CHICAGO — The vast majority of the United States is considered low risk under Chicago’s travel advisory.
Just 4.4 percent of U.S. counties are considered medium or high risk under the advisory.
The city’s health department released an updated travel advisory Friday, noting the number of medium- and high-risk counties for COVID-19 has fallen since last week. The advisory is based on data and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC evaluates a county as low, medium or high risk depending on the number of new COVID-19 cases in that area, as well as what toll COVID-19 is placing on the area’s health care system.
All travelers should check the map so they know if they are going to an area where the COVID-19 risk is low, medium or high, according to the health department.
Here’s the city’s guidance:
Low-Risk Areas
Travelers do not need to take additional action, but they should follow standard guidance related to travel, according to the health department.
Medium-Risk Areas
Travelers should consider wearing a mask when indoors in public places.
High-Risk Areas
All travelers:
- Wear a mask indoors in public place.
- People 5 and older who are not fully vaccinated should avoid travel to high-risk counties.
- All travelers should be fully vaccinated and boosted before traveling.
- Travelers should watch themselves for symptoms of COVID-19. They should isolate and get tested if they develop symptoms.
- Travelers should consider packing an at-home COVID-19 test so they can use it if they develop symptoms.
- All travelers should bring a mask with them.
Unvaccinated travelers:
- Unvaccinated Chicagoans who are 5 or older and go to a high-risk county should stay home and quarantine for five days after returning to Chicago.
- Those travelers should also take a COVID-19 test three to five days after returning to Chicago. If it’s positive, they should stay home and follow CDC guidance.
Vaccinations:
• In Illinois, about 8.2 million people — or 64.48 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to state data.
• Across the state, 19,926 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.
• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 21,509,463 vaccine doses of the 26,089,945 provided to them.
• City data shows more than 1.8 million Chicagoans — or 68.7 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated, and 77.2 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 Thursday, 11 Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19.
• At least 33,465 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 4,299 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.
• The state reported 2,312 cases since Thursday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 3,080,436.
• Since Thursday, 106,376 tests were reported statewide. In all, 57,898,053 tests have been reported in Illinois.
• Illinois’ seven-day case positivity rate was at 2.1 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 2 percent Thursday.
• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 2.3 percent. It was at 2.2 percent Thursday.
• As of Thursday night, 62 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 24 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.
• In Chicago, no deaths were reported since Thursday. There have been at least 7,337 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of less than one person dying per day, down 75 percent from a week ago.
• Chicago has had 552 confirmed cases reported since Thursday. It’s had a total of 569,902 confirmed cases. An average of 312 confirmed cases are being reported per day, up 27 percent from a week ago.
• Testing in Chicago is up 1 percent from a week ago.
• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 1.7 percent, up from 1.4 percent a week ago.
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