Chicago COVID-19 Cases, Tests, and Deaths by ZIP Code, Historical Weekly Data

Historical weekly COVID-19 data for Chicago residents, aggregated by home ZIP Code. The dataset includes columns for Cases - Weekly, Tests - Weekly, Deaths - Weekly, and derived rates like Case Rate - Weekly and Percent Tested Positive - Weekly. Data is sourced from the Illinois National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, and other public health sources, and has been retired by the data.cityofchicago.org organization.

Use Cases

• Analyzing weekly case rate trends by ZIP Code using Week Start, Cases - Weekly, and Population.
• Modeling the relationship between testing and positivity rates with Tests - Weekly and Percent Tested Positive - Weekly.
• Mapping cumulative disease burden across Chicago neighborhoods using ZIP Code, Cases - Cumulative, and Boundaries - ZIP Codes.
• Comparing mortality rates across community areas with Deaths - Weekly, Death Rate - Weekly, and Community Areas.

Strengths

• Includes multiple derived metrics like Test Rate - Weekly, Case Rate - Cumulative, and Percent Tested Positive - Weekly.
• Data is linked to geographic boundaries (Boundaries - ZIP Codes, Community Areas, Wards, Census Tracts) for spatial analysis.
• Provides both weekly and cumulative counts for cases, tests, and deaths across a multi-year pandemic period.

Limitations

• The dataset is marked as historical-only and retired, indicating it is no longer updated.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Test counts are described as an underestimate due to reporting lags and changes in testing practices over time.

Provenance

Source

Illinois National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Illinois Vital Records, American Community Survey (2018)

Collection Method

Aggregated from electronic lab reporting and vital records, counted by week of specimen collection or death.

Time Range

Weekly data from at least 3/1/2020 onward; specific end date is not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 16:23:46; dataset is retired and historical.

Geography

Chicago, Illinois, United States, aggregated by resident ZIP Code.