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Fourth-grader Kate Johns gets a COVID-19 vaccine at Esperanza Health Centers, 6057 S. Western Ave., on Nov. 4, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

CHICAGO — The city has hit another COVID-19 milestone as it comes down from the Omicron surge.

For the first time in months, Chicago is seeing an average of fewer than 400 confirmed COVID-19 cases per day, according to city data. That means the city has moved from “high” to “substantial” risk for transmission in that category.

The city’s case rate had been stubbornly stuck in the “very high” and then “high” transmission categories for months as the Omicron variant drove up cases. Chicago peaked in terms of cases on Dec. 28, when 10,009 cases were reported among residents, according to health department data.

Since then, cases have been coming down. As of Wednesday, the city is reporting an average of 398 cases per day, with 352 reported in the past 24 hours.

Still, the city is not yet on track to lift its mask and vaccine card mandates in two weeks. Chicago has to see three out of four COVID-19 metrics fall into the “lower” risk category for transmission and stay there for at least two weeks for the mandates to be removed. As of Wednesday, just one metric — the city’s positivity rate — has hit that.

Here are the city’s goals for ending the mandate and where Chicago stands with each:

• Cases: Chicago must report an average of 199 cases or fewer per day. It’s reporting an average of 398.

• Positivity rate: Chicago’s positivity rate must be at 4.9 percent or lower. It’s at 1.9 percent.

• Hospital beds: Chicago must have an average of 249 or fewer beds occupied by COVID-19 patients per day. It’s reporting an average of 312 per day.

• ICU beds: Chicago must have an average of 99 or fewer ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients per day. It’s reporting an average of 105 per day.

Vaccinations:

• In Illinois, about 8 million people — or 63.24 percent of the state’s 12.7 million people — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to state data.

• Across the state, 22,066 vaccine doses are being administered per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.

• Illinois and Chicago have administered at least 20,929,507 vaccine doses of the 23,464,845 provided to them.

• City data shows more than 1.8 million Chicagoans — or 68.3 percent of all residents — are fully vaccinated, and 76.1 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 Tuesday, 104 Illinoisans were reported dead from COVID-19.

• At least 32,176 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 4,019 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.

• The state reported 3,323 cases since Tuesday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 3,007,987.

• Since Tuesday, 107,304 tests were reported statewide. In all, 53,294,319 tests have been reported in Illinois.

• Illinois’ seven-day case positivity rate was at 2.8 percent. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests. It was at 2.9 percent Tuesday.

• Illinois’ seven-day test positivity rate, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, was at 3.6 percent. It was at 3.8 percent Tuesday.

• As of Tuesday night, 313 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU and 153 people with COVID-19 were using ventilators in Illinois.

• In Chicago, 12 deaths were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 7,148 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago. The city is seeing an average of more than nine people dying per day, down 24 percent from a week ago.

• Chicago has had 352 confirmed cases reported since Tuesday. It’s had a total of 554,164 confirmed cases. An average of 398 confirmed cases are being reported per day, down 33 percent from a week ago.

• Testing in Chicago is up 4 percent from a week ago.

• Chicago’s positivity rate was at 1.9 percent, down from 2.9 percent a week ago.

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