Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was met with cheers when she announced the city is fully reopened.
The city moved into Phase 5 of its reopening plan, which allows businesses to operate without Covid-19 guidelines.
“Meaning capacity limits gone, mask mandates not mandatory, and social distancing requirements lifted,” Lightfoot said.
Masks remain required in some places, per federal guidelines, the mayor said, including on public transportation and in health care facilities, schools, shelters and correctional facilities.
Those who are not vaccinated should still wear masks, the mayor said.
“This time last year, our city was in a very different place,” Lightfoot said. “And it’s been 15 months since Covid first came to our city, wreaked havoc on nearly every aspect of our lives, and forced us to grapple with feelings of fear, loss, grief, unlike anything we’d ever experienced before in our lifetime.”
The mayor acknowledged how much people have endured, telling them “now it’s time for you to get up, get out of the house this summer, and — fully and safely — and enjoy the events of the best city on the planet, our beloved city of Chicago.”
This morning, Lightfoot told CNN’s John Berman on New Day that the “economy is poised to come roaring back” with the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in the city.
Her announcement comes as the state moves into its final phase of the Restore Illinois plan. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state will eliminate all capacity limits and align mask requirements with those of the CDC’s guidelines today.
