Chicago & Midwest CRE News In Your Inbox.
Sign up for Connect emails to stay informed with CRE stories that are 150 words or less.
Lightfoot Sees Downtown Office Workers Returning by February
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she expects the Omicron variant to peak in Chicago by mid-January and downtown Chicago office workers to be back in force shortly afterward.
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Lightfoot said her administration’s proof-of-vaccine requirement for entering restaurants, bars and gyms, which took effect Monday, was warranted by the “massive community spread” Chicago has seen.
“There’s a lot of ancillary businesses that depend upon that foot traffic” from downtown office workers, Lightfoot said. “All of those businesses have taken a hit because we’re not seeing the traffic of people coming downtown and working.”
The Chicago Sun-Times quoted Lightfoot as telling the CNBC interviewer, “We continue to work with our business partners to do everything we can to get their workforces vaccinated.” She continued, “I think we’ll get people back to work by the end of January going into February.”
- ◦Economy
