page_title: Lori Lightfoot
section_title: 2020 coronavirus pandemic
hierarchical_section_title: Lori Lightfoot / Mayor of Chicago / Tenure / Public safety and police / 2020 coronavirus pandemic
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of the Illinois Air National Guard assemble medical equipment at the McCormick Place Convention Center in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago, Ill., April 8, 2020. Approximately 60 members of the Illinois Air National Guard were activated to support the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to temporarily convert part of the McCormick Place Convention Center into an Alternate Care Facility (ACF) for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms who do not require intensive care in the Chicago area. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Jay Grabiec)
context_page_description: Lori Elaine Lightfoot is an American attorney and politician who serves as the 56th mayor of Chicago since 2019. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown and held various government positions in the City of Chicago. Most notably, she served as president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. Lightfoot ran for Mayor of Chicago in 2019, advancing to a runoff election against Toni Preckwinkle in the February 2019 election. She defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff on April 2, 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
  Lightfoot is the first openly gay African-American woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States. She is the first openly LGBT person, the first African-American woman, the second woman, and the third African-American—after Harold Washington and Eugene Sawyer—to be mayor of Chicago.
context_section_description: Amid the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States, Lightfoot is taking a number of actions aimed at quelling the severity of the outbreak in Chicago. On March 11, 2020, Lightfoot joined Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to announce the postponement of the city's formal Saint Patrick's Day festivities (including parades and the dyeing of the Chicago River). On March 12, 2020, Lightfoot again joined Pritzker to announce new mandates which, among other things, banned events attended by more than 1,000 people from being held over the next 30 days.
  On March 15, 2020, Lightfoot criticized the long lines at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as a result of federal government travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic as "utterly unacceptable". Under the federal government's travel restrictions, authorized passengers could only take flights from 26 permitted European nations to a total of thirteen permitted United States airports, of which O'Hare was one. The same day, Lightfoot also announced that, due to concerns surrounding Saint Patrick's Day festivities, the city would enforce that all businesses selling liquor must have less than half of their regular maximum capacity, and must additionally not exceed a capacity of 100 people.
  On March 20, 2020, Lightfoot extended Chicago Public School closures beyond what had already been mandated by the State of Illinois. Chicago Department of Health Commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, had signed a public health order under which those with the COVID-19 illness or exhibiting symptoms, with few exceptions, could not leave their place of residence, go to work or any group settings. The order allowed sick residents to seek essential services, such as necessary clinical care/evaluation, and life sustaining needs, such as medicine and food. Lightfoot declared that anyone who violated this order may be issued a citation.
  On March 27, Lightfoot placed a ban on contact sport and closed the city's parks, beaches, and trails due to instances over the previous days of people violating the state's stay-at-home order and gathering in public places.
  On March 31, 2020, Lightfoot announced that she had secured 300 hotel rooms in the city's downtown to house first responders, which they could use so that they would not need to go to their homes and risk spreading COVID-19 to their families.
  Lightfoot's administration worked with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to establish a makeshift hospital at McCormick Place.
  On April 7, Lightfoot signed an executive order which further ensured that undocumented immigrants would not be excluded from receiving city benefits, opportunities, and services. Similar protections already largely existed under the Welcoming City Ordinance, which had been passed during her predecessor's mayoralty.
  On April 8, Lightfoot announced a curfew on liquor sales to take effect the next day. This was to cut down on congregating outside of liquor stores.
  In early April, Lightfoot partnered with Chicago's professional sports teams to launch the "We Are Not Playing" public service announcement campaign.
  In early April, Lightfoot drew criticism for getting her hair cut despite social distancing guidelines. She argued that she was justified in doing so, saying, "I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye."
  Lightfoot has participated in enforcing the state's stay-at-home order, personally partaking in patrolling the city and confronting violators.
  Lightfoot-centric internet memes arose during the coronavirus outbreak, first gaining popularity in late-March amid Lightfoot's no-nonsense approach to enforcing the state's stay-at-home order.
caption: Members of the Illinois Air National Guard work to convert McCormick Place into a makeshift hospital
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