Data Visualizations

Southern U.S. Witnesses Measles Outbreak

A new outbreak reignites vaccine efficacy debate; flu activity at 'high' levels in Chicago

An outbreak of measles in the United States has thrown the spotlight on the spread of infectious diseases and the efficacy of vaccinations in combating it. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. opined on consulting health-care providers and understanding vaccine options in a piece on Fox News.

As of February 27, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a total of 164 measles cases were reported by nine jurisdictions across Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Rhode Island, and Texas.

With intermittent colder temperatures in the windy city, the Chicago Department of Public Health said in a weekly media brief on Feb 28, 2025 that overall levels of acute respiratory illness is moderate across Chicago. Flu activity remains 'high' despite all influenza surveillance indicators showing a slight decrease from last week.

Health care providers continue to urge caution and advise citizens to update their vaccinations to better limit the spread.

*MMR refers to Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccinations

Chi City Found Banned Lead Piping in 97.5% of Home Inspections

Public records show higher incidence of older piping in Austin, West Ridge

Water delivered by lead service lines continue to exist in Chicago, almost 38 years after the federal decision to ban them came into force. Service lines refer to the pipes that connect individual home connections to the city's main water line. Through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, we found that 1219 homes out of 1249 homes inspected by the city had lead service lines between January 2023 until October 2024. In terms of the community areas with higher incidence of lead piping - Austin, West Ridge and South Lawndale stood out.

The mission to replace these pipelines is underway, albeit slowly. We found that of the many self-reported replacement programs, the city's newest intervention — the Breaks & Leaks program — accounted for the most number of replacements. With over 5,010 replacements being made under it, between Jan. 2023 and Oct. 2024. The program debuted in Jan 2023, and was advertised as a 'free full lead service line replacement' whenever a leak or a break occured on a public lead service line. Individuals can call the city's non-emergency helpline 311, and report a leak or break in the service line piping. This would then initiate the call to a city crew to determine whether it is on public piping or private pipe-lines. Breaks or leaks on the public side are covered by the city.

Methodology

The data for visualizations were sourced from public records and requested from Chicago city's Department of Public Health and the Department of Water Management, respectively. The original data was received in late November, 2024. It was then cleaned and formatted, before pivot tables were used to identify patterns. The findings were visualized on Flourish — an open access visualization tool. Updated community area maps were sourced from the Chicago data portal to plot area locations.