CHICAGO—The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) reported weekly COVID-19 statistics today and Chicago’s level on the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) COVID-19 Community Levels index remains at high. However, case rates are beginning to gradually decrease, and severe outcomes from COVID-19, including hospitalizations and deaths, remain low compared to other points in the pandemic.

CDPH continues to strongly urge everyone to wear masks in indoor public settings, stay up to date on COVID-19 vaccines including all recommended boosters, and avoid non-essential indoor gatherings for people who are at high risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19. If you are experiencing any COVID-like symptoms, get tested and stay home. Continue to follow quarantine and isolation guidelines. Chicagoans with underlying conditions or who are older should also seek early treatment if they are diagnosed with COVID-19 to decrease the risk of hospitalization. 

“Case counts are high in Chicago, as they are in many other parts of the country, but it does look like cases are gradually decreasing and I am hopeful that they will continue to go down,” said Allison Arwady, M.D., CDPH Commissioner. “The best news is that all of the variants we are detecting locally continue to be Omicron and thanks to vaccination, severe outcomes like hospitalizations and deaths remain low and our hospital system continues to have capacity. This means we are unlikely to need to reinstate mask mandates in the near future. But there is still a lot of COVID transmission in Chicago right now, so please wear your mask indoors, especially in any larger gathering. And, of course, stay up to date with your vaccines--including boosters. Finally, if you are experiencing any symptoms, take a COVID-19 test right away so you don’t inadvertently infect others.”

CDPH strongly encourages all Chicagoans age 5 and older to get a COVID-19 booster dose five months after their initial vaccine series. In addition, adults 50 and older, as well as individuals 12 years and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, should receive a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, four months after the first booster. You are only considered up to date on COVID-19 vaccination if you have received all booster doses when eligible.

The City continues to offer free Pfizer vaccines, including first and second boosters, to all Chicagoans through Protect Chicago At Home. Schedule an appointment at your home, on your schedule (including evenings and weekends) through chicago.gov/athome or by calling 312-746-4835. All COVID-19 vaccines including boosters are offered at no cost, with no insurance and no government ID required. For more information about COVID-19 vaccines in Chicago, visit Chicago.gov/COVIDvax.

COVID-19 RISK

CDPH uses CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels to gauge the level of risk here in Chicago and updates data weekly.   

CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels can be Low, Medium, or High and are determined by looking at the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area; new local COVID-19 hospital admissions; and local ​hospital beds being used by COVID-19 patients. Chicago metrics are calculated based on Chicago-level data (data as of 6/7/2022). Cook County metrics are calculated by the CDC and posted on the CDC Community Levels website (data as of 6/2/2022). 

BY THE NUMBERS

COVID-19 case counts have slowed and begun to decrease slightly, although they remain high. Over the last week, an average of 915 Chicagoans each day had a positive laboratory test for COVID-19, down from an average of 1,078 new cases per day the week prior. An average of 29 Chicagoans are being hospitalized with COVID-19 each day and an average of four to five Chicagoans are dying from COVID-19 per week, still nearly the lowest rate of the pandemic.

Current test positivity is 6%, up slightly from the rate of 5.9% last week. As a reminder, test positivity now has a reduced utility due to the widespread use of point-of-care and at-home tests. That is why the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels do not rely on percent positivity to measure the impact of COVID-19 illness on communities.

All Chicago hospitals combined report 222 hospitalized patients right now with confirmed COVID-19: 195 non-ICU patients and 27 ICU patients across the whole system of more than 30 hospitals. For comparison, at the peak of the initial Omicron surge in early January 2022, Chicago had nearly 10 times as many patients hospitalized with COVID-19: more than 1600 non-ICU beds plus more than 300 ICU beds across Chicago hospitals were occupied by patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.

Additional data is available on the City’s COVID-19 dashboard at https://chi.gov/coviddash.

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