Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tells city to stay at home for 30 days, cancel Thanksgiving plans and puts 10-person limit on gatherings due to COVID-19 spike - days after she joined crowds celebrating Biden's win
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday issued a stay-at-home 'advisory' and put a 10-person limit on social gatherings in the city amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Lightfoot implored Chicagoans to 'cancel the normal Thanksgiving plans', and warned 1,000 more people in the city could die of the virus by the end of the year if action is not taken.
On Saturday she was seen among the crowds celebrating Joe Biden's election win. She used a bullhorn to address the dozens of people surrounding her, sharing the footage to her Twitter page.
A month ago, Chicago was reporting 500 daily cases on average. Now, the city is averaging roughly 1,900 daily cases. In the same time period, the rate of positive tests has nearly tripled to 14 per cent.
The advisory will remain in place for 30 days or until a change in guidelines is deemed appropriate by health officials, wgntv reports.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday issued a stay-at-home 'advisory' and put a 10-person limit on social gatherings in the city amid a spike in COVID-19 cases
On Saturday Lightfoot was seen among the crowds celebrating Joe Biden's election win. She used a bullhorn to address the dozens of people surrounding her, sharing the footage to her Twitter page
Lightfoot said Thursday the skyrocketing cases show no signs of slowing and urgent steps are needed immediately.
She said: 'While this is tough — this whole year has been tough — you must cancel the normal Thanksgiving plans.
'If we continue on the path we’re on and you, me and others don’t step up and do more ... we could see at least a thousand more Chicagoans die.'
'We are a long way from where we need to be', she added.
The limitations on gatherings take effect Monday and are part of a stay-at-home advisory urging city residents to venture out only for essentials, including work and groceries.
Chicago is already under an order barring indoor restaurant dining.
'If we continue on the path we're on, and you and me and others don't step up and do more, our estimates are that we could see 1,000 more Chicagoans die from this virus by the end of the year,' she said at a news conference.
Illinois health officials on Thursday reported 12,702 new COVID-19 cases statewide, including 43 more deaths. Overall, Illinois has reported 536,542 cases. The death toll is 10,477 people.
Across the country infections and hospitalizations continue to spike to record highs. The US has just recorded the highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths in six months.
The death toll spiked to 1,893 on Wednesday, which is the highest number of fatalities since May 8 during the initial peak of the outbreak. It puts the seven-day rolling average of fatalities back over 1,000 per day - a figure not seen since August. The average death toll had hit lows of 600 last month before gradually increasing.
Meanwhile, infections across the country hit a record high for the second consecutive day with 144,133 cases on Wednesday. New cases have continued to soar to all-time highs of more than 120,000 per day over the past week.
The number of hospitalizations across the US also continues to spike to single-day highs with more than 65,000 patients currently being treated.
Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said: 'I’m very concerned we could be looking at tens of thousands of more cases, which would overwhelm the healthcare system and lead to hundreds more deaths.'
The increases come as Joe Biden's new COVID advisor, Dr Michael Osterholm, said the US should go into a total national lockdown for six weeks to avoid 'virus hell' and suggested that the federal government pay workers while country is shutdown.
Dr Anthony Fauci, however, has insisted a lockdown doesn't need to happen.
