Had to be done since people still wont take this seriously.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has ordered Chicago's entire lakefront trail, adjacent parks, 606 Trail and Riverwalk closed, the latest sweeping measure taken by the city to curb the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
The closures were effective immediately and applied to trails, bike paths, green spaces, facilities and parks adjacent to the lakefront, Lightfoot said. Chicago police would aggressively be ramping up patrols in these areas and violators would be subject to a warning, ticket and possible arrest if they don't listen, the mayor said.
"We can't mess around with this one second longer," Lightfoot said at an afternoon news conference.
Contact sports such as football, soccer and basketball are also banned under the order, Lightfoot said.
Invoking the current crisis in New York City, Lightfoot sounded the alarm on what she said could be exponential spikes in hospitalizations over the coming weeks without drastic measures.
"We could be expecting upward of 40,000 hospitalizations in the coming weeks," Lightfoot said, noting it would "break our health care system."
"That is why, if you don't act responsibly and stay at home like you have been ordered to do, we are headed for a situation like we are seeing play out catastrophically every day in New York," Lightfoot said.
As Illinois sees largest daily increase in coronavirus cases, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot bans contact sports; closes popular city parks, beaches and trails
The city’s lakefront trail, parks and beaches are closed, Chicago aldermen said in messages to constituents and social media posts.
www.chicagotribune.com