Health
COVID-19 Cases Reach All-Time High in Chicago: Officials
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady speaks Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 during a press conference. (WTTW News)
The coronavirus is raging uncontrolled in Chicago at levels that exceed the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April, officials said Thursday.
The test positivity rate calculated by the Chicago Department of Public Health based on a seven-day rolling average is 10.9%, up from 8.2% a week ago.
An average of 1,395 cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in Chicago every day, based on a seven-day rolling average, an increase of 48% in a week, according to city data.
Based on that data, Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said that means there are between 70,000 and 105,000 active cases of COVID-19 in Chicago.
“There is not a single person in Chicago who is not at greater risk” of contracting the coronavirus now than they were just a month ago, Arwady said.
In any group of 10 people in Chicago, there is a one in three chance someone has COVID-19, Arwady said.
In a group of 50, there is a nine in 10 chance someone has COVID-19, Arwady said.
Cases are rising across all age groups and racial and ethnic groups in social settings, Arwady said.
That should prompt all Chicagoans to rethink their plans for Thanksgiving and only celebrate with the members of their households, Lightfoot said.
A 1-year-old girl contracted COVID-19 at a “very small birthday party” thrown for her by her parents, and 15 people, from their 30s to their 60s, got coronavirus, Arwady said.
The rise in cases, which started a month ago, has caused hospitalizations to double, and more deaths are likely to follow, Arwady said.
As of Thursday afternoon, 646 people are in Chicago hospitals with COVID-19, including 197 in intensive care and 91 on ventilators, Arwady said.
“We know how to turn these curves around,” Arwady said. “We did it once before.”
But if that does not happen, the outlook is grim, Arwady said.
“If we don't slow this down, and soon, we will have hundreds of thousands of new COVID cases by the end of the year in Chicago,” Arwady said.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
