All But 7 States Moved To Lower Tier Of Chicago's COVID Travel Order

CHICAGO (CBS) -- All but seven states have been moved to the lower tier of Chicago's emergency travel order, lifting requirements for travelers from most of the U.S. to either quarantine when they arrive in the city, or have a negative test for COVID-19.

The latest update to the city's travel order leaves only Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, West Virginia, and Washington in the more restrictive (orange) tier of the travel order. Indiana was moved back to the lower (yellow) tier just two weeks after its most recent addition to the upper tier. Ten other states and Puerto Rico also moved from the orange tier to the yellow tier.

"The country is making excellent progress against COVID-19," said Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

No border states are now in the orange tier.

(Border states listed in bold) Based on current data, effective Friday, the two tiers will include:

• 42 yellow states, Puerto Rico and District of Columbia: Oklahoma, Mississippi, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, California, Wyoming, Missouri, Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Kentucky, Idaho, Montana, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Dakota, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont, Alaska, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware,  Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,  Indiana, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, North Carolina, and Oregon
• 7 orange states: Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, West Virginia, and Washington

The guidance for each tier is:

• Yellow: States with a rolling 7-day average less than 15 cases/day/100k residents.
  • No quarantine or pre-arrival test required. Maintain strict masking, social distancing and avoidance of in-person gatherings
• Orange: States have a rolling 7-day average above 15 cases/day/100k residents

• • 10-day quarantine OR negative test no earlier than 72 hours before arrival in Chicago with strict masking, social distancing and avoidance of in-person gatherings
    or
  • Be fully vaccinated, as defined as two weeks after the second dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or two weeks after one dose of a single-dose vaccine and not have symptoms

If you are fully vaccinated and are not experiencing symptoms, you do not need to be tested and/or follow the quarantine requirement.  Fully vaccinated is defined as being at least two weeks after receipt of the second dose in a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series or at least two weeks after receipt of one dose of a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. Fully vaccinated travelers must monitor their health for 14 days after travel and if they experience symptoms potentially consistent with COVID-19, they must self-isolate until clinical evaluation and COVID-19 testing.

This story has been updated to correctly reflect that seven states are now on the orange tier. The story originally reported eight states were on that list. CBS 2 regrets the error.