Mayor Lori Lightfoot appears on Chicago Tonight on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. (WTTW News)

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday that she has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing cold-like symptoms.

“Earlier today, I tested positive for COVID-19,” Lightfoot said in a statement. “I am experiencing cold-like symptoms but otherwise feel fine which I credit to being vaccinated and boosted. I will continue to work from home while following the CDC guidelines for isolation. This is an urgent reminder for folks to get vaccinated and boosted as it's the only way to beat this pandemic.”

Lightfoot tested positive Tuesday morning for the virus after experiencing symptoms.

That postive test result came less than 24 hours after holding a City Hall news conference, where she spoke without a mask, to announce that an agreement had been reached with the Chicago Teachers Union to allow approximately 330,000 Chicago students to return to in-person classes five days after union members voted to work remotely. 

Lightfoot refused to allow classes to be taught remotely, telling Chicagoans that schools were safe for students even with a massive surge in confirmed cases of COVID-19 driven by the omicron variant.

Employees of the mayor's office have been working remotely since Jan. 3 as part of a city policy that allows employees to work remotely with the permission of their department head as long as it does not impact the delivery of “essential city services.”

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