Arwady: Chicago remains in good place with COVID-19

Chicago’s top doctor said Wednesday the city remains in a good place when it comes to its COVID-19 metrics, a month after most COVID-19 mitigations ended.

Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the city has seen minimal increases in its metrics.

“I am pleased that one month after lifting the universal mask mandate and vaccine requirement for certain indoor public settings here in Chicago, the city remains in good control,” she said. “It is not surprising to see a slight increase in cases as behavior changes, but we continue to monitor this closely.”

The seven-day average for new daily cases in Chicago was 235, up 37 percent from the prior week. The seven-day test positivity rate is 1.4 percent, up 0.5 percentage points.

Chicago is averaging 11 daily COVID-related hospitalizations, up about one from the prior week.

The city, Cook County and all Illinois counties remain at low risk for the virus, according to metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Tuesday, 470 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, down 22 from Monday and down 33 from the prior week.

Of the patients in the hospital, 64 were in intensive care units, down six from Monday and down one from the prior week. There were 27 patients on ventilators, down seven from Monday and down one from the prior week.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,324 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths on Wednesday.

The new cases bring the state total to 3,066,645 while the death toll remains at 33,358.

The seven-day average for new cases on Wednesday was 1,208, up 130 from the prior week. The seven-day average for daily deaths is 11, down five from the prior week.

Both the seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a percent of total tests and the seven-day statewide test positivity using the number of COVID-19 positive tests over total tests are 1.7 percent.

About 81.1 percent of eligible Illinoisans ages 5 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 72.4 percent are fully vaccinated.

Illinois vaccinators have administered 21,347,013 COVID-19 vaccines, including 4,273,234 booster doses. The seven-day average for doses administered is 7,028.