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Sterling, Kankakee, Quincy, Bloomington, Quad Cities, Ottawa, Springfield, Eastern Bloc territory are serious hotspots or getting there
Thursday, Nov 12, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller * These first two are from the New York Times. Here are the national metro areas with the greatest number of new cases, relative to their population, in the last two weeks…  * The national metro areas where new cases are rising the fastest, on a population-adjusted basis…  Man. Kankakee is a freaking mess. And with Ottawa’s ranking, we can clearly see why there are problems at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home. Also, Bloomington? Do better, please. * And this is from the Covid Act Now website. Illinois counties sorted by test positivity rate. The Eastern Bloc’s territory dominates.. 
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- Chatham Resident - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 10:21 am:
Greene, Hancock, and Cass are in the “Western Bloc.” Also best-known as “Forgottonia.”
- Anon221 - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 10:34 am:
I sorted the table by ICU Headroom Used, and that is terrifying. Seven counties are at 100%. The next 7 are between 91% and 70% capacity.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 10:37 am:
There are some GOP state legislators that really ought to be taking a bow right now.
- OutHereInTheMiddle - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 10:49 am:
Seems like a great opportunity to file a lawsuit claiming that there is no evidence that the Governor can claim there is a public health emergency. (/snark)
- hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 10:51 am:
This is really depressing to see Bloomington there when the biggest employers here (State Farm, ISU, Country) have so many folks working remotely already.
They only reopened the Bloomington and Normal schools for in person learning a few weeks ago.
When I go to the grocery store or to get delivery/carryout I never see people not wearing masks (although a few covidiots don’t wear them correctly).
I suppose there could just be a lot of restaurants not following the rules banning indoor dining and there not be any enforcement of that?
Maybe ISU Halloween parties going into effect?
Still so very depressing.
- Still Waiting - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 10:54 am:
While it is getting bad in the Bloc, these rates are far higher than what IDPH is showing for daily test positivity or test positivity 7-day rolling average:
http://www.dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics?regionID=6
- DirtLawyer - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 11:22 am:
Of course Kankakee is a mess. For all intents and purposes it’s business as usual all over the county. Mask compliance is at best optional. Although county buildings shut back down, the elected officials — Republican and Democratic alike — made it crystal clear previously that they have no intent of enforcing IDPH guidelines. And the health department doesn’t seem to be doing anything other than issuing warnings (if that).
There are close to 500 hospital beds between the two local hospitals. Right now only about 10-12% have COVID patients in them. Medical professionals are already very tired, and the worst may be yet to come.
- Huh? - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 11:26 am:
Not good when your home town is in the NY Times for the wrong reasons.
Wear the d##n mask.
- Downstate Libertarian - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 11:37 am:
@hisgirlfriday, One thing I have seen is a lot of club sports still being active. For example, travel soccer is still going on with the area teams going to out-of-state tournaments pretty regularly. Also in neighboring communities, mask wearing is far less. I work for one of the big employers and in the office and it is concerning. 40% of my coworkers in my department that came back are at home due to COVID (either having it or exposed).
- Homebody - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 11:42 am:
Note that if you go to the NYT website, their charts are interactive, and you can swap out NYC for Chicago on each chart. Chicago is much better off than the rest of Illinois, but significantly worse off than the more densely populated NYC.
- Westender - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 11:52 am:
Sterling has been on this NY Times list for nearly a month. Some days higher, some lower. We have no support here for enforcement from our County Board, our Health Department, our Health Board or our States Attorney. In the past two weeks our Mayor has threatened to pull liquor licenses for establishments blatantly disregarding the rules (there are many). Our State Representative consistently goes against the good of public health, plays politics and references lawsuits filed by Bailey. We have been asking for help from DCEO and the State to get this under control for several months. Our hospital is full, nursing homes and care centers are in a dire situation. We are headed down a consistent looking bad path with no help/relief in sight.
- tea_and_honey - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 11:59 am:
Do we know why Bloomington doesn’t get the Bloomington-Normal treatment in the same way say Ottowa-Peru does on the list? There’s no physical separation of Bloomington and Normal so I’m not sure why the numbers aren’t looked at together.
Given that the university is in Normal the numbers may actually be even worse than they seem if Normal was included.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 12:03 pm:
===doesn’t get the Bloomington-Normal treatment in the same way===
The list is of metro areas. Slow down a bit, please. It’s right there in the post.
- Club J - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 12:24 pm:
Very interesting and scary charts here. These show this virus is moving in many areas fast and action is needed now. Thanks for posting Rich. I hope Springfields Mayor and City Council reads this.
- Nearly Normal - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 2:05 pm:
Can’t help but wonder if the McLean County Republican Rally held in late October at the Corn Crib could have contributed to the spread of Covid-19. Yes it was outdoor but photos published showed few masks worn and scenes of groups not socially distancing.
- Johnny Tractor - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 3:13 pm:
Want some background on what’s going on in Bloomington-Normal? Go to the McLean County Health Department’s COVID page and look at the first graph:
https://health.mcleancountyil.gov/708/CORONAVIRUS-COVID-19
Yes, it’s likely the college students, but since we gladly accept their spending at our local establishments, the tax money they generate and we get to count them in our population figures, it’s not “them” - it’s our problem to address.
- Scott - Thursday, Nov 12, 20 @ 4:19 pm:
In reference to a few people mentioning college students, I can’t speak for other areas, but I know in the WIU/Macomb area, very few of our new cases are in the teens/20’s age range. This means that the majority of the spread in our community is likely not being driven by college students, but by “locals”.