Evanston has reinstated an indoor mask mandate across the city for all residents regardless of vaccination status, the city announced Tuesday. 

The mandate, which will go into effect Friday, follows the latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. The announcement also comes a day after the Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the first among available COVID-19 vaccines to receive that approval status.

Businesses and other venues will be required to post signage indicating they are following the mask requirement, according to the release. The mandate will remain in place until city health officials determine COVID-19’s threat to public health has diminished sufficiently.

“With an increase in COVID-19 cases both locally and nationally, combined with the threat posed by the highly contagious Delta variant, we must use every tool at our disposal to slow the spread of COVID-19,” Health & Human Services Director Ike Ogbo said in the Tuesday release. “In addition to getting vaccinated, wearing a face covering in indoor public spaces is one of the most effective ways we can protect ourselves and others.”

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