61 Illinois counties at elevated COVID-19 risk
Federal health officials recommend indoor masking in public in five Illinois counties due to COVID-19 trends, down 25 from the prior week, according to the most recent federal data.
People at high risk of severe illness are recommended to take precautions in 56 other counties, up 11 from the prior week.
Last week, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BQ1.1 was the dominant strain of COVID-19 in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Variant proportions were:
- BQ.1.1: 44 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from the prior week.
- BQ.1: 23.4 percent, down 1.9 percentage points.
- XBB.1.5: 14 percent, up 5.8 percentage points.
Other COVID-19 lineages were circulating at less than 5 percent each.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said last week she remains pleased that the region remains at “medium” risk for COVID-19, as defined by the CDC. However, she said they remain focused on the quick spread of the XBB.1.5 variant.
“The good news is that this subvariant does not appear to cause more serious illness, and the updated COVID-19 booster vaccine works well against it,” she said.
Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra echoed those concerns, saying they are seeing the XBB.1.5 variant in roughly 8 percent of clinical samples in Illinois. He added they are pleased to see the number of counties at elevated COVID-19 risk dropping after a post-holiday bump.
As of Thursday, 1,395 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, down 37 from Wednesday and down 371 from the prior week.
There have been a total of 3,997,877 cases and 35,927 deaths in Illinois.
Editor note: story updated with latest information from CDC.
