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Chicago Public Schools to go mask-optional starting next week
Chicago Public Schools will stop requiring face masks for staff and students in the nation’s third-largest school district starting March 14, officials announced on Monday.
CHICAGO - For the third straight week, Chicago has removed states and territories from its weekly COVID-19 travel advisory.
As cases continue to decline across the country, a dozen states and territories were removed from the list such as Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
The city said that an additional 18 states could be removed from the advisory next week if daily case rates remained below 15 per 100,000 residents.
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In order to be removed from the city's travel advisory, a state or territory's daily case rate must remain below 15 for two consecutive weeks.
Since last week, the daily case rate for the U.S. dropped from 18.8 to 12.7. Illinois' daily cases rate fell from 14.7 last week to 11.8 and Chicago's dropped from 7.6 to 7.1, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Chicago's top doctor, CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, stressed caution as people set travel plans for spring and summer.
"It’s great that as daily COVID-19 case rates keep falling throughout the U.S., people are more comfortable and confident making spring and summer travel plans," Arwady said in a statement. "But more than half of the country is still on our Travel Advisory, and for unvaccinated travelers that means they should continue to adhere to the quarantine and testing guidelines."
City health officials encouraged unvaccinated residents who plan to travel to following advisory guidance and get tested for COVID-19 before and after travel from any state on the list and quarantine upon arrival in Chicago.