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, but CDPH continues to encourage residents to be cautious. 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 number of new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days across Cook County was 168 (down from 192 last week and 244 two weeks ago), and the number of new weekly hospital admissions per 100,000 population was 13.1 percent (last week was 13.3). The percentage of staffed inpatient beds in Cook County in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19 was 4.9 percent (the same as last week).

Case rates and hospitalization 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 157 (183 last week and 203 two weeks ago), its COVID-19 hospitalization rate per 100,000 population is 2.2 percent (5.0 last week), and the percentage of hospital beds occupied by patients with COVID-19 is 4.6 percent (4.3 last week).

"The data are moving in a good direction, but COVID-19 is still with us,” said CDPH Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Seo, MD. “Everyone, including students as school starts, should get vaccinated and boosted if they haven’t already. And we continue to encourage masking in indoor public settings.”

The City of Chicago continues to offer at home appointments for vaccines and boosters for everyone aged 6 months and up. To make an at home vaccination appointment, call (312) 746-4835 or register at chicago.gov/athome. Appointments are available 4 days a week, Saturday through Tuesday – 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m, and everyone 6 months old and up is eligible. Those age 5 and older may be eligible for a $50 gift card through August 30 while supplies last. Everyone who receives a booster dose may receive a gift card regardless of where they live; those receiving a first or second dose are eligible for a gift card if they live in one of the following zip codes: 60608, 60612, 60617, 60619, 60620, 60621, 60624, 60628, 60633, 60636, 60637, 60644, 60649, 60651, and 60653, as well as Chicago residents who live in 60827 and 60707.

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 75 percent of United States counties are at either the Medium or High Level, but the number of counties at the High Level is down by 5.77 percent from last week. While much of Illinois remains at a Medium or High Level, 21 of the state’s 102 counties have moved back to a Low COVID-19 Level. 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 information, visit Chicago.gov/COVID.

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