Chicago Adds Iowa to Quarantine List

If you are in Iowa, and were planning to head to the Windy City soon, be aware Chicago's mayor has added Iowa to the city's quarantine list. Travelers who go from here to there have to self-quarantine for two weeks, according to the new rule. So you might as well just stay home. Starting Friday, you'll face a fine if you break the quarantine order. NBC Chicago says that fine could be up to $500 a day, or up to $7,000 total.

KWWL says Iowa joins Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah on this order. Those states had the order go into effect July 6 and Iowa and Oklahoma will be added this Friday. According to the Chicago Tribune, Wisconsin might not be far behind. The Tribune also says officials acknowledge these orders are awfully difficult to enforce and that Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot is relying on the "honor system" for folks to follow the guidelines. If anyone has honor, it's Iowans so...they're asking you to stay home.

Illinois as a state does not currently have these restrictions on incoming travelers from our state.

A lot of the reason these tough-to-enforce quarantine orders are issued, according to Lightfoot is to "raise the consciousness of people that are living in or coming from those locations about what their obligations are if they want to travel".

States are included based on the rate of new confirmed cases per 100,000 residents. Illinois health officials confirmed 707 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease and 25 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Des Moines Register reports The Iowa Department of Public Health on Tuesday confirmed 368 new cases of COVID-19 and three deaths.