Chicago is expected to move to a “high” community level of COVID-19 as early as Thursday night, city officials said, with an estimated 1.4 million people visiting Chicago during the Memorial Day week, the unofficial start of the summer season. .
But the new appointment will not lead to a resumption of mask mandates or vaccine requirements, officials told a news conference Thursday because the city’s health care system remains “stable.” Instead, officials stressed the importance of voluntarily wearing masks again in indoor public settings, as well as getting vaccinated and strengthened.
“As we approach the summer and long Memorial Day holiday weekend, it’s important that our city welcomes visitors safely and assures them, as well as our residents, that we are taking steps to public health, ”said the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Kenneth Meyer, Commissioner for Consumer Protection. “As a physician, I will only reiterate that we are not re-establishing mask or vaccine requirements because the Chicago health care system remains stable. However, as cases remain high, we recommend residents and visitors to wear masks …. I also encourage everyone to get vaccinated and get the booster shot as soon as possible. “
Eight other Illinois counties are currently experiencing high levels of transmission, including Champaign County and neighboring Ford, as well as Winnebago, Stephenson and Boone counties in the Rockford area.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady said the city is “very confident” that hospital admissions are the reason why Cook County, including Chicago, is moving toward the highest risk of metrics used by the CDC.
Dr. Allison Arwady, 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, the database shows. When a region reaches 10 new weekly admissions per 100,000, the CDC considers them “high risk.”
“The CDC looks at the entire health care area when they’re looking at things like hospitalizations,” Arwady said. “With the latest updates, the city of Chicago has an average of 290 cases per 100,000. Over the past seven days, anything above 200 has exceeded the target, but you can see that Cook County in general is of 367 “.
The Midwest region is now among those with the highest COVID-19 cases in the country and Arwady said it was because the Midwest is doing more testing than the South and also because “we are overcoming this mild variant (d ‘omicron) right now. “
The CDC classifies areas as low, medium, or high levels of community transmission based on the number of cases, hospital admissions, and hospital bed use.
Arwady recommended that people avoid crowded meetings indoors, get tested for flu or COVID-19 symptoms, and make a preventive treatment plan with a primary care physician for immunocompromised people.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved the strengthening of Pfizer for children ages 5 to 11, although children in this age group are generally lagging behind when it comes to vaccinations against COVID-19.
As cases increase, the FDA is preparing to review data from the Moderna and Pfizer trials in children 6 months to 5 years of age on June 15, a long-awaited step in authorizing a vaccine for the younger age group. and final.
tmijares@chicagotribune.com