Jesse White and Chicago's top doctor among COVID-19 cases this week
Two prominent Illinois leaders are among the 17,816 new COVID-19 cases recorded this week.
On Thursday, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady separately announced they had contracted COVID-19. Neither is suffering from serious illness.
White, 88, tested positive on Wednesday. He "has mild symptoms and is conducting work from home while in quarantine," officials said. "White is double vaccinated and twice boosted. He is following appropriate U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Illinois Department of Public Health quarantine guidelines."
Arwady said in a statement she had a positive test Wednesday "for the first time in the pandemic."
"I am experiencing some cold-like symptoms and fever but am otherwise well, which I credit to the fact that I'm fully vaccinated and boosted. I will continue to work from home while following the CDC guidelines for isolation," she said.
Arwady has helped guide the city through the pandemic and became well-known through weekly Facebook question-and-answer sessions.
"I want to remind all Chicagoans to get up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines, which have proved to be incredibly effective at protecting against severe outcomes from the virus," she said.
"We have made great progress against COVID-19, and I thank everyone who has made the decision to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their communities. But the virus is still out there and we have more work to do to put this pandemic behind us."
A highly contagious COVID-19 variant is circulating in the U.S. The average number of new COVID-19 cases this week is 3,563 compared to nearly 3,819 daily for August.