Inflation, in the statistical sense, is a percent change over a stated period. A price level is the index itself. Eggs can be expensive relative to 2019 while the index rises slowly this month. Both sentences can be true. They are answers to different questions.
The consumer price index answers the second question only after you compute a change. The level of the index is an input. Year-over-year inflation is the level divided by the level twelve months earlier, minus one.