Coronavirus Surge: Chicago Sets Business Curfew As Cases Spike

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday set a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on nonessential business and placed a ban on taverns serving booze indoors in response to an alarming spike in coronavirus cases.

The restrictions — which include prohibiting liquor sales after 9 p.m. and calling on Chicagoans to end social gatherings of more than six people by 10 p.m. — begin Friday and will remain in effect for at least two weeks.

"We are no doubt whatsoever in the second surge," the mayor said.

City public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the rolling seven-day average of daily coronavirus cases has spiked 54 percent over the last week, to over 640 per day. That only tells part of the story. In recent days, the city has had as many as 900 cases per day, and the numbers are still going up.

"Between 35,000 and 50,000 Chicagoans likely have COVID right now," Arwady said.

Mayor Lightfoot said the city has "no other way" to respond to the spike besides reinstating coronavirus restrictions. "If there was another way, we would choose it," she said.

And if the increase in cases doesn't slow, the mayor said she won't hesitate to enact further restrictions, even returning to "shelter in place."

"What none of us is want is even further restrictions [going into the holidays], but that is exactly the path that we are on right now if we do not take heed and adhere to the tools that got us to a better place in the first place," Lightfoot said.

"If we need to take further steps and move back into Phase 3 or even going back to shelter in place, I'm not going to hesitate to do that. I hope that won't be necessary, but it's all in your hands."

Arwady stressed that more than the coronavirus metrics, it's how quickly the number of cases have spiked that's reason for alarm.

"The cases in Chicago are growing at the same rate as they did at the worst of the first wave [in March and April]," Arwady said. "Testing is different. The demographics are different. That doesn't matter. The rate of increase is what we are concerned about because it is reflective of whatever your recent testing patterns have been."

Arwady ticked off a list of "severe" warnings: the spike in cases across all race and age demographics; the steep spike in test positivity, which has already reached 7 percent; and an increase in hospitalizations. Last month, coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Chicago reached a low point with 249 occupied beds. As of Thursday, there were 460 non-intensive care unit beds occupied with COVID-19 patients.

"We are hearing across Chicago ... from our hospitals that they are standing their COVID teams back up again. We're hearing from all settings, including workplaces, that they're seeing more people with COVID coming it," Arwady said. "That's because there is so much COVID here in Chicago. When we see hospitalizations starting to rise ... we know there is more to come."

The city's decision to shut down indoor service at bars that don't serve food while continuing to allow indoor dining at limited capacity stems from contact tracing data showing the "loud, fun environment" at booze-only establishments make them a higher risk factor than restaurants.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.