Chicago officials added Puerto Rico to its stay-at-home list for travelers Tuesday, meaning people coming into the city from there should remain quarantined indoors for two weeks when they arrive.
Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady announced Puerto Rico will join 22 states on the travel list this Friday as she also warned of a shift in the way COVID-19 is being transmitted in Chicago.
Households and social gatherings are overtaking congregate settings such as nursing homes and the Cook County Jail as the most dangerous situations, Arwady said.
To underscore the danger of contracting the disease at a party, Arwady recounted a story she said a contract tracer heard about a woman attending her mother’s birthday party, along with her son, daughter, sister and niece.
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“Everyone tested positive after getting together at the event,” Arwady said.
Arwady said households are now “10 times the risk of any other exposures,” and recounted a series of anecdotes about Chicagoans attending social gatherings where they and others were lax about wearing masks and social distancing, then came down with the virus.
People who live with high-risk relatives should consider social distancing and wearing masks within their homes after they have potentially high-risk exposures outside the home, Arwady said.
While adding Puerto Rico to the stay-at-home list because the island now has more than 15 cases per 100,000 residents, Arwady said Iowa, Kansas and Utah are now below that threshold. If they stay under 15-per-100,000 for another week, they would be removed from the list, she said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s order requires people who have traveled into from Chicago any of the identified high-risk states to self-quarantine for 14 days. Other states on the list are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
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