Last week, the Chicago Department of Public Health added Indiana to a warning list for its emergency travel order. If Indiana’s COVID-19 case average doesn’t decrease by Oct. 13, it will be added to the city’s quarantine list.
As of Oct. 5, there are 21 states covered by Chicago’s travel order. That means anyone traveling between the city and one of the states designated by the order must quarantine for 14 days after arriving.
There are exceptions, though — “essential workers,” as defined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aren’t subject to the quarantine if they’re traveling to Chicago for work, if they have to be physically present for that work and if they have identification from their employer.
According to the travel order website, the Commissioner of Health may also grant exemptions based on an organization or business’s testing and control policies.
Designated states have a 7-day rolling average of over 15 new COVID-19 cases per day, per 100,000 residents. According to the travel order, Indiana has been seeing 15-20 new daily cases per 100,000 residents. Given the disruption of adding a neighboring state to the list, though, Chicago gave the state a week to get its numbers down.
Violators can be fined $100-$500 a day, up to $7,000. However, the website does not specify how the order is enforced.
The list will be updated on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Any changes will take effect the following Friday.
