Thread by @youyanggu

Last week, Illinois reported 15,415 cases in a single day, more than Florida ever did in a single day. This is despite Illinois' population being 40% lower.

Many of you probably did not know the dire situation in Illinois. That's because no mainstream media chose to report it.

Here is how the media chose to report Illinois now (left) vs Florida in July (right).

Unfortunately, no national news outlet is covering the situation in Illinois.

No other state has ever averaged 12,000 cases a day for a whole week. Not even Florida (1.7x pop), California (3x pop), and Texas (2.3x pop).

For deaths per capita, Illinois also exceeded the peak deaths in Florida twice, once in May and once again now. So why is this not news?

On the surface, Illinois has done many things "right":

- Mask mandate since May 1
- $5M ad campaign to encourage mask wearing
- Closing indoor dining/bars at end of October
- Stay at home advisory in Chicago and additional statewide restrictions enacted last week

We hear a lot of the talk about how the deaths in Florida were "preventable". What about the ones in Illinois?

I tried to search for discussions on what went wrong in Illinois or whether we could have mitigated/prevented the situation, but I couldn't find much.

I don't want to spark a political debate here. I just hope that more people can recognize that the news we consume online can be inherently biased. They often serve to fuel division (and clicks).

The sooner we can recognize that, the sooner we can come together.