North Cook News

Those who want to eat at Schaumburg’s Woodfield Mall must be vaccinated for COVID.

The mall’s security staff began checking vaccination status for those 5 years old and above before entering the shopping complex’s food court beginning Jan. 3.

To enter the food court a person has to show proof of vaccination. Non-vaccinated people are not allowed to enter and eat.

| Wikimedia Commons

The change occurs amid calls for boycotts of establishments requiring vaccine proof.  

Woodfield Mall did not publicize the change.

Like most malls in the United States over the past two decades, the Woodfield Mall has been losing ground as it struggles to compete with online retailers.

The anchor Sears store — the last in Illinois — recently closed its doors.

The mall has recently struggled with security issues. In October an armed carjacking occurred on its property. A shooting also occurred at the mall’s carnival in June of last year.

In October a 22-year-old man was arrested after crashing his SUV into the mall and trying to hit shoppers in an act police are deeming terrorism. 

Pew Research found that Americans are mixed on proof of vaccination to use everyday facilities like restaurants, gyms and museums.

Eighty-eight percent of unvaccinated adults reported “There’s too much pressure on Americans to get a COVID-19 vaccine”and 81 percent of unvaccinated adults responded yes to “We don’t really know yet if there are serious health risks from COVID-19 vaccines.” Another 81 percent of unvaccinated respondents agree with the statement that “Public health officials are not telling us everything they know about COVID-19 vaccines.”

An Axios-Ipsos poll found 20 percent of surveyed Americans said they're either not very likely (6%) or not at all likely (14%) to get vaccinated. This is a new low in the survey, and down from a combined 34% in March.