Chicago's summer COVID cases slowly ticking up

COVID-19 cases are rising again nationwide, and Chicago is no exception.

By the numbers: Our laboratory-confirmed cases increased 27% from the previous week to 67 cases a day, according to the city dashboard.

• Chicago hospitals report a daily average of about 4.3 COVID patients this week, a 43% jump from last week's average, 3 patients on a given day.

Why it matters: The raw numbers may be small, but they could easily multiply when school resumes in a couple of weeks.

Threat level: This comes as few people beyond the elderly and immunocompromised are protected by recent boosters, and as the nation's robust treatment infrastructure has disappeared.

Yes, but: The dominant variants are still in the Omicron family, meaning most of us should still retain some immunity.

Context: At this time last year, hospitalizations were 10 times higher, averaging 40 patients a day.

What they're saying: "We're going to see numbers coming up," Mia Taormina, chair of the department of infectious disease at Duly Health and Care, told the Tribune. "We're going to see hospitalizations come up; we're going to see emergency room and immediate care visits come up.

• "But it's still not going to be to the magnitude of what we saw a year ago, unless we have something strange happen."