Mask Mandate Returns At ETHS As Evanston COVID Rate Rises To 'High'

EVANSTON, IL — With the rate of newly detected coronavirus infections in Evanston at its highest level in more than four months, the city's COVID-19 community risk level has returned to "high."

Evanston's citywide indoor mask mandate has not yet been reimposed, local public health officials announced last week. Instead, they recommended — but did not require — that people wear masks indoors if they have symptoms of COVID-19, were exposed to someone who tested positive or have recently tested positive themselves.

The indoor mask mandate for students and staff at Evanston Township High School returned Monday, two weeks before the end of the school year. The district ended its mandatory masking policy in late February.

"Students and staff are asked to hold each other in loving accountability to properly wear a mask over their nose and mouth while inside the ETHS building," district officials announced Sunday.

According to ETHS' COVID-19 dashboard, there have been 56 positive cases among students and 11 among staff in the first two weeks of May — compared with 44 student cases and 21 staff cases in the final two weeks of April.

In Evanston/Skokie School District 65, Superintendent Devon Horton said in a message to the community that the recent uptick in infections was a reminder that it is important to remain mindful of the presence of coronavirus rather than a cause for alarm.

Horton said masks are currently only required at Park School, but administrators "still strongly recommend" that people continue to wear them when they are unable to maintain distancing.

"As advised by our local health departments, it may be necessary to require masks as a preventative measure in some circumstances," Horton said. "Masks may temporarily be required in certain classrooms, school buses, or even grade levels if we are seeing increased COVID-19 cases or evidence of transmission. This is all in an effort to keep students and staff in school and reduce spread."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's community risk level rating is calculated using a combination of coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates.

If there are fewer than 200 new cases per 100,000 people per week, an area must reach a new hospitalization rate of more than 20 per 100,000 people, or 15 percent or more of its beds full of patients with COVID-19, in order to qualify as "high."

But if the rate of daily per capita cases is higher, the COVID-19 community risk level increases to "high" whenever there are 10 or more people hospitalized with COVID-19 per 100,000 people, or when 10 percent or more beds are filled with coronavirus patients.

Evanston had about 508 new cases and 13 new hospital admissions per 100,000 residents in the most recent week for which data was available. According to the city's health department, Evanston's daily average number of new cases is at its highest level since the first week of February.

The rest of the Cook County suburbs — excluding Skokie, Oak Park and Stickney Township — had 338 new cases and eight new hospital admissions per 100,000 people last week. There were 259 cases and fewer than five new hospital admissions per 100,000 Chicago residents.

According to the CDC, 4.25 percent of U.S. counties have a "high" community transmission risk, 14.15 percent are rated as "medium," and 81.6 percent are considered "low."

On Monday, the total U.S. death toll from coronavirus reached 1 million, roughly equivalent to the total number of Americans killed in the Civil War and World War II — combined.

According to The Associated Press, it is the highest reported death toll of any country, although health experts suspect the true number of fatalities exceeds those released by governments in places like Brazil, India and Russia.

Since the emergence of COVID-19 in Evanston, 148 residents have died from the disease or complications from an infection, according to the health and human services department.

“Evanstonians have done a wonderful job following health guidance for over two years and lives were saved because of it," Mayor Daniel Biss said in a statement. "As COVID-19 cases begin to increase again, it’s important that we remain vigilant and continue to do our part to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe and healthy."