A new daily record of 12,623 new cases takes Illinois past 500,000 infections and prompts new quarantine measures.
With a surge in COVID-19 infections and a second wave sweeping across the United States, Chicago is issuing a modified Emergency Travel Order that applies to anyone coming into the City of Chicago from other states. The city’s travel order as of Tuesday, November 10, outlines three different color-coded categories based on the severity of coronavirus outbreaks in each state.
The categories are measured by the number of daily cases in a state per 100,000 residents. States with more average daily cases than Chicago fall into the red category, states with fewer cases than Chicago but more than 15 average daily cases per 100,000 residents are in the orange tier whilst the least affected states with 15 or fewer average daily cases per 100,000 residents fall into the yellow category.
The Chicago Department of Public Health is advising all people to avoid non-essential travel but the new tiered system outlines specific requirements for those who travel in the coming weeks and failure to comply could result in fines of up to $7,000.
New Travel Order effective Fri, Nov. 13, 2020, at 12:01 a.m. All states will be categorized into three risk levels: Red, Orange and Yellow. The lists will be updated every 2 weeks based on state and Chicago case averages.
Go to https://t.co/Tyn1818mee for more details. pic.twitter.com/wCONnvxBhL
— CDPH | Chicago Department of Public Health (@ChiPublicHealth) November 10, 2020
Arrivals from the states in the red category must quarantine for 14 days in a single place whilst those in the orange category need to obtain a pre-arrival negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before arriving in Chicago or will also face a 14-day quarantine. Travelers coming from states in the yellow category are not required to quarantine nor obtain a pre-arrival test but the government recommends avoiding non-essential travel with all states currently posing a risk.
The measures affect anybody who has spent a day or longer in the higher categories while people who have had layovers will be exempt. More information on the requirements for safely quarantining can be found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Chicago to allow COVID-19 testing as alternative to self-quarantine when arriving from some 'high-risk' states https://t.co/fFShc9Z8XT
— FOX2now (@FOX2now) November 10, 2020
The modified Emergency Travel Order will be effective from Friday, November 13, 2020, and will be updated next week and then every two weeks then after. The new measures come as the state of Illinois tops half a million cases and records the highest number of daily infections since the global pandemic began.
Tuesday, November 10, also marked an announcement of further resurgence mitigation measures coming to regions 5,7, & 8 of Illinois from Wednesday 11 onwards. Illinois recorded 117,000 cases in October and has already passed 93,000 new COVID-19 cases in the first 10 days of November marking a 380% increase since October 1.
Tier 2 Resurgence Mitigation’s for Regions 5,7,& 8 begin Wednesday. Learn more: https://t.co/633Ld4sH6N pic.twitter.com/DjOkIBS107
— IDPH (@IDPH) November 9, 2020
Commissioner Allison Arwady’s full update and latest COVID19 information can be seen here:
EMERGENCY TRAVEL ORDER UPDATE: CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D., provides an update on Chicago's Emergency Travel Order and latest #COVID19 information. https://t.co/bEypwX2Ef5
— Archived: Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@mayorlightfoot) November 10, 2020