Chicago has made updates in the emergency travel order on Tuesday. It has given the details in the order related to where the states are presently standing under the guidelines for travelers to test negative or quarantine for Covid 19 before the arrival of the travelers in the city.
Chicago has now included 24 states along with the District of Columbia in the orders that have a requirement of a pre-arrival negative test or quarantine before coming to Chicago. The lesser “yellow tier” is inclusive of Puerto Rico and 25
states. Which tier states are fallen into is dependent on adjustment of case rate for the population.
Officials said that Washington D.C., Ohio, Lowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota have moved from the yellow to orange tier. On the other hand, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Montana, Idaho, and Georgia have moved from the
orange to the yellow tier.
Here is a look at which states are in which tier:
25 yellow states and 1 territory: Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Mississippi, New Mexico, Kansas, Puerto Rico, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Kentucky, Idaho, Montana, Wisconsin, Washington, California, Wyoming, Missouri, Oregon, and Alabama,
24 orange states and District of Columbia: Florida, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Colorado, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Alaska, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, Minnesota, South Dakota, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Michigan, and District of Columbia While the health officials have requested residents for avoiding travel if it is possible for them, the requirements for each category are mentioned below:
Yellow: Those states come under the yellow category which is having their 7-day average of fewer than 15 cases per day per 100k residents.
- There is not any requirement for a pre-arrival test. But, they have to maintain social distancing, masking, and they have to avoid in-person gatherings.
Orange: Those states come under the orange category which is having their 7-day average that is more than 15 cases per day per 100k residents.
- There is a requirement of 10 days quarantine or pre-arrival negative test which is not more than 72 hours before their arrival in Chicago. They also have to follow social distancing, strict masking, and have to avoid in-person gatherings.
or
- They have to be vaccinated completely as it is defined that after the two weeks of getting the second dose of a two-dose Covid-19 vaccine. Or two weeks after taking one dose of a single-dose vaccine and they are not having any symptoms.
As of Tuesday, Coronavirus metrics of both the cities the States of Illinois and the City of Chicago would place them in the orange tier. However, the officials have said repeatedly that their requirements of travel orders will not apply to the residents of other parts of Illinois who are getting entered into Chicago.
According to the latest Coronavirus data of the city, Chicago is facing a rolling average of 22 new cases per 1,00,000 residents. Meanwhile, the State of Illinois is facing 16.6 new cases per 1,00,000 residents. Both these are above the 15 case threshold.
According to the Department of Public Health of Chicago, “City health officials of Chicago have made some updates in the order in the month of February for exemption of anyone who has completely got vaccinated and one who is not having any symptoms of Covid-19. They have also exempted him from the test requirements for bringing the policy in alignment with guidance from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.”
“If any traveler has got fully vaccinated, he must have to monitor his health for 14 days after travel. And if they experience any symptoms which are related to Covid-19, they must get self-isolated until their Covid testing, clinical evaluation, and CDPH is continued. They must also continue to adhere to all prospective measures which are highly recommended. It includes maintaining a physical distance, practicing and hygiene, avoidance of crowds, and wearing a mask.”
Health officials are still recommending to cancel all non-essential travel, whether they are vaccinated or not. They have also noted again on Tuesday that the cases in Chicago have gone up during recent weeks.
The case rate of Chicago has enhanced in the past few weeks. CDPH said in a statement, that it is high time to do whatever we know works from the prevention of the spread of Covid-19. It includes maintenance of social distancing, staying at home, washing your hands, wearing a mask, as much as you can. Residents of Chicago are strongly given the advice to cancel their non-essential travel.
The emergency travel order that has the requirement of quarantine for travelers from some specific locations was firstly issued in the month of July. This order was issued in an effort to minimization the spread of deadly Coronavirus disease. Since then, it has also been modified several times.
The restrictions and guidelines for the emergency order were changed in January to the two-tiered systems which have categorized states as either yellow or orange and do the elimination of a previous “red” category.
The city said that it is still having hope to just educating travelers about the order, but those who are found in violation could be subject to fines of between $100 and $500 per day, which may extend up to $7,000.
The health department of Chicago last month has said in a statement, that the requirements of the pre-arrival test & quarantine are applied to those people who are even not possessing any symptoms which are related to Covid-19 disease.
Exemptions can be made in this order for those who are traveling for medical care, business travel for essential workers, and parents shared custody. This condition is also not applied to those individuals who are passing through the states for less than 24 hours over their course of travel. It includes people driving through a specific state, or layovers at the airport. Daily commuters are also exempted to and from neighboring states.