chicagosun-times--2020-05-11--Latest coronavirus news for May 11, 2020: Live updates

Activists call on CHA to provide adequate COVID-19 testing , PPE for seniors Community activists Monday called on the Chicago Housing Authority to provide adequate COVID-19 testing and more personal protective equipment for residents living in the agency ’ s senior buildings .
While CHA officials said some equipment has been passed out to curb the spread of the deadly virus , the activists said the agency needs to do more .
Nursing homes and health care facilities across the country have made headlines for coronavirus-related deaths , but not enough attention has been paid to seniors living in public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news conference at the CHA ’ s Patrick Sullivan Senior Apartments , 1633 W. Madison St. “ A lot of our seniors are too old to get out , ” Rosemary Coleman , president of the CHA ’ s local advisory council said , calling for mobile testing units .
“ Some can hardly walk .
We don ’ t have cars , we can ’ t catch buses and we can ’ t stand in long lines to be tested .
So , we need a unit to come out and test @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residents ] are asking to be tested , but they have no other way of [ getting to test ] .
” Read the full report from Noah Johnson here .
9:19 p.m. We won ’ t reopen teachers contract for Chicago Public Schools to start on time this fall , Lightfoot says Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she ’ s not about to reopen the teachers contract that ended an eleven-day strike last fall to pave the way for the on-time start of Chicago Public Schools this fall .
“ That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We ’ re not gon na reopen the bargaining agreement , ” the mayor said .
Lightfoot reiterated her determination to reopen schools “ in a way that keeps the entire school community safe ” — perhaps using staggered schedules to limit the number of students in classrooms at any given time .
“ There ’ ll be plenty of time for discussion but , first and foremost , we ’ ll be guided by what the public health data tells us .
And hopefully , we ’ ll have a constructive conversation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
Read the full report from Fran Spielman here .
8:34 p.m .
The Blue Angels to honor frontline workers with flyover Tuesday , and here ’ s what you should know Now get ready to add the Blue Angels to the list of ways the nation is honoring health care workers .
Here ’ s what you need to know about the precision-flying Navy airplanes that are set to pass over Chicago on Tuesday .
The flyover is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. , although times are subject to change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the planes ’ flight paths .
8:02 p.m. City Colleges receives $ 12.7 million in federal stimulus funds to distribute to struggling students City Colleges of Chicago has received $ 12.7 million in federal stimulus money that will be distributed to struggling students .
The money isn ’ t required to go toward tuition but can be spent on day-to-day living expenses .
“ Our students are hard-working and resilient , but many of them needed housing , food and financial support before the COVID-19 crisis , and this pandemic has only exacerbated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago , said in a statement announcing the stimulus money Monday .
More than 22,000 students are potentially eligible to receive a portion of the money and more than 8,000 students have already applied .
Read the full report from Mitch Dudek here .
7:31 p.m. 54 more die in Illinois of COVID-19 — and one new projection shows peak could hit 300 a day Another 54 people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois , officials said Monday , as Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s administration planned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state could remain in a peak period of 50 to 150 deaths a day into early June — or as one university suggests , up to 300 lives lost each day into July .
Pritzker on Monday afternoon planned to broadcast his briefing live for the first time in his Chicago home after a senior staffer tested positive for coronavirus .
The governor himself has tested negative for coronavirus .
In total , 3,459 people have died of coronavirus in Illinois .
The state also reported 1,266 new cases , bringing the total @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state received 12,441 tests results .
The positivity rate statewide as of Monday is 10.17 % .
In the Northeast region , which includes Cook County and Chicago , the positivity rate is about 22 % .
The number of COVID-19 patients entering ICU beds went up by 16 , from Saturday to Sunday night , according to Pritzker ’ s office .
The number of ventilators being used by coronavirus patients also increased by 21 , and the total number of COVID-19 patients increased by 26 patients .
6:30 p.m. Don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ license plate sticker , officials say Just because the state facilities that handle Illinois drivers ’ licenses and emissions testing are closed , drivers are being told not worry if their license plate registration sticker is set to expire .
Once the Illinois Secretary of State ’ s Driver Services facilities do reopen , residents will have 90 days to renew their expired vehicle registrations .
Also put on hold is the requirement for drivers in the Chicago and Metro East regions to get their vehicles ’ emissions tested before they renew their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of State Jesse White announced the closure of driver services facilities across the state , as the country braced for the COVID-19 pandemic .
So far , it ’ s not known when driver services facilities will open again , a spokesman for the office said .
But any drivers who have already met the requirements can renew their registrations online .
Click here for more information .
Due to revenue losses caused by the pandemic , Northwestern University on Monday announced plans to furlough about 250 workers , reduce salaries for university @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and draw more heavily on its endowment fund .
The measures were enacted to help address a projected $ 90 million budget shortfall this year , university leadership said in a message to the Northwestern community .
“ Even if we resume on-campus activity in the fall , as we hope to do by phases , we are likely to see a significant shortfall in the 2021 fiscal year as well , perhaps as great as or greater than what we are experiencing this year , ” the note signed by President Morton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Monday she had a “ very pleasant ” conversation with the pastor of an Albany Park church that defied the statewide stay-at-home order and hopes to educate him into compliance , avoiding mass arrests .
“ We ’ re not gon na send in the police to arrest parishioners .
People are exercising their faith , and I understand that , ” the mayor said .
“ But it ’ s a mistake to gather in large congregate settings — particularly if you have an underlying medical condition [ or ] you are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s hopefully the dialogue that we ’ ll be able to have with the pastor.
” Lightfoot has not hesitated to play the heavy during the pandemic .
Chicago police announced Monday 12 more cases of COVID-19 , bringing the number of cases in the department to 502 .
Of the confirmed cases , 477 are officers and 25 are civilian employees , police said .
The department announced the death of a third officer from complications of the coronavirus on April 17 .
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday forged a partnership @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Award-winning actor Sean Penn to open six new testing sites pivotal to slowly reopening the Chicago economy .
To graduate to phase three of the mayor ’ s five-step reopening plan , the city needs to test at least 5 percent of its residents every month .
That means a 50 percent increase by the end of the month — from roughly 3,000 tests a month currently to 5,000 , with a longer-term testing goal of 10,000 tests monthly .
The partnership between City Hall and Penn ’ s Community Organized Relief Effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was brokered by the Rev .
Jesse Jackson Sr. , the founder of Rainbow PUSH who has been working with Penn for years to bring humanitarian relief to disaster sites around the world , including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake .
1:45 p.m. Aldermen protect workers from retaliation for COVID-related absences , ease up on businesses With 32 complaints already pending , Chicago aldermen moved Monday to protect employees from retaliation for absences tied to the coronavirus and threw a bone to struggling businesses .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ordinance last summer that requires large Chicago employers to give employees at least two weeks ’ notice of their schedules and compensate them for last-minute changes .
At a virtual meeting Monday , the City ’ s Council Committee on Workforce Development agreed to ease up a bit to recognize many businesses may not survive the stay-at-home shutdown of the Chicago economy .
The amendment approved Monday after a rare direct introduction by Mayor Lori Lightfoot would postpone until Jan. 1 the “ private cause of action ” section that allows aggrieved workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or compensation to file their own lawsuits .
11:55 a.m. Risk of reopening US economy too fast : A W-shaped recovery WASHINGTON — When the coronavirus erupted in the United States , it triggered quarantines , travel curbs and business shutdowns .
Many economists predicted a V-shaped journey for the economy : A sharp drop , then a quick bounce-back as the virus faded and the economy regained health .
Now , as President Donald Trump and many Republicans press to reopen the economy , some experts see an ominous risk : That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ignite a resurgence of COVID-19 cases by fall , sending the economy back into lockdown .
The result : a W-shaped disaster in which a tentative recovery would sink back into a “ double-dip ” recession before rebounding eventually .
“ The push to reopen the economy is making a W-shaped recovery very much more likely , ” said Jeffrey Frankel , professor of capital formation and growth at the Harvard Kennedy School .
In Frankel ’ s view , any widespread reopening should wait for a sustained drop in death rates and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one is completely safe until an effective treatment or vaccine can be produced and widely distributed — a scenario that ’ s likely many months away .
10:24 a.m. Gov .
Pritzker and staff ordered to stay home after senior staffer tests positive for COVID-19 A member of Gov J.B. Pritzker ’ s senior staff has tested positive for COVID-19 and all staffers — including the governor — will now work from home for an “ appropriate isolation period , ” the governor ’ s office said Monday .
The staff member was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That staffer was also in close contact with Pritzker and other staff members , the governor ’ s office said .
All staffers were tested last week .
The Democratic governor and all other senior staffers have tested negative , and Pritzker was tested once again early Sunday and tested negative , his office said .
For more than eight weeks , 20 senior members have been regularly reporting in person to work downtown at the James R. Thompson Center .
The employees have used safety protocols like daily temperature checks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Just 0.7 % of Major League Baseball employees tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19 , the illness caused by the new coronavirus .
Results were based from about 5,600 completed records from employees of 26 clubs .
Samples were obtained on April 14 and 15 .
“ It allows us to get a peek of the nation-wide prevalence , ” said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya at Stanford , one the study ’ s leaders , said Sunday .
The start of the baseball season has been delayed because of the virus outbreak .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ season might begin .
7:16 a.m. ‘ No one will ever forget ’ pandemic ’ s toll on Illinois families , health chief says in Mother ’ s Day message Illinois Department of Public Health head Dr. Ngozi Ezike on Sunday delivered an emotional Mother ’ s Day message for her church in west suburban LaGrange — detailing that more than 1,000 mothers have died from COVID-19 in Illinois .
The weekend marked the first time in eight weeks in which Illinois Gov .
J.B. Pritzker and Ezike didn ’ t stand before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instead , Ezike — a mother of four — spent her Sunday delivering a lengthy sermon for Hope Church via their Facebook page .
“ This Mother ’ s Day is especially challenging .
That ’ s putting it ever so mildly , ” Ezike said .
“ No one will ever forget Mother ’ s Day 2020.
” The state has lost 3,406 people to COVID-19 , including 1,553 in the nursing homes .
The U.S. Navy ’ s Blue Angels will perform a flyover of Chicago on Tuesday , the Blue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Known for participating in Chicago Air and Water shows , the pilot squadron ’ s surprise Tuesday flyover will honor front-line workers during the coronavirus pandemic .
“ We salute and thank all healthcare workers , first responders and other essential personnel serving on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 , ” a release said .
Exact routes and times will be announced Monday .
• Illinois officials on Sunday announced 1,656 new cases of COVID-19 , with 57 additional deaths reported .
The state ’ s death toll has now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases reached 77,741 , according to the Illinois Department of Public Health .
• The office of the Chief Judge of Cook County announced Friday an employee and a detainee at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center tested positive for COVID-19 .
• Seven more COVID-19 cases were reported in Chicago Police Department .
• Two people are dead among 85 workers at CPS schools who have tested positive for COVID-19 , officials say .
7:01 p.m. Pandemic or not , independent candidates deserve chance to get on Illinois ballot Illinois must get its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state is to have a smooth voting process this fall , and that means resolving one particular court dispute almost immediately .
On Friday , a lawyer representing the State Board of Elections asked a federal judge to set an earlier deadline for third party candidates to file petitions to get on the Nov. 3 ballot — and to increase the number of signatures those candidates must gather .
As an alternative , the lawyer for the state said , the court could leave it to the election board to decide the deadline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two weeks ago , Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer , noting that the coronavirus pandemic would make it more difficult to collect signatures , pushed back the deadline for submitting nominating petitions to Aug. 7 from June 22 .
Pallmeyer also ruled that candidates need to submit only 10 % of the normal number of signatures and can include ones made electronically — with a finger or a computer mouse or stylus .
That has caught the attention of election officials across the state , who worry that the later deadline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the normal objection process to play out .
There might not be enough time left to print up the ballots , they warn , especially given that many more people are expected to request mail-in ballots .
2:25 p.m. ‘ Those who can pay rent must ’ : Chicagoland Apartment Association fears ‘ tremendous amount of foreclosures ’ Michael Mini , executive vice president of the Chicagoland Apartment Association , wrote this letter to the Sun-Times editors , published Sunday : As a large association of apartment owners and managers with properties ranging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Apartment Association is proud to have signed Mayor Lightfoot ’ s Chicago Housing Solidarity Pledge .
During these unprecedented times , true to the Solidarity Pledge , countless property managers are practicing grace and patience when rent is due , including extended payment plans , waiving late fees and offering significant grace periods .
We expect these scenarios to repeat tens of thousands of times going forward .
It ’ s important to emphasize what the mayor has said repeatedly : Those who can pay rent must .
Not only is it vital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also increases apartment owners ’ flexibility to extend a helping hand to the thousands of tenants facing hardship in the wake of the pandemic .
Apartment owners are under similar financial pressures .
Their monthly costs including payroll , property taxes , insurance , maintenance and capital expenditures .
A group of Illinois lawmakers is endorsing # CancelRent legislation , but we would note the idea of forgiving widespread rent could result in a tremendous amount of foreclosures , exacerbating the region ’ s shortage of quality affordable housing options .
Short of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the best strategy is for property managers and residents to partner together .
Early , open communication from residents regarding their COVID-19-related needs is key to finding mutually agreeable resolutions .
Read this and more letters to the editor here .
7:04 a.m. Time for Illinois Legislature to get back to work — safely and remotely The Illinois Legislature must get back to work — safely and remotely .
Other state legislatures have begun to reconvene online and the Illinois Legislature should do so as well .
And we can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s an insurmountable legal obstacle to doing so .
Yes , a state statute requires that the Legislature meet in the seat of government — Springfield .
But the statute also says the governor can convene a session of the Legislature elsewhere “ in times of pestilence or public danger.
” If this is not a time of pestilence and public danger , we don ’ t know what would be .
Illinois lawmakers have not met in the Capitol since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic , though the spring session was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As a result , important legislation , including a vote on the state ’ s budget for fiscal year 2021 , which begins July 1 , is stalled .
Nobody wants to put state lawmakers in physical peril .
Many of them run a particular risk from the coronavirus because of their age or health .
But we have learned during this pandemic that online meeting technology can work reasonably well .
And if the usual Springfield windbagging is curbed , who ’ s to complain ?
Read the Sun-Times ’ editorial in @ @ @ @

The latest
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Community activists Monday called on the Chicago Housing Authority to provide adequate COVID-19 testing and more personal protective equipment for residents living in the agency’s senior buildings.
While CHA officials said some equipment has been passed out to curb the spread of the deadly virus, the activists said the agency needs to do more.
Nursing homes and health care facilities across the country have made headlines for coronavirus-related deaths, but not enough attention has been paid to seniors living in public housing, the activists said at a news conference at the CHA’s Patrick Sullivan Senior Apartments, 1633 W. Madison St.
“A lot of our seniors are too old to get out,” Rosemary Coleman, president of the CHA’s local advisory council said, calling for mobile testing units.
“Some can hardly walk. We don’t have cars, we can’t catch buses and we can’t stand in long lines to be tested. So, we need a unit to come out and test us for this virus. Some [residents] are asking to be tested, but they have no other way of [getting to test].”
Read the full report from Noah Johnson here.
News
9:19 p.m. We won’t reopen teachers contract for Chicago Public Schools to start on time this fall, Lightfoot says
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she’s not about to reopen the teachers contract that ended an eleven-day strike last fall to pave the way for the on-time start of Chicago Public Schools this fall.
“That’s not gonna happen. … We’re not gonna reopen the bargaining agreement,” the mayor said.
Lightfoot reiterated her determination to reopen schools “in a way that keeps the entire school community safe” — perhaps using staggered schedules to limit the number of students in classrooms at any given time.
“There’ll be plenty of time for discussion but, first and foremost, we’ll be guided by what the public health data tells us. And hopefully, we’ll have a constructive conversation with CTU leadership,” the mayor said.
Read the full report from Fran Spielman here.
8:34 p.m. The Blue Angels to honor frontline workers with flyover Tuesday, and here’s what you should know
Teddy bears in windows, flickering lights, honking, cheering, singing.
Now get ready to add the Blue Angels to the list of ways the nation is honoring health care workers.
Here’s what you need to know about the precision-flying Navy airplanes that are set to pass over Chicago on Tuesday.
The flyover is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m., although times are subject to change.
Click here for more details about the planes’ flight paths.
8:02 p.m. City Colleges receives $12.7 million in federal stimulus funds to distribute to struggling students
City Colleges of Chicago has received $12.7 million in federal stimulus money that will be distributed to struggling students.
The money isn’t required to go toward tuition but can be spent on day-to-day living expenses.
“Our students are hard-working and resilient, but many of them needed housing, food and financial support before the COVID-19 crisis, and this pandemic has only exacerbated their need,” Juan Salgado, chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago, said in a statement announcing the stimulus money Monday.
More than 22,000 students are potentially eligible to receive a portion of the money and more than 8,000 students have already applied.
Read the full report from Mitch Dudek here.
7:31 p.m. 54 more die in Illinois of COVID-19 — and one new projection shows peak could hit 300 a day
Another 54 people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois, officials said Monday, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration planned to release new projections that show the state could remain in a peak period of 50 to 150 deaths a day into early June — or as one university suggests, up to 300 lives lost each day into July.
Pritzker on Monday afternoon planned to broadcast his briefing live for the first time in his Chicago home after a senior staffer tested positive for coronavirus. The governor himself has tested negative for coronavirus.
In total, 3,459 people have died of coronavirus in Illinois. The state also reported 1,266 new cases, bringing the total of positive cases to 79,007. The state received 12,441 tests results.
The positivity rate statewide as of Monday is 10.17%. In the Northeast region, which includes Cook County and Chicago, the positivity rate is about 22%.
The number of COVID-19 patients entering ICU beds went up by 16, from Saturday to Sunday night, according to Pritzker’s office. The number of ventilators being used by coronavirus patients also increased by 21, and the total number of COVID-19 patients increased by 26 patients.
Read the full story from reporter Tina Sfondeles.
6:30 p.m. Don’t worry about getting stuck with expired license plate sticker, officials say
Just because the state facilities that handle Illinois drivers’ licenses and emissions testing are closed, drivers are being told not worry if their license plate registration sticker is set to expire.
Once the Illinois Secretary of State’s Driver Services facilities do reopen, residents will have 90 days to renew their expired vehicle registrations. Also put on hold is the requirement for drivers in the Chicago and Metro East regions to get their vehicles’ emissions tested before they renew their registrations.
In March, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced the closure of driver services facilities across the state, as the country braced for the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, it’s not known when driver services facilities will open again, a spokesman for the office said.
But any drivers who have already met the requirements can renew their registrations online.
Click here for more information.
5:55 p.m. Northwestern announces 250 furloughs, $90M budget shortfall
Due to revenue losses caused by the pandemic, Northwestern University on Monday announced plans to furlough about 250 workers, reduce salaries for university leaders, suspend contributions to retirement plans and draw more heavily on its endowment fund.
The measures were enacted to help address a projected $90 million budget shortfall this year, university leadership said in a message to the Northwestern community.
“Even if we resume on-campus activity in the fall, as we hope to do by phases, we are likely to see a significant shortfall in the 2021 fiscal year as well, perhaps as great as or greater than what we are experiencing this year,” the note signed by President Morton Schapiro said.
Read the full story here.
4:55 p.m. Lightfoot hopes to educate defiant church into compliance, avoiding mass arrests
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she had a “very pleasant” conversation with the pastor of an Albany Park church that defied the statewide stay-at-home order and hopes to educate him into compliance, avoiding mass arrests.
“We’re not gonna send in the police to arrest parishioners. People are exercising their faith, and I understand that,” the mayor said.
“But it’s a mistake to gather in large congregate settings — particularly if you have an underlying medical condition [or] you are otherwise in a vulnerable population. That’s hopefully the dialogue that we’ll be able to have with the pastor.”
Lightfoot has not hesitated to play the heavy during the pandemic.
Read the full story from City Hall reporter Fran Spielman.
4:40 p.m. Chicago Police Department announces 12 more COVID-19 cases
Chicago police announced Monday 12 more cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of cases in the department to 502.
Of the confirmed cases, 477 are officers and 25 are civilian employees, police said.
The department announced the death of a third officer from complications of the coronavirus on April 17.
Read the full story here.
4:25 p.m. Chicago opening 6 new testing sites pivotal to reopening Chicago economy
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday forged a partnership with a humanitarian organization created by Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn to open six new testing sites pivotal to slowly reopening the Chicago economy.
To graduate to phase three of the mayor’s five-step reopening plan, the city needs to test at least 5 percent of its residents every month. That means a 50 percent increase by the end of the month — from roughly 3,000 tests a month currently to 5,000, with a longer-term testing goal of 10,000 tests monthly.
The partnership between City Hall and Penn’s Community Organized Relief Effort will help make it happen.
It was brokered by the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the founder of Rainbow PUSH who has been working with Penn for years to bring humanitarian relief to disaster sites around the world, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake.
Read the full story from City Hall reporter Fran Spielman.
1:45 p.m. Aldermen protect workers from retaliation for COVID-related absences, ease up on businesses
With 32 complaints already pending, Chicago aldermen moved Monday to protect employees from retaliation for absences tied to the coronavirus and threw a bone to struggling businesses.
The City Council unanimously approved a fair workweek ordinance last summer that requires large Chicago employers to give employees at least two weeks’ notice of their schedules and compensate them for last-minute changes.
At a virtual meeting Monday, the City’s Council Committee on Workforce Development agreed to ease up a bit to recognize many businesses may not survive the stay-at-home shutdown of the Chicago economy.
The amendment approved Monday after a rare direct introduction by Mayor Lori Lightfoot would postpone until Jan. 1 the “private cause of action” section that allows aggrieved workers whose schedules are changed without adequate notice or compensation to file their own lawsuits.
Read the full story from City Hall reporter Fran Spielman.
11:55 a.m. Risk of reopening US economy too fast: A W-shaped recovery
WASHINGTON — When the coronavirus erupted in the United States, it triggered quarantines, travel curbs and business shutdowns. Many economists predicted a V-shaped journey for the economy: A sharp drop, then a quick bounce-back as the virus faded and the economy regained health.
Others envisioned a slower, U-shaped course.
Now, as President Donald Trump and many Republicans press to reopen the economy, some experts see an ominous risk: That a too-hasty relaxation of social distancing could ignite a resurgence of COVID-19 cases by fall, sending the economy back into lockdown. The result: a W-shaped disaster in which a tentative recovery would sink back into a “double-dip” recession before rebounding eventually.
“The push to reopen the economy is making a W-shaped recovery very much more likely,” said Jeffrey Frankel, professor of capital formation and growth at the Harvard Kennedy School.
In Frankel’s view, any widespread reopening should wait for a sustained drop in death rates and the broad availability of tests. No one is completely safe until an effective treatment or vaccine can be produced and widely distributed — a scenario that’s likely many months away.
Read the full story here.
10:24 a.m. Gov. Pritzker and staff ordered to stay home after senior staffer tests positive for COVID-19
A member of Gov J.B. Pritzker’s senior staff has tested positive for COVID-19 and all staffers — including the governor — will now work from home for an “appropriate isolation period,” the governor’s office said Monday.
The staff member was asymptomatic and tested positive late last week. That staffer was also in close contact with Pritzker and other staff members, the governor’s office said.
All staffers were tested last week. The Democratic governor and all other senior staffers have tested negative, and Pritzker was tested once again early Sunday and tested negative, his office said.
For more than eight weeks, 20 senior members have been regularly reporting in person to work downtown at the James R. Thompson Center. The employees have used safety protocols like daily temperature checks, wearing face coverings and social distancing.
Read the full story here.
9:28 a.m. MLB’s coronavirus antibody test for employees yields 0.7% positive rate
Just 0.7% of Major League Baseball employees tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Results were based from about 5,600 completed records from employees of 26 clubs. Samples were obtained on April 14 and 15.
“It allows us to get a peek of the nation-wide prevalence,” said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya at Stanford, one the study’s leaders, said Sunday.
The start of the baseball season has been delayed because of the virus outbreak. There’s no timetable for when the season might begin.
Read the full story here.
7:16 a.m. ‘No one will ever forget’ pandemic’s toll on Illinois families, health chief says in Mother’s Day message
Illinois Department of Public Health head Dr. Ngozi Ezike on Sunday delivered an emotional Mother’s Day message for her church in west suburban LaGrange — detailing that more than 1,000 mothers have died from COVID-19 in Illinois.
The weekend marked the first time in eight weeks in which Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Ezike didn’t stand before the cameras for daily COVID-19 briefings. Instead, Ezike — a mother of four — spent her Sunday delivering a lengthy sermon for Hope Church via their Facebook page.
“This Mother’s Day is especially challenging. That’s putting it ever so mildly,” Ezike said. “No one will ever forget Mother’s Day 2020.”
The state has lost 3,406 people to COVID-19, including 1,553 in the nursing homes.
Tina Sfondeles reports.
6:39 a.m. Blue Angels announce Chicago flyover planned for Tuesday
The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels will perform a flyover of Chicago on Tuesday, the Blue Angels announced on social media Sunday.
Known for participating in Chicago Air and Water shows, the pilot squadron’s surprise Tuesday flyover will honor front-line workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We salute and thank all healthcare workers, first responders and other essential personnel serving on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19,” a release said.
Exact routes and times will be announced Monday.
Read the full story from reporter Ben Pope.
New cases
Analysis & Commentary
7:01 p.m. Pandemic or not, independent candidates deserve chance to get on Illinois ballot
Illinois must get its election deadlines nailed down quickly if the state is to have a smooth voting process this fall, and that means resolving one particular court dispute almost immediately.
On Friday, a lawyer representing the State Board of Elections asked a federal judge to set an earlier deadline for third party candidates to file petitions to get on the Nov. 3 ballot — and to increase the number of signatures those candidates must gather. As an alternative, the lawyer for the state said, the court could leave it to the election board to decide the deadline and necessary number of signatures.
Just two weeks ago, Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, noting that the coronavirus pandemic would make it more difficult to collect signatures, pushed back the deadline for submitting nominating petitions to Aug. 7 from June 22. Pallmeyer also ruled that candidates need to submit only 10% of the normal number of signatures and can include ones made electronically — with a finger or a computer mouse or stylus.
That has caught the attention of election officials across the state, who worry that the later deadline won’t allow enough time for the normal objection process to play out.
There might not be enough time left to print up the ballots, they warn, especially given that many more people are expected to request mail-in ballots.
2:25 p.m. ‘Those who can pay rent must’: Chicagoland Apartment Association fears ‘tremendous amount of foreclosures’
Michael Mini, executive vice president of the Chicagoland Apartment Association, wrote this letter to the Sun-Times editors, published Sunday:
As a large association of apartment owners and managers with properties ranging from two-flats to high-rises, the Chicagoland Apartment Association is proud to have signed Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago Housing Solidarity Pledge. During these unprecedented times, true to the Solidarity Pledge, countless property managers are practicing grace and patience when rent is due, including extended payment plans, waiving late fees and offering significant grace periods. We expect these scenarios to repeat tens of thousands of times going forward.
It’s important to emphasize what the mayor has said repeatedly: Those who can pay rent must. Not only is it vital to stabilizing the housing market, it also increases apartment owners’ flexibility to extend a helping hand to the thousands of tenants facing hardship in the wake of the pandemic. Apartment owners are under similar financial pressures. Their monthly costs including payroll, property taxes, insurance, maintenance and capital expenditures.
A group of Illinois lawmakers is endorsing #CancelRent legislation, but we would note the idea of forgiving widespread rent could result in a tremendous amount of foreclosures, exacerbating the region’s shortage of quality affordable housing options. Short of the federal government delivering direct rental assistance, the best strategy is for property managers and residents to partner together.
Early, open communication from residents regarding their COVID-19-related needs is key to finding mutually agreeable resolutions.
Read this and more letters to the editor here.
7:04 a.m. Time for Illinois Legislature to get back to work — safely and remotely
The Illinois Legislature must get back to work — safely and remotely.
Other state legislatures have begun to reconvene online and the Illinois Legislature should do so as well. And we can’t agree with those who say there’s an insurmountable legal obstacle to doing so.
Yes, a state statute requires that the Legislature meet in the seat of government — Springfield. But the statute also says the governor can convene a session of the Legislature elsewhere “in times of pestilence or public danger.”
If this is not a time of pestilence and public danger, we don’t know what would be.
Illinois lawmakers have not met in the Capitol since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, though the spring session was scheduled to run through May 31. As a result, important legislation, including a vote on the state’s budget for fiscal year 2021, which begins July 1, is stalled.
Nobody wants to put state lawmakers in physical peril. Many of them run a particular risk from the coronavirus because of their age or health. But we have learned during this pandemic that online meeting technology can work reasonably well. And if the usual Springfield windbagging is curbed, who’s to complain?
Read the Sun-Times’ editorial in its entirety here.


chicagosun-times--2020-05-12--From meh to ‘must?’ With budget deadline looming, Pritkzer now says General Assembly needs to get ba

From meh to ‘must?’ With budget deadline looming, Pritkzer now says General Assembly needs to get back to work

For weeks , Gov .
J.B. Pritzker has maintained a hands-off approach on whether legislators should head back to Springfield , expressing public health concerns about a large gathering , but pretty much saying it was up to them .
And Republicans have been itching to get back into some form of a legislative session to end what they call the Democratic governor ruling by “ decree.
” Just last week , House GOP Leader Jim Durkin said House Democrats need to “ get your head out of the sand and let ’ s go back to work.
” But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Durkin .
“ The Legislature must convene so that we can begin to put our financial and economic house back in order , even as we battle this terrible virus , ” Pritzker said .
“ The General Assembly needs to pass a comprehensive plan to support families , small businesses and small towns.
” But House Speaker Mike Madigan , dubbed “ the Velvet Hammer ” for his tight control over his chamber , didn ’ t sound in any great hurry to call his members into session .
Spokesman Steve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when legislators would return — and he said the safety plan to do so was a “ work in progress.
” “ His thoughts and his ideas are always welcome and appreciated at this point , ” Brown said of Pritzker ’ s agenda .
For the governor , it ’ s the first time he has voiced any eagerness for the General Assembly to get back to work .
On April 29 , after facing two lawsuits from downstate legislators challenging his extended stay-at-home order , the Democratic governor was asked whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during a pandemic .
“ The Legislature has the ability to meet , ” Pritzker said .
“ There ’ s nothing barring the Legislature from meeting.
” Asked again on May 2 about legislators going back to work , Pritzker said epidemiologists “ would express concerns ” about a group “ that large ” meeting .
Tuesday ’ s sudden urgency comes as legislators have just weeks to go before a budgetary deadline .
After May 31 , any vote will require a three-fifths majority for the law to go into effect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to his call for “ a comprehensive plan to support families , small businesses and small towns , ” Pritzker also said the state must work on increasing rent assistance for families and working with banks on mortgage forbearance , as well as rent and mortgage assistance for small businesses .
That could include grants and loans for businesses that were left out of the federal PPP program .
“ And we must pass a law to distribute funds to small cities and towns to support their need to fund first responders and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID related revenue losses , as we work to keep our residents safe and gradually reopen businesses , ” the governor said .
“ I hope the Legislature will act expeditiously to support jobs and economic recovery.
” Pritzker — and the Illinois General Assembly — want a balanced budget passed .
That ’ s a necessity for the state , even during a pandemic .
But the governor ’ s wish list also means he wants to wait and see what the federal government can provide the state to supplement the millions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that will occur , Pritzker wants a relief package for business and people in need during the crisis that is state-based .
While the governor declared his position , he didn ’ t specify how exactly legislators will be brought back .
And the four legislative leaders had little to say about that effort on Tuesday .
“ I think our hope is they figure it out on their own .
You can call a special session but then it ’ s the governor picking what ’ s on the agenda , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a return to Springfield will look like remains unclear .
Legislators could try to safely return for a day and vote on a measure to allow them to hold remote sessions , although no such bills have been filed .
Legislators have been meeting in working groups via Zoom to sort out budgetary issues .
Pritzker ’ s budget director Alexis Sturm has participated in some of these meetings , the governor ’ s office said .
Madigan ’ s spokesman said those working group meetings will be a starting point for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I have nothing new to say about what the schedule will look like.
” John Patterson , spokesman for Illinois Senate President Don Harmon , said the Senate president “ is eager to provide relief for families and small businesses hit by this pandemic.
” “ We are reviewing recommendations for action as the Senate President wants to make sure Senators return to a crystal clear legislative agenda and a plan to minimize the health and safety risks to everyone working at the Capitol , ” Patterson said .
Like his counterpart in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brady has pressed for the General Assembly to come back into session .
“ Leader Brady believes it is vital lawmakers return to Springfield to address the critical issues facing this state and its residents , ” said Jason Gerwig , a spokesman for Brady .
Durkin ’ s spokeswoman declined to comment on the governor ’ s new position , pointing to last week ’ s remarks .
During a Zoom news conference with other Republicans last Wednesday , Durkin said lawmakers “ have to be creative in ways for us to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We must return to Springfield immediately and not for just a few days at the end of the month , ” the Western Springs Republican said last week .
“ We can do this in a safe and healthy manner .
”

For weeks, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has maintained a hands-off approach on whether legislators should head back to Springfield, expressing public health concerns about a large gathering, but pretty much saying it was up to them.
And Republicans have been itching to get back into some form of a legislative session to end what they call the Democratic governor ruling by “decree.”
Just last week, House GOP Leader Jim Durkin said House Democrats need to “get your head out of the sand and let’s go back to work.”
But on Tuesday, Pritzker was sounding more like Durkin.
“The Legislature must convene so that we can begin to put our financial and economic house back in order, even as we battle this terrible virus,” Pritzker said. “The General Assembly needs to pass a comprehensive plan to support families, small businesses and small towns.”
But House Speaker Mike Madigan, dubbed “the Velvet Hammer” for his tight control over his chamber, didn’t sound in any great hurry to call his members into session.
Spokesman Steve Brown said he didn’t know when legislators would return — and he said the safety plan to do so was a “work in progress.”
“His thoughts and his ideas are always welcome and appreciated at this point,” Brown said of Pritzker’s agenda.
For the governor, it’s the first time he has voiced any eagerness for the General Assembly to get back to work.
On April 29, after facing two lawsuits from downstate legislators challenging his extended stay-at-home order, the Democratic governor was asked whether legislators should reconvene to clarify his powers during a pandemic.
“The Legislature has the ability to meet,” Pritzker said. “There’s nothing barring the Legislature from meeting.”
Asked again on May 2 about legislators going back to work, Pritzker said epidemiologists “would express concerns” about a group “that large” meeting.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks from his Chicago home during a virtual news briefing Tuesday afternoon. Provided
Tuesday’s sudden urgency comes as legislators have just weeks to go before a budgetary deadline. After May 31, any vote will require a three-fifths majority for the law to go into effect within the next 12 months
In addition to his call for “a comprehensive plan to support families, small businesses and small towns,” Pritzker also said the state must work on increasing rent assistance for families and working with banks on mortgage forbearance, as well as rent and mortgage assistance for small businesses. That could include grants and loans for businesses that were left out of the federal PPP program.
“And we must pass a law to distribute funds to small cities and towns to support their need to fund first responders and basic services that could fall apart from COVID related revenue losses, as we work to keep our residents safe and gradually reopen businesses,” the governor said. “I hope the Legislature will act expeditiously to support jobs and economic recovery.”
Pritzker — and the Illinois General Assembly — want a balanced budget passed. That’s a necessity for the state, even during a pandemic. But the governor’s wish list also means he wants to wait and see what the federal government can provide the state to supplement the millions lost in revenue.
Based on whether that will occur, Pritzker wants a relief package for business and people in need during the crisis that is state-based.
While the governor declared his position, he didn’t specify how exactly legislators will be brought back. And the four legislative leaders had little to say about that effort on Tuesday.
“I think our hope is they figure it out on their own. You can call a special session but then it’s the governor picking what’s on the agenda,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said.
What a return to Springfield will look like remains unclear. Legislators could try to safely return for a day and vote on a measure to allow them to hold remote sessions, although no such bills have been filed. Legislators have been meeting in working groups via Zoom to sort out budgetary issues. Pritzker’s budget director Alexis Sturm has participated in some of these meetings, the governor’s office said.
Madigan’s spokesman said those working group meetings will be a starting point for the budget proposal. But Brown said “I have nothing new to say about what the schedule will look like.”
John Patterson, spokesman for Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, said the Senate president “is eager to provide relief for families and small businesses hit by this pandemic.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker congratulates Democrat Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, just before Harmon took the oath of office to become state Senate president in January. Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register via AP
“We are reviewing recommendations for action as the Senate President wants to make sure Senators return to a crystal clear legislative agenda and a plan to minimize the health and safety risks to everyone working at the Capitol,” Patterson said.
Like his counterpart in the House, Republican Senate Leader Bill Brady has pressed for the General Assembly to come back into session.
“Leader Brady believes it is vital lawmakers return to Springfield to address the critical issues facing this state and its residents,” said Jason Gerwig, a spokesman for Brady.
Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady. Provided photo.
Durkin’s spokeswoman declined to comment on the governor’s new position, pointing to last week’s remarks.
During a Zoom news conference with other Republicans last Wednesday, Durkin said lawmakers “have to be creative in ways for us to return back to doing business.”
“We must return to Springfield immediately and not for just a few days at the end of the month,” the Western Springs Republican said last week. “We can do this in a safe and healthy manner.”


chicagosun-times--2020-05-12--Missing 27-year-old woman may be on South Side

Chicago police are asking the community for help finding missing 27-year-old woman who may be on the South Side .
@ @ @ @ @ May 2 and may be in the following areas : She is 5-foot-8 , 150 @ @ @ @ @ brown eyes .
Anyone with information is asked to call SVU detectives at 312-747-8380 .

Chicago police are asking the community for help finding missing 27-year-old woman who may be on the South Side.
Rainell White was last seen May 2 and may be in the following areas:
6500 block of South Racine Avenue
6300 block of South Halsted Street
6300 block of South Wood Street
7400 block of South Racine Avenue
9100 block of South Yates Boulevard
She is 5-foot-8, 150 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to call SVU detectives at 312-747-8380.


chicagosun-times--2020-05-12--Illinois records 144 more COVID-19 deaths and new 1-day high in cases (LIVE UPDATES)

144 more die in Illinois from COVID-19 as fatalities top 3,600 and state hits record for new cases Another 144 people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois , raising the state ’ s death toll to 3,601 .
Tuesday also marked a record-high number of new cases — 4,014 — although Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s office said that positive count came from 29,266 tests results .
That ’ s the most the state has ever received back in a day and could include some results from the weekend .
The state has now seen 83,021 positive cases , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 102 counties .
Illinois has received 471,691 total tests back since the pandemic began , according to the Illinois Dept .
of Public Health .
Illinois ’ positivity rate based is 18 % from May 2 to May 9 .
That metric is being looked at under a magnifying glass since Pritzker included it as one of several numbers needed under 20 % in his regional reopening plan .
A group of Chinese American businessmen has donated 1 million surgical masks to first-responders and others in Chicago , saying Chicagoans did the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there at the beginning of the year .
“ We are grateful to the frontline responders who are risking their well-being to protect Chicago neighborhoods , ” said Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao , who organized the donation with his wife Cherry Chen .
The effort follows months of President Donald Trump blaming China for the pandemic .
On Monday , when a Chinese American reporter asked the president why he sees testing for the coronavirus as a “ global competition , ” he responded , “ Maybe that ’ s a question @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump tweeted : “ Asian Americans are VERY angry at what China has done to our Country , and the World .
Chinese Americans are the most angry of all.
” Zhao and more than a dozen other Chinese American businessmen bought the masks and asked the University of Chicago Crime Lab to help distribute them .
Read the full story from Frank Main here .
Amber Dean had recovered from a mild bout of the coronavirus and her family of five had just ended their home quarantine when her oldest son @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At first it was nothing major , it seemed like a tummy bug , like he ate something that didn ’ t agree with him , ” said Dean , who lives with her husband and three young children in the western New York town of Hornell .
“ But by the next day , he couldn ’ t keep anything down and his belly hurt so bad he couldn ’ t sit up.
” At the local hospital emergency room , doctors suspected an appendix infection and sent him home with instructions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only later , after Bobby ’ s condition took an alarming turn for the worse , that doctors realized he was among the small but growing number of children with a mysterious inflammatory syndrome thought to be related to the virus .
New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that New York is now investigating about 100 cases of the syndrome , which affects blood vessels and organs and has symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock .
Three children in the state have died and Cuomo advised all hospitals to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ symptoms .
In New York City , which has reported at least 52 children sick with the syndrome , Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday urged parents to call their pediatricians promptly if their children show symptoms including persistent fever , rash , abdominal pain and vomiting .
On a day when COVID-19 cases soared , healthcare supplies were scarce and an anguished doctor warned he was being sent to war without bullets , a cargo plane landed at the Los Angeles International Airport , supposedly loaded with the ammo doctors and nurses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first N95 medical masks to reach the U.S. in almost six weeks .
Already healthcare workers who lacked the crucial protection had caught COVID-19 after treating patients infected with the highly contagious new coronavirus .
That very day an emergency room doctor who earlier texted a friend that he felt unsafe without protective supplies or an N95 mask , died of the infection .
It was the first such death reported in the U.S. , according to the American College of Emergency Physicians .
But the shipment arriving that night in late March @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problem .
An Associated Press investigation has found those masks were counterfeits — as are millions of medical masks , gloves , gowns and other supplies being used in hospitals across the country , putting lives at risk .
4:24 p.m. $ 2.5M in coronavirus stimulus to Navy Pier Inc. , clout-heavy nonprofit run by $ 500K exec Navy Pier Inc. , the clout-heavy not-for-profit whose president is paid more than $ 540,000 a year , has received a nearly $ 2.5 million coronavirus stimulus loan from the federal government toward salaries and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are losses of $ 10 million , Navy Pier Inc. says the loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration ’ s Payroll Protection Program will cover expenses and the salaries of 147 employees , some who have been “ sidelined ” since the pier was shut down in March by the COVID-19 pandemic .
The federal loan will be used to cover all salaries , including that of Marilyn Kelly Gardner , the Navy Pier Inc. president and chief executive officer whose salary , bonus and other compensation totaled $ 541,051 in 2018 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Internal Revenue Service .
3:05 p.m. Blue Angels honor fellow ‘ frontline warriors ’ – with flyover for grateful doctors and nurses They jumped , screamed , waved — and some cried .
It was an emotional moment of release for dozens of doctors and nurses who gathered atop a parking garage attached to Rush University Hospital to watch the Blue Angels roar overhead Tuesday — one of dozens of perches health care workers across the city took up to view the famed jets .
“ This is for show , but they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our frontline warriors , such as ourselves these days , and just to see those guys think of us and put on that show is very touching and it makes you want to go back in the hospital and work even harder , ” said Melissa Carey , a nurse who oversees anesthesia operations that are necessary to intubate —the medical term for inserting a tube into an airway — COVID-19 patients .
The Blue Angels — a group of precision-flying Navy jets that is regularly featured in air shows across the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to honor health care and other essential workers .
Chicago food delivery services will be required to come clean about third-party delivery costs under new rules championed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to arm consumers with the information they need to vote with their wallets .
“ We just had a delivery at my house last night .
And there was very little transparency around where the different charges were gon na fall , and who was gon na be bearing it , ” Lightfoot said Tuesday .
Starting Friday , third-party food delivery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be required to “ disclose to the customer an itemized cost breakdown of each transaction , including the menu price of the food , any sales or other tax , delivery charge and tip , and any commission or service fee paid by the restaurant to the third-party delivery company , ” officials said .
Read the full story by Fran Spielman here .
2:10 p.m. Lightfoot exploring more ways to prevent mayor ’ s office from being infected by coronavirus Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday her top aides are wearing face masks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she ’ s exploring additional measures to prevent the coronavirus from infecting the mayor ’ s office .
The safety of elected officials during the pandemic is front and center now that a valet to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence ’ s press secretary — whose husband is one of Trump ’ s closest advisers — have tested positive for the coronavirus .
Gov .
J.B. Pritzker is working from his Gold Coast mansion after a member of his senior staff tested positive for COVID-19 .
The infected staffer worked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor and attended daily meetings with Pritzker at the Thompson Center while following safety protocols , including wearing face masks , maintaining social distance and undergoing daily temperature checks , the governor said .
1:25 p.m. County lab trains front line health care workers to deal with our ‘ worst nightmares ’ Dr. Michelle Sergel ’ s job is to imagine “ the worst of the worst ” — the sort of “ things that make you stay up at night.
” Then she tries to devise a plan to fight it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a little easier .
“ My job is to figure out what our worst nightmares are and try to figure out how we can deal with them in an organized way so that we are helping with patient outcomes and protecting ourselves , ” Sergel said .
Sergel is head of a Cook County Health lab that is giving first responders hands on training to care for COVID-positive patients as well as how to use a potential new ventilator as the county – and the nation – try to work through our current @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simulation lab is training doctors , nurses , residents , medical students and first responders and others across the county to “ be prepared for critically ill COVID-19 patients , ” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday .
12:20 p.m. Lightfoot presides over another eerie graduation ceremony for 88 new firefighter EMTs Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave a pep talk Tuesday to 88 new Chicago firefighter EMTs joining the city ’ s war against a virus that has “ shined the light on the power and purpose of public service.
” Lightfoot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presided over another eerie graduation ceremony at Chicago public safety headquarters , 3510 S. Michigan Ave. , that has become standard fare during the coronavirus pandemic .
Normally , police and fire graduations are joyous occasions with cheering family and friends filling the ballroom at Navy Pier and posing for pictures arm-in-arm with the mayor and commissioner .
The graduation Tuesday was another somber , candidates-only affair .
Firefighter EMTs were once again seated at least 6 feet apart , maintaining social distance .
They crossed the stage wearing Chicago Fire Department face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of handshakes , with Lightfoot and Ford .
7:08 a.m. Blue Angels will fly over Chicago today to honor health care workers Here ’ s what you need to know about the precision-flying Navy airplanes that are set to pass over Chicago on Tuesday .
The flyover is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. , although times are subject to change .
The planes will begin on the South Side on a route that takes them over the Southwest and Northwest Sides of the city .
The planes will then head as far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the lakefront .
Chicagoans are being advised to watch from the safety of their homes while quarantining .
The planes will also be flying over Detroit and Indianapolis on Tuesday .
Click here for more details about the planes ’ flight paths .
6:54 a.m .
Activists call on CHA to provide adequate COVID-19 testing , PPE for seniors Community activists Monday called on the Chicago Housing Authority to provide adequate COVID-19 testing and more personal protective equipment for residents living in the agency ’ s senior buildings .
While CHA officials said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ curb the spread of the deadly virus , the activists said the agency needs to do more .
Nursing homes and health care facilities across the country have made headlines for coronavirus-related deaths , but not enough attention has been paid to seniors living in public housing , the activists said at a news conference at the CHA ’ s Patrick Sullivan Senior Apartments , 1633 W. Madison St. “ A lot of our seniors are too old to get out , ” Rosemary Coleman , president of the CHA ’ s local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing units .
“ Some can hardly walk .
We don ’ t have cars , we can ’ t catch buses and we can ’ t stand in long lines to be tested .
So , we need a unit to come out and test us for this virus .
Some [ residents ] are asking to be tested , but they have no other way of [ getting to test ] .
” Read the full report from Noah Johnson here .
6:18 a.m. We won ’ t reopen teachers contract @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time this fall , Lightfoot says Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she ’ s not about to reopen the teachers contract that ended an eleven-day strike last fall to pave the way for the on-time start of Chicago Public Schools this fall .
“ That ’ s not gon na happen .
… We ’ re not gon na reopen the bargaining agreement , ” the mayor said .
Lightfoot reiterated her determination to reopen schools “ in a way that keeps the entire school community safe ” — perhaps using staggered schedules @ @ @ @ @ @ @ classrooms at any given time .
“ There ’ ll be plenty of time for discussion but , first and foremost , we ’ ll be guided by what the public health data tells us .
And hopefully , we ’ ll have a constructive conversation with CTU leadership , ” the mayor said .
Read the full report from Fran Spielman here .
• Officials report that 54 people died of coronavirus in Illinois Monday , and announced 1,266 new cases , bringing the total of positive cases to 79,007 .
• @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of COVID-19 , bringing the number of cases in the department to 504 .
• Seven more COVID-19 cases were reported in Chicago Police Department .
• Two people are dead among 85 workers at CPS schools who have tested positive for COVID-19 , officials say .
5:05 p.m .
The false promise of ‘ herd immunity ’ to beat COVID-19 We ’ re all eager to get back to our old lives .
This social distancing stuff sure grows old , and our jobs , our kids ’ education and our national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Anthony Fauci , the nation ’ s top infectious disease expert , stressed at a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday , reopening the country before the COVID-19 pandemic is better under control could lead to unnecessary “ suffering and death ” and might even “ turn the clock back ” on an economic recovery .
Fauci , in his usual cordial way , was sending a not-so-subtle warning of possible disaster to states that are pushing right now — with President Trump ’ s encouragement — to reopen in major ways .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see little spikes that [ turn ] into bigger outbreaks , ” Fauci warned .
“ There is a real risk that you would trigger an outbreak that you will not be able to control.
” 1 p.m. We hear the cry in nursing homes — ‘ Help me !
’ — yet we turn away As a young man , I stumbled out of an elevator onto the “ Help me !
” floor .
An ancient woman , whose pleadings will haunt me to my death , sat in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Help me !
Help me !
” with her arms outstretched .
I ran to the nursing station nearby , where many people were busily working but ignoring the patient in need .
“ That woman needs help , ” I barked .
A nurse , nurse ’ s assistant , attendant or someone in a uniform whose rank I could not identify slowly turned their head toward me from the paperwork they were working on at the time .
“ She does not need help , ” this person said very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she does.
” 9:46 a.m. Nurses : Tough , tender pros who love their jobs Michelle Latona is no hero .
She ’ s a nurse , in the emergency department at Mount Sinai Hospital .
Latona certainly doesn ’ t consider herself heroic .
“ No , I don ’ t , ” she said .
“ I wake up every morning and I come to work and do my job.
” A job that demands she tend to the sick and the dying for 12 hours at a stretch .
To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doses , equipment , colleagues , hours , breaks , all the time keeping focused on the central task : making people well again .
Nurses are the tip of the spear .
The National Nurses Union reports at least 50 nurses have died in the United States from the coronavirus , and some 10,000 have been sickened by it .
The only reason the death toll isn ’ t higher is because nurses tend to be younger , and fitter .
Latona says her main hobby outside the hospital is working out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diagnosed with COVID-19 .
Latona had to care for everyone but the one person she most wanted to care for .
“ It was definitely hard to come to work , seeing everything here ; trying to focus , trying not to think of my mom , ” said Latona .
“ I want to be present and care for my patient .
Especially knowing what my mom is going through.
” 7:01 a.m. Pandemic or not , independent candidates deserve chance to get on Illinois ballot Illinois must get its election deadlines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have a smooth voting process this fall , and that means resolving one particular court dispute almost immediately .
On Friday , a lawyer representing the State Board of Elections asked a federal judge to set an earlier deadline for third party candidates to file petitions to get on the Nov. 3 ballot — and to increase the number of signatures those candidates must gather .
As an alternative , the lawyer for the state said , the court could leave it to the election board to decide the deadline and necessary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ago , Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer , noting that the coronavirus pandemic would make it more difficult to collect signatures , pushed back the deadline for submitting nominating petitions to Aug. 7 from June 22 .
Pallmeyer also ruled that candidates need to submit only 10 % of the normal number of signatures and can include ones made electronically — with a finger or a computer mouse or stylus .
That has caught the attention of election officials across the state , who worry that the later deadline won ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ objection process to play out .
There might not be enough time left to print up the ballots , they warn , especially given that many more people are expected to request mail-in ballots .

The latest
144 more die in Illinois from COVID-19 as fatalities top 3,600 and state hits record for new cases
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, speaks at a press conference in April. Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times (file photo)
Another 144 people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois, raising the state’s death toll to 3,601.
Tuesday also marked a record-high number of new cases — 4,014 — although Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said that positive count came from 29,266 tests results. That’s the most the state has ever received back in a day and could include some results from the weekend.
The state has now seen 83,021 positive cases, as the virus remains in 98 of 102 counties. Illinois has received 471,691 total tests back since the pandemic began, according to the Illinois Dept. of Public Health.
Illinois’ positivity rate based is 18% from May 2 to May 9. That metric is being looked at under a magnifying glass since Pritzker included it as one of several numbers needed under 20% in his regional reopening plan.
Read the full story from reporter Tina Sfondeles.
News
8:05 p.m. Potbelly considers shutting 100 sandwich shops amid coronavirus pandemic
Potbelly, the Chicago-based chain of sandwich shops, said Tuesday it is considering whether to close 100 locations, or about 23% of its total, as it scrambles to cut costs because of the pandemic.
CEO Alan Johnson discussed the potential closings in his report of the company’s first-quarter earnings. Potbelly said it saw a dramatic downturn in its results once the coronavirus, which has forced closure of restaurant dining rooms, spread widely in the U.S. during March.
Johnson said its same-stores sales for January and February were up from the year before but then took a 68% dive during March. The company quickly furloughed a third of its corporate staff and cut corporate salaries, including those of top executives, by 25%.
Read the full report here.
7:01 p.m. Chinese Americans in Chicago donate 1 million surgical masks to city’s first-responders
A group of Chinese American businessmen has donated 1 million surgical masks to first-responders and others in Chicago, saying Chicagoans did the same thing for China when the coronavirus emerged there at the beginning of the year.
“We are grateful to the frontline responders who are risking their well-being to protect Chicago neighborhoods,” said Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao, who organized the donation with his wife Cherry Chen.
The effort follows months of President Donald Trump blaming China for the pandemic.
On Monday, when a Chinese American reporter asked the president why he sees testing for the coronavirus as a “global competition,” he responded, “Maybe that’s a question you should ask China.” On Tuesday, Trump tweeted: “Asian Americans are VERY angry at what China has done to our Country, and the World. Chinese Americans are the most angry of all.”
Zhao and more than a dozen other Chinese American businessmen bought the masks and asked the University of Chicago Crime Lab to help distribute them.
Read the full story from Frank Main here.
6:29 p.m. ‘A pretty scary thing:’ Kid illness tied to virus worries NY
Amber Dean had recovered from a mild bout of the coronavirus and her family of five had just ended their home quarantine when her oldest son, 9-year-old Bobby, fell ill.
“At first it was nothing major, it seemed like a tummy bug, like he ate something that didn’t agree with him,” said Dean, who lives with her husband and three young children in the western New York town of Hornell. “But by the next day, he couldn’t keep anything down and his belly hurt so bad he couldn’t sit up.”
At the local hospital emergency room, doctors suspected an appendix infection and sent him home with instructions to see his pediatrician.
It was only later, after Bobby’s condition took an alarming turn for the worse, that doctors realized he was among the small but growing number of children with a mysterious inflammatory syndrome thought to be related to the virus.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that New York is now investigating about 100 cases of the syndrome, which affects blood vessels and organs and has symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock. Three children in the state have died and Cuomo advised all hospitals to prioritize COVID-19 testing for children presenting with symptoms.
In New York City, which has reported at least 52 children sick with the syndrome, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday urged parents to call their pediatricians promptly if their children show symptoms including persistent fever, rash, abdominal pain and vomiting.
Read the full report here.
6:08 p.m. Counterfeit masks reaching frontline health workers in US
On a day when COVID-19 cases soared, healthcare supplies were scarce and an anguished doctor warned he was being sent to war without bullets, a cargo plane landed at the Los Angeles International Airport, supposedly loaded with the ammo doctors and nurses were begging for: some of the first N95 medical masks to reach the U.S. in almost six weeks.
Already healthcare workers who lacked the crucial protection had caught COVID-19 after treating patients infected with the highly contagious new coronavirus. That very day an emergency room doctor who earlier texted a friend that he felt unsafe without protective supplies or an N95 mask, died of the infection. It was the first such death reported in the U.S., according to the American College of Emergency Physicians.
But the shipment arriving that night in late March wasn’t going to solve the problem. An Associated Press investigation has found those masks were counterfeits — as are millions of medical masks, gloves, gowns and other supplies being used in hospitals across the country, putting lives at risk.
Read the full report here.
4:24 p.m. $2.5M in coronavirus stimulus to Navy Pier Inc., clout-heavy nonprofit run by $500K exec
Navy Pier Inc., the clout-heavy not-for-profit whose president is paid more than $540,000 a year, has received a nearly $2.5 million coronavirus stimulus loan from the federal government toward salaries and other expenses.
Facing what it says are losses of $10 million, Navy Pier Inc. says the loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection Program will cover expenses and the salaries of 147 employees, some who have been “sidelined” since the pier was shut down in March by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal loan will be used to cover all salaries, including that of Marilyn Kelly Gardner, the Navy Pier Inc. president and chief executive officer whose salary, bonus and other compensation totaled $541,051 in 2018, according to records filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Read the full story here.
3:05 p.m. Blue Angels honor fellow ‘frontline warriors’ – with flyover for grateful doctors and nurses
Health care workers at Stroger Hospital wave in front of the hospital’s main entrance as the Navy’s Blue Angels fly over Chicago in their honor. Annie Costabile/Sun-Times
Woooooo!
They jumped, screamed, waved — and some cried.
It was an emotional moment of release for dozens of doctors and nurses who gathered atop a parking garage attached to Rush University Hospital to watch the Blue Angels roar overhead Tuesday — one of dozens of perches health care workers across the city took up to view the famed jets.
“This is for show, but they are our military, they’re our frontline warriors, such as ourselves these days, and just to see those guys think of us and put on that show is very touching and it makes you want to go back in the hospital and work even harder,” said Melissa Carey, a nurse who oversees anesthesia operations that are necessary to intubate —the medical term for inserting a tube into an airway — COVID-19 patients.
The Blue Angels — a group of precision-flying Navy jets that is regularly featured in air shows across the country — performed a flyby in Chicago Tuesday to honor health care and other essential workers.
Read the full story from reporter Mitch Dudek.
2:30 p.m. City requires Grubhub, Uber Eats to disclose delivery fees as restaurants struggle
Chicago food delivery services will be required to come clean about third-party delivery costs under new rules championed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to arm consumers with the information they need to vote with their wallets.
“We just had a delivery at my house last night. And there was very little transparency around where the different charges were gonna fall, and who was gonna be bearing it,” Lightfoot said Tuesday.
Starting Friday, third-party food delivery companies such as Grubhub and Doordash will be required to “disclose to the customer an itemized cost breakdown of each transaction, including the menu price of the food, any sales or other tax, delivery charge and tip, and any commission or service fee paid by the restaurant to the third-party delivery company,” officials said.
Read the full story by Fran Spielman here.
2:10 p.m. Lightfoot exploring more ways to prevent mayor’s office from being infected by coronavirus
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday her top aides are wearing face masks and undergoing daily temperature checks, but she’s exploring additional measures to prevent the coronavirus from infecting the mayor’s office.
The safety of elected officials during the pandemic is front and center now that a valet to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary — whose husband is one of Trump’s closest advisers — have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is working from his Gold Coast mansion after a member of his senior staff tested positive for COVID-19.
The infected staffer worked “down the hall” from the governor and attended daily meetings with Pritzker at the Thompson Center while following safety protocols, including wearing face masks, maintaining social distance and undergoing daily temperature checks, the governor said.
Read the full story from City Hall reporter Fran Spielman.
1:25 p.m. County lab trains front line health care workers to deal with our ‘worst nightmares’
Dr. Michelle Sergel’s job is to imagine “the worst of the worst” — the sort of “things that make you stay up at night.”
Then she tries to devise a plan to fight it, so the rest of us can rest a little easier.
“My job is to figure out what our worst nightmares are and try to figure out how we can deal with them in an organized way so that we are helping with patient outcomes and protecting ourselves,” Sergel said.
Sergel is head of a Cook County Health lab that is giving first responders hands on training to care for COVID-positive patients as well as how to use a potential new ventilator as the county – and the nation – try to work through our current collective nightmare.
The county’s simulation lab is training doctors, nurses, residents, medical students and first responders and others across the county to “be prepared for critically ill COVID-19 patients,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday.
Read the full story from reporter Rachel Hinton.
12:20 p.m. Lightfoot presides over another eerie graduation ceremony for 88 new firefighter EMTs
Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave a pep talk Tuesday to 88 new Chicago firefighter EMTs joining the city’s war against a virus that has “shined the light on the power and purpose of public service.”
Lightfoot and Fire Commissioner Richard C. Ford II presided over another eerie graduation ceremony at Chicago public safety headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave., that has become standard fare during the coronavirus pandemic.
Normally, police and fire graduations are joyous occasions with cheering family and friends filling the ballroom at Navy Pier and posing for pictures arm-in-arm with the mayor and commissioner.
The graduation Tuesday was another somber, candidates-only affair. Firefighter EMTs were once again seated at least 6 feet apart, maintaining social distance. They crossed the stage wearing Chicago Fire Department face masks and exchanged elbow bumps, instead of handshakes, with Lightfoot and Ford.
Read the full story from City Hall reporter Fran Spielman.
7:08 a.m. Blue Angels will fly over Chicago today to honor health care workers
Here’s what you need to know about the precision-flying Navy airplanes that are set to pass over Chicago on Tuesday.
The flyover is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m., although times are subject to change.
The planes will begin on the South Side on a route that takes them over the Southwest and Northwest Sides of the city. The planes will then head as far north as Evanston before returning south along the lakefront.
Chicagoans are being advised to watch from the safety of their homes while quarantining.
The planes will also be flying over Detroit and Indianapolis on Tuesday.
Click here for more details about the planes’ flight paths.
6:54 a.m. Activists call on CHA to provide adequate COVID-19 testing, PPE for seniors
Community activists Monday called on the Chicago Housing Authority to provide adequate COVID-19 testing and more personal protective equipment for residents living in the agency’s senior buildings.
While CHA officials said some equipment has been passed out to curb the spread of the deadly virus, the activists said the agency needs to do more.
Nursing homes and health care facilities across the country have made headlines for coronavirus-related deaths, but not enough attention has been paid to seniors living in public housing, the activists said at a news conference at the CHA’s Patrick Sullivan Senior Apartments, 1633 W. Madison St.
“A lot of our seniors are too old to get out,” Rosemary Coleman, president of the CHA’s local advisory council said, calling for mobile testing units.
“Some can hardly walk. We don’t have cars, we can’t catch buses and we can’t stand in long lines to be tested. So, we need a unit to come out and test us for this virus. Some [residents] are asking to be tested, but they have no other way of [getting to test].”
Read the full report from Noah Johnson here.
6:18 a.m. We won’t reopen teachers contract for Chicago Public Schools to start on time this fall, Lightfoot says
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she’s not about to reopen the teachers contract that ended an eleven-day strike last fall to pave the way for the on-time start of Chicago Public Schools this fall.
“That’s not gonna happen. … We’re not gonna reopen the bargaining agreement,” the mayor said.
Lightfoot reiterated her determination to reopen schools “in a way that keeps the entire school community safe” — perhaps using staggered schedules to limit the number of students in classrooms at any given time.
“There’ll be plenty of time for discussion but, first and foremost, we’ll be guided by what the public health data tells us. And hopefully, we’ll have a constructive conversation with CTU leadership,” the mayor said.
Read the full report from Fran Spielman here.
New cases
Analysis & Commentary
8:36 p.m. Can we agree — when COVID-19 vaccines arrive, they need to be free?
Everybody agrees we need a COVID-19 vaccine. Multiple potential vaccines to save us from the coronavirus infections are in development. Can we agree on something else — when vaccines arrive, they need to be free?
Don’t be sidetracked because it was Sen. Bernie Sanders who pressed this point at a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sanders, the Vermont Independent, made universal health insurance a centerpiece of his Democratic presidential bid.
This is not about Sanders. This is not about overhauling our health coverage system. Don’t get distracted.
A vaccine works if almost everybody gets it. That’s why schools have immunization requirements. You can’t enroll a kid in a Chicago Public School without a polio vaccine.
The Hispanic community in Chicago is particularly hard hit. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., who has been scrambling for solutions, told me, “Access to a future coronavirus vaccine, once it’s developed, must be readily available to all segments of society, including immigrants, regardless of their ability to pay.”
If everybody has insurance, a preventative vaccine would likely be covered. If everybody has extra cash, paying for a vaccine may not be a big deal.
But everybody doesn’t have insurance or cash.
Read the full column from Lynn Sweet here.
5:05 p.m. The false promise of ‘herd immunity’ to beat COVID-19
We’re all eager to get back to our old lives.
This social distancing stuff sure grows old, and our jobs, our kids’ education and our national economy are on the line.
But as Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, stressed at a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, reopening the country before the COVID-19 pandemic is better under control could lead to unnecessary “suffering and death” and might even “turn the clock back” on an economic recovery.
Fauci, in his usual cordial way, was sending a not-so-subtle warning of possible disaster to states that are pushing right now — with President Trump’s encouragement — to reopen in major ways.
“My concern is we would start to see little spikes that [turn] into bigger outbreaks,” Fauci warned. “There is a real risk that you would trigger an outbreak that you will not be able to control.”
Read the Sun-Times’ full editorial here.
1 p.m. We hear the cry in nursing homes — ‘Help me!’ — yet we turn away
As a young man, I stumbled out of an elevator onto the “Help me!” floor.
An ancient woman, whose pleadings will haunt me to my death, sat in a hallway in a wheelchair endlessly shouting, “Help me! Help me!” with her arms outstretched.
I ran to the nursing station nearby, where many people were busily working but ignoring the patient in need. “That woman needs help,” I barked.
A nurse, nurse’s assistant, attendant or someone in a uniform whose rank I could not identify slowly turned their head toward me from the paperwork they were working on at the time.
“She does not need help,” this person said very firmly. “That is just what she does.”
Read the full commentary from columnist Phil Kadner.
9:46 a.m. Nurses: Tough, tender pros who love their jobs
Michelle Latona is no hero. She’s a nurse, in the emergency department at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Latona certainly doesn’t consider herself heroic.
“No, I don’t,” she said. “I wake up every morning and I come to work and do my job.”
A job that demands she tend to the sick and the dying for 12 hours at a stretch. To juggle patients, rooms, medicines, doses, equipment, colleagues, hours, breaks, all the time keeping focused on the central task: making people well again.
Nurses are the tip of the spear. The National Nurses Union reports at least 50 nurses have died in the United States from the coronavirus, and some 10,000 have been sickened by it. The only reason the death toll isn’t higher is because nurses tend to be younger, and fitter. Latona says her main hobby outside the hospital is working out.
In March, her mother was diagnosed with COVID-19. Latona had to care for everyone but the one person she most wanted to care for.
“It was definitely hard to come to work, seeing everything here; trying to focus, trying not to think of my mom,” said Latona. “I want to be present and care for my patient. Especially knowing what my mom is going through.”
Read Neil Steinberg’s full profile here.
7:01 a.m. Pandemic or not, independent candidates deserve chance to get on Illinois ballot
Illinois must get its election deadlines nailed down quickly if the state is to have a smooth voting process this fall, and that means resolving one particular court dispute almost immediately.
On Friday, a lawyer representing the State Board of Elections asked a federal judge to set an earlier deadline for third party candidates to file petitions to get on the Nov. 3 ballot — and to increase the number of signatures those candidates must gather. As an alternative, the lawyer for the state said, the court could leave it to the election board to decide the deadline and necessary number of signatures.
Just two weeks ago, Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, noting that the coronavirus pandemic would make it more difficult to collect signatures, pushed back the deadline for submitting nominating petitions to Aug. 7 from June 22. Pallmeyer also ruled that candidates need to submit only 10% of the normal number of signatures and can include ones made electronically — with a finger or a computer mouse or stylus.
That has caught the attention of election officials across the state, who worry that the later deadline won’t allow enough time for the normal objection process to play out.
There might not be enough time left to print up the ballots, they warn, especially given that many more people are expected to request mail-in ballots.
Read the full Sun-Times’ editorial here.


chicagosun-times--2020-05-12--Potbelly considers shutting 100 sandwich shops

Potbelly , the Chicago-based chain of sandwich shops , said Tuesday it is considering whether to close 100 locations , or about 23 % of its total , as it scrambles to cut costs because of the pandemic .
CEO Alan Johnson discussed the potential closings in his report of the company ’ s first-quarter earnings .
Potbelly said it saw a dramatic downturn in its results once the coronavirus , which has forced closure of restaurant dining rooms , spread widely in the U.S. during March .
Johnson said its same-stores sales for January and February were up from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 68 % dive during March .
The company quickly furloughed a third of its corporate staff and cut corporate salaries , including those of top executives , by 25 % .
“ We understand challenges will persist over the next several months and are taking the necessary steps to support and fortify our business , ” Johnson said .
“ We are operating with a cash-preservation mindset .
In March , we drew down our $ 40 million of available capacity under our revolving credit facility and enacted significant capital and expense reductions.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ concessions with landlords but is keeping open the option of closing up to 100 of its 440 locations .
“ We have a firm grasp on what we can control within our business , ” Johnson said .
The publicly traded company had gotten $ 10 million under the federal Paycheck Protection Program for small business , but then returned the money amid protests .
The company ’ s shares , which have surrendered 29 % of their value this year , lost 4 cents in Tuesday ’ s trading to close at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quarter , Potbelly reported a loss of $ 13.3 million , or 56 cents a share , compared with a loss of $ 18.4 million , 76 cents a share , a year ago .
Revenue declined 11 % to $ 87.6 million .

Potbelly, the Chicago-based chain of sandwich shops, said Tuesday it is considering whether to close 100 locations, or about 23% of its total, as it scrambles to cut costs because of the pandemic.
CEO Alan Johnson discussed the potential closings in his report of the company’s first-quarter earnings. Potbelly said it saw a dramatic downturn in its results once the coronavirus, which has forced closure of restaurant dining rooms, spread widely in the U.S. during March.
Johnson said its same-stores sales for January and February were up from the year before but then took a 68% dive during March. The company quickly furloughed a third of its corporate staff and cut corporate salaries, including those of top executives, by 25%.
“We understand challenges will persist over the next several months and are taking the necessary steps to support and fortify our business,” Johnson said. “We are operating with a cash-preservation mindset. In March, we drew down our $40 million of available capacity under our revolving credit facility and enacted significant capital and expense reductions.”
He said Potbelly is discussing rent concessions with landlords but is keeping open the option of closing up to 100 of its 440 locations. “We have a firm grasp on what we can control within our business,” Johnson said.
The publicly traded company had gotten $10 million under the federal Paycheck Protection Program for small business, but then returned the money amid protests. The company’s shares, which have surrendered 29% of their value this year, lost 4 cents in Tuesday’s trading to close at $2.95 each.
For its first quarter, Potbelly reported a loss of $13.3 million, or 56 cents a share, compared with a loss of $18.4 million, 76 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue declined 11% to $87.6 million.