Chicago ‘paying very close attention’ to Wisconsin coronavirus progress
With positive coronavirus cases on the rise in Wisconsin, state residents are potentially at risk of being added to Chicago’s emergency travel order list, according to comments from Mayor Lori Lightfoot at a news conference on Tuesday.
Chicago issued an emergency travel order two weeks ago mirroring a policy adopted in several Northeastern states in late June. The order requires anyone traveling to or returning from the city from one of now 17 states to self-isolate for 14 days upon their arrival.
On Tuesday, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut added Wisconsin — along with Ohio and Minnesota — to their lists of states whose travelers are subject to quarantine requirements, which currently includes 22 states.
Now, Lightfoot says Chicago is watching those places closely, too.
“I don’t want to speculate about what might happen, but we’re, suffice it to say, we’re paying very close attention everywhere around us, and particularly states in the Midwest that border Illinois and Chicago,” Lightfoot said on Tuesday, according to NBC Chicago.
Chicago’s order adds a state to the list if that state exceeds 15 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents per day over a seven-day rolling average. New York’s threshold is lower, with the standard being either 10 new cases per 100,000 state residents or a 10% positive test rate over a seven-day rolling average.
Chicago reviews and modifies its list every Tuesday based on new data, and any changes to the list take effect three days later, on the following Friday. The order will remain in effect until further notice.
As of Wednesday, Wisconsin falls between Chicago’s and New York’s metrics, with a seven-day rolling average of 14 new cases daily per 100,000 Wisconsinites. The total number of coronavirus cases stands at 38,727, according to the state health department.
Wisconsin experienced a record single-day increase Tuesday with 964 new cases, and there were 900 new confirmed cases Thursday.
On Wednesday, Lightfoot warned that Chicago itself is “dangerously close” to reversing course on its reopening plans, even though its “metrics are tracking better than the rest of the country.”
According to city data, Chicago has seen a total of 55,567 coronavirus cases and 2,696 deaths as of Wednesday. The city has a seven-day rolling average of 192 new cases per day — approximately 7 per 100,000 residents.
After the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ safer-athome order in May, many Illinois residents crossed state borders to visit locations not subject to their home state’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions.