Chicago Scheduled to Move to Phase 4 Reopening Friday
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced that Chicago is on track to transition to phase four of the "Protecting Chicago" framework on Friday, June 26, alongside the rest of Illinois. The guidelines are aligned with the State-issued guidelines, with additional specificity included for Chicago's context, which has experienced a different arc of COVID-19 than other parts of the state. Phase four - 'Gradually Resume' - will allow additional businesses and public amenities to open with limited capacities and appropriate safeguards. Although progress has been made in order to move to phase four, all residents should continue to abide by important guidance including: physically distancing and wearing a face covering; limiting non-business, social gatherings to 50 persons for indoor events and 100 for outdoors; staying at home if you are considered vulnerable, feel ill or have come into contact with someone with COVID-19; and getting tested if you have symptoms.
The following industries will open for the first time at the beginning of phase four in Chicago:
- Indoor seating in bars and restaurants
- Museums and zoos
- Performance venues
- Summer camps / youth activities
Phase four will also include adjustments to other industries that have previously reopened, and detailed information can be found at
chicago.gov/reopening
. To allow businesses and organizations to prepare for the next phase, Mayor Lightfoot, in partnership with CDPH, industry leaders, labor leaders, and public officials from around Chicago, released an additional set of industry-specific guidelines for businesses, employees, and customers to follow as the city moves into phase four.
To inform businesses of the new guidelines for phase four, the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) will hold a series of educational webinars this week. Webinars will be held for newly reopening industries such as arts/performance venues and museums and industries that will be following new guidelines in phase four, such as health and fitness centers and personal services. To register and learn more, visit
chicago.gov/businessworkshops
.
The COVID-19 data in Chicago continues to trend positively and the city is on pace to meet the
metrics to move into phase four
. To move into phase four, Chicago had set a requirement of stable or declining cases along with a goal of reaching fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases per day, which it has now achieved, with a current 7-day average of 167 new cases per day. Based on the city's population and national metrics from the CDC, this will move Chicago from a high-incidence to a moderate-high incidence level.
CDPH will continue to follow the same health metrics to help guide the City's decision-making process, with easy color-coding:
- Green - Go: cautious progress, continued progress or advanced progress
- Yellow - Caution: pause and monitor
- Red - Stop: may need to reinstate certain restrictions
