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Irma from Tinley Park receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Esperanza Health Centers, 6057 S. Western Ave., on Nov. 4, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

CHICAGO — Chicago’s COVID-19 case rate is at its lowest point in months as the city comes down from the Omicron surge.

Chicago’s seeing an average of 575 confirmed cases per day as of Monday evening — which in itself is a 51 percent drop from a week ago. It’s the lowest that figure has been since late November, when Chicago was hit with a post-Thanksgiving surge and then the Omicron surge.

The dropoff in the case rate means Chicago has dipped from being considered “very high” risk for transmission to “high” risk in that category.

But deaths and hospitalizations remain higher, with an average of 10 Chicagoans dying per day from COVID-19.

Officials have said Chicago and all of Illinois hit their Omicron peaks in late December and early January. There have been steep declines in daily cases and positivity rates since then.

That could mean the city’s indoor mask mandate and vaccine mandate could be lifted soon — but only if the declines continue, Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said last week.

Officials have urged people to continue taking precautions like getting vaccinated, wearing a mask when indoors in public and getting tested.

Vaccinations:

• In Illinois, about 7.9 million people — or 62.77 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to state data.

• Across the state, 24,261 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.

• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 20,747,971 vaccine doses of the 23,280,445 provided to them.

• City data shows more than 1.8 million Chicagoans — or 67.6 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated, and 75.9 percent of all Chicagoans have gotten at least one shot.

Everyone 5 and older is eligible to get vaccinated in Chicago.

COVID-19 vaccinations are free and do not require insurance. Anyone can call the city’s coronavirus hotline at 312-746-4835 to get more information on how and where to get vaccinated in their community.

The numbers:

• Since Monday, 87 Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19.

• At least 31,570 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 3,906 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.

• The state reported 5,825 cases since Monday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 2,977,341.

• Since Monday, 79,905 tests were reported statewide. In all, 52,247,789 tests have been reported in Illinois.

• Illinois’ seven-day case positivity rate was at 5.4 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 5.5 percent Monday.

• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 7 percent. It was at 7.2 percent Monday.

• As of Monday night, 464 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 270 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.

• In Chicago, 41 deaths were reported since Monday. There have been at least 7,068 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of 10 people dying per day, down 42 percent from a week ago.

• Chicago has had 614 confirmed cases reported since Monday. It’s had a total of 550,414 confirmed cases. An average of 575 confirmed cases are being reported per day, down 51 percent from a week ago.

• Testing in Chicago is down 28 percent from a week ago.

• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 3.2 percent, down from 4.6 percent a week ago.

Block Club Chicago’s coronavirus coverage is free for all readers.

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