As COVID-19 stabilizes, Chicago’s top doc warns of flu season

For the first time since May, the entire state of Illinois is either at a low or medium COVID-19 community level, the city’s top doctor said Tuesday.

Across Chicago, COVID-19 cases diagnosed in laboratory settings average fewer than 300 a day, and hospitalizations for the virus are averaging 25 Chicagoans a day, public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said.

Both metrics mean that the community levels for COVID-19 are “thankfully” low in Chicago, she said.

“So, (it’s) very much not gone, but in good control at the moment,” she added.

Community levels are a measure from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help determine what preventive measures need to be taken in an area. But the basic guidance for COVID-19 protection has not changed, which includes staying home and getting tested if you are sick and wearing a mask in crowded indoor settings.

Health officials are recommending that people get the flu vaccine as they prepare for what Arwady said could be the worst flu season in the last two years. Precautions for COVID-19 have also protected against the flu, but now some of those precautions are waning as COVID-19 stabilizes.

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Though she doesn’t have a crystal ball, Arwady said she is “quite concerned” about the flu.

“The combo you don’t want is COVID and flu, so get both vaccines,” she said.

Arwady said that early September — when the new updated COVID-19 booster became available — saw the sharpest, quickest rise in vaccinations, partly due to a “good supply” of shots.

“But given that more than 80% of Chicagoans should be getting this vaccine, we have a very long way to go,” Arwady said.

She that while it is safer than it has been to not wear masks all the time, she said people should still exercise caution and mask up if showing symptoms of COVID-19.

“It’s COVID until proven otherwise,” she said.

Doctors recommend people get the most up-to-date boosters and vaccines to ensure protection against COVID-19 as the colder months approach, recalling the surge of the omicron variant across the U.S. last winter.

Arwady talked about a “belt-and-suspenders approach” that ensures the best protection against COVID-19: The belt being the vaccines, and the suspenders being the medications that should be taken in the first five days of infection — both which protect against severe outcomes.

“Unless you got a (COVID-19) vaccine in September or October of 2022, there’s a good chance that you do not have the best protection that you could have heading into fall and winter,” Arwady said.

adperez@chicagotribune.com