More Than 7,500 Chicagoans Have Died Of COVID-19 In Two Years

CHICAGO — On the eve of a somber anniversary, the city's first coronavirus-related death, Mayor Lori Lightfoot honored the memory of Patricia Frieson of Auburn Gresham and the more than 7,500 residents who have died from COVID-19-related causes after her.

"It’s been a long, challenging two years since COVID-19 first hit home here in Chicago. Our health care and other front-line workers have been heroes, and I can’t imagine what the toll would have been without them," the mayor said. "But we have lost too many lives, including Patricia Frieson and unfortunately thousands more. So, this is a time to remember and honor them, and also to recommit ourselves to tackling the health and racial disparities that made this pandemic so devastating, especially in our communities of color."

Over the last two weeks, as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and death have declined, city public health officials have lifted proof-of-vaccination and indoor mask mandates.

Lightfoot said we've reached a moment in the global pandemic that what's best for the city is for people to "make individual choices on what they continue to do to protect themselves."

Chicago's public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, said that the rapid spread of the omicron variant signals that strategies that aim at eliminating coronavirus should evolve to coping with the disease and surges in community spread that might arise.

"Omicron in particular has proven that you cannot have a zero COVID strategy," Arwady said. "China was trying to do that, and it’s just so much more infectious that they are seeing big surges. And they are trying to navigate what to do in that setting."

Arwady said the city has been monitoring spikes in coronavirus cases in China and Europe. The public health department also is monitoring wastewater and screening for the presence of coronavirus variants at O'Hare Airport.

"I can’t promise what the future will bring, but I do feel very confident that right now the risk is low enough that it’s appropriate, where people feel comfortable, to not have the universal mask mandate," Arwady said. "If we get into trouble, it is something we could bring back."

As of Tuesday, the city is averaging about 132 new cases and nine hospitalizations and fewer than two deaths per day on a seven-day average, according to the city public health department.