CDPH: Chicago sees slight decrease in COVID-19 cases

After several weeks of rising COVID-19 metrics, the Chicago Department of Public Health said Tuesday the city is starting to see a downturn in cases.

The seven-day average for new daily cases is 939, down 12 percent from the prior week, while the number of new cases per 100,000 people is 237.

The seven-day average for daily hospitalizations is 29, down four from the prior week. The average for daily deaths remains below one.

“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,” CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in a statement. “I am hopeful that they will continue to go down.”

She said that all of the variants detected locally continue to be omicron. There is no plan to reinstate an indoor mask mandate, she added.

Nineteen Illinois counties, including Cook County, are at “high” COVID-19 transmission risk, the level at which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people mask indoors in public spaces. An additional 31 counties are now rated at the “medium” risk level.

As of Monday, 1,218 Illinoisans were in the hospital with COVID-19, up 27 from Sunday and up 55 from the prior week.

Of the patients in the hospital, 111 were in intensive care units, down five from Sunday and up two from the prior week. Twenty-two percent of Illinois’ ICU beds were available, the same as the prior week.

There were 33 patients on ventilators, down three from Sunday and down 15 from the prior week.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 4,861 new COVID-19 cases and 18 deaths on Tuesday. The new cases bring the state total to 3,337,641, while the death toll is at 33,883.

The seven-day average for new cases on Tuesday was 5,032, up 109 from the prior week. The seven-day average for daily deaths is 10, up six from the prior week.

The seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is 39.5, up 0.9 from the prior week.

Illinois vaccinators have administered 22,443,347 COVID-19 vaccines, including 4,547,372 booster doses. The seven-day average for doses administered is 12,328.