For the first time this year, Evanston reported less than 100 new positive cases in one week. 

The city reported 92 cases this week — a 25% reduction from last week’s 122 cases — continuing the decline in positivity rate. Evanston saw another week of below 1% average positivity rates, with its seven-day moving average positivity rate reaching 0.9%. It declined 0.06 percentage points from last week, slower than the previous two weeks. 

Cook County and Illinois saw larger declines in their positivity rates. After seeing a minimal reduction in positivity rate last week, the county’s test positivity rate this week declined about three percentage points to 3.2% from last week’s 6.1%. The state’s test positivity rate saw a smaller decline, reaching 2.5% compared to last week’s 3.3%. 

Weekly vaccination rates in the city have continued rising at a slow rate. As of Thursday, more than 97% of Evanston residents ages 5 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which is a 0.2 percentage point increase from last week. In this age group, 87.2% of residents are fully vaccinated. 

Vaccination rates at the county and state level similarly minimally increased — a less than 0.5 percentage point decrease for each statistic. In Cook County, 78.1% of individuals ages 5 and older have received at least one dose and nearly 71% are fully vaccinated. The state saw an increase to 80.6% among partially vaccinated individuals and 71.5% among individuals who are fully vaccinated. 

The city will lift its mask and vaccine mandate starting Monday. Individuals will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination or wear masks in indoor public spaces such as grocery stores, libraries and restaurants unless the establishment specifies otherwise.

Masks will still be required on public transportation services and in high-risk locations such as healthcare facilities. While state guidance requires masks to be worn in schools, several local school districts, including Evanston Township High School District 202 will make masking optional.

Coincident with the state and city timelines, Northwestern will also implement optional masking policies in public spaces, including Norris University Center, libraries and residence halls.

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Twitter: @amittal27

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