ILLINOIS, USA — Researchers in Illinois launched an interactive COVID-19 website that helps residents track trends and the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
Illinois COVID-19 Modeling indicates whether the pandemic is growing, shrinking or staying the same by measuring the "instantaneous reproductive number."
A number above 1 means the epidemic is growing, below 1 shrinking and equal to 1 staying the same. The reproductive number essentially tracks and calculates how many people are infected from cases.
So, if 10 people infect 10 other people then the epidemic in Illinois is staying the same. But if those 10 people infect 15 people it is growing. If those 10 people infect 5 people, the epidemic is shrinking.
The website also includes modeling for "Cases" (the number of new infections), "Deaths" (the number of daily COVID-19 confirmed deaths), "Case Positivity Rate" (number of cases discovered divided by the number of tests administered) and Tests (number of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests administered).
Data is also broken down into Illinois Department of Public Health Regions to provide a more targeted look at how the coronavirus is affecting communities.
The website includes data going back to March 2020, providing insight into how the pandemic has evolved since it first started affecting the United States.
Researchers at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Argonne National Laboratory who have been tracking COVID-19 in the state since March contributed to the development of the website.
Illinois reported more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases Friday along with more than 100 deaths statewide. Rock Island County reported one new death.
