(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

COVID-19 once again poses a “high” risk to Chicago and Cook County residents, as federal officials ratcheted up the warning level on Thursday, according to Centers for Disease Control data.

Chicago Department of Public Health officials recommend that residents wear masks indoors and on public transportation to reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19 and ensure they are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.

Chicago and Cook County residents have faced a high risk of COVID-19 for three of the past four weeks, but neither state, county or city officials imposed new restrictions designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Cook County now has 256 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, prompting federal officials to raise the risk level. Last week, there were 193 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents.

Cook County now has 12.6 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents during a seven-day period, according to data released by the CDC. Last week, Cook County had 11.4 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents during a seven-day period, according to the CDC.

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.

According to the CDC, 4.1% of staffed hospital beds in Cook County are in use by COVID-19 patients on average during the past seven days, a slight increase from last week.

The city of Chicago has 4.3 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 during a seven-day period and a case rate of 190 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents, according to Chicago Department of Public Health data released Thursday. That data represents slight decreases during the past week.

In Chicago, 3.9% of staffed hospital beds are in use by COVID-19 patients, according to CDPH data released Tuesday. 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.

Cook County was last at a low COVID-19 risk on May 5.

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]