Illinois Valley Times

GPS location data shows which Illinois counties are practicing social distancing and which could be doing a better job at it. 

Individuals who own a smartphone contribute to a COVID-19 surveillance system that shows who stays home and who doesn't, according to the Northwest Journal.

The company that collects the GPS location data, Unacast, released score of grades for counties in Illinois. Its Social Distancing Scoreboard shows how well each county is practicing social distancing. Counties are graded based on how much average travel decreases. 

Several counties, including Lake, DuPage, Putnam, DeKalb, McHenry, Cook, Kane, Kendall, Will and Carroll counties, all were graded with an "A" because the average distance traveled decreased by a total of 42%, Unacast reported. The counties that received a "B" decreased travel by an average of 32%. 

Only two counties, Grundy and Bureau, were graded with a "D" with travel decreasing on average by 16%, according to the Northwest Journal.

County Health Department Director Hector Gomez, who is in charge of Bureau, Putnam and Marshall counties, said that he has mostly seen only essential businesses remain open and restaurants have moved to pick-up orders. 

“From what I’ve seen ... around Walmart or Sullivan’s, pretty much everybody’s maintaining social distance,” Gomez said to the Northwest Herald. 

Gomez said social distancing is important for residents of the counties to practice. Gomez said he believes COVID-19 has yet to peak. 

“It’s just going in an upward trend and you haven’t seen a downward trend as of yet, which tells you there’s still a virus going around,” Gomez told the Northwest Herald. 

The practice of social distancing will help hospitals "flatten the curve," which means it will lower the amount of people getting infected with COVID-19, Gomez said. 

“You’re talking a little hill rather than a mountain, so to speak,” Gomez said to the Northwest Herald. 

The Lasalle County Sheriff's Office asked residents not to make the jobs of first responders harder in a Facebook post. The sheriff's office asked residents to follow the guidance given to them by local, regional, state and national health care providers, such as social distancing. 

"Do not make the jobs of first responders harder during this period of time. Remember every healthcare worker, officer, paramedic and deputy have a family at home they are concerned about too. We are in this together," the sheriff's office said in the post. "Be reasonable and responsible. Follow the direction and requests of health officials. Remain vigilant, take precautions and use your best judgement. If at any time you need assistance, your first responders are a call away."

To view all the county grades, view the Social Distancing Scoreboard.