On Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that beginning January 3, residents will need to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19 to enter most indoor spaces in the city. Employees of all of these businesses will need to be vaccinated with the experimental COVID-19 vaccines, or wear face masks and provide a weekly negative COIVD test to continue to be employed.
“Today, we are announcing that beginning on January 3, you must show proof that you are fully vaccinated to enter bars, restaurants, fitness centers, and entertainment and recreational venues where food or drink are served,” Lightfoot said at a press conference.
“We didn’t want it to get to this point, but given the situation we find ourselves in, we have no choice,” Lightfoot explained.
The list of businesses affected includes movie theaters, music and concert venues, live-performance venues, adult-entertainment venues, commercial event and party venues, sports arenas, performing-arts theaters, bowling alleys, arcades, card rooms, family-entertainment centers, play areas, pool and billiard halls, and other recreational game centers.
“We know historically and from data, these are the places that are the most risky places for spread, which is why we’re focused on them,” said Lightfoot.
So, basically, any indoor public space excluding “houses of worship, K-12 schools, grocery stores, office buildings and residential buildings” will be off limits to the unvaxxed. Those places could be next, however, as Lightfoot has contended that she and the city government “will leave no options off the table when it comes to protecting the safety and well being of our residents.”
Anyone five years old and above must show proof of vaccination or be denied entrance. There is no testing opt-out for patrons, although there is such an exemption for employees of affected businesses.
“To be clear, I have not been this concerned about COVID-19 since the early days of the pandemic in 2020,” Lightfoot declared.
In part, Lightfoot blamed the so-called Omicron variant for the situation, saying that “the latest variant, omnicron [sic] appears to spread more easily than it’s variant counterparts.”
Lightfoot spelled out that “situation” in the Windy City: “We are now averaging over 1,700 new COVID cases in Chicago residents every single day,” the mayor explained. “And just to put that in perspective, not that long ago, within the last few weeks, we were at 300 plus cases a day and looking at a downward trend. That situation has been completely reversed, and in all the wrong ways,” Lightfoot said.
“Hospitalizations in the city are at their highest since the surge last winter. Deaths are at a higher rate than we’ve seen in months. And on top of this, we can expect a post holiday surge in cases,” the mayor proclaimed.
The new order will stay in effect, basically, as long as Lightfoot says so: “This order will remain in effect until the city deems that the threat of COVID-19 to public health has diminished significantly, meaning when we are out of this current surge.”
Mayor Lightfoot also blamed those who have not yet taken the experimental COVID-19 vaccine for the current problem.
“Now some will ask, how long will these conditions last or will there be more extreme mitigation measure imposed? The answer lies with the unvaccinated,” Lightfoot said. “If you are unvaccinated, you are at the highest possible risk.”
“The unvaccinated are affecting the health, well being and livelihoods of all the rest of us,” Lightfoot said.
The mayor then issued an ultimatum to the unvaccinated population of her city: “If you wish to live life as normally as possible, with the ease to do the things that you love, you must be vaccinated in the City of Chicago starting January 3.”
“This health order may pose an inconvenience to the unvaccinated. And, in fact, it’s inconvenient by design,” Lightfoot admitted.
Lightfoot has become extremely adept at selling fear as a reason to give up freedom — something history has warned us many times not to do. The Chinese virus is the gift that keeps on giving for those who love and support authoritarianism. And Lightfoot seems to enjoy actively pronouncing measures that place a heavy anchor on liberty.
Dictators throughout history would be proud.
