The mandate is likely to trigger a legal battle with the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 7, which represents the city’s 12,000 rank-and-file officers.

Chicago officials added four states to the city’s COVID-19 travel advisory on Tuesday as the number of cases continues to spike with the spread of the delta variant of the virus.

City workers will “absolutely” have to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday, promising a formal announcement in “days.”

The governor institutes a full pre-K through 12 mask mandate. The city’s casino process gets delayed. The governor’s race could get a new entrant. And fire sale Cubs take on the surging Sox.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert warned Sunday that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their shots.

New evidence showing the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be more dangerous than other versions has prompted U.S. health officials to consider changing advice on how the nation fights the coronavirus, internal documents show.

Fears spike that Lollapalooza will be a super-spreader event, with thousands of locals and tourists attending amid surging delta variant cases. Meanwhile, masking mandates make a comeback. Illinois Republicans battle each other over the Jan. 6 committee hearings. And the Cubs shed their World Series stars.

Everyone in Chicago, regardless of their vaccination status should wear a mask indoors, Chicago health officials recommended Friday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added Chicago to its list of areas experiencing “substantial” transmission of the coronavirus.

Consider wearing a mask indoors, even if you’re fully vaccinated. That’s the newest recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and some experts say they expect mask mandates, not just recommendations, to return in Chicago and elsewhere.

The number of new COVID-19 infections has been steadily increasing over the past few weeks and on Wednesday surpassed 2,000 for the first time in a single day since early May, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data.

In places where the virus is surging, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that vaccinated people return to wearing masks in public indoor places.

Echoing a masking announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Illinois health officials are recommending that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in school settings and in areas where COVID-19 is spreading.

The four-day music festival is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people to Grant Park, and many are concerned it could become a “superspreader” event. But city officials say it will go on as planned. 

The United States will keep existing COVID-19 travel restrictions on international travel in place for now due to concerns about the surging infection rate because of the delta variant, according to a White House official.

The United States is in an “unnecessary predicament” of soaring COVID-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday. 

Reports of athletes, lawmakers and others getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming but top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots are doing exactly what they are supposed to: dramatically reducing severe illness and death.