CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools’ mask mandate will end in the “near future,” the school district’s CEO said earlier this week, according to a report.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez shared that news with district principals in an email Tuesday, according to the Sun-Times’ Nader Issa. He did not specify when the mandate could be lifted.
The Chicago Teachers Union, which has pushed for COVID-19 safety protections in schools during the pandemic, has said its agreement with CPS prevents the district from ending the mandate without consulting the union.
The state- and citywide mask mandates ended Monday. The same day, Gov. JB Pritzker announced school districts would be allowed to go mask-optional.
CPS said its mask mandate was still in effect, though an announcement about the rule would be coming soon.
Archdiocese of Chicago schools are allowing masks to be optional.
Vaccinations:
• In Illinois, about 8.1 million people — or 63.79 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to state data.
• Across the state, 12,967 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.
• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 21,133,040 vaccine doses of the 23,850,445 provided to them.
• City data shows more than 1.8 million Chicagoans — or 69.2 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated, and 76.7 percent of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot.
Everyone 5 and older is eligible to get vaccinated in Chicago.
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:
• Since Tuesday, 45 Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19.
• At least 32,848 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 4,162 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.
• The state reported 1,640 cases since Tuesday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 3,034,701.
• Since Tuesday, 109,823 tests were reported statewide. In all, 54,817,964 tests have been reported in Illinois.
• Illinois’ seven-day case positivity rate was at 1.6 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 1.8 percent Tuesday.
• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 1.8 percent. It was at 2 percent Tuesday.
• As of Tuesday night, 165 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 79 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.
• In Chicago, nine deaths were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 7,253 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of more than four people dying per day, down 17 percent from a week ago.
• Chicago has had 298 confirmed cases reported since Tuesday. It’s had a total of 558,740 confirmed cases. An average of 200 confirmed cases are being reported per day, down 32 percent from a week ago.
• Testing in Chicago is down 7 percent from a week ago.
• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 1 percent, down from 1.5 percent a week ago.
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