COVID-19 in Chicago-area schools: Outbreaks and cases by county (updated Oct. 8)
Coronavirus in Chicago schools and throughout the state is reported by local health departments to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
What is considered an outbreak?
An outbreak occurs when two or more COVID-19 cases — the threshold was lowered recently from five cases — may have a shared exposure on school grounds and are from different households. It does not include secondary cases that may occur in a household member who has not been on school grounds.
When is an outbreak shared by IDPH with the public?
Outbreak information is reported once the outbreak investigation is considered complete.
What does the data include?
This data includes the number of new cases reported each week by county among age groups 5 to 11 years, 12 to 17 years and 18 to 22 years. Not all cases among those 5 to 17, however, are associated with schools.
What does the data not include?
Data provided by IDPH does not include a school’s district or location.
Are extracurricular school activities also included in the data?
Case counts for school-related outbreaks also include those associated with before- and after-school programs, including school-sponsored sports. These outbreaks do not include secondary cases that may occur in a household member who has not been on school grounds.
When is a school removed from the outbreak list?
A school is removed from the list after 28 days — two incubation periods since last diagnosed case — with no new cases reported that can be associated with that outbreak.
At what age can children be vaccinated for COVID-19?
Anyone age 12 and older is eligible to receive the vaccine.
All data is provisional and subject to updating as more information becomes available. Data includes entries elicited from cases opened within the previous 30 days from date of update but does not list a school’s district or its location. Data is updated once a week on Fridays.
Last updated: Oct. 8, 2021. (School outbreaks have not been updated this week due to the website for the Illinois Department of Public Health being down. That information will be updated here when it becomes available.)
Illinois
Cook County
DuPage County
Kane County
Lake County
McHenry County
Will County
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
