Chicago reinstates indoor mask mandates following rise in COVID-19 cases

The city of Chicago announced on Tuesday that it would start requiring people to wear masks indoors as the number of new COVID-19 cases rises.

The indoor mask mandate will require people aged 2 years and older to start wearing masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status, and will become effective Friday.

The city said in a press release that the mandate applies to all indoor public places such as common spaces of condos and apartments, private clubs, gyms, bars and restaurants. 

The mandate will not apply when people are drinking or eating inside establishments or while participating in other activities like spa facials. 

“Additionally, masks can be removed by employees in settings that are not open to the public, if employees are static and maintaining at least six feet from all other individuals (office cubicles, for example),” the city added in its press release. 

The city noted that the measure was necessary because the average number of daily new COVID-19 cases was exceeding 400. More than 70 percent of adults in Chicago are partially vaccinated.

“With the highly transmissible Delta variant causing case rates to increase, now is the time to re-institute this measure to prevent further spread and save lives,” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady said in a statement. “We continue to track the data closely and are hopeful this will only be temporary and we can bend the COVID curve, as we’ve done in the past.”

The city noted that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s four definitions of COVID-19 transmission, Chicago’s level of COVID-19 spread was considered “high.”

“With case counts now rising back to this level, the risk has increased for everyone, even those who are vaccinated,” Arwady said. “The time to act is now to prevent further spread. Chicago residents who have not yet been vaccinated should get a vaccine as soon as possible—it will protect you and your loved ones from the risk of serious illness or even death.” 

The announcement follows other localities, including Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles County, that have instituted mask mandates amid a steady increase of COVID-19 cases.