Illinois is experiencing a 'dire' coronavirus situation
Illinois is experiencing a "dire" coronavirus situation that seems to mostly be flying under the national radar, says Youyang Gu, a data scientist who created a COVID-19 pandemic modeler.
As Gu points out, Illinois last week recorded more cases in a single day than Florida ever has, though Florida has been considered a hot spot throughout much of the pandemic. Illinois is the country's sixth-most populous state and testing has ramped up, but Florida still has much a higher population. Meanwhile, Illinois is the only state to average 12,000 cases per day over the course of a week — not even California or Texas have reached those numbers.
Last week, Illinois reported 15,415 cases in a single day, more than Florida ever did in a single day. This is despite Illinois' population being 40% lower.
Many of you probably did not know the dire situation in Illinois. That's because no mainstream media chose to report it. pic.twitter.com/FuqvskMv5y
— Youyang Gu (@youyanggu) November 24, 2020
No other state has ever averaged 12,000 cases a day for a whole week. Not even Florida (1.7x pop), California (3x pop), and Texas (2.3x pop).
For deaths per capita, Illinois also exceeded the peak deaths in Florida twice, once in May and once again now. So why is this not news? pic.twitter.com/lO7PS2UAyU
— Youyang Gu (@youyanggu) November 24, 2020
Gu notes it's tough to figure out exactly what's contributing to the surge in Illinois, since the state has been proactive with it's mitigation messages and efforts, which shows the challenges of managing and predicting the course of the pandemic.
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