Provisional Deaths from Respiratory Illnesses in Chicago

Chicago receives weekly deidentified provisional death certificate data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The data is scanned for keywords to identify deaths attributed to COVID-19, influenza, or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and calculates the percentage of all deaths for each disease. This dataset, provided by the City of Chicago, reflects certificates submitted at the time of weekly transmission and was last updated on 2026-03-22.

Use Cases

• Track weekly trends in COVID-19 mortality based on provisional death certificate data.
• Compare the impact of influenza and RSV on mortality rates in Chicago.
• Calculate the percentage of all-cause deaths attributed to specific respiratory illnesses.
• Analyze provisional mortality data for public health surveillance and reporting.

Strengths

• Data is updated weekly, providing near-real-time surveillance.
• Focuses on three specific respiratory diseases: COVID-19, influenza, and RSV.
• Calculates a derived metric: the percentage of all deaths attributed to each disease.

Limitations

• Data is provisional and not updated retroactively, so estimates may differ from official statistics.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Illinois Department of Public Health Illinois Vital Records System (IVRS).

Collection Method

Weekly deidentified provisional death certificate data scanned for disease keywords.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-22 04:04:36.476374; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Chicago, Illinois, USA (may include non-residents who died in Chicago).