By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The state announced its daily coronavirus numbers Wednesday, though many on the social media jury believe the government is puffing up the numbers.

“You can postulate that these are all unintended consequences of COVID, but they are,” said state public health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Some of them will be COVID deaths that were not diagnosed when we didn’t have the robust testing. Some of them will be people who may have, because of the devastation of this really traumatic event, had overdoses; we know that overdoses have increased. Some of them may have been people who are not seeking care, because they were scared of COVID.”

That won’t be enough to convince the skeptics who say the whole thing is a big, fat fraud.

Ezike reports 2,862 new cases and 49 newly reported deaths. The state’s totals are 327,605 cases and 9,074 deaths.

Ezike also said, with holiday festivities coming up, to social-distance in airports and keep gatherings small – and consider giving people their food already on plates, as opposed to a buffet.

Gov. JB Pritzker, appearing with Ezike, urged people, if they have not done so, to complete the census as soon as possible.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]