(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

All residents of Cook County — including those in Chicago — now face a “medium” risk of contracting COVID-19, down from a “high risk,” according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control.

Residents should continue to wear a mask indoors, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Despite the decline in the number of people hospitalized and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, “COVID-19 is still with us,” Arwady said. 

“We continue to recommend masking indoors and that the medically vulnerable in particular continue to take precautions to protect themselves from infection,” Arwady said. “We’re not close to being out of this yet.”

COVID-19 posed a high risk in Chicago and Cook County for 21 days, but neither state, county nor city officials imposed new restrictions designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Chicagoans should consider the CDC’s medium level of risk warning as “a yellow light of caution,” Arwady has said.

All Chicagoans should ensure they are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines and wear a mask in indoor settings where they are not certain if those around them have been vaccinated, including on CTA buses and trains, Arwady said.

Those at high risk for severe illness from a COVID-19 infection include those older than 50, those with underlying medical conditions and the immunocompromised, health officials said.

During the past seven days, new hospitalizations each day in Chicago from COVID-19 dropped by 49%, according to city data.

Cook County now has 9.8 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents during a seven-day period, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control.

The threshold set by federal health officials to warn residents that the risk of contracting COVID-19 to raise the alert level from “medium” to “high” is 10 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents, if a county has a case rate of more than 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents.

The city of Chicago has 3.5 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 during a seven-day period and a case rate of more than 222 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, according to Chicago Department of Public Health data released Friday.

Cook County’s case rate is 221 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, according to CDC data released Thursday.

Cook County moved from a low COVID-19 risk to a medium risk of COVID-19 on May 5.

According to the CDC, 3.5% of staffed hospital beds in Cook County are in use by COVID-19 patients on average during the past seven days. 

In Chicago, 3.6% of staffed hospital beds are in use by COVID-19 patients, according to CDPH data released Friday. If 10% of staffed hospital beds in Cook County are in use by COVID-19 patients on average during the past seven days, the risk level would rise to high, according to the CDC.

Federal health officials measure the strain facing hospitals from COVID-19 by the number of new hospital admissions per 100,000 residents during a seven-day period and the percent of staffed hospital beds in use by COVID-19 patients on average during the past seven days.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]