Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, has announced a coronavirus vaccination mandate for the city.

The mayor is requiring all restaurants, gyms, and entertainment venues to check vaccination statuses of guests ages 5 and older.

Employees at these establishments are not subjected to the vaccine mandate but are required to partake in weekly coronavirus testing and wearing a mask while working.

NEW – Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposes a vaccine mandate for restaurants, bars, gyms, and other indoor venues starting Jan 3.pic.twitter.com/RvQ9LamsU6

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 21, 2021

“If you have been living vaccine-free, your time is up. If you wish to live life with the ease to do the things you love, you must be vaccinated.

This health order may pose an inconvenience to the unvaccinated, and in fact it is inconvenient by design,” Mayor Lightfoot said during the press conference.

“I have not been this concerned about COVID-19 since the early days of the pandemic in 2020,” Lightfoot said, though there has been one death from the Omicron variant.

Governor J.B. Pritzker reinstated Illinois’s mask mandate in late August for indoor, public locations.

We didn’t want it to get to this point, but given the situation we find ourselves in, we have no choice.

Beginning Jan. 3, you must show proof you are fully vax’d to enter bars, restaurants, fitness centers, and entertainment/recreational venues where food/drink are served. https://t.co/Zelw59mXQ1

— Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) December 21, 2021

These new restrictions will be implemented starting January 3, 2022.

Mayor Lightfoot had tried to implement a coronavirus vaccine mandate earlier this year on Chicago police officers, which had been temporarily blocked by Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell.