As the omicron variant spreads, new daily cases of COVID-19 have hit new highs in the United States. To date, there have been 57,535,900 reported cases of the virus nationwide — and that number is growing every day.
In the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan area, which covers parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, a total of 1,626,609 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 17,057 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 17,586 cases per 100,000 people.
Even though COVID-19 infections per capita are in line with the national average across Chicago-Naperville-Elgin , there are parts of the metro area where this is not the case.
The broader Chicago metro area comprises 14 counties or county equivalents, which can include independent cities — and of them, Jasper County has the most COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 7,299 infections in Jasper County, or 21,821 for every 100,000 people.
Not only does Jasper County have the most COVID-19 infections per capita in the Chicago area, it also has more deaths attributable to the virus per capita than the metro area as a whole. There have been a total of 317 coronavirus deaths for every 100,000 people in Jasper County, compared to 212 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area.
All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Jan. 7, 2022.
| Rank | Geography | COVID cases per 100,000 people | Total cases | Deaths per 100,000 people | Total deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jasper County, IN | 21,821 | 7,299 | 317 | 106 |
| 2 | Grundy County, IL | 20,396 | 10,302 | 204 | 103 |
| 3 | Kenosha County, WI | 18,974 | 31,939 | 290 | 488 |
| 4 | Kendall County, IL | 18,799 | 23,429 | 102 | 127 |
| 5 | Lake County, IN | 18,511 | 90,121 | 283 | 1,378 |
| 6 | Will County, IL | 18,462 | 127,147 | 182 | 1,253 |
| 7 | Porter County, IN | 18,343 | 30,823 | 260 | 437 |
| 8 | Kane County, IL | 17,302 | 91,844 | 180 | 954 |
| 9 | Cook County, IL | 16,907 | 883,180 | 232 | 12,131 |
| 10 | DuPage County, IL | 16,497 | 153,713 | 156 | 1,457 |
| 11 | DeKalb County, IL | 16,352 | 17,039 | 152 | 158 |
| 12 | McHenry County, IL | 16,190 | 49,832 | 121 | 371 |
| 13 | Lake County, IL | 15,327 | 107,841 | 164 | 1,156 |
| 14 | Newton County, IN | 14,981 | 2,100 | 407 | 57 |