2 states, 1 territory removed from Chicago weekly travel advisory
CHICAGO - Chicago health officials removed two states and a territory from its weekly COVID-19 travel advisory.
The city's travel advisory now stands at 38 states after California, North Carolina and Guam were removed from the advisory on Tuesday, the Chicago Department of Public Health said.
The three locations were removed after their daily COVID case rates remained below 15 per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks, health officials said.
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As of Tuesday, every state or territory except for Alabama, California, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the Virgin Islands are on the Travel Advisory.
Five states are eligible to be removed from next week's advisory if their daily COVID case rates remain below the threshold of 15 cases per 100,000 residents. Those states include Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington.
Chicago's current daily COVID case rate is at 18.2, down from 19.5 last week. Illinois' daily case rate stands at 23.7, CDPH said. The state was at 31.9 last week.
Three Midwest states have among the highest daily rates of COVID in the nations including Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to CDPH officials.
"The best protection you can have against COVID, no matter where you travel or what new variants emerge, is full vaccination, and booster shots for those who are fully vaccinated," said CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady. "The Midwest is the current COVID hot spot as temperatures drop and people spend more time inside, so please protect yourself and get vaccinated."
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CPDH reminded unvaccinated travelers that they should be tested for COVID before and after travel from any state on the advisory and should quarantine when they return to Chicago. Those measures do no apply to fully vaccinated travelers, health officials said.