Cook County has most virus cases nationwide as Illinois on track to move into Phase 3 of reopening plan

CHICAGO - Restrictions could finally ease up soon. Meanwhile, Cook County has now taken the top spot among counties nationwide in having the most coronavirus cases.

Still, Governor JB Pritzker says the state, for now, is on track to enter “Phase 3” of his reopening plan in two weeks.

Overall, Cook County has the most cases in the country, with 58,457, compared to Queens County in New York, which has 58,084.

It is important to note, though, that Cook County does have more than twice the population as Queens County and still has a lower rate of cases per capita.

Governor Pritzker says in just two weeks, the state may be on to Phase 3 of his reopening plan.

“Every region is so far, meeting all the metrics,” he said.

Phase 3 will let manufacturers, offices, retail, barbershops and hair salons to open with limits, and masks will still be required.

The Northeast region was behind in the positivity rate metric, but now it is below the required 20-percent or less.

Still, the governor is getting pressure to open sooner and redesign how the regions are drawn.

“We should not be lumped in with the county. We are not Cook,” said Will County Republican Chairman George Pearson.

He filed a federal lawsuit against the governor claiming his extended stay-at-home order violates the Constitution because the state is seizing private property from business owners.

“Our numbers are different, ok? Our economy is completely different. And you want our businesses and our families to be able to go back out and get back into their regular work,” Pearson said.

Since filing that lawsuit, the chairman says he has gone from three small businesses as plaintiffs to ten.

We also want to add that when comparing Cook County to Queens County, Queens has had 2,000 more COVID-19 deaths than Cook has.