Masks Recommended By Cook County Health Officials As COVID Cases Rise

CHICAGO — Chicago and other Cook County residents are again being strongly encouraged to mask up in indoor settings by health officials after the county has experienced a jump in confirmed COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, was recently upgraded to a “medium” risk by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Health officials reported that the county has reported 259 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, which upgrades the risk level of COVID-19, according to standards set by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

While health officials are not requiring residents to wear masks in indoor settings as was the case until Feb. 28, health officials are urging people to cover their faces when indoors and while using public transportation.

The Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and other public transportation agencies recently lifted their requirement for masks after a federal judge in Florida ruled that CDC officials overstepped their bounds in requiring face-coverings in airports and on planes.

A day later, Gov. J.B. Pritzker lifted the state’s mandate on masks on public transportation, although he suggested residents continue to wear them. But now, with cases increasing around Illinois, state and local health officials are strongly suggesting the residents protect themselves and others by wearing masks.

Public transportation officials from the CTA along with Chicago Public Schools are encouraging the wearing of masks. School officials said that the district’s positivity rate stood at 0.68 percent on Friday, which is the highest it has been since January. Chicago’s positivity rate stands at 3.9 percent.

“We’ve been expecting to reach the medium level for some time now,” Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health said in a statement on Friday. “It’s not a cause for alarm, since most cases right now are mild and thankfully our COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths remain at or near all-time pandemic lows in Chicago. But it is reason for more caution, and for more care with masking, since more people in Chicago are infected with COVID right now.”

Arwady said earlier this week that city officials would consider re-instituting mask mandates if Chicago reached the high-risk level, as established by the CDC. The city would need to average more than 20 hospitalizations per day to reach that level.

On Friday, Chicago was reported to be seeing 754 new cases per day on average, which is a 16 percent increase from last week. Hospitalizations increased by 24 percent, with about 16 new admissions per day.

“Chicago moving into the medium level does not mean a citywide mask mandate, restrictions on public gatherings, or reinstatement of vaccination requirements at this time,” Arwady said. “With the way the current COVID variants are behaving, those are measures we would consider if we reached the high COVID-19 community level — which we aren’t close to reaching in Chicago right now.