Portions of Albany Park, Lincoln Square, Irving Park and North Center are slated for mosquito spraying Wednesday to protect residents against West Nile virus, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. 

Chicago public health officials reported 467 opioid-related deaths in January through June 2021, compared with 573 during the first six months of 2020 — an 18.5% decrease. About 90% of the incidents involved fentanyl, officials said.

Everyone in Chicago, regardless of their vaccination status, must wear a mask indoors starting Friday, Chicago’s top doctor announced Tuesday. The mandate comes amid the city’s fourth surge in COVID-19 infections, driven by the more transmissible delta variant.

Just over 200 people who attended the four-day music festival have tested positive during the 14 days since the event kicked off in Grant Park on July 29, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Public Health.

The advisory now covers 31 states — including those that border Illinois — as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. Unvaccinated visitors to Chicago from those states are urged to quarantine for 10 days or record a negative test within 72 hours of their arrival, officials said.

The more transmissible delta variant now accounts for approximately 44% of all confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Chicago, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Department of Public Health.

Chicago officials have reinstated the city’s COVID-19 travel advisory as cases spike with the spread of the delta variant of the virus in Missouri and Arkansas. The order had been suspended for 42 days.

The infected mosquitoes were found in the O’Hare and Beverly community areas, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Between 2012 and 2017, the life expectancy gap grew from 8.3 years to 9.2 years, according to a recently released report, which found that Black Chicagoans on average live 71.4 years, while their non-Black counterparts live an average of 80.6 years.

Chicagoans ages 12 and up who choose to get vaccinated at home will get their shot for free and a $50 gift card from food delivery company GrubHub, officials said.

Black Chicagoans die more than nine years sooner than other Chicagoans, a gap caused by systemic racism that is only growing, according to a report released this week by the Chicago Department of Public Health.

The city’s travel order has been suspended since June 1, when seven states moved from the orange tier to the less-restrictive yellow tier.

At least 15 cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant were identified in Chicago through Tuesday, city officials said. 

City officials are targeting the 13 Chicago neighborhoods that have the lowest rate of vaccination as part of a push to bring the life-saving shots directly to those most at risk of falling ill and dying from COVID-19.

For the first time in nearly a year, visitors to Chicago from anywhere within the United States do not have to quarantine for 10 days or record a negative test for COVID-19, city officials announced Tuesday.

After two months and 42,000 jabs, the city-run mass vaccination site near Wrigley Field will close Saturday, as efforts to bring a COVID-19 vaccine directly to residents ramp up, officials said.