Friday, 15 Nov 2024

Chicago and New Mexico impose indoor mask mandates in hopes of reining in rising virus cases.

The city of Chicago and the state of New Mexico will reimpose an indoor mask mandate for all people older than two beginning on Friday, an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus as case rates rise, officials said on Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidance to recommend that everyone wear masks indoors in areas with high case numbers, regardless of their vaccination status.

A vast majority of counties across the United States are experiencing either “substantial” or “high” transmission, according to the C.D.C.

Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, joins a growing list of metropolises like Los Angeles County, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco that now require masks in public indoor places. Hawaii, Louisiana, Oregon and Puerto Rico have also introduced indoor mask mandates.

And Los Angeles County said Tuesday that it would require masks be worn at large outdoor concerts and sporting events that attract more than 10,000 people.

Though cases have risen eightfold in Cook County, where Chicago is, since early July, when fewer than 100 cases were being reported most days, the outlook remains far better than in much of the rest of the country. On a per-capita basis, Cook County is averaging fewer than half as many new cases as the country as a whole. An average of 17 cases per 100,000 residents are emerging each day in Cook County, compared to 43 cases per 100,000 people nationally and 138 cases per 100,000 people in Florida.

New York City, which began requiring proof of at least one vaccine dose on Tuesday to engage in many indoor activities, has not mandated masks indoors for vaccinated people — only recommended them. The mayor has said the city’s focus is on vaccinating the greatest share of its population possible.

Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s health commissioner, said at a news conference that she was watching how the vaccine requirements played out, but that the city would have to be at “much higher risk” before she would put one in place. Masks are recommended in some counties in Illinois and mandated in all public schools, and Chicago recently introduced strict vaccine rules for teachers.

Chicago’s new mask mandate applies to all people, regardless of their vaccination status, and covers all indoor public settings, including bars and restaurants, clubs and common areas of residential buildings, according to the city’s department of health. Masks are still required on public transportation, schools, health care, correctional and congregate living settings.

Masks are not required outdoors, though they are recommended for unvaccinated individuals in crowded settings, and can be removed for eating and drinking, and for activities like a facial or shave at a salon or barber shop. They are not required in work places that are not open to the public, if employees’s job do not require them to move aroundand they can maintain at least six feet of separation from others.

The city’s recent rise in cases did not appear tied to any large events, like Lollapalooza, a four-day music festival that drew hundreds of thousands of people earlier this month, Dr. Arwady said. The mandate was put in place because the city’s daily average of new reported cases rose to more than 400 a day, and it will revert to a recommendation when average new cases drop below 400 for an extended period, she said.

“I don’t expect that this will be an indefinite, forever mask requirement,” Dr. Arwady said.

In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Tuesday that masks would be required in all public indoor settings, regardless of a person’s vaccination status, from Friday through at least Sept. 15, announced on Tuesday.

Starting in May 2020, New Mexico required people in public spaces to wear a mask, but dropped it about a year later for people who were fully vaccinated, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported.

Understand the State of Vaccine and Mask Mandates in the U.S.

    • Mask rules. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July recommended that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in indoor public places within areas experiencing outbreaks, a reversal of the guidance it offered in May. See where the C.D.C. guidance would apply, and where states have instituted their own mask policies. The battle over masks has become contentious in some states, with some local leaders defying state bans.
    • Vaccine rules . . . and businesses. Private companies are increasingly mandating coronavirus vaccines for employees, with varying approaches. Such mandates are legally allowed and have been upheld in court challenges.
    • College and universities. More than 400 colleges and universities are requiring students to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Almost all are in states that voted for President Biden.
    • Schools. On Aug. 11, California announced that it would require teachers and staff of both public and private schools to be vaccinated or face regular testing, the first state in the nation to do so. A survey released in August found that many American parents of school-age children are opposed to mandated vaccines for students, but were more supportive of mask mandates for students, teachers and staff members who do not have their shots.  
    • Hospitals and medical centers. Many hospitals and major health systems are requiring employees to get a Covid-19 vaccine, citing rising caseloads fueled by the Delta variant and stubbornly low vaccination rates in their communities, even within their work force.
    • New York. On Aug. 3, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced that proof of vaccination would be required of workers and customers for indoor dining, gyms, performances and other indoor situations, becoming the first U.S. city to require vaccines for a broad range of activities. City hospital workers must also get a vaccine or be subjected to weekly testing. Similar rules are in place for New York State employees.
    • At the federal level. The Pentagon announced that it would seek to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for the country’s 1.3 million active-duty troops “no later” than the middle of September. President Biden announced that all civilian federal employees would have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel.

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