Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Department of Public Health’s daily death reports differ significantly from the actual death dates, according to data the IDPH provided in response to an Illinois Freedom of Information Act request.

The data looks at the coronavirus death count reported by day between March 16 and Aug. 5, compared to the official day of death. On May 12, for example, the Illinois death count by report date was 200, but the actual number of COVID-19-related deaths on that date was 110, based on the date of death, the data shows.

Health authorities have said that delays in the reporting of deaths can occur because it takes time to verify information on a death certificate and code it for government uses.

Coronavirus cases in the state have risen and then leveled out over the past month, according to the IDPH’s daily reports. And over the past two months, COVID-19 deaths dropped and then leveled out, the IDPH reports.

COVID-19 Deaths by Date of Death vs. Report Date

Date	Count by Day of Death	Count by Report Date
March 16	<5	0
March 17	<5	0
March 18	<5	0
March 19	<5	0
March 20	<5	0
March 21	7	0
March 22	5	0
March 23	9	0
March 24	<5	0
March 25	15	5
March 26	11	9
March 27	20	16
March 28	14	16
March 29	49	9
March 30	35	22
March 31	37	39
April 1	53	17
April 2	45	38
April 3	58	44
April 4	54	41
April 5	61	20
April 6	58	61
April 7	77	69
April 8	87	87
April 9	67	66
April 10	69	97
April 11	69	59
April 12	75	37
April 13	88	81
April 14	87	76
April 15	86	131
April 16	96	67
April 17	108	126
April 18	87	50
April 19	96	36
April 20	91	129
April 21	96	109
April 22	103	94
April 23	112	136
April 24	112	82
April 25	98	71
April 26	94	34
April 27	96	144
April 28	113	85
April 29	115	145
April 30	107	85
May 1	109	113
May 2	128	64
May 3	122	53
May 4	125	165
May 5	120	109
May 6	110	154
May 7	122	141
May 8	121	110
May 9	116	62
May 10	99	64
May 11	112	88
May 12	110	200
May 13	101	132
May 14	119	126
May 15	125	133
May 16	83	71
May 17	93	74
May 18	93	113
May 19	74	112
May 20	79	83
May 21	87	144
May 22	98	75
May 23	85	60
May 24	84	55
May 25	79	28
May 26	89	150
May 27	72	100
May 28	76	88
May 29	65	55
May 30	55	71
May 31	71	40
June 1	77	99
June 2	82	69
June 3	68	104
June 4	59	70
June 5	63	81
June 6	53	41
June 7	58	28
June 8	46	57
June 9	64	117
June 10	46	82
June 11	48	76
June 12	56	39
June 13	43	31
June 14	39	17
June 15	52	48
June 16	39	74
June 17	51	58
June 18	45	44
June 19	35	59
June 20	26	37
June 21	34	21
June 22	21	18
June 23	28	49
June 24	22	34
June 25	23	24
June 26	27	36
June 27	16	24
June 28	22	4
June 29	23	21
June 30	19	29
July 1	34	29
July 2	21	27
July 3	22	15
July 4	18	8
July 5	21	6
July 6	17	27
July 7	14	26
July 8	9	37
July 9	24	15
July 10	20	26
July 11	12	32
July 12	12	7
July 13	14	18
July 14	13	14
July 15	19	16
July 16	9	25
July 17	8	14
July 18	11	12
July 19	13	4
July 20	13	13
July 21	13	28
July 22	11	14
July 23	8	10
July 24	12	15
July 25	19	8
July 26	14	14
July 27	12	14
July 28	13	22
July 29	10	18
July 30	9	15
July 31	13	12
Aug. 1	11	8
Aug. 2	11	11
Aug. 3	6	11
Aug. 4	6	24
Aug. 5		15
Total	7572	7567

Source: Illinois Department of Public Health