Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D., announced on Tuesday that the City will remove the mask and vaccine requirements for certain public spaces on February 28 to align with the State of Illinois’ previously announced plans to lift the statewide indoor mask mandate on that day. The key metrics of the City has been used to track COVID-19 cases and hospital capacity since early in the pandemic including COVID-19 cases diagnosed per day, test positivity, and hospital and ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. As of February 21, the 7-day-rolling-average test positivity (now 1.5 percent in Chicago), hospital COVID-19 census, and ICU COVID-19 census have all reached the pre-defined “lower” risk category, meaning they have been in an acceptable lower risk range for the last week. COVID-19 lab-confirmed cases (now 283 cases per day in Chicago) remain just above the historic “lower” risk range – but this is offset by the much higher testing and very low-test positivity. Masks will continue to be required in health care settings, on public transit, and in other congregate settings.  CDPH recommends Chicagoans who may be immunocompromised or have a family member who is immunocompromised still wear a mask, as well residents under the age of 5 who are still not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Please be kind and considerate of your fellow Chicagoans and the decisions we all continue to make to protect themselves and those around them.