Outside of private homes, bars and restaurants have been the largest source of COVID-19 exposures among cases in Champaign County, according to data from the health district.
The latest Champaign-Urbana Public Health District graphics show that – for cases where exposure location is known – exposure at bars and restaurants made up 459 of the county’s 13,174 total case count since March.
As of Dec. 22, Champaign County has 691 active COVID-19 cases. There are currently 16 people hospitalized and 83 people have died.
For the past two months, public health officials have kept an internal data visualization showing the percentage of cases tied to locations, but have made it available by request.
“We try to share as much as we can, ensuring privacy,” said Awais Vaid, deputy administrator and epidemiologist with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. “The chart with exposure location is pretty compelling when you look at monthly numbers.”
In November and thus far in December, hospitals or clinics were the top source of COVID-19 exposure. The health district’s graphic shows 26% of reported COVID-19 cases – or 23 cases – within Champaign County were tied to a hospital or clinic in December. There were 112 cases tied to a hospital or clinic in November.
Overall, with 438 total cases, hospitals and clinics rank third among the list of places where someone contracted the virus.
Private homes account for 469 of the total cases where exposure location is known, according to health district graphics.
Bars and restaurants were the top source of cases in August (55 cases) and September (153 cases).
Health officials have also tied at least 107 cases to bars and restaurants since March.
According to data obtained from the public health district, 19 cases were tied to Joe’s Brewery – the most on its list – between September 3 and October 5.
There were 18 cases tied to Kam’s between August 30 and October 1, according to public health data.
Illinois began restricting indoor dining and drinking in Champaign County again on Nov. 20. Area restaurants and bars remain under that restriction.
Very interesting to see the restaurants that have had infections, and, on the other hand, those that have not. Thank you for doing this. It is too bad “clean” places are suffering under the restrictions.