I don t want to jump ahead of this process. I mean, honestly, we are relying upon the epidemiologists as well as the, you know, figuring out how we can practically get that done, Pritzker said Friday. We all are very, very hopeful that the numbers - as they have really done well in the state of Illinois so far - keep going that way. But you know, Sen. [Dick] Durbin talked about the other variants that are out there. And so we just want to be wary and careful about what we do. But but certainly those discussions are continuing.
It is hard. Everywhere we go, it brings up a memory of him, Sarai Camarillo said.
Camarillo and her family are among many in Little Village who have lost a loved one to the coronavirus.
Camarillo s stepfather, Margarito Lucero, died of the virus in May 2020 after working in a factory for about two weeks.
His condition worsened and he ended up in the hospital after having breathing issues. Camarillo said she called the hospital hours later and they told her Lucero did not make it. They told me that he passed away and it was shocking. You know, I cried for hours, said Camarillo.
Arwady noted that over the summer, Chicago s positivity rate dropped below 4%, but never to the level the city recorded Tuesday.
COVID-19 testing has decreased throughout the city, but Arwady said this metric would not cause the positivity rate to drop. Rather, she explained that should testing decrease, positivity rate would typically increase.
Chicago s is averaging 257 new COVID-19 cases per day, Arwady said, which is down from the over 3,000 cases a day recorded at the peak of the virus. On Friday, Chicago was recording 323 new coronavirus cases daily.
The city s daily case count is also below the cutoff that marks a high-risk area, according to Chicago guidance, which is one factor allowing the city to resume higher capacity indoor dining.
Just over two months ago, we finally began to see the light at the end of a long, dark tunnel we ve been in since COVID-19 first came to our city. This light came in the form of long awaited vaccines, Lightfoot said during a news conference Friday. And while it gave us a glimpse of what a post-COVID Chicago could look like, it also illuminated the significant challenges that we have struggled with throughout this pandemic. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot discusses the latest data surrounding racial equity and the coronavirus vaccine in the city.
Similar trends were reported across the country.