While United States is gradually reopening its states on the basis of the risk factors and criteria, Chicago is currently stepping into the Phase 3 of reopening.
But, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday informed that their main aim when coming to reopening Chicago is to dim the lights and not flip the light switch completely. Even with the Phase 3 plan, the state is not likely going to open the lakefront yet.
Lightfoot also said that she has been receiving a lot of suggestions in terms of the reopening of the lakefront with segmented hours for specific activities.
The mayor reported that she has taken those ideas into consideration and will likely implement then with the city meets the rigid standards that have been set up with respect to the cautious reopening.
In her virtual speech to the Economic Club of Chicago, Lightfoot further broke the bad news saying that the city is not yet ready to reopen the lakefront. She emphasised the risks of resurgence and the ways everyone needs to be prepared for it, if it happens.
In terms of the reopening, she said that the city is going to focus on the coming six to twelve months to prevent any sort of resurgent outbreaks that they have noted in some of the vulnerable population of Singapore, and even South Korea.
Lightfoot also emphasised the impacts the abrupt reopening as brought along in Georgia and the kind of impacts that the city is experiencing.
“Whether or not we see that kind of resurgence in Chicago — which will force us to go back to sheltering in place — is entirely dependent on us and the actions we take. …Psychologically, if we don’t do this in a smart, diligent, data-driven way — if we don’t do it in a way that continues to engage important stakeholders in a dialogue — we’re gonna have to take steps back. And I think that’s gonna be devastating for all of us,” Lightfoot exclaimed.
Before moving forward with the reopening, the one thing that Chicago has to further focus on is to amp up its testing by 50% more, testing 4,500 samples in a day.
The city’s goal at the moment is to graduate 30% positive aimed to the congregate sales. This will include nursing homes, homeless shelters and the Cook County Jail.
Ten working groups have been working tirelessly to further develop mandates for different industries including capacity restrictions, proper testing and hygiene and the supply of the protective equipment for all the frontline and essential workers.
Lightfoot further highlighted the three categories of businesses that will be allowed to reopen in the Phase 3. The same included:
- Industries working to supply the essential basic needs including the grocery stores, emergency healthcare services, social services and the public transportation.
- Some of the industries which have social distancing built in along with the protective gear, much like in the emergency centres and hospitals. The construction and manufacturing industry is also likely to resume.
- Industries that provide with critical support to the individuals who cannot work from home. The same will include reopening of the parks and the libraries but with strict protocols in place.
“No small break rooms, barriers between desks, hand sanitizer stations and displaying visual guidance on rules,” the mayor said.
She also advised the offices to make wearing face masks mandatory along with frequent health screenings at the entrance for better safety.
When the retails stores open, the shops are going to still follow the norms followed during the pandemic which includes social distancing and more space at the checkout, protective barriers and possible contact less payment.
Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia has also appealed to the Mayor to reopen the restaurants with 25% capacity to get the businesses back on track. Lightfoot has taken the words into consideration but has yet not made any comments on the situation.
“While these industries are higher risk, we believe we can find creative ways in which we can bring some of this activity back in safely sooner rather than later,” Lightfoot said for the retail, recreation and restaurant businesses.
She emphasised on the fact that the economy is deploring and that the people across the city are losing their jobs but she urged the locals to give the authorities the necessary time that they need to recover and remake the city for the decades to come.
