The suburban Cook County is now at a “medium” level of risk for COVID transmission, according to health officials in the area.
The Cook County Public Health Department issued a signal Friday afternoon saying the “increase in the number of positive cases” raised the county to the second highest level of risk, as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although the county was not included in the latest update of the risk of transmitting county by county to the CDC, CCDPH said its indicators as of Thursday show that suburban areas are below the “average” level of risk. On Thursday, the county reported 210 cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days.
The name means that the elderly or immunocompromised people are called to wear masks in public indoor spaces, but health officials are already recommending residents:
- wear a mask indoors to protect people at high risk of severe COVID infection, including adults over the age of 50, those with concomitant medical conditions and immunocompromised
- communicate outdoors if possible and avoid poorly ventilated indoor areas
- get tested before attending a family or social event. Home tests are ideal for this purpose
- contact your doctor immediately to receive treatment for COVID if you are diagnosed
- get all eligible COVID-19 vaccine boosters
According to the latest CDC update on Friday, two other counties in the Chicago area were also in the medium risk category.
Lake County was added this week and DuPage County rose to last week’s level and stayed there again this week.
In addition to DuPage and Lake counties, Champaign, McLean and Logan counties in Illinois are also listed below the “average” level of risk of CDC transmission.
The rest of Illinois remains low, according to the CDC.
In low-transmission areas, residents are encouraged to keep abreast of COVID vaccines and boosters and to maintain improved indoor ventilation whenever possible.
As of Friday, it is said that no community has a high degree of transmission.
Counties that reach a high level of the community are called upon to restore the wearing of masks for all persons indoors, regardless of vaccination status, and to consider avoiding minor indoor activities.
Illinois health officials reported 24,646 new cases of COVID-19 in the past week, along with 46 additional deaths. This is an increase in cases, but a decrease in deaths since that time last week.
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