Lightfoot: Chicago starting to bend COVID-19 curve

Chicago has begun to flatten its curve of COVID-19 cases, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday, pointing to newly released data.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the city has seen a significant slow-down in the rate of cases “doubling.” Just over a month ago, she said cases in the city were doubling every other day. Now, the cases are doubling every 12 days.

“All of you staying home has, in fact, saved lives,” Arwady said. “But we are a long way from done.”

Lightfoot said roughly 40 percent of the city’s intensive care unit beds are currently occupied by COVID-19 patients, and one-quarter of ICU beds in Chicago remain open. As of Tuesday, half of the city’s ventilators are still available.

There have been 9,666 cases and 347 deaths in Chicago. Officials said that number could have been significantly higher if not for the state’s stay-at-home order and other steps to keep people from congregating in large groups.

Had there been no intervention, Arwady said the early trends would have placed the city at around 1.5 million COVID-19 cases and nearly 50,000 deaths as of now.

Arwady and Lightfoot both stressed that, though the curve is flattening, the number of cases continue to rise. Until that number begins to drop and the city can increase testing capacity and take other steps to prevent another huge spike that could overwhelm hospital, Lightfoot said current restrictions will stay in place.

“We’re not where we need to get in terms of thinking about, in my view, lifting the (stay-at-home order), although ultimately that’s the governor’s call,” she said. “But we do think it’s important to let Chicagoans know why staying home is not just a catchphrase, but it’s something that we believe is vitally important from a public health standpoint.”

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