Natalia Chi
(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
The threat of COVID-19 eased in Chicago and Cook County on Thursday as federal officials moved the alert level from “low” after just nine weeks to “medium,” according to data from the Centers for Disease Control.
The move is likely to ease fears, at least temporarily, of a significant winter surge of COVID-19 in Cook County.
Over the past seven days, an average of 31 people have been hospitalized each day in Chicago for COVID-19, down more than 40 percent over the past week, according to city data updated Wednesday.
Chicago Department of Public Health officials announced this week that they will no longer update data tracking the path of the pandemic every day, as it has done since the pandemic began in March 2020. Instead, the data will be updated every Wednesday, they said. said the officials .
Cook County now has 84 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, a drop from last week. In addition, hospitalizations have declined across the Chicago region, prompting federal officials to reduce the level of risk, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control.
Residents of regions face a low risk of COVID-19 if there is a case rate of less than 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents and fewer than 10 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents. Cook County recorded nine new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents, according to CDC data, and 85 confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past week, according to the CDC.
Federal health officials measure the strain hospitals face from COVID-19 based on the number of new hospital admissions per 100,000 residents during a seven-day period and the percentage of staffed hospital beds used by COVID-19 patients in average over the past seven days.
According to the CDC, 4.3 percent of staffed hospital beds in Cook County were used by COVID-19 patients on average over the past seven days.
The city of Chicago has eight new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents during a seven-day period and a case rate of 84 confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, according to data from the Chicago Department of Public Health released Thursday .
In Chicago, 3.5 percent of staffed hospital beds are used by COVID-19 patients, according to CDPH data.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
