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October 2025 Public Health E-Newsletter |
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Respiratory virus season is here
Nationally, as COVID-19 transmission declines, common cold viruses (RV/EV) continue to rise. If you've experienced respiratory symptoms recently, the most likely culprits are either COVID-19 or a common cold virus. The graph below shows the trends in positive test results for respiratory viruses this year from the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System.
- The dotted red line shows the summer wave of COVID-19, which is now receding.
- The grey dotted line shows common cold viruses, which are currently experiencing a significant spike.
- The blue triangular line represents flu activity, which peaked in late winter last year.
This seasonal pattern is why October is an ideal time to get your flu shot—it ensures your immunity lasts through the entire flu season.
 Whether it is a cold or COVID-19, when you're sick, the best steps you can take are to stay home if possible, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask in public if you must go out, and most importantly, get vaccinated when eligible. Vaccination significantly reduces the risk of hospitalization. Below are the official vaccination guidelines for fall 2025 from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH):
Click on the image to access the PDF
More detailed guidelines from IDPH can be found here and linked through the button below.
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Share your thoughts!
The Public Health Department is currently working on our 5-year community health needs assessment, called the Illinois Project for Local Assessment of Needs (IPLAN). As part of our 2026 IPLAN, we are collecting information about how Oak Parkers engage with the community.
We've created a 5-minute survey and would value your input! The information we collect will help us develop solutions to Oak Park's top health priorities.
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Ageism Awareness Day Event
The Village of Oak Park's Aging in Communities Commission hosted author Dr. Becca Levy of Yale University for a discussion on aging on October 9.
In her book “Breaking the Age Code,” Dr. Levy draws on groundbreaking research that shows that people with positive age beliefs live an average of 7.5 years longer than people who fear and deny aging.
Aging is a public health issue, and health equity for older adults is something we strive to incorporate into our programming.
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Free Narcan vending machine now open at CTA station
This September, the Oak Park Harlem Green Line stop joined four other CTA stations across Chicago as a host for a vending machine that provides free Narcan, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
The vending machine is another source of Narcan for the Oak Park community, along with the seven boxes throughout the Village that have been maintained by the Public Health Department since May 2023.
The West Side Heroin/Opioid Task Force was a key player in bringing together the various government entities and non-profit organizations that worked together to create the CTA pilot program, and it organized a harm reduction resource fair and press conference on Sept. 30 to celebrate. Oak Park resident Sheila Haennicke is a trainer for the Public Health Department, as well as a member of the task force, and has been a part of the organizing team that created the pilot. She emceed the press conference, during which Village President Vicki Scaman spoke, along with other elected officials in attendance. At the resource fair, Public Health Department staff shared information about their opioid overdose prevention program and distributed pouches filled with doses of Narcan.
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Village of Oak Park Public Health Department
Epidemiology Report, October 2025
Each quarter, we create a report to share the latest trends and news in communicable
disease for Oak Park and our surrounding community. Click here to read the latest report.
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