvaccinated Chicagoans should not travel right now if at all possible,” Arwady said in a tweet Wednesday. “Getting vaccinated is the most important thing you can do to decrease your risk for COVID-19.”
Chicago’s travel advisory is still just a recommendation, meaning people can go to states on the list — but it’s not recommended.
Under the advisory, unvaccinated people are asked to get tested one to three days before leaving.
All people must wear masks on public transportation — including planes, buses and trains — and people must wear masks indoors in public in Chicago. Travelers are also asked to avoid crowds as much as possible and wash their hands or use sanitizer.
After traveling, unvaccinated people should quarantine for at least seven days and get tested three to five days after coming back, according to the advisory. People who don’t get tested should self-quarantine for at least 10 days.
And unvaccinated people who traveled should avoid being around people at increased risk for severe illness — like older people and immunocompromised people — for at least 14 days, regardless of their test results.
All travelers are asked to watch themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 and to isolate and get tested if they have symptoms.
Anyone 12 and older is eligible to get vaccinated in Chicago. The shots are free and do not require health insurance.
Vaccinations:
• In Illinois, about 6.8 million people — or 53.49 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — have gotten all their COVID-19 vaccine shots, according to state data.
• Across the state, 21,251 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.
• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 14,099,513 vaccine doses of the 16,580,195 provided to them.
• City data shows more than 1.5 million Chicagoans — or 56.1 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated. About 61.4 percent of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot.
COVID-19 vaccinations are free and do not require insurance. Anyone can call the city’s coronavirus hotline at 312-746-4835 to get more information on how and where to get vaccinated in their community.
The numbers:
• Sixty-two Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19 since Tuesday.
• At least 24,194 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 2,575 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.
• The state reported 3,961 cases since Tuesday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 1,554,336.
• Since Tuesday, 68,659 tests were reported statewide. In all, 29,549,827 tests have been reported in Illinois.
• Illinois’ seven-day positivity rate was at 4.5 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 4.5 percent Tuesday.
• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 5.1 percent. It was at 5.1 percent Tuesday.
• As of Tuesday night, 565 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 343 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.
• In Chicago, 18 deaths were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 5,679 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of more than three deaths per day, a 13 percent increase from the week prior.
• Chicago has had 609 confirmed cases reported since Tuesday. It’s had a total of 307,938 confirmed cases. An average of 455 confirmed cases are being reported per day, an 11 percent decrease from the week prior.
• At the same time, testing has increased 4 percent since a week ago.
• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 3.8 percent, down from 4.3 percent the week prior.
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