Chicago health official warns against ‘risky’ holiday travel for unvaccinated

Chicago’s Department of Public Health has warned people traveling for the holidays to exercise caution, especially if they are unvaccinated. 

“Right now, for unvaccinated people, traveling over Thanksgiving is a risky move, especially if you plan to visit other Midwest or Upper Midwest states, where the daily case rates have not been going down,” Chicago’s Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady said in a statement, according to The Chicago Tribune.

“Fully vaccinated people are at a much lower risk of serious COVID-related health problems, but all of us should be careful over the coming weeks — even more so if you plan to be among crowds or at large family gathering,” Arwady added.

Chicago currently advises unvaccinated people traveling to a “high-risk” location to get tested one to three days before their trip and within three to five days of returning, according to a notice from the City of Chicago.

The city’s weekly COVID-19 travel advisory now includes 38 states and the U.S. territory of Guam, all of which have been deemed “high risk.” States and territories are added to the advisory’s list when they have a case rate of 15 or more per 100,000 residents for at least two weeks in a row. 

Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas are among the locations that were not on Chicago’s advisory as of Monday.  

According to the city, its home state of Illinois would also currently qualify as “high risk” under those criteria due to its daily case rate of 25.5 per 100,000 residents. That marks an increase from last week’s rate of 19.7 per 100,000, and is also higher than the current U.S. average of 24.3 per 100,000.

Illinois, however, is not subject to the city’s travel advisory list in spite of its high case rate, as officials do not want to limit travel within the state.

Chicago’s own case rate — now 16.1 per 100,000 — is lower than both the state and national rates.