CHICAGO – Chicago and Cook County moved into the Medium COVID-19 Community Level from High today based on the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reflecting a dropping number of new cases and lower hospitalization rates in the region for COVID related illness.

“We have been trending in the right direction of late with lower case rates and very few hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19, so we’re happy to see this,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D. “But COVID-19 is still with us. We continue to recommend masking indoors and that the medically vulnerable in particular continue to take precautions to protect themselves from infection. We’re not close to being out of this yet.”

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. They were developed to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest local COVID-19 data. Travelers should review CDPH’s travel guidance and check the CDC map to know whether the areas they are visiting are Low, Medium, or High risk for COVID-19 and take proper precautions. The CDC recently announced that international travelers to the U.S. are no longer required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 viral test before boarding their flight to the U.S.

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 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.

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

Chicago data will be updated on CDPH’s website at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

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

Nationwide, COVID Community Levels have fallen slightly from last week, and geographically the balance has shifted from the Northeast and New England to the Southwest and Mid-Atlantic states, and Florida. As recently as early May, much of the area from New York to Maine was in the High COVID-19 level. As of Thursday, most of the Northeast and New England were in the Low or Medium level, while most of Florida was in the High range.

Last week, over 42 percent of the U.S. was at a Medium or High COVID Community Level. This week, 39.6 percent of the U.S. is at a Medium or High level. A total of 25 of Illinois’ 102 counties are now at a High Level, down from 32 last week. Cook County is one of 39 Illinois counties now at a Medium Level. Lake, DuPage, and Kane counties are also now at Medium Levels. Will, Kankakee, and Kendall counties remain at a High Level.

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