Chicago Cautiously Reopens Economy, Curfew Remains In Place

CHICAGO — After talking with local business owners and a lot of prayer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the city's economy will cautiously open as planned on Wednesday despite the protest and looting that have lead to overnight curfews until further notice.

“Everywhere I went, I asked … Should we open? Or should we delay? And to universal acclaim, emphatically what I heard from people was, ‘Mayor, we have to step forward. We have to open.’" Lightfoot said at a Tuesday news conference.

City officials had announced that the following industries will be allowed to reopen with capacity restrictions: childcare centers and in-home daycare, parks not located on the lakefront, libraries, office-based jobs, professional and real estate services, hotels and lodging, non-essential retail stores, personal services, and restaurant and coffee houses that offer outdoor dining.

Lightfoot said the city would move forward with a plan to close some streets to vehicle traffic to allow some restaurants to have more space for outdoor dining.

The mayor said police will remain deployed at grocery stores and pharmacies that have been targeted by looting.

"I have a lot of priorities but top among them are groceries, pharmacies and making sure that we can get those resources into our neighborhoods that were hard-pressed before, as you know we have too many food deserts across the city. So, I have my team working in a coordinated fashion to make sure we that we can fill those needs," the mayor said.

City public health department commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady reported that the city has reached all public health metrics that were established to determine whether to move forward with the cautious reopening of the economy. Still, the city has hundreds of new cases reported each day, nearly 50,000 cases reported over all and 1,100 people in city hospitals suffering from severe COVID-19 related symptoms.

Arwady urged people to continue to practice social distancing and follow public health guidance.

Starting Wednesday morning at 5:00 a.m., the following will reopen:

• Lake Shore Drive will open with the following exits remaining closed: Michigan Avenue, Chicago Avenue, Grand Avenue, Lower Wacker Drive and Randolph Street.
• CTA train and bus service will be restored, however, some train stops located within or near the designated boundaries in the Central Business District and Loop area will remain closed. Closures impacting the morning rush will be posted tomorrow, beginning at 5:00 a.m. and will be updated regularly throughout the day at transitchicago.com to ensure residents and employees have access to the latest transit information.
• Bridges in the Central Business District will be lowered over the Chicago River on the following streets: Clark Street, Dearborn Street, Lake Street, Randolph Street, Wells Street and Washington Street.
• Divvy Bike Sharing Stations citywide will reopen beginning at 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. until further notice.

The citywide curfew for all residents and visitors, effective from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. will remain in effect until further notice.