COVID-19: Park Forest Has 163 Cases, Still Tops Southland in Rate Per 100k

Figures for All Towns Updated at 8:35 PM, April 14, 2020. This article is now available for free as part of our public service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- Park Forest officially has 163 cases of COVID-19 according to data provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health. With an estimated 2018 population of 21,429, that puts Park Forest at a rate of 760.65 cases per 100,000 people. Cicero has more physical cases at 253, but with a population of 83,889, the rate per 100,000 in Cicero is less than half that of Park Forest at 301.59.

As of this writing on April 14, Chicago Heights has 109 cases, Steger has 35, Flossmoor 42, Richton Park 71, Olympia Fields 27, Sauk Village 37, Glenwood 43, Tinley Park 81, and South Chicago Heights has 12.

Harvey has 76 cases, Country Club Hills has 91 cases, Orland Park 120, Lynwood 52, Lansing 97, Homewood 83, South Holland 130, Calumet City 156, and Markham 66. Ford Heights has 8 cases.

In Park Forest, police said in a statement Tuesday that, since Governor Pritzker’s Stay-At-Home order went into effect March 21, 2020, calls for service increased 179 for March of 2020 versus March of 2019 (a 13% increase). A “call for service” refers to anytime someone calls the police, either 911 or the non-emergency number, or walks into the Police Department and asks for assistance.

Domestic disturbance calls were up by 21 incidents over the previous year (a 26% increase).

Traffic crashes were down by 13 incidents (a 43% decrease), according to police.

Current COVID-19 Cases for Several South Suburban Towns

The population numbers for each town are derived either from the most recent figures available on Census.gov or by using the number per 100,000 reported by the Cook County Department of Public Health. In these latter cases, we used the formulas in Google Sheets like the one that follows to derive the town population Cook County was using:

=100000/(D2/B2)

In the above example, D2 represents the rate per 100,000 population reported by Cook County and B2 represents the total number of known COVID-19 cases.

Thank you to Ms. Jennifer Lamb, Chairperson of the Marian Catholic Mathematics Department, and friend Phil Nieman, for assistance in deriving that formula.

The following chart will auto-update as we update data in our spreadsheet.

This chart might not appear on all mobile devices.

Illinois Has Peaked in COVID-19 Cases

The good news in all of this remains that the number of COVID-19 cases in the state of Illinois have peaked as of April 8, 2020, according to projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington.

The projections from IHME show no anticipated shortage of hospital beds in Illinois, ICU or other.

Also, as we share a proximate boundary with the state of Indiana, it is good to know that, if social distancing continues to be maintained, Indiana’s peak of COVID-19 cases is today, April 14, 2020.

IHME also anticipates no shortage of hospital beds in the state of Indiana, ICU or other.

As of April 13, 2020, there are a total of 5,753 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in suburban Cook County and 216 deaths. Eighty-six (86) congregate settings, such as long term care facilities or nursing homes, are reporting one or more confirmed cases. The data from Cook County includes all cases under the jurisdiction of the Cook County Department of Public Health (excludes Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, Skokie, and Stickney Township). All numbers are provisional and subject to change.

As of this writing on April 14, Will County reports 1,310 total cases and 66 deaths.

The state of Illinois reports 22,025 positive cases of COVID-19, 794 deaths, and a total of 105,768 tests performed.

In order to ensure that social distancing rules may be eased, medical experts assert that more widespread testing must be available. “CDC has provided guidance for who should be tested, but decisions about testing are at the discretion of state and local health departments and/or individual clinicians,” the CDC says on its website. NPR reports, however, that many who need testing for COVID-19 still fail to get access.

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on April 13 announced 1,173 new known cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 74 additional deaths.

• Cook County: 2 males 30s, 1 female 40s, 3 males 40s, 7 males 50s, 6 females 60s, 8 males 60s, 8 females 70s, 5 males 70s, 8 females 80s, 4 males 80s, 3 females 90s, 2 males 90s, 1 female 100+
• DuPage County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
• Fayette County: 1 female 90s
• Jasper County: 1 female 90s
• Kane County: 1 female 90s
• Lake County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s
• McHenry County: 1 male 70s
• Will County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s

Johnson County is now reporting a case.  Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 22,025 cases, including 794 deaths, in 87 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.