After the highest one-day death toll in Illinois on Thursday, Friday brought the highest report, ever, of new coronavirus cases – both in Illinois and Indiana – making it a bit strange to hear officials talk about reopening or “liberating” things.
Illinois saw 1,842 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours – dwarfing past record one-day totals. Indiana saw 630 new cases – the most in one day there, as well.
NBC 5 Investigates found that several Chicago-area Illinois counties also saw their highest one-day jump in new cases: Cook, DeKalb, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Winnebago Counties, as did the city of Chicago. And in northwest Indiana, Jasper and St. Joseph counties set one-day new case records as well.
And although Lake County, Indiana, set its single-day new case record on Thursday, not Friday, both Lake counties – in Indiana and Illinois – continue to share a unique benchmark: just as Lake County in Illinois is second only to Cook County – home to big city, Chicago – in number of coronavirus cases; so Lake County in northwest Indiana is second only to Marion County, Indiana – home to big city, Indianapolis.
One other significant change Friday: As NBC 5 Investigates continues to update which communities have been hardest-hit by coronavirus, the city of North Chicago has moved up to third – outranked now only by south suburban Park Forest, and West Rogers Park in Chicago, in terms of coronavirus cases per capita.
