After jumping in early August, Chicago COVID-19 cases declined steadily through much of September and October.

• But in recent weeks they've bounced back.

By the numbers: From Oct 21 to Nov. 4 the rate of daily Chicago cases rose 32%.

• The city's daily case average is up to 382 as of Tuesday.

Why it matters: Health commissioner Allison Arwady tells Axios cases need to stay under 200 a day for at least two weeks to lift Chicago's indoor mask mandate.

• Plus, low cases and a lifted mandate could make the holidays a lot more fun.

What's happening: Arwady speculates that "with the colder weather, people are going back indoors and hanging out inside more and there’s more opportunity for spread."

• Think about all those Halloween parties the last few weekends.

The good news: Chicago has finally hit the 65% mark when it comes to people 12 and older who've gotten at least one vaccine dose.

• The city's goal is 77%.

To that end: Arwady announced a new campaign Tuesday to get kids and city workers vaccinated at schools and clinics across the area.

• Today Chicago Public Schools launch four regional pediatric COVID vaccination sites with reservations available, alongside other school vaccination sites.
• CPS has also canceled classes on Friday to make more time for students to get vaccinated, and the city is offering all municipal workers two hours of paid time off for vaccinations.
• The city has also launched a vaccination calendar showing events at mobile, pop-up, and city sites around town.

Go deeper: More sites for children's vaccinations per ChalkBeat Chicago.

With all the natural beauty on the lakefront, it can be easy to miss the man-made art carved into its limestone blocks.

• But writer William Swislow and photographer Aron Packer have meticulously catalogued these works to bring you, "Lakefront Anonymous: Chicago’s Unknown Art Gallery."
• The book and photography show launches Friday at the 1100 Florence gallery in Evanston.

Why it matters: The carvings represent "a spontaneous social history of Chicago at play and a collective monument to the city’s people and their lives at the lake," Swislow tells Axios.

• Hundreds of the carvings were lost during recent shore rebuilding, and Swislow fears more will be destroyed in the future.

Details: The art ranges from tiny initials to depictions of full-blown mythological scenes.

• Most of the artists have been lost to time but Swislow, an outsider/intuitive art collector, tracked down a few including, "two guys who carved their girlfriend’s names in the '60s and are still married to them. Perhaps the carvings set [their love] in stone."

Swislow's favorites: When pressed, he offers, “The Hairwashers in the seating area next to the Theater on The Lake at Fullerton Avenue."

• And he has a "soft spot for the bathing beauty at Foster Beach."

What's next: Swislow led lakefront carving tours this summer for the Edgewater Historical Society and expects to do more through The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art next spring or summer.

• "At the very least the lakefront carvings should be part of the city's cultural heritage that people actually know about," he says.

Last week we presented a crowd-sourced list of public downtown bathrooms that might come in handy while out and about during the holidays.

• This prompted one reader to remind us that using these public bathrooms is easier said than done for some Chicagoans.

"Many of these [locations listed] are places I can go in as a middle aged white male, without an issue. Nobody questions me when I walk right into the Westin or the Drake dressed in grubby clothes, snoop around for the men's room, do my business and exit without incident... [But] plenty of folks, Black, brown, others, are not so lucky. It sucks that the world is this way, but it is. I have seen it." — John R.

📡 Comcast still hasn't explained why it had massive outages yesterday. (Chicago Tribune)

🛣 Public officials want to use federal stimulus money to rebuild the "headache highway." (Sun-Times)

✈️ A big cocaine bust in River North uncovers a Mexico to Chicago pipeline via the Gary airport. (ABC7Chicago)

🚽 Neighbors want toilets installed at Jefferson Park transit station to stop public peeing. (BlockClub Chicago)

🏈 Bears fans rank among the biggest complainers in the NFL. (NBC Chicago)

Monica recently checked out holiday items from Chicago's most ubiquitous grocery store, Aldi, and has been very public over the years about her obsession with the stores. But we know other Chicagoans have fierce loyalties to their grocers, too.

• As we head into a season of food and feasts, we want to know your favorite local food stores with this survey.
• You can also respond to this email to tell us which store is your fave and why.