CHICAGO, Ill. – Governor JB Pritzker has lifted a number of COVID-19 mandates, while stating that there are some issued by the CDC that are still in effect.
Pritzker Monday announced that weekly COVID testing for unvaccinated and long-term care workers is no longer in effect, and face coverings are no longer required in healthcare facilities.
It is still recommended in areas where there may be high community transmission.
Perhaps the biggest and most controversial mandate is also being lifted — the one that also required COVID vaccines for long-term and healthcare employees.
Federal rules still require vaccination of workers at Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities.
“Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our health care workers and residents, Illinois has done better at keeping our people safe with vaccines, boosters, and masking, which puts us in a position to continue to scale back health care requirements in line with the CDC,” said Governor JB Pritzker, in a news release. “COVID-19 is on its way to becoming endemic, like the flu, but it still poses a real threat to our immunocompromised and disabled communities. Here in Illinois, we look out for one another—it’s what defines us as Illinoisans. Let us continue to live up to those ideals by masking up and testing when we have symptoms and getting COVID-19 booster shots—as I recently did—so that we can protect our neighbors.”
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