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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told CNBC on Friday she understood people were growing weary of the coronavirus restrictions, but she urged city residents to comply with her advice to stay away. home to prevent further deaths from Covid-19.
A day earlier, Lightfoot issued a 30-day notice for the country’s third largest city, which asked residents to leave their homes only for work, school, and essential travel such as seeking medical attention and the grocery store, for example. He also called on people to avoid having guests in their homes and to avoid travel, especially on Thanksgiving. The city has also imposed restrictions to limit gatherings to 10 people. Both announcements will go into effect on Monday.
“Really, the most surprising piece of information that has motivated us to publish this advisory and the other components is that if we don’t do anything by the end of the year, we risk losing 1,000 Chicagoans to death,” Lightfoot said on Friday. on “Closing Bell”. “It’s not acceptable.”
Lightfoot’s notice comes as state and local authorities across the United States take action to step up public health restrictions in response to the worsening Covid-19 epidemic in the country. Public health experts have warned that the outbreak will only get worse without interventions to slow transmission.
“We’re saying to people, ‘Look, we know you’re tired of Covid. We know you are tired of the various restrictions, but we have to do it for you, for your family, for your loved ones and the whole city of Chicago, ”said Lightfoot.
Illinois set a record for average daily cases on Thursday, with 11,829, according to CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. This is about 55% more than a week ago. Illinois is one of 30 states that currently have a record average daily cases.
In Chicago, its moving average is just over 2,000 per day, which is a 40% increase from a week ago, according to the city’s website. His seven-day positive test average – a key indicator of an intensifying local epidemic – is now 14.5%. A week earlier it was 11.1%.
The average seven-day Covid-19 hospitalizations in Illinois is 4,585, according to CNBC’s analysis of data from the COVID Tracking Project, which is managed by reporters from The Atlantic. While not a record high, hospitalizations were up 32% from the previous week.
Rush University Medical Center in Chicago is “doing well” so far to handle the capacity of the hospital during the current surge and can accommodate more Covid-19 patients, its CEO, Dr. Omar Lateef. However, Lateef warned that health care systems can become overwhelmed “so quickly and so dramatically”, a problem encountered in parts of the United States like Utah.
“For today we feel good. We have the capacity. We have the capacity to leap forward,” Lateef said on “Squawk on the Street”. “We have the ability to increase the number of beds as required by our community, and we have the experience from the past to make sure we are prepared to do so.
If the transmission of the coronavirus in Chicago is not slowing down, Lightfoot said, additional measures may need to be taken. “We may need to get to a point where we place an order at the home rather than a review,” she said. “But psychologically … it’s a big step for people. They’re tired. They’re angry. They’re frustrated, so we hope we can educate them about compliance.”
She stressed the importance of avoiding indoor gathering places, where the virus can be transmitted more easily.
“Where we see a lot of the growth in our cases is in these private settings. People let their guards down in their homes. They go to weddings and funerals, and they always have parties,” said Lightfoot. “Now don’t get me wrong, we really see it everywhere, but these private settings are really the hardest thing to regulate.”
– CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.
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