CHICAGO – The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced that Cook County remains at a High COVID-19 Level according to the CDC metrics, as data measuring local COVID-19 impact are virtually unchanged from last week. Nationwide, the percentage of counties at a Medium or High COVID Community Level is just over 80 percent, down slightly from 83.4 percent last week, as the highly transmissible omicron subvariants BA.4/BA.5 make up the vast majority of cases (more than 93 percent) from coast to coast.

The number of new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days across Cook County was 244 (virtually unchanged from 247 last week), and the number of new weekly hospital admissions per 100,000 population was 12.5 (12.6 last week). The percentage of staffed inpatient beds in Cook County in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19 was 4.6 percent (4.5 last week).

The City’s COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 population is 203 (down slightly from 209 last week), its COVID-19 hospitalization rate per 100,000 population is 5.6 (up from 4.9 last week), and the percentage of hospital beds occupied by patients with COVID-19 is 4.8 (steady from 4.7 last week).

"We have seen a steady state of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations for a few weeks in a row now,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D. “The omicron subvariants BA.4/BA.5 are highly contagious and continue to circulate in Chicago, but we are not seeing any spikes in cases and very few serious outcomes. Chicagoans should remain cautious, and I encourage everyone to wear masks in public indoor gatherings. As always, I am most worried about the unvaccinated and those who are not up to date with their vaccine boosters. Everyone 5 and up should be getting their booster if it has been 5 months since their initial COVID vaccine series.”

Based on the latest data from CDC, Cook County levels are as follows.

The CDC determines COVID-19 Community Levels as Low, Medium, or High, based on the number of new local COVID-19 cases, regional COVID-19 hospital admissions, and COVID-19 hospital capacity in the prior week. The Levels were developed to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest local COVID-19 data.

When the CDC updates its COVID-19 Community Levels national map each week, the City of Chicago and suburban Cook County data are combined into one weekly case metric for Cook County. Hospitalization data, in contrast, reflect a burden on the whole federally defined Health Service Area, which includes hospitals in Cook, Lake, DuPage, and McHenry counties.

CDPH also continues to track and report COVID-19 hospital burden specifically for Chicago hospitals every day on its dashboard and uses this local hospital data to make further mitigation decisions. Visit chi.gov/coviddash for the Chicago COVID-19 daily data dashboard.

COVID-19 Community Levels in the U.S. by County

Nationwide, approximately 42 percent of counties are at High Level and 39 percent are at Medium. Nine of Illinois’ 102 counties are at a Low COVID-19 Level (last week was five), with the rest Medium or High. Travelers should review CDPH’s travel guidance and check the CDC map to know whether areas they are visiting are Low, Medium, or High risk for COVID-19 and take proper precautions.

For additional COVID-19 news, see CDPH’s weekly update or visit Chicago.gov/COVID.

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