Chicago's sports teams haven't hosted fans at games since returning to play from COVID-19 shutdowns last year, and it appears that is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
“We’re definitely making good progress here, but we are still not even below that 400-case mark and that 5 percent positivity [rate] that really mark our danger zone here in Chicago,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, the Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner, on Tuesday.
“Where I think about fans in stands, that is months away, realistically.
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Chicago's COVID-19 positivity rate stood at 5.6 percent Tuesday evening, according to the city's COVID dashboard, down from 6.3 on Jan. 25 and 10.6 percent on Jan. 1. The city is averaging 561 new cases a day, down from 672 a week prior.
The Bulls and Blackhawks have played without fans at the United Center since their seasons started in December. Their regular-season schedules are slated to wrap up in May.
The Cubs and White Sox played in front of no fans all last season and it's unclear whether any spectators will be in attendance to start the 2021 season. The Cubs host the Pirates on Opening Day (April 1), while the White Sox home opener is April 8 against the Royals.
NFL
The Bears hosted no fans in eight games at Soldier Field this past fall.
Arwady said she's optimistic the city will be able to reopen further as it makes progress in lowering coronavirus case counts and rolling out the vaccine, "but we’re going to have to be doing that in a way that’s cautious, and I really can’t predict months from now where we will be."
Arwady added: "I'm feeling optimistic based on the way things are going right now, but if i've learned [anything] in more than a year of doing COVID, it's that it is right to look at the information that we have right now, make our decisions based on the information that we have now and not try to predict many, many months into the future.
"Things are all heading in the right direction right now."