Wisconsin removed from Chicago's list of states where visitors must quarantine for 2 weeks

CHICAGO - Chicago's top doctor announced some news Tuesday that should make our neighbors to the north happy.

Wisconsin has been removed from the city’s COVID quarantine list.

"Wisconsin is obviously of Most interest to our Chicago residence here. It had two weeks of being consistently below that cut off, and at this point they are removed from the list,” said Dr. Allison Arwady.

While Wisconsin and Nebraska are dropped from the emergency order list, Iowa and Kansas, where infection rates are growing, have been added, meaning people traveling from those states to Chicago must self-quarantine for 14 days.

Travelers from the following states and territories should still quarantine upon arrival in Chicago: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The city also released a hot spot map showing where COVID cases are climbing in Chicago, mostly on the Northwest and Southwest sides, where it's not uncommon for large families to live under a single roof.

"We have a lot of people living in detached single-family homes. We know there's more multi-generational families and more exposure to people of different ages," Arwady said.

Speaking of age, young adults between 18 and 29 years old continue to have the highest infection rate in Chicago. But they're also doing a good job not spreading it to their parents and grandparents.

With fall just around the corner, there are concerns that COVID cases will increase as people move indoors.

"Flu shots are just becoming available. And we need people to get a flu shot,” Arwady said.

Some other good news: While infection rates remain fairly steady in Chicago, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline, likely due to the fact that those over 70 are now the least likely to have COVID.