While Arwady and other officials have predicted the delta variant will become the dominant variant in Chicago and Illinois in the coming months, "that in and of itself is not necessarily a cause for alarm," she said. "My worry is if we see a surge it would very much [be] concentrated in unvaccinated portions of Chicago, but I don't think, unless we see a new variant, we would be set up for the kind of major surge that threatens to overwhelm the health system where we need to do the big major shutdowns," she said. "You know, the hope is that we would be able to control it and really keep pushing vaccine. I'd of course rather avoid that and just try to get folks vaccinated now, but that's where I think we're headed."