Hydrate’s new safety measure follows a plea from Howard Brown Health, the city’s largest LGBTQ provider, for business leaders in the Northalsted neighborhood to implement strict COVID precautions for the upcoming Market Days street festival and Pride Parade. But bars in the neighborhood stopped checking for vaccine cards once the city fully reopened in mid-June. The bar was one of the first Northalsted nightclubs to reopen its dance floor and start checking vaccination cards in May, when COVID-19 restrictions loosened.

Hydrate’s announcement comes as Chicago’s positivity rate and average number of daily new coronavirus cases have spiked in recent weeks and surges are being recorded around the country.