CHICAGO – COVID-19 case rates continue to decline in Chicago and Cook County according to the latest Community Level metrics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced today. CDPH continues to encourage residents to be cautious and advises them to get the new, updated COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they’re eligible.

Chicago and Cook County are still at the Medium Level on CDC metrics, but the highly transmissible omicron subvariants BA.4/BA.5 continue to dominate. The updated vaccines, known as “bivalent boosters,” better protect against BA.4/BA.5 and will be available next week in Chicago. Details about the updated vaccine and where to find it can be found at Chicago.gov/COVIDvax.

The number of new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days across Cook County was 158 (down from 167 last week), and the number of new weekly hospital admissions per 100,000 population was 11.3 (11.8 last week). The percentage of staffed inpatient beds in Cook County in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19 was 4.5 percent (4.7 percent last week).

Case rates in Chicago continue to decline as well, while percentage of staffed beds occupied by COVID-19 patients remains steady. The City’s COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 population is 132 (141 last week and 183 three weeks ago), and the percentage of hospital beds occupied by patients with COVID-19 is 4.2 percent (same as last week).  

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, cases continue to gradually decline as well, although approximately 68 percent of United States counties are still at either the Medium or High Level. In Illinois, 30 of the state’s 102 counties remain at a High COVID-19 Level, while the rest have moved back to Medium or Low. 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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