673 new cases, 7 new deaths
Thursday, Mar 26, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oy…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 673 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including seven deaths; a man in his 50s, two men and two women in their 60s, a man in his 70s, and a woman in her 90s. Approximately 87% of fatalities are among patient 60 years of age and older.
Franklin and Tazewell counties are now reporting cases. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 2,538 cases, including 26 deaths, in 37 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to 99 years.
Confirmed Cases by Race
White – 40%
Black – 28%
Other – 9%
Asian – 4%
Left blank – 19%
Confirmed Cases by Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino – 7%
Not Hispanic or Latino – 61%
Left blank – 32%
…Adding… Check out the graph. This is such bad news…
- Jack Sprat - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 2:44 pm:
Why do they list the confirmed cases by race? What difference does it make how many Asians have it? I thought this might be something we could all fight together and for just once not deal with the silly continual racial division.
- Excitable Boy - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 2:48 pm:
- Why do they list the confirmed cases by race? -
As noted here and elsewhere, there have been numerous rumors about black people being immune. There are also people who believe Asians are the primary carriers.
These reports aim to dispel these myths. The fact that they make you uncomfortable says a lot about you.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 2:48 pm:
@Jack Sprat -
Because the disease is spread socially, people most affected at first in the US were Chinese American and white.
It created the misperception within the African american and Latino community that they were not at risk.
- ZC - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 2:52 pm:
Maybe starting to see an election day surge here. Which is not to say, we shouldn’t have held one. There were no good options.
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 2:54 pm:
This represents a significant increase in positive results among those tested.
For the first few weeks roughly 10% of those tested were positive. I thought this was curious (Dr. Birx even mentioned it), so I began tracking Illinois’ daily reports.
Last week (March 18), the daily % positive jumped to 23%, then dropped back down and has stayed between 12 and 16%. The overall % positive has crept up to 13%. Today’s report has 28% of those tested positive and bumps the overall testing positive to 15%. Hopefully, that is not a trend.
- Secret Square - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 2:59 pm:
I would guess that these new cases, by and large, represent people who were exposed/infected roughly 2-4 weeks ago, allowing for the incubation period (up to 14 days last I checked) followed by the time it takes to show symptoms, contact a healthcare provider, get tested and get the test results. So, very rough estimate here, these people would have caught it between March 1-15, before a lot of the really serious restrictions on gatherings, event cancellations, restaurant/bar closures, etc. took effect.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 2:59 pm:
“Maybe starting to see an election day surge here.”
At least as likely it’s the result of a surge in testing availability.
– MrJM
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 3:11 pm:
This has nothing to do with Election Day, ZC.
We are unlikely to see a surge from St Patrick’s Day weekend until the end of the month.
Also, we’re primarily testing only people who have been hospitalized, so we are going to see a higher percentage of those tested test positive.
That is really bad.
2400 tested and 675 positive tests is a bad ratio.
- ZC - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 3:18 pm:
OK I stand corrected, thanks for the clarifications.
- Last Bull Moose - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 3:24 pm:
The surge in reported cases seems to be driven by increased testing more than more virus. Either way, the numbers are not good.
I do not think we are prepared for the reality of triage. Good wishes cannot fix physical shortages.
My dad was a Captain at a field hospital during the Battle of the Bulge. He saw things that shook him. Cruel choices lie ahead.
- 588-2300 - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 3:50 pm:
Rather than focus on the daily COVID cases, it’s better to look at how long ago we were at half the total we are at now. Today we are at 2538 cases, half of which is 1269. March 23rd we were at 1285, so that suggests a doubling rate of around three days. That’s a heck of a lot better than the trend a few days ago when the doubling rate was every two days. Further, keep in mind that with an average incubation time of 4~5 days plus testing turnaround, we’re looking possibly a week back into the spread of COVID19 when social distancing just started coming into fashion.
- Driveby - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 4:33 pm:
We need number of hospitalizations. New cases mean nothing because of surge in testing. Why can’t Pritzker give us regular numbers on hospitalization?
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 5:12 pm:
@588-2300 -
You are incorrect. The doubling rate has not declined. What has declined in the relative availability of tests.
Three days ago we tested about 2000 people, to keep pace with the growing epidemic, we should have tested 3000 on Tueday, 4.500 yesterday, and 7,000 today.
instead of testing 4500 yesterday, we tested 2400.
Trump wanted to keep reported cases low by keeping testing low, and this is what that looks like.
- CapnCrunch - Thursday, Mar 26, 20 @ 6:24 pm:
Five days ago the doubling time was a little over 53 hours. Although it crept up a bit today it has lengthened over this time to just over 56 hours. A tiny increase but maybe a reason for hope.