The Illinois Department of Public Health quietly removed thousands of available hospital beds from their data showing how much capacity Illinois’ medical centers have. The number of available hospital beds is closely tracked by the state as a barometer of how much stress the COVID-19 pandemic is placing on Illinois’ medical system. The state has more than 30,000 total general use hospital beds. The lower the number of free beds, the worse the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming. “We actually need to know how many beds are available that have staff that could actually work it,” Ezike said. “When you put...