Almost Every State in the Country Is Now on Chicago's Travel Advisory List

Chicago added four new states to its growing list of places on its travel advisory list.

This week, the city announced that Colorado, Maryland, Nebraska, and South Dakota had exceeded a mark of 15 new cases per day, per 100,000 residents. In following Chicago's current guidelines, unvaccinated travelers from these states are advised to receive a COVID-19 test within 72 hours before arrival in Chicago or quarantine for 10 days upon arrival.

There are now 43 states and two territories (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) on Chicago's COVID Travel Advisory list, which is updated weekly. The only states not included on the list are Michigan, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

This week, D.C. was removed from the Travel Advisory list as its COVID-19 case rate fell below 15 per 100,000 residents.

Those who are vaccinated do not need to quarantine or receive a COVID-19 test when traveling to Chicago from these states.

The city's Emergency Travel Order was changed to an Advisory on June 29, after a few weeks in which zero states were reporting numbers above 15 cases per 100,000 residents. But since the start of July, Chicago has been steadily adding more states to its travel advisory list as COVID-19 cases have grown across the country.

The additions come as Chicago is battling its own COVID-19 caseload. The city's current daily positivity rate is 4.4% (down from a peak at 4.7% on Aug. 16) and a case rate of 16.1 per 100,000 residents. The average daily case rate across the U.S. is 37.5 per 100,000 residents, up from 32.7 last week.

Earlier this month, Chicago reinstated its indoor mask requirement for places like restaurants, museums and gyms. The city joins other destinations like Las Vegas and Disney in reimplementing mask mandates.

More than 54% of Chicagoans are fully vaccinated and more than 60% have received at least one dose. The city continues to urge residents to receive their vaccinations.

Cailey Rizzo is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure, currently based in Brooklyn. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or at caileyrizzo.com.