CHICAGO — The Chicago Department of Public Health took California and Puerto Rico off its weekly COVID-19 Travel Advisory Tuesday, while Connecticut and the District of Columbia returned to the advisory.
The number of states and territories – 48 and three – remain unchanged from last week.
The advisory states any unvaccinated individuals traveling from these states and territories are advised to get tested with a viral test 3-5 days after travel and stay home and self-quarantine for a full seven days, even if you test negative.
Because California and Puerto Rico maintained their daily Covid case rates of under 15 per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks, they have come off the travel advisory list.
The daily case rates for Connecticut and DC crept back over 15 per 100,000 residents over the past week, and they have gone back onto the travel advisory.
The U.S. average daily case rate per 100,000 residents is 35.8, down slightly from 35.4 a week ago. This is still more than double Chicago’s current daily COVID case rate of 15.3. Illinois is at 22.4 (22.6 last week, 22.8 two weeks ago).
The states and territories with the highest daily COVID case rates are West Virginia (102.3), Guam (95.4), and Alaska (80.3).
“The states on the Travel Advisory might change from week to week, but one thing that does not change is the fact that if you want to travel freely without needing to get tested or self-quarantine for a week, get vaccinated,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D. “Being fully-vaccinated when you travel is like having a TSA pre-check – it’s not a free pass, and you still need to be careful and adhere to all the safety guidelines to keep yourself and others well, but it certainly makes everything easier and you’ll have less to worry about.”
CDPH holds regular vaccination events across the city and vaccine is also widely available through pharmacies and health care providers. In-home vaccination is also available free of charge to all Chicago residents through Protect Chicago At Home. Up to 10 people at a residence can receive the Pfizer (12 and older) or Johnson & Johnson (18 and older) vaccine.
Call (312) 746-4835 for an appointment or go to Chicago.gov/AtHome details. People who are vaccinated through the At Home program or a CDPH mobile event will receive $100 in Visa gift cards.