COVID - 19 Update- Mayor Issues Advisory
CHICAGO – Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), issued a stay-at-home advisory that will go into effect today.
Beginning at 6:00 a.m. Chicagoans are now asked only to leave their homes for essential needs. According to the Chicago’s Coronavirus Response Center, essential needs are defined as “seeking medical care, going to the grocery store or pharmacy, picking up food, or receiving deliveries.”
Residents are strongly encouraged only to leave home to go to work or school, not to have guests in their homes that are not essential workers, cancel traditional Thanksgiving celebrations, and to avoid traveling.
Additionally, for both indoor and outdoor social events and meetings, guests are limited to 10 people. This capacity limit for events does apply to places of worship. However, it will neither apply to regular services at places of worship nor industries such as fitness gyms and movie theaters that have set capacity limits outlined by Phase IV of Chicago’s reopening plan.
The stay -at- home advisory will remain in place for 30 days or until Dr. Arwady makes a change to guidelines.
Health and city officials first informed residents of the advisory while launching a new COVID-19 response strategy, Protect Chicago, during an afternoon press conference on Nov. 12.
Lightfoot described Protect Chicago as, “a comprehensive effort that includes new regulatory actions, neighborhood street-level activations and citywide public awareness.”
The goal of Protect Chicago and the advisory is to help flatten the curve as Chicago continues to experience a rapid rise of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations again.
Caption: Chicago COVID-19 dashboard shows a graph with the change of positivity rate and positivity target (seven day rolling average) from March until now. Numbers are from Nov. 11. Photo Courtesy of Chicago COVID dashboard.
The Chicago COVID dashboard shows, as of Nov. 11 the current COVID-19 positivity rate in Chicago is 14.5%. This is up 3.4 % from a week prior. Additionally, there have been over 500 more daily cases which increased the current seven day rolling average for daily cases from 1,434 daily cases to 2,008 daily cases.
Lightfoot said in the COVID-19 response press conference on Nov. 12, “Here’s the bottom line, and I want people to be very clear about this, if we continue on a path we’re on and you and me and others don’t step up and do more, our estimates are that we could see a thousand more Chicagoans die from this virus, by the end of the year.”
This advisory follows an issued curfew for non-essential businesses that Lightfoot enacted on Oct. 23. In this order, non- essential businesses had to close operations from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and bars without food licenses had to close indoor services.
Chicago is not the only area noticing a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. The state of Illinois is also experiencing a quick increase in its curve. This led Illinois officials to impose its own set of migrations on Oct. 30 just a couple days after Chicago's curfew went into effect. The state’s migration included a curfew for non-essential business from 11:00 p.m. through 6:00 a.m., no indoor dining or services at bars and restaurants and changes to liquor sales.
Additionally, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) released a statement on Nov. 11 that read, “Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 523,840 cases, including 10,434 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois.”
In the same press release IDPH gave guidelines for Illinois residents asking them to work from home if possible, participate in essential activities only and limit gatherings and travel.
On Nov. 12, in a press conference Ill. Gov Pritzker warned, “We’re running out of time and we’re running out of options. Our growth in new cases is now exponential. We’re seeing current numbers and future projections worse than what we saw in the spring.”
Nationwide, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), along with states like California and Texas, Illinois is also one of the states reporting an average of 35,449 – 82,792 cases in the last seven days.
US COVID-19 cases reported to the CDC in the Last 7 Days by State or Territory. Screenshot taken Nov.13, 2020. Photo Courtesy of CDC.
For the latest information on COVID -19 and numbers regarding hospitalizations and cases please check:
For the latest information on COVID -19 and numbers regarding hospitalizations and cases please check: