As COVID cases continue to rise in Illinois and in the U.S., five Illinois counties are now experiencing medium risk levels for the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Friday, Lake, DuPage, Champaign, McLean and Logan counties are all listed under the CDC's "medium" transmission risk level, the second-highest level on the CDC's scale. The designation means elderly or immunocompromised individuals are urged to wear masks in public indoor spaces.
Last week, four counties were at the medium community level. Lake County marks the second Chicago-area county to rise to the medium level so far this month.
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The rest of Illinois, including Cook County and Chicago, remained at a low level.
In places with low community transmission, residents are encouraged to stay up to date with COVID vaccines and boosters, and maintained improved ventilation throughout indoor spaces when possible.
As of Friday, no communities were said to be experiencing high transmission.
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Counties that do reach a high community level are urged to reinstate mask-wearing for all individuals indoors regardless of vaccination status and to consider avoiding non-essential indoor activities.
