Great news for Cubs and White Sox fans hoping to get closer to the full experience Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field offer. According to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago will join the rest of Illinois in moving to Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois COVID-19 plan.
“Because you've masked up, socially distanced and got vaccinated, we're now moving to Phase 5 on Friday, June 11 in alignment with the state,” Lightfoot tweeted Thursday morning. “This means Chicago is scheduled to fully reopen.”
Per the Restore Illinois website, Phase 5 includes the following:
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
- All sectors of the economy reopen with businesses, schools, and recreation resuming normal operations with new safety guidance and procedures.
- Conventions, festivals, and large events can take place.
This means both the Cubs and the White Sox will be able to allow 100% capacity at baseball games, starting next Friday. However this isn’t a guarantee that things will remain completely open going forward. If there’s an uptick in hospital admissions for COVID-19, a mortality rate trend increasing and above 0.1 daily average, or if ICU bed availability dips below 20%, the city and state could move back to a previous phase.
In Region 11, Chicago’s region, positivity rates have gradually decreased down to 1.9% on May 31. The rolling average of hospital beds in use for COVID-19 patients has decreased as well. As of June 2, 308 beds were in use for COVID-19 patients. Meanwhile the availability of ICU beds has increased, up to 26% on June 2.
