The U.S. now has the largest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world. Surpassing the number of cases in both China and Italy, Johns Hopkins reports the U.S. has 100,717 confirmed cases. Italy comes in second with just over 86,000 confirmed cases and China in third with almost 82,000 confirmed cases.
In total, there are 590,594 confirmed cases across the globe, with 26,943 total deaths and 130,865. For the U.S., 1,544 people have died from COVID-19 and 862 have recovered so far.
The number of confirmed cases continues to increase rapidly. Cook County is now up to 2,239 confirmed cases since it’s first confirmed case back in January.
According to CNN, new hotspots of the virus are emerging in the Chicago, Detroit and New Orleans areas.
There were about 7,000 cases in the U.S. on March 17, according to the CDC. The number of cases has increased by about 18% between yesterday and today.
Graph from the CDC
Scientists and researchers are creating models to predict future trends of the pandemic and spread of the virus. Business Insider reports that researchers are estimating that nearly 200,000 people could die from the coronavirus by the end of the year. However, for every 3,200 people in the U.S., one person is infected. This is 0.031% of the population.
One extreme model predicted up to 1.2 million deaths in the U.S., but this wouldn’t all be a result of the current outbreak. Researchers predict a second outbreak might occur again in the upcoming fall season. This could happen anywhere from August to December.
Viruses like COVID-19, common colds and the flu often thrive in colder weather, which is why cases could decrease in the summer and spike up again in the fall and winter.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mayor Lori Lightfoot anticipates the stay-at-home order issued by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker will extend “deep into April.”
For up-to-date information in Illinois, visit the Illinois County Map of COVID-19 Positive Cases.
This information was updated as of 5:18 p.m. on Friday, March 27, 2020.
