(Reuters) -Chicago will require patrons to present proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for entry to restaurants, bars, gyms and some other indoor spaces, effective Jan. 3, amid a surge of new cases, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Tuesday.
The move, which mirrors similar requirements imposed in other cities, was aimed at safeguarding the city’s healthcare system from a post-holiday surge of cases from the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Lightfoot said.
“This is what we have to do to keep our health system from becoming overwhelmed by this new wave,” the mayor said at a briefing. “I have not been this concerned about COVID-19 since the early days of the pandemic in 2020.”
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Aurora Ellis)
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