coronavirus masks

The Chicago-based music festival Lollapalooza will be requiring attendees to wear masks in any indoor spaces beginning Saturday.

Several Illinois counties are seeing significant surges in COVID cases, and fall under new parameters set by the CDC that would recommend that vaccinated residents wear masks indoors. NBC 5’s Lexi Sutter has more details.

Several counties in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana fall into the “substantial” or “high” transmission categories that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has established to help determine whether it would recommend fully vaccinated Americans to wear masks in indoor spaces.

In which areas is the CDC recommending people wear masks indoors? The agency points to its COVID-19 data tracker showing levels of community transmission for each county in the U.S.

Illinois and Chicago officials have separately commented on the future of masks in the city and state as more mandates return across the U.S.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is “fully adopting” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated masking guidance, the state’s health department said Tuesday, recommending that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places with substantial and high transmission.

After months of decline, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Illinois recently doubled in a period of nine days.

The nation’s largest union of registered nurses is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse its guidance on masks, saying that it is too soon to dispense with facial coverings in public settings

The nation’s largest union of registered nurses is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse its guidance on masks, saying that it is too soon to dispense with facial coverings in public settings. NBC 5’s Charlie Wojciechowski has the story.

The city of Chicago has brought its mask guidance into line with CDC recommendations, taking another step toward a more normal summer. NBC 5’s Alex Maragos has the details.

The Chicago Transit Authority plans to offer free disposable face masks on several city bus routes.

Hirman Ahmed comes across a lot of things while on his seven-mile bike ride to work from Edgewater to the Magnificent Mile. During this coronavirus pandemic, the 40-year-old noticed a mounting problem. On any given day, Ahmed says he sees 10 or more masks, littered on pathways, in parks and in the grass. He documented his findings by taking pictures…

Illinois’ mask mandate applies “even outside,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday, noting that residents should still be wearing masks even if they’re just walking down the street.

Assaulting a worker who’s enforcing a mask requirement or other public health guidance can now be prosecuted as aggravated battery under a new Illinois law Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Friday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health will file emergency rules Friday to give local health departments and law enforcement agencies “more leeway” in enforcing the state’s mask mandate and social gathering restrictions.

Illinois businesses that do not enforce public health requirements can fined up to $2,500 under a new set of emergency rules that Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that the Illinois Department of Public Health will file emergency rules aimed at helping local health and police agencies enforce the state’s mask mandate and social gathering restrictions.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is set to make an announcement Friday morning on new coronavirus guidelines in the state, according to his public schedule. Watch live at 9:30 a.m.

There are still plenty of questions surrounding how Illinois schools will return to the classroom in the fall, but one thing is clear: face coverings will be required for all.