
Fentanyl-driven overdose deaths dropped in Illinois after 2022 peak
Deaths from opioid overdoses in Illinois are on the decline in 2024, showing a reversal after the record-high numbers seen in 2022. Drug prevention…
Deaths from opioid overdoses in Illinois are on the decline in 2024, showing a reversal after the record-high numbers seen in 2022. Drug prevention…
Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only requires healthcare administrators to report severe infections of COVID-19 among the fully vaccinated, the true number and percentage of vaccine breakthrough cases infections in Champaign County and across the nation is significantly undercounted, public health experts say. Data from the University of Illinois shows that breakthrough cases — severe and mild — are much larger than than the state numbers. Since May, 75.9% of, or more than three out of four, positive tests belonged to fully vaccinated students or staff.
Gun violence in Champaign has steadily marched westward over the past three years as shootings have increased in neighborhoods north and south of Springfield Avenue, especially in or near several apartment complexes, according to a review of police data over the past seven years by CU-CitizenAccess.org. With about two weeks left in this year, 16 people have lost their lives. In 2020, there were nine homicides, but only two in 2019. Shooting incidents more than doubled in Champaign since 2019, going from 100 shootings, to 189 in 2020, then to 251 by December 13.
The national conversation around gun violence generally centers around mass shootings, school shootings and gang activity. As Madelyn Beck reports, these problems need to be addressed, but may overshadow the largest group affected: suicide victims.