The steep decline in COVID-19 cases around the United States is reflected in the Chicago Department of Public Health's (CDPH) weekly COVID-19 travel advisory, as five states and territories were removed from the advisory on March 1.
Another 13 states could be removed next week.
The following states and territories were removed from the latest advisory: District of Columbia, Nebraska, Ohio, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
For any state or territory to be removed from the travel advisory, it must have a daily COVID-19 case rate of under 15 for two consecutive weeks. There are 13 states with daily case rates below 15 on March 1 that could be removed from the advisory next week.
The U.S. average daily case rate per 100,000 residents is 18.8 (23.6 last week). Illinois' daily case rate currently is 14.7 (13.5 last week, 33.8 two weeks ago). Chicago's daily case rate is 7.6 (10.3 last week).