Chicago Health Officials See Covid Surge Before Holidays
Chicago Health Officials See Covid Surge Before Holidays
(Bloomberg) -- Chicago is facing a surge of Covid-19 cases ahead of the holiday season, Allison Arwady, the city’s public health commissioner, said Thursday.
“In terms of our outbreak, the numbers are not good,” Arwady said during a livestream broadcast. “We are absolutely in the middle of this Covid increase. Right now is the time to get vaccinated for the holidays.”
The nation’s third-largest city is seeing an average of 501 cases per day, up about 18% from the previous week, giving Chicago a high transmission risk for new cases, she said. Deaths also are rising, with four reported each day. Chicago’s positivity rate is about 2.7%.
“The fact that you are seeing both cases increase and positivity increase tells you that this is not just a testing artifact,” Arwady said. “This is truly more Covid in Chicago.”
Arwady said she is “absolutely thrilled” with the city’s vaccination rates. She highlighted the steep increase in first doses given to the 5-11 year-old age group. Chicago has also seen a large vaccine increase in all races and ethnicities, she said.
In nearby Michigan and Minnesota, daily case rates are more than 70 or 80 per 100,000 people, according to Arwady.
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