Chicago made it official Tuesday, adding neighboring Indiana to its emergency travel order that requires travelers returning to the city from there to stay inside for two weeks because of high COVID-19 case counts.
© Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune/TNS
In this file photo, Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady answers questions during a news conference at the Greater Western Community Development Project in Chicago, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020.
The Hoosier state’s inclusion on Chicago’s self-quarantine list was expected.
The city last week “strongly advised” Chicago residents against traveling to Indiana, pointing to the fact the state had already passed the bench mark of more than 15 new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period that warrants getting added.
“I am very concerned that Indiana is a state that is wishing that COVID were over, and it’s not,” city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said then.
Starting Friday, people traveling into Chicago from Indiana will be expected to quarantine themselves for 14 days. Violators can face fine, though the city has taken few steps to enforce the rules.
Indiana joins Wisconsin, which was placed back on Chicago’s travel warning list three weeks ago amid skyrocketing coronavirus numbers there.
And like with Wisconsin, people who commute across the Indiana state line to or from Chicago to work or go to school will be exempt from the quarantine rule, a nod to the symbiotic relationship between the neighboring states. But workers in Chicago from Indiana will be expected to avoid restaurants, bars and other public spaces in the city.
In all, there are now 26 states on the quarantine list: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
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