Chicago removes 16 more states from COVID-19 travel advisory

CHICAGO - For the fourth straight week, Chicago has removed states and territories from its weekly COVID-19 travel advisory.

As cases continue to decline across the country, 16 states were removed from the list: Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. 

The city said that an additional eight 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 12.7 to 10.3. Illinois' daily cases rate fell from 11.8 last week to 9.6 and Chicago's dropped from 7.1 to 4.9, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Chicago's top doctor, CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady, stressed caution even as cases decline. 

"For the first time in months there are now more states not on our COVID-19 Travel Advisory than there are on it," Arwady said in a statement. "But that doesn’t mean COVID-19 has gone away or that it still doesn’t pose a risk to anyone, especially the unvaccinated. COVID-19 is still around, and too many Chicagoans remain unprotected, especially in communities that have borne the brunt of the outbreak."

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.