‘Stop having guests & cancel Thanksgiving plans’: Chicago mayor introduces new Covid-19 ‘stay-at-home advisory’

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced stricter lockdown restrictions, telling residents to only leave their homes for essential trips and to cancel traditional Thanksgiving plans.

The stay-at-home advisory, which is similar to lockdown restrictions in major cities that occurred towards the beginning of the pandemic, will take effect on Monday, November 16 at 6:00 am.

Under the new rules, residents are not allowed to have guests over to their homes, including family members that do not live with them. People are only allowed to leave their homes for “essential reasons,” and the mayor says “traditional Thanksgiving plans” must be canceled. 

Any events such as weddings and funerals will be limited to attendances of 10 people or less. These new restrictions will be in place for a minimum of 30 days, according to the mayor. 

Chicago has seen an uptick in Covid-19 cases in recent days, averaging 1,920 cases a day for the past week. That’s an increase of 14 percent from the week before when the daily average was 1410. The state of Illinois itself has also recorded two new daily records in cases this week, with 12,702 being reported on Thursday, up from 12,657 the day before. 

Overall, the state has recorded more than 500,000 cases and 10,000 deaths. 

Lightfoot’s strict orders have earned pushback online, especially since the mayor can be seen in large groups over the weekend celebrating Joe Biden’s presumed presidential victory.

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