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U.S. Chicago to fully reopen on June 11

04 June 2021 05:28 (UTC +04:00)

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced on Thursday that the U.S. third largest city will fully reopen on June 11, in line with the date of reopening of the U.S. Midwest state of Illinois ordered by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, APA reports citing ABC News.

The date is three weeks earlier than the target date of July 4 that Lightfoot planned to fully reopen the city, the Chicago Tribune reported on Thursday.

Under Pritzker's Phase-Five plan for the state, a full reopening means Chicagoans and visitors will have few coronavirus-related restrictions starting June 11. Businesses such as restaurants and bars will face no capacity limits, though they can continue imposing their own restrictions such as masking and carding for vaccination status beyond the June 11 reopening. Large gatherings of all sizes can also return, meaning there will be no COVID-19-related caps on parties, festivals, weddings, places of worship, conferences and sports events.

But masks will still be required for vaccinated people on public transit, and in airports, schools and hospitals - or in most public settings for those who are unvaccinated, the local newspaper reported.

There is the worry that the city has not reached a desired coverage of vaccinations. State health officials reported Thursday that two-thirds of Illinois adults have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while nearly 51 percent are fully vaccinated.

Illinois reported 674 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the seven-day average of new daily cases to 637, the lowest level since an average of 622 daily cases was recorded during the week ending June 24; and 24 additional fatalities, bringing the overall death toll to 22,865 since the pandemic began. In all, there have been 1,383,739 COVID-19 cases recorded statewide.