Chicago To Reinstate Indoor Mask Mandate

by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:59 AM ET, Thu August 19, 2021

Chicago will once again require masks while indoors beginning Friday, August 20 as a direct result of the Delta variant's rampant spread.

According to Travel + Leisure, the city requires everyone two years of age and older to wear a face mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Its mask mandate had been lifted back in May for fully vaccinated individuals, but now everyone is going back to the time before vaccinations were readily available, when individuals' only protection from COVID-19 were masks and social distancing.

"With the highly transmissible Delta variant causing case rates to increase, now is the time to re-institute this measure to prevent further spread and save lives." Chicago's public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, said in a press release announcing the mandate.

Chicago's vaccination rate mimics that of many cities across the country, with just over half of its population fully vaccinated. Its case rate, however, is the most concerning for the Chicago Department of Public Health, which in its press release explained that since it had exceeded 400 daily positive cases on August 16, the city met the threshold for high transmission.

Chicago is not the only big city to change its regulations surrounding the Delta variant's spread. Los Angeles, on August 18, reinstated masks for all indoor and outdoor "mega-events," while New Orleans mandated vaccination verification or a negative COVID-19 test for entry into indoor public spaces such as restaurants and bars on August 14. San Francisco was the first city to once again reinstate its indoor mask mandate on August 13, set to begin August 20.

The National Park Service has also instituted a universal mask mandate for indoor and crowded areas at all national parks, while the federal government just extended the public transportation mask mandate into January 2022.