Mask Mandate In Effect In Cook County
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's back to masking up for anyone living or working in suburban Cook County. Health officials are hoping a reinstated indoor mask mandate helps reduce the number of COVID-19 cases, especially those caused by the more contagious delta variant.
CBS 2's Meredith Barack shows us how businesses think it could impact them.
Signs are going up in businesses across suburban Cook County on Monday as the reinstated mask mandate is officially underway.
Every customer coming and going from Louie's Grill in Forest Park had their masks on this morning.
It will be the same scene at restaurants, bars, grocery stores, retail establishments, movie theaters, and gyms across Cook County as of today.
Businesses are being required to post signage that states that masks are required inside. The co-owner of Louie's Grill says most customers have been prepared so far.
"When they come in, I say, 'Please put a mask on.' If they don't, we give them a mask for a dollar, and no problem," Ellen Politis said.
The mask mandate is for anyone over the age of two, regardless of vaccination status.
"We are in a dangerous period, with the delta variant surging, during which we must return to previous remediation measures. We have no choice but to mandate that people wear masks indoors to help contain this spread of the virus," said Dr. Rachel Rubin senior medical officer at the Cook County Department of Public Health.
Politis says she isn't worried about how customers may react to the requirement this time around.
"I think people are used to it, because we've been through this before. At the beginning was the most difficult for everybody, but now everybody's on board," she said.
An indoor mask mandate went into effect in Chicago on Friday. The state is also requiring masks inside all public and private schools. A mask mandate on public transportation has been in place since close to the start of the pandemic.
