COVID-19 in Cook County: Trailers to be deployed to area hospitals to help decompress morgues if necessary

COOK COUNTY, Ill. - The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the county's 13,000th death due to COVID-19 on Wednesday.

This grim milestone comes as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the state and the nation.

The medical examiner's office confirmed 254 coronavirus deaths for the week of Dec. 27, 2021, which is the highest total since December of 2020.

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Cook County's Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security began deploying trailers to area hospitals to help decompress morgues if necessary, the medical examiner's office said.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 6,271 COVID-19 deaths in the city of Chicago, which accounts for about 48 percent of deaths throughout Cook County.

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Men account for 57 percent of the deaths. 

Over 80 percent of deaths due to COVID-19 have occurred in people over the age of 60. The oldest Cook County resident who died from the virus was 109-years-old. The youngest resident to die from COVID-19 was 9-months-old.

For data regarding COVID-19 deaths in Cook County, visit maps.cookcountyil.gov/medexamcovid19/.