Hoosier hiatus? Chicagoans ‘strongly advised’ to avoid Indiana as Illinois adds 1,617 more coronavirus cases

As Illinois reported another set of relatively low coronavirus infection numbers Tuesday, Chicago officials urged residents to avoid visiting Indiana as cases tick up in that state.

Adding COVID-19 cases at an average rate of 17 per 100,000 residents each day, the Hoosier State is on the city’s warning list for now — but it will land on the travel quarantine list if Indiana is “unable to bring down the daily case average in the next week,” according to the city Department of Public Health.

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“Chicago residents are strongly advised to not travel to Indiana,” agency officials said in a statement.

Still, Illinois has logged infections at a similar clip — 16 new cases per 100,000 residents per day — meeting the city’s own criteria for the quarantine order that currently applies to 22 “hot spot” states plus Puerto Rico.

But Chicago’s infection rates have slowed considerably compared to most of the rest of Illinois.

Statewide, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,617 more people were confirmed to carry the virus among the latest batch of 49,513 tests.

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That kept the state’s average testing positivity rate over the last week at 3.4%. Indiana is at 4.9%, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

Chicago’s regional positivity rate is 4.3%, while its closest Hoosier neighbor — Lake County, Indiana — is at 4.8%.

Meanwhile, Illinois’ own hotspot regions are well beyond the Chicago area. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has imposed indoor dining bans in the downstate Metro East region and in the northwest corner of the state, where average positivity rates are up to 6.9% and 8.5%, respectively.

State health officials on Tuesday also attributed 32 more Illinois deaths to the virus, raising the pandemic death toll to 8,836.

Overall, nearly 6 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in Illinois, and more than 305,000 have tested positive since March.

As of Monday night, Illinois hospitals were treating 1,673 coronavirus patients, with 384 receiving intensive care and 159 using ventilators.

Some informal warnings have been issued to people who have flouted Chicago’s order to self-isolate for two weeks after traveling to any of the states considered hot spots — but no fines have been issued.

Still on the quarantine list is Wisconsin, which is adding a whopping 43 new cases per 100,000 residents per day, the third-highest rate in the nation behind North and South Dakota.

The other states currently on the list are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.