Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tests positive for COVID-19

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday that she has tested positive for COVID-19. Lightfoot announced her test results only one day after reaching a tentative deal with Chicago public school teachers over COVID-19 protocols in schools. 

"I am experiencing cold-like symptoms but otherwise feel fine which I credit to being vaccinated and boosted," Lightfoot tweeted. "I will continue to work from home while following the CDC guidelines for isolation."

Lightfoot was publicly vaccinated in January 2021, and encouraged other Chicago residents to get the vaccine and additional booster shots. 

"This is an urgent reminder for folks to get vaccinated and boosted as it's the only way to beat this pandemic," she said Tuesday.

The news comes as the city of Chicago grapples with the spread of the Omicron variant following the holiday season. On December 31, the city hit a daily positivity rate of 21.3%, a peak that hasn't been recorded in the city since May 2020. 

The rise in cases prompted a battle between the city and its teachers' union. After teachers tried to switch to remote learning, classes were cancelled and teachers were locked out of online platforms and had their pay witheld for days they didn't come to school in person.  

"This has been a very unpleasant experience," union president Jesse Sharkey said Monday, according to CBS Chicago. "The [union] felt like we were asking for a set of reasonable things – obviously as teachers who have been in buildings since the beginning of the school year."

After negotiations between district officials, Lightfoot and teachers, leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union tentatively agreed to come back to school after a new set of COVID-19 protocols were implemented. The new protocols include testing 10% of students weekly, clearer metrics for what positivity rates will trigger online learning and an agreement to provide students and staff with KN95 masks, CBS Chicago reports. 

Teachers are expected to begin in-person instruction on Wednesday, but the agreement has yet to be ratified by the full union. 

Jordan Freiman contributed to reporting