By now, Chicagoans are accustomed to hearing the daily breakdown of confirmed new cases, tests administered and lives lost during Governor J.B. Pritzker's 2:30pm press conference. At the beginning of April, the Chicago Department of Public Health began releasing maps that depicts the number of confirmed cases tied to every Chicago zip code (based on the home address of each patient). While the map doesn't display exact figures for each zip code (you can find some of those statistics on the Illinois Department of Public Health website), it does attribute a range of cases to each region—just keep in mind that these are only confirmed cases, which means there are likely other people in these zip codes that aren't displaying symptoms and/or haven't been tested. It should also be noted that these statistics do not represent the current number of cases in each zip code, as there are now many individuals who have contracted COVID-19 and recovered.
As of May 15, Cook County (which contains Chicago and many of its suburbs) is the U.S. county that has recorded the highest number of confirmed cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The latest data shows that Cook County has overtaken Queens and Kings Counties in New York City, which has been referred to as "an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic."
During the state's daily press conference on May 14, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike stated that increased testing in Illinois (in recent days, the number of test administered throughout the state has exceeded 20,000 per day) is driving the increase in confirmed cases. "The number of cases that we're identifying is proportional to the number of tests and we've increased our cases because we've increased the amount of testing we've done and we hope to keep doing that. So you actually will see more cases because we will continue to ramp up our testing," Ezike explained.
Below, you'll see the most current map outlining case counts by zip code, and you can find even more information on the City of Chicago's data page. The Chicago Department of Public Health has also compiled maps that represent the number of individuals tested for the virus, the rate of individuals tested, the confirmed case rates and mortality rates, all arranged by zip code.
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