Chicago moved to the “high” level of the COVID-19 community on Thursday night, officials said as the city prepares for about 1.4 million people to visit Chicago over Remembrance Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer season.
The development affects areas that include Chicago, Cook County and surrounding counties in northeastern Illinois, as well as counties around Peoria, according to an email from the Illinois Department of Public Health. An additional 30 counties in Illinois are already rated at the community average, according to the CDC.
The counties listed at the high community level are Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Will, Grundi, Boone, Lee and Winnebago in northern Illinois and Fulton, Knox, Henderson, Mason, Peoria and Taiswell in central Illinois, the statement said. .
But the new designation will not lead to the reinstatement of mask mandates or vaccine requirements, officials told a news conference earlier Thursday because the city’s health system remains “stable”. Instead, officials stressed the importance of voluntarily wearing masks in public places indoors again, as well as getting vaccinated and reinforced.
“As we approach summer and the long Remembrance Day holiday weekend, it’s important for our city to safely welcome and reassure visitors, as well as our residents, that we are taking public health measures,” said the Chicago Department of Business and Business. on consumer protection Kenneth Meyer. “As a doctor, I will simply repeat that we are not restoring the mandate of the requirements for masks or vaccines, because the health care system in Chicago remains stable. However, as cases remain high, we strongly encourage residents and visitors to wear masks. … I also encourage everyone to get vaccinated and get booster vaccines as soon as possible. ”
Earlier on Thursday, eight other Illinois counties were currently reporting high transmission rates, including Champaign and neighboring Ford, as well as Winnebago, Stevenson and Boone counties in the Rockford area.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Alison Aruadi said the city was “pretty confident” that hospital admission was the reason Cook County, including Chicago, shifted to a higher risk than the metrics used by the CDC.
Dr. Alison Aruadi, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, February 22, 2022 (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Last week, the county had 9.8 new admissions per 100,000, according to the database. When a region reaches 10 new weekly intakes per 100,000, the CDC considers them “high risk”.
“The CDC looks at the whole field of health services when it looks at things like hospitalizations,” Aruadi said. “With the latest updates, the city of Chicago is reporting an average of 290 cases per 100,000. In the last seven days, anything over 200 is above target, but you can see that Cook County as a whole is 367.”
The Midwest region is now among those with the highest COVID-19 cases in the country, and Aruadi said that’s because the Midwest is doing more testing in the South, and also because “we’re going through this soft option (on the omicron ) now “
The CDC categorizes areas as having low, medium, or high levels of community transmission based on the number of hospital admissions and the use of inpatient beds.
Aruadi advised people to avoid crowded gatherings indoors, to get tested if they show any symptoms of flu or COVID, and to make a preventive treatment plan with a primary care physician for people with weakened immune systems.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer booster for children ages 5 to 11, although children in this age group are generally lagging behind when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations.
As the number of cases increases, the FDA is ready to review data from Moderna and Pfizer studies in children aged 6 months to 5 years on June 15, a long-awaited step towards authorizing a vaccine for the youngest and last age group.
tmijares@chicagotribune.com
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