chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report state tops 70,000 known COVID-19 cases as well as

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report state tops 70,000 known COVID-19 cases as well as more than 3,000 fatalities

Field Museum will open its doors again May 11 and May 26 to host socially distanced Red Cross blood drives @ @ @ @ @ of slots are available for the 9 a.m.-3 p.m. efforts to address blood shortages during @ @ @ @ @ the May 11 appointments have already been filled .
Sign up for May 26 via @ @ @ @ @ Under the event guidelines , 5 to 6 donors can be accommodated per hour , @ @ @ @ @ to park right outside the museum ’ s south doors .

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The Illinois Department of Employment Security on Thursday released statewide data showing that it processed 74,476 new initial unemployment claims for the week that ended May 2. The department processed 1,006,925 initial claims during the period between March 1 and May 2, compared with 78,100 initial claims during the same period in 2019.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker detailed efforts the state has made in response to an array of issues people have reported in filing unemployment claims since the pandemic began. Those efforts include additional agents to process claims and a new call center, as the state gears up for gig workers to begin filing for jobless benefits next week.
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Meanwhile, state officials announced 2,641 new known cases of COVID-19, pushing the statewide known case total to 70,873 since the beginning of the pandemic. The additional 138 deaths reported pushed the death toll in Illinois past 3,000. There have now been 3,111 coronavirus-related deaths statewide.
During his 60th consecutive daily briefing, Pritzker said he will no longer hold in-person briefings on weekends, but will release medical statistics on Saturdays and Sundays. The administration will continue holding daily briefings on weekdays.
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[ How will Illinois reopen? Three charts breaking down Pritzker’s plan ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ As the coronavirus spreads, the Tribune is tracking Illinois cases here ]
Here’s a recap of what happened May 7 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:08 p.m.: Mysterious illness potentially related to COVID-19 has surfaced in some Illinois children, doctors say
At least half a dozen children in Illinois have been hospitalized with an illness potentially linked to COVID-19 that has also been reported in New York and Europe.
Though much is still unknown about the sickness, symptoms can include a rash, fever, red eyes, swollen hands and feet, vomiting and abdominal pain. It’s an inflammatory illness, meaning the body’s immune system “starts to rev up and attack normal tissue,” said Dr. Frank Belmonte, chief medical officer at Advocate Children’s Hospital.
Children with the illness can develop shock, which occurs when blood pressure dips and organs in the body don’t function properly. It can also cause inflammation of the heart muscle or swelling of the coronary arteries, which are the blood vessels that feed the heart.
In the U.S. and elsewhere, most of the children who have become sick with the syndrome tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, meaning they likely had COVID-19 earlier, anywhere from two to four weeks before they became ill, Belmonte said. Many of the children who developed the new illness had no previous health conditions, he said.
Advocate Children’s Hospital, which has campuses in Oak Lawn and Park Ridge, has had one case of the illness so far, plus two more children who are showing signs of it, Belmonte said. The child with the confirmed case needed a ventilator and is in intensive care, though Belmonte said the child is “doing remarkably well.” Read more here. —Lisa Schencker
7:10 p.m.: Devices for electronic monitoring run out in Cook County amid efforts to drastically reduce jail population
The Cook County sheriff’s office has run out of electronic monitoring devices for defendants placed on home confinement, the office confirmed Thursday.
The concerted efforts to reduce jail population amid the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have led to skyrocketing demand for the equipment, as judges ordered more defendants out of cells and on to ankle bracelets.
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As of Thursday, there were 4,064 people in custody at the jail — and 3,167 on electronic monitoring, according to the sheriff’s office. Their last monitoring unit was assigned Tuesday night.
They are “working to address supply issues,” but in the meantime have asked prosecutors and the Cook County public defender’s office to determine who might be eligible for removal from electronic monitoring, according to a statement from the office. Read more here. —Megan Crepeau
5:24 p.m.: What getting your hair cut will be like when barber shops and salons reopen
Saturdays were a time of camaraderie at Mario’s Place Barber Shop in Chicago’s Sheffield Neighbors neighborhood before the COVID-19 health crisis temporarily closed the establishment.
Owner Mario Scarlata, 61, looked forward to lively chatter between his two barbers and clients on weekend shifts. Customers who have been coming to Mario’s for years kept returning because of the friendly environment, Scarlata said.
“On Saturdays, there would be three people getting haircuts and maybe six or more in the waiting area,” Scarlata said. “It will be at a slower pace when we open again.”
The weekend rush and the bonding that often takes place at barbershops and hair salons will change when those businesses are allowed to serve customers again in Illinois.
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On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker laid out a five-phase plan for reopening the state. In the third phase — called “recovery” — the state will allow manufacturing, offices, retail, barbershops and salons to reopen, with capacity limits and other restrictions. It isn’t clear when that might happen, given that the governor’s plan requires a decline in the rate of infection among those tested, hospitalizations, and the number of patients needing ICU beds.
But for businesses that provide services that involve being in close proximity to clients — hair salons, barbershops, massage therapists as well as eye doctors and dentists — reopening while taking the necessary precautions to keep both clients and employees safe could be a tricky proposition. Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
5:10 p.m.: Worker at Amazon’s Waukegan fulfillment center dies of COVID-19
A worker at Amazon’s Waukegan fulfillment center died of COVID-19, the company confirmed Thursday, marking the fourth death among the online retailer’s warehouse employees as they continue to work through the pandemic.
The man, a night shift associate hired in September, was last at the Waukegan facility on March 19, and didn’t have symptoms, Amazon said. The company learned of his positive diagnosis on March 24 and of his death on April 18. It declined to give more details about the worker, citing privacy considerations, but said counseling services were offered to his family.
Amazon, which has about 500,000 hourly employees at fulfillment and distribution centers in the U.S., has been the target of protests by some warehouse workers who say it did not do enough to protect them against the coronavirus. It employs 500 people at its Waukegan center.
Three other Amazon workers who died of COVID-19 worked at facilities in Staten Island, New York; Hawthorne, California; and Tracy, California. Read more here. —Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
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4:55 p.m.: Everything you need to know about reopening Illinois
Illinoisans finally have a plan for what "getting back to normal” might look like — and how long it will take. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase plan allows for a gradual reopening of businesses, gatherings, events and more — with a strategy that divides the state into regions and takes a careful look at the spread of COVID-19.
So how will this affect our daily lives? As summer nears, Chicagoans are desperate to get out and about — to have a summer picnic with family, to get back to work, to get a haircut. Here’s how and when you might be able to do those things.
3:01 p.m.: 2,641 new known COVID-19 cases, 138 additional deaths
The Illinois Department of Employment Security on Thursday released statewide data showing that it processed 74,476 new initial unemployment claims for the week that ended May 2. The department processed 1,006,925 initial claims during the period between March 1 and May 2, compared with 78,100 initial claims during the same period in 2019.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday detailed efforts the state has made in response to an array of issues people have reported in filing unemployment claims since the pandemic began. Those efforts additional agents to process claims and a new call center, as the state gears up for gig workers to begin filing for jobless benefits next week.
Those workers who are eligible for new federal benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program must first apply for regular unemployment insurance before applying for benefits under the assistance program when a new application portal opens May 11, according to instructions the Illinois Department of Employment Security released this week.
State officials on Thursday announced 2,641 new known cases of COVID-19, pushing the statewide known case total to 70,873 since the beginning of the pandemic. The additional 138 deaths reported Thursday pushed the statewide death toll past 3,000. There have now been 3,111 coronavirus-related deaths statewide.
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Pritzker held his 60th consecutive daily briefing Thursday, and said beginning this weekend, he will no longer hold in-person briefings on weekends, but will release medical statistics on Saturdays and Sundays. The administration will continue holding daily briefings on week days. —Jamie Munks
2:49 p.m.: Phone prayer service launched by Chicago Catholics to connect people while church doors closed
A group of Catholics from the Archdiocese of Chicago have started a daily prayer service, called A Call to Prayer, to allow people to pray with others while church buildings remain closed.
“As people unite in this Call to Prayer, may they be consoled in knowing that it is the Lord Himself who is connecting them to one another,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a news release.
The archdiocese suspended all religious services in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The prayer line will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day and will connect callers with volunteer parishioners so they can pray together. Read more here. —Javonte Anderson
2:19 p.m.: City reaches deal with 3 hotel operators to house Chicago nursing home workers
Chicago’s nursing home workers will be allowed to stay at Hotel Julian, The Godfrey Hotel and London House if they want to isolate, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office announced.
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City workers who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 are already allowed to stay at Hotel Julian. But the hotel will now start taking nursing home workers too, Lightfoot’s office announced Thursday.
Those seeking to get a room will need to provide proof of employment, the city said. —Gregory Pratt
1:56 p.m.: Contact tracers are in demand, and a local college has a new program to train them
Illinois and the nation are going to need a lot more contact tracers in the coming months to track and help control the spread of coronavirus as a central part of plans to reopen schools, businesses and the economy.
Colleges and universities are starting to answer the call with programs that train people to work as contact tracers.
North suburban Oakton Community College is the first out the gate in Illinois, launching a four-week virtual training program later this month. Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
1:39 p.m.: Chicago’s indie music venues, closed by coronavirus, take their fight to save themselves to the national stage
“We were the first to close and we’ll probably be the last to open,” said Joe Shanahan, owner of beloved local venues like Metro, Smartbar, and GMan Tavern. “It’s not that we want a hand out. We want a hand up.”
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Shanahan’s fears are echoed by a number of local, independent venue owners in the Chicago Independent Venue League (CIVL) who feel the initial Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), created in response to the novel coronavirus, does not meet the specific needs of music venues. Those needs include things like mortgage and rent forbearance, tax and license relief, and an extension of the program until shuttered venues and businesses are able to reopen at full legal capacity.
These concerns have taken on added urgency in the face of the new guidance from Illinois Goverrnor Pritzker on when clubs will be allowed to open at full capacity. Read more here. —Britt Julious
1:11 p.m.: Illinois congressional delegation seeks extension of 2,000 National Guard troops to assist with pandemic through June
A unified state congressional delegation Thursday asked Defense Secretary Mike Esper for a one-month extension of federally funded Illinois National Guard activations to assist in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in congregate settings such as prisons and nursing homes.
“We have made progress, in no small part due to the Illinois National Guard. Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker, however, must continue to call on our neighbors in uniform; his plan to reopen the state relies on them to help combat the spread of COVID-19 in ‘hard hit areas such as prisons, nursing homes and other congregate housing facilities,’” the delegation letter to Esper said.
“This crisis is not yet over and we cannot let up now. We are indebted to the sacrifices of the men and women of the Illinois National Guard and grateful for their work yet to be done,” the members wrote.
The letter notes that the original federally paid activation of 4,000 Guard members expires at the end of May. It requests an extension of 2,000 Guard activations through the end of June.
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The letter from the state’s congressional delegation follows a similar request from Pritzker to President Donald Trump last Sunday. Read more here. —Rick Pearson
1:03 p.m.: Chicago Park District summer camp season will be abbreviated
The Chicago Park District is moving forward with the possibility of offering a portion of its regular summer camps after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the schedule.
On social media and in a letter to parents who previously enrolled their kids in similar programs, this past week park district officials shared plans for the modified schedule and important dates for parents and caregivers to note. All summer programs, including summer camp, will start July 6 — assuming no new or additional restrictions are called for under any modifications to the stay-at-home mandate, which helps determine what the park district can offer.
The park district first made the announcement Friday, after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced modifications to the stay-at-home order through May 31.
Summer programs will be listed online beginning June 1 so people have a chance to evaluate the offerings. Online registration, often competitive, with some classes and programs filling up within minutes, will be held June 11 and June 12.
In-person registration, for which some spaces in each program are held back so those without internet access can register, will be held June 13 unless in-person interactions are not being allowed by the state, the release said. Read more here. —Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas
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12:55 p.m.: Chicago doctors — mostly moms — join together to advise officials and the public. ‘We can’t not say something.’
In between telehealth appointments with patients, preschool Zoom calls, daily household tasks and, in one case, childbirth, a group of doctors — mostly moms, all with young children — is making sure the public and policymakers have the latest scientific and medical advice for fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s important to not only disseminate information to the public, but it’s also really important ... to help our government on how to come up with plans to manage the pandemic in Illinois,” said Dr. Shikha Jain, 39, an oncologist and hematologist at Rush University Medical Center.
Jain and five other Chicago-area physicians, from varied medical backgrounds, joined together in mid-March after noticing the information they’d heard from colleagues in other states and overseas didn’t seem to be resonating in the Chicago area.
The group calls itself IMPACT, which stands for Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team. Its members have been writing op-eds, circulating petitions and starting social media campaigns, all in an effort to spread the word about the latest scientific findings and the best preventative measures for COVID-19.
They’ve also reached out to contacts working in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office, state lawmakers and representatives in Congress to offer guidance.
The message seems to be getting through. Twitter hashtags they’ve coined, #6FtApartNotUnder and #TestTraceTreat, have been mentioned in media briefings by public officials. Read more here. —Kate Thayer
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12:53 p.m.: A Chicago nurse vacationed with other nurses every year. She died from COVID-19 before they could plan their next trip
Every February, Maria Lopez and a group of fellow Chicago nurses from the the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago would board a plane to someplace warm.
For about a decade, they’d traveled to different locales, including Lopez’s beloved Mexico, where she is from. This year, they went to the Dominican Republic.
As the group of friends took a dip in the ocean, Lopez, who was recovering from knee surgery, did not go wading.
“She’d say, ‘That’s OK, amiga, next year ... I’m going in,’” said her friend and fellow nurse traveler Mary Ann Zervakis Brent.
But “there’s not going to be a next year,” Zervakis Brent said. Read more here. —Alison Bowen
12:47 p.m.: A family with a wide reach in Illinois nursing homes has links to severe COVID-19 outbreak in New Jersey
A pair of New Jersey nursing homes where at least 66 people have died of COVID-19 — one of the country’s worst such outbreaks — are connected to a Chicago-area family with a broad reach in the business of long-term care, including ownership ties to more than a dozen Illinois facilities.
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One of them, in west suburban Willowbrook, had one of the state’s earliest serious COVID-19 outbreaks.
The homes in Andover, New Jersey, are on property owned by companies managed by William Rothner, whose website states that he “built his family’s leased nursing home portfolio” and “directed purchases, in ten states, of nearly fifty facilities totaling over three hundred million dollars." The Andover homes had 236 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday — 85 more than Illinois has reported for the hardest-hit local facility.
In Illinois, Rothner’s father, Eric, has a history of ties to troubled nursing homes, including one shut down a decade ago by state authorities after repeated inspections found violence, abuse and mistreatment of residents. Chateau Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Willowbrook, which had 58 COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths as of Friday, is owned by Evanston-based Rothner Health Ventures, a company managed by Eric Rothner, according to state records.
That’s more reported cases than 92% of the 348 Illinois long-term care facilities reporting at least one, and more deaths than 88% of the 223 facilities listing at least one fatality. Read more here. —Dan Hinkel
12:10 p.m.: Pritzker’s five-phase plan a ‘gut punch’ to restaurants desperate to open
When Illinois restaurants were ordered shuttered by Gov. Pritzker in mid-March, restaurant owners, chefs and workers braced for several weeks of zero income.
When the order was extended through April, and then May, the industry pointed to June.
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But Pritzker’s five-phase plan, announced Tuesday, set the earliest-possible day for reopening at June 26, and that date is by no means definite.
For an industry already struggling to hang on, the news was devastating. Read more here. —Phil Vettel
11:36 a.m.: Field Museum to host blood drives
Field Museum will open its doors again May 11 and May 26 to host socially distanced Red Cross blood drives. Only a limited number of slots are available for the 9 a.m.-3 p.m. efforts to address blood shortages during the coronavirus pandemic, and the May 11 appointments have already been filled. Sign up for May 26 via the Red Cross website. Under the event guidelines, 5 to 6 donors can be accommodated per hour, and they will be allowed to park right outside the museum’s south doors.
“As we take the necessary precautions to provide a safe, sanitary space for the drive, we are grateful to those both volunteering at the drive and to those donating blood," Rob Zschernitz, the Field’s chief technology officer, said in a statement. —Steve Johnson
11:35 p.m.: When Chicago steakhouses closed, a suburban supplier had to think fast. Now it offers Corona Care meat packages for home delivery
On an episode of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” Ron Swanson, the mustachioed libertarian and proud meat eater, broke down crying when his favorite steakhouse closed unexpectedly. “What happened to the steaks that were in there when they closed?” he asked. “Do you think they got eaten?”
There are far more serious matters to worry about during the coronavirus pandemic, but I have wondered about where all the meat meant for Chicago steakhouses has gone since Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered the closing of restaurant dining rooms in March.
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So has Rick Whittingham, president and CEO of Whittingham Meats, and his son Bobby Whittingham, vice president. Open since 1947, the family-owned business located in suburban Alsip has had to completely rethink its business model in a few weeks.
That’s when Whittingham came up with the idea of selling what he’s calling Corona Care Packages. “It’s like a meat subscription, where you can get locally sourced fresh meat that’s never frozen,” says Whittingham. The boxes of vacuum-packed meat start at $80 for Tier D (which includes a mix of beef filets, chicken breasts, pork tenderloins, bratwurst and bacon) and go up to $270 for the Steak Lovers Dream (which has 13 cuts of steak). Read more here. —Nick Kindelsperger
10:50 a.m.: Lightfoot cancels news conference to outline Chicago’s plan to ease COVID-19 restrictions
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has canceled a previously scheduled news conference to outline Chicago’s “COVID-19 reopening framework” her administration announced. The mayor was scheduled to meet with Chicago health officials to announce the plan Thursday afternoon. But her administration announced just hours ahead of time it would be rescheduled to “a different date due to scheduling conflicts.
”Earlier this week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker sketched out a five-phase, regional plan to reopen parts of Illinois. Pritzker’s plan sets a high bar for advancing each step of the way, and makes it clear that it will some time before life in the state will be back to normal. — Gregory Pratt
10:10 a.m.: Harborside golf course forced to close Thursday
Some Illinois residents expecting to take advantage of Thursday’s abundant sunshine have been ordered to keep their clubs in the trunk.
The 160 golfers expecting to play at Harborside International Golf Center on the Southeast Side were informed by email around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday that the facility would be closed: “While adhering to the Governor’s modification that allows for golf to be open in the state, however, per the City of Chicago, we must remain closed until further notice.”
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A spokesperson for the Mayor’s office said she would look into the decision.
Harborside is an upscale, 36-hole, 400-acre facility along the Dan Ryan Expressway with views of the skyline. All golfers expecting to play Thursday, some with tee times as early at 7 a.m., were issued refunds. Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein
10:06 a.m.: ‘Stranger Things’ star to greet graduates at DePaul’s online commencement ceremonies
“Stranger Things” star Joe Keery will welcome an estimated 6,250 new graduates at DePaul University’s online commencement ceremonies June 13, the university announced Thursday.
Keery, a 2014 DePaul graduate, is slated to greet graduates by video. Each DePaul school or college will have its own dedicated ceremony, featuring messages from DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban, a student speaker and the school or college’s dean, as well as other inspirational messages from the DePaul community.
Each DePaul graduate will be featured on a digital slide, which the graduate can personalize with a photo and message. Read more here.
9:49 a.m.: COVID-19 in Illinois, the US and the world: Timeline of the outbreak
From a live fish market in Wuhan, China, to a devastating pandemic across the globe, here are key points in the outbreak of COVID-19 in Illinois, the U.S. and the world. Read more here. —Tribune staff with news services
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9:28 a.m.: Indiana’s governor is allowing churches to reopen, but many area religious leaders don’t want to be a ‘control group’
Despite the green light from Gov. Eric Holcomb for Indiana churches to reopen Friday, even as coronavirus infections climb, many Northwest Indiana pews will remain empty on Sunday and beyond.
It appears Holcomb wasn’t preaching to the entire choir in his May 1 executive order allowing churches to reopen with no limit on attendance, while trusting the faithful to obey social distancing rules and use hand sanitizer.
Holcomb said churches would serve as “a test or control group” because he thought they would be the most responsible body to let fully reopen.
Most mainstream sects didn’t buy in, and one Gary Baptist preacher was insulted being called a “control group.”
Leaders from Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist and Methodist churches urged congregations to continue with online, not in-person services.
“It’s important that we get it right, not rushed,” said the Most Rev. Robert J. McClory, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary. Read more here. —Carole Carlson
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9:02 a.m.: Wave of infections from New York travelers swept through US before city began social distancing measures, research shows
New York City’s coronavirus outbreak grew so large by early March that the city became the primary source of new infections in the United States, new research reveals, as thousands of infected people traveled from the city and seeded outbreaks around the country.
The research indicates that a wave of infections swept from New York City through much of the country before the city began setting social distancing limits to stop the growth. That helped to fuel outbreaks in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and as far away as the West Coast.
The findings are drawn from geneticists’ tracking signature mutations of the virus, travel histories of infected people and models of the outbreak by infectious disease experts.
“We now have enough data to feel pretty confident that New York was the primary gateway for the rest of the country,” said Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health. Read more here. —The New York Times
7:52 a.m.: Nearly 3.2 million US workers seek jobless aid; coronavirus has put 33.5 million out of work
Nearly 3.2 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the business shutdowns caused by the viral outbreak deepened the worst U.S. economic catastrophe in decades.
Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the seven weeks since the coronavirus began forcing millions of companies to close their doors and slash their workforces. That is the equivalent of 1 in 5 Americans who had been employed back in February, when the unemployment rate had reached a 50-year low of just 3.5%.
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In Illinois, 74,476 people filed initial claims for benefits for the week ended May 2, a drop of 7,120 people from the previous week’s 81,596. Since mid-March, almost 900,000 Illinois residents have applied for unemployment insurance benefits. Read more here. —Associated Press
7:15 a.m.: Nursing home workers reach tentative deal with owners
Workers from about 100 nursing homes across Illinois who were on the verge of striking instead reached a tentative agreement overnight for a two-year contract with nursing home owners, the union representing the workers announced Thursday.
Certified nursing assistants were poised to strike over contract negotiations, which came as CNAs and other frontline workers find themselves in “this time of unprecedented vulnerability and risk,” according to a release from SEIU Healthcare Illinois spokeswoman Catherine Murrell.
A day before the strike was expected to begin with walkouts at about 44 of the nursing homes, the union announced workers won “significant contract gains” including a $15 an hour baseline pay, hazard pay for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a provision that workers are not required to work without adequate personal protective equipment.
Union President Greg Kelley previously said workers are worried about resident care not just during a strike, but at all times. Read more here. —Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas
7 a.m.: Lightfoot, health officials to lay out plan to ease COVID-19 restrictions, ‘reopen’ Chicago
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago health officials were scheduled to announce Chicago’s “COVID-19 reopening framework" Thursday afternoon. The city’s announcement comes days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker sketched out a five-phase, regional plan to reopen parts of Illinois. Pritzker’s plan sets a high bar for advancing each step of the way, and makes it clear that it will some time before life in the state will be back to normal. —Chicago Tribune staff
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chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Schaumburg and Melrose Park giving away masks for coronavirus protection

Schaumburg has had a big turnout in the parking lot of Boomers Stadium for its three-day giveaway of 70,000 masks @ @ @ @ @ seniors Wednesday , continued Thursday for residents whose last names start with letters A through @ @ @ @ @ from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for those with names beginning with the letters M @ @ @

One mask giveaway wrapped up in Chicago’s suburbs Friday, and another will begin Saturday, as some municipalities are trying to help their residents protect themselves from the coronavirus.
Schaumburg had a big turnout for its three-day giveaway of masks. The event started with seniors Wednesday, continued with residents whose last names start in the first half of the alphabet Thursday and concluded with the last half of the alphabet Friday.
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Friday had the biggest turnout, attracting 2,000 vehicles, and the village dispensed almost 25,000 masks to people in nearly 5,000 vehicles over the three days, village spokesperson Allison Albrecht said.
“A lot of the seniors are just really grateful,” Albrecht said. “Some people have had a hard time getting a mask. We’re happy to be able to do a little something for the residents.”
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The village paid $35,000 for 70,000 masks from an importer in Downers Grove. Village officials will consider next week what to do with the remaining masks.
Schaumburg residents pick up free masks outside of Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg on May 7, 2020, the second day of a three-day mask giveaway in which 70,000 masks are being given to residents. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Similarly, Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico plans for the village to give away up to 100,000 masks and sanitizer, at a cost of $300,000.
On Saturday, volunteers will go door to door putting bags of masks and hand sanitizer at each door, spokesman Gary Mack said.
Volunteers will distribute about 26,000 masks, one for each resident. The village population is majority Latino, and the pandemic has hit Latinos especially hard in the Chicago area.
The village will also donate 40,000 masks to Gottlieb Memorial Hospital and keep the rest in reserve for future use, possibly by Westlake Hospital. It was renovated to reopen if necessary for COVID-19 patients.
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @RobertMcCoppin


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--We’ve lowered the paywall on this essential coronavirus coverage

As the scope of this pandemic came into focus , I started thinking about people living in assisted-living facilities and @ @ @ @ @ bound to experience .
I ’ ve spoken several times at assisted-living facilities around Chicago @ @ @ @ @ aspects of life for residents is the social interaction and the activities and entertainment the @ @ @ @ @ s largely gone now .
Worse yet , many facilities have had to limit or @ @ @ @ @ seniors stuck alone in their rooms or apartments .
So maybe there ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ at least that aspect of this crisis .
I tossed an idea out on Twitter @ @ @ @ @ the hashtag # PandemicPals , asking for thoughts and advice on how to network with @ @ @ @ @ where there might be seniors facing isolation .
Read more .

As a public service to our readers and community, we have lowered the paywall on some of our most critical stories so everyone can access this important information. We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing.
We are updating a daily live blog with the latest developments on the reopening of Chicago and Illinois. This is where you’ll find updates on the number of COVID-19 cases in our area, as well as the most up-to-date recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Public Health, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
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As summer nears, Chicagoans are desperate to get out and about — to have a summer picnic with family, to get back to work, to get a haircut. Here’s how and when you might be able to do those things.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday a five-phase plan to get Illinois reopened as the COVID-19 pandemic slows its toll on health care providers. The plan, from “Rapid Spread” to “Illinois Restored,” splits the state up into regions and allows each region to open a different phase should the impact of the pandemic be different throughout the state. The plan also emphasizes that a region can move backward if the health metrics indicate enough risk. Read more.
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Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois, with the state announcing more than 10,000 test results a day since April 24. The expansion has allowed the state to open up its guidance for who should be able to get a coronavirus test. The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a doctor’s order to anyone with coronavirus symptoms or an underlying risk factor. Tests are also provided to people on the front lines of the pandemic, such as medical workers, first responders and employees of prisons or nursing homes. Search the map for coronavirus testing site near you.
All Illinois residents over age 2 must wear a face mask when they can’t maintain a 6-foot social distance in public. Studies show that the coronavirus can spread between people interacting in close proximity, including people who are not showing symptoms. Here’s where you can find them, what kind to get and how to make your own.
Americans are brainstorming with neighbors, posting questions on social media, and googling for tips and advice. The question at the center of all the hand wringing and head scratching: How do you thank the essential workers who remain out in the world, exposing themselves to greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, so that we can buy our groceries, receive our mail, travel by public transportation, and get health care if we need it? Here are some creative ideas to inspire you.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 68 (Chicago Tribune)
They were mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. Many were proud grandparents. Two were sisters from a tight-knit South Side family. All were loved, relatives say, and will be forever missed. As the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus ticks upward, the Tribune is working to chronicle those who have lost their lives in the Chicago area or who have connections to our region. These are some of those victims.
Hundreds of Chicago restaurants have pivoted their operations to delivery, takeout or curbside pickup after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that all bars and restaurants in Illinois are closed for dining-in service through April 30. We’re collecting information on restaurants across the area that are still open for delivery or take out. Find a restaurant near you.
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A sign in the windows of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, seen on March 11, 2020, reminds people to wash their hands. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
You wake up with a sore, scratchy throat, and begin coughing and sneezing. It’s probably a run-of-the-mill cold, or it could be the beginning of a bout of seasonal flu. But with dozens of cases of the novel coronavirus surfacing in Illinois, some people are bound to wonder: Could this be the coronavirus? Here’s what experts advise for Illinoisans who fear they are showing signs of coronavirus.
The spread of the coronavirus pandemic has placed an extra burden on Chicagoland nonprofit organizations. Here is an evolving list of where you can make donations to organizations helping those in need.


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Devices for electronic monitoring run out in Cook County amid efforts to drastically reduce jail pop

Devices for electronic monitoring run out in Cook County amid efforts to drastically reduce jail population

Dart called on authorities to develop a process for removing people from EM after certain period , and said the @ @ @ @ @ should consider coming up with a waitlist for those currently locked up because of the @ @ @ @ @

The Cook County sheriff’s office has run out of electronic monitoring devices for defendants placed on home confinement, the office confirmed Thursday.
The concerted efforts to reduce jail population amid the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have led to skyrocketing demand for the equipment, as judges ordered more defendants out of cells and on to ankle bracelets.
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As of Thursday, there were 4,064 people in custody at the jail — and 3,167 on electronic monitoring, according to the sheriff’s office. Their last monitoring unit was assigned Tuesday night.
They are “working to address supply issues,” but in the meantime have asked prosecutors and the Cook County public defender’s office to determine who might be eligible for removal from electronic monitoring, according to a statement from the office.
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Meanwhile, anyone assigned to electronic monitoring will instead be held at the jail until a judge modifies their bond, according to a letter sent Thursday from Sheriff Tom Dart to county authorities.
The office has long raised alarms about the ability of their electronic monitoring program to appropriately watch over defendants with serious charges. But that has only accelerated in the pandemic, Dart wrote.
“We have been at, or exceeding, capacity in EM for some time. However, this capacity has now formally asserted itself,” he wrote.
Dart called on authorities to develop a process for removing people from EM after certain period, and said the chief judge’s office should consider coming up with a waitlist for those currently locked up because of the lack of available monitors.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


Corrections and clarifications

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· Bob Weber’s Motormouth column in Sunday’s newspaper included a mistake in a reference to a fraction used in tire tread information. It should have said that 2/32 is equal to 1/16 of an inch.
The Tribune regrets the error.
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Publishing information quickly and accurately is a central part of the Chicago Tribune’s news responsibility and a value shared in all our publications. Our editorial code of principles governs professional behavior and journalism standards. Everyone in our newsroom must agree to live up to this code of conduct. Download the file.
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chicagotribune--2020-05-07--The viral video ‘Plandemic’ is the latest COVID-19 conspiracy theory. Here are 4 things to know abou

The viral video ‘Plandemic’ is the latest COVID-19 conspiracy theory. Here are 4 things to know about Judy Mikovits, the long-ago discredited researcher featured in the film.

“ Plandemic ” — which has been trending on Twitter — includes common themes of a federal government cover-up , @ @ @ @ @ persecution of people attempting to expose “ the truth.
” While YouTube and other social @ @ @ @ @ to remove the video for violating their guidelines , the clip has been widely recirculated @

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Judy Mikovits outside the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease, in Reno, Nevada, in 2011. (David Calvert / AP)
As confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Illinois and across the country, a litany of hoaxes and conspiracy theories about the new virus have surged on social media sites.
The latest is a viral video called “Plandemic,” a 25-minute clip propagating the wild claims of long-ago discredited researcher Judy Mikovits, whose rise and fall was chronicled in a Chicago Tribune investigation a decade ago.
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“Plandemic” — which has been trending on Twitter — includes common themes of a federal government cover-up, profiteering over the virus and persecution of people attempting to expose “the truth.” While YouTube and other social media platforms have been trying to remove the video for violating their guidelines, the clip has been widely recirculated.
Here are four things to know about the controversial career of Mikovits, the scientist featured in “Plandemic”:
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1. Her research on an illness called chronic fatigue syndrome was discredited years ago.
In 2009, a team of scientists led by Mikovits published a paper in the journal Science that tied chronic fatigue syndrome to a retrovirus called XMRV, offering potential hope for future treatment to patients. Mikovits also, without evidence, began linking XMRV to autism and other disorders, the Tribune reported.
But other scientists couldn’t replicate the results of her study, and growing evidence indicated the findings were caused by lab contamination.
Mikovits stood by her findings and decried other scientists who couldn’t confirm her work. “Some are not trying in completely good faith,” she told the Tribune at the time.
2. The paper was retracted and Mikovits was fired.
Another study published by her employer, the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease in Nevada, could find no evidence of XMRV in the blood of chronic fatigue syndrome patients. The institute terminated Mikovits in 2011; Science retracted her paper shortly after.
3. The debacle led to legal troubles for Mikovits.
She was arrested and briefly jailed in 2011, charged in Nevada with two felonies stemming from accusations that she wrongfully stole lab notebooks, a computer and proprietary data from her former employer. The charges were dropped in 2012.
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4. She’s also been in the news for anti-vaccine activism.
Mikovits has also claimed government cover-ups on the purported dangers of immunizations. In July, she spoke out against proposed legislation limiting vaccine exemptions in California, linking various diseases to what she called unsafe vaccines.
"This whole program is destroying the whole health of this country, and we don’t get it,” she said, according to the Ventura County Star in California.
Her assertions have been repeatedly debunked by medical experts.
eleventis@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Shampoo, a trim and a temperature check: What getting your hair cut will be like when barber shops a

Shampoo, a trim and a temperature check: What getting your hair cut will be like when barber shops and salons reopen

Strunk said he will reopen once the state gives business like his the green light .
He will establish a @ @ @ @ @ customers before a session about their symptoms and the exposure they ’ ve had to @ @ @ @ @ plans to increase the time between each session to an hour so that he can @ @ @ @ @ face cradle .
And he will wear a mask .
Strunk said he is considering @ @ @ @ @ scalp and head to avoid face contact with clients .

Mario's Place Barber Shop is devoid of activity May 6, 2020, in Chicago. On May 5, Gov. J.B. Pritzker laid out a regional, five-phase plan for reopening the state as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third phase, called "recovery," will allow manufacturing, offices, retail, barber shops and salons to reopen, with capacity limits and other restrictions. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Saturdays were a time of camaraderie at Mario’s Place Barber Shop in Chicago’s Sheffield Neighbors neighborhood before the COVID-19 health crisis temporarily closed the establishment.
Owner Mario Scarlata, 61, looked forward to lively chatter between his two barbers and clients on weekend shifts. Customers who have been coming to Mario’s for years kept returning because of the friendly environment, Scarlata said.
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A man wearing a face covering walks past Mario's Place Barber Shop on May 6, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
“On Saturdays, there would be three people getting haircuts and maybe six or more in the waiting area,” Scarlata said. “It will be at a slower pace when we open again.”
The weekend rush and the bonding that often takes place at barbershops and hair salons will change when those businesses are allowed to serve customers again in Illinois.
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On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker laid out a five-phase plan for reopening the state. In the third phase — called “recovery” — the state will allow manufacturing, offices, retail, barbershops and salons to reopen, with capacity limits and other restrictions. It isn’t clear when that might happen, given that the governor’s plan requires a decline in the rate of infection among those tested, fewer hospitalizations and a drop in the number of patients needing ICU beds.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled Friday her own five-phase plan for reopening Chicago, with much stricter standards than the governor’s plan. Phase three — called “cautiously reopen” — will allow select businesses, nonprofits and city entities to return to work, with appropriate protections for workers and customers. But in order to get to that phase, the city will need to see a decline in COVID-19 case rates over 14 days and increase its testing capabilities. It isn’t clear when Chicago could move to the next phase under the mayor’s plan, adding more uncertainty for businesses and consumers that are anxious to get a trim.
But for businesses that provide services that involve being in close proximity to clients — hair salons, barbershops, massage therapists as well as eye doctors and dentists — reopening while taking the necessary precautions to keep both clients and employees safe could be a tricky proposition.
Many of those businesses are implementing protocols that include taking clients’ temperatures, requiring face masks, limiting the number of customers in waiting rooms and rearranging furniture to support 6-foot social distancing.
“You have to assume everyone is a carrier. You have to have the same amount of protective gear as nurses would,” said Damon Dorsey, president of the American Barber Association.
An interior view of Mario's Place Barber Shop. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The trade association’s recommendations to barbershops — which include requiring face masks — are based on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dorsey said states that are reopening haven’t set guidelines for barbershops, prompting barbers to establish their own measures.
“We are preparing barbershops for the new normal,” Dorsey said.
Hair salons are closely watching what their counterparts in other states do.
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Erandi Tovar, 31, co-owns Cosmos The Salon in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood with Gilberto Castro, 44. The two already required appointments before the pandemic, but they will be screening clients, a significant change.
Before an appointment, Tovar said clients will be asked to fill out an emailed survey asking them if they have had any COVID-19 symptoms in the past 14 days or have been in close contact with family members or friends who have been diagnosed with the disease. Customers who pose a high risk of infecting others will be denied an appointment or asked to come at a later date.
Gilberto Castro, left, and Erandi Tovar, owners of Cosmos The Salon in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, are seen May 7, 2020. They have put in place safety measures for when they are allowed to reopen after being closed by statewide orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The chairs are not bolted to the floor and can be moved to create social distancing. And they only work by appointment, which limits the number of people in the salon. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Cosmos will also provide clients with fresh capes rather than reusing them throughout the day. Tovar said the salon is putting together kits that include capes, towels, combs and an assortment of tools that will be used on one client only.
Under the governor’s stay-at-home order, optometrists, dentists and chiropractors have been allowed to open for emergency cases that require patients to get a doctor’s note. Dr. Grant Goble’s eye care center has been opening to handle those types of patients.
Eyes in the Park, in the city’s Wrightwood Neighbors neighborhood, has two other employees, but Goble, an optometrist, said he will be the only one working the first few weeks when he can reopen to the public.
“I am not concerned,” Goble, 36, said about resuming his business. “I feel like as a health care provider, those are the risks I signed up for.”
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Goble said his firm will conduct forehead temperature checks as part of a screening process to allow patients to enter the store. Customers will be asked to wear masks or be provided with one during their appointments.
Keeping a social distance from patients as he conducts eye exams can be a challenge, Goble said. But one of his machines — a phoropter, the common device eye care providers use for sight testing — is remote-controlled and allows him to flip back and forth through lenses for his patients from a distance.
Places like Halsted Eye Boutique in the Lakeview neighborhood have been opening for urgent eye care services, including providing new prescriptions to contact lens patients. Owner Dr. Joanna Slusky, 39, said she already has been staggering appointment times and screening patients.
The longer people are directed to stay home, the longer people are itching to get a haircut or a massage. Last month, Joe Strunk, 45, who owns Joe Strunk Massage Therapist in the Buena Park neighborhood, received several calls from clients inquiring about appointments.
“People are really anxious to go back to their regular routine. They aren’t getting pain relief. So they are calling to ask if they can book a session. ‘Can you come to my house?’ I refused to do it. I don’t feel comfortable doing that,'" Strunk said.
Strunk said he will reopen once the state gives businesses like his the green light. He will establish a few safety measures like interviewing customers before a session about their symptoms and the exposure they’ve had to the virus. He also plans to increase the time between each session to an hour so that he can sanitize his workstation and face cradle. And he will wear a mask. Strunk said he is considering not working on a the scalp and head to avoid face contact with clients.
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“At some point it will be safe to get a massage. But safety is the main goal because we work so close with our clients,” Strunk said.
Dr. Ali Taghipour, 41, a dentist and owner of Sky Dental in Lakeview, said he has been seeing emergency cases as well as conducting telehealth appointments.
But Taghipour is unsure when typical appointments like cleanings will begin again.
“It depends what the future looks like in June. If we are in middle of a spike of coronavirus cases, and I feel like things are just going south, I don’t think I would personally open if I can,” Taghipour said.
The firm has been looking at recommendations from the American Dental Association that include social distancing guidelines in waiting rooms, face shields for dentists, screening patients for COVID-19 symptoms and routine disinfection of surfaces and work stations.
Taghipour said he is also considering adding medical air purifiers, which are used to remove air pollutants created in the dental office.
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Dentists always have taken precautions against diseases to ensure patient safety, said Dr. Susan Becker Doroshow, a dentist who practices in Skokie.
The American Dental Association is providing guidelines based on CDC recommendations. Little extras in Doroshow’s waiting room like magazines and toys for kids will most likely be removed. In the treatment room, dentists might wear goggles, N95 masks and use an array of equipment like dental dams and high evacuation suction tools to keep water from spraying as they work on clients’ mouths.
Doroshow said it isn’t the first time the industry has had to implement extra safety measures. The HIV/AIDS crisis raised dental precautions because the virus can spread through contaminated needles or syringes and infected blood or blood products.
But at some point, dentists will need to reopen because nonemergency cases could turn severe. “We can’t let dental care be postponed," she said. “If it’s not treated it will become an emergency.”
Scarlata, the owner of Mario’s Place, plans to implement new safety rules during the first weeks when he is allowed to reopen. He will check temperatures, require face masks and take one customer each hour. Customers will have to make an appointment and show up exactly at the time they request.
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“We have a lot of customers who will be anxious to get in. But we have to slowly take care of them," he said. “We won’t be back to real normal until August, if we open in June.”
abjimenez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @abdel1019


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Worker at Amazon’s Waukegan fulfillment center dies of COVID-19

The man , a night shift associate hired in September , was last at the Waukegan facility on March 19 @ @ @ @ @ have symptoms , Amazon said .
The company learned of his positive diagnosis on March @ @ @ @ @ on April 18 .
It declined to give more details about the worker , citing @ @ @ @ @ counseling services were offered to his family .

A worker at Amazon’s Waukegan fulfillment center died of COVID-19, the company confirmed Thursday, marking the fourth death among the online retailer’s warehouse employees as they continue to work through the pandemic.
The man, a night shift associate hired in September, was last at the Waukegan facility on March 19, and didn’t have symptoms, Amazon said. The company learned of his positive diagnosis on March 24 and of his death on April 18. It declined to give more details about the worker, citing privacy considerations, but said counseling services were offered to his family.
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Amazon, which has about 500,000 hourly employees at fulfillment and distribution centers in the U.S., has been the target of protests by some warehouse workers who say it did not do enough to protect them against the coronavirus. It employs 500 people at its Waukegan center.
Three other Amazon workers who died of COVID-19 worked at facilities in Staten Island, New York; Hawthorne, California; and Tracy, California.
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The company declined to disclose how many of its employees have tested positive. Employees are alerted by text message or call whenever there is a positive case in their facility.
Over the past few weeks, the company has hired 175,000 new employees as a homebound public increasingly orders items for home delivery. Its net sales grew 26% in the first quarter, to $75.5 billion, though net income fell on higher costs.
Amazon has said it expects to spend $4 billion in COVID-19 related charges in the second quarter, including on personal protective equipment and higher wages. The company is paying warehouse workers $2 an hour extra and double overtime during the pandemic, measures that are set to expire May 16.
Amazon introduced new safety measures into its warehouses as the pandemic unfolded.
Since the end of March, masks have been mandatory, gloves have been available and workers’ temperatures are checked as they enter the building. The company has staggered workers in its packing area to maintain six-foot distances, which has affected speed and caused some shipping delays.
The company said it is disciplining workers seen breaking the social distancing policy. If they get written up twice, it is grounds for termination.
The company also is piloting testing at some warehouses, with the goal of doing daily COVID-19 tests of workers at all of its facilities.
Amazon has been criticized for firing four employees who organized protests or spoke out about its safety measures. A group of Democratic senators on Thursday sent a letter to Amazon asking if the company retaliated against whistleblowers.
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Amazon said the workers were fired for violating company policies on matters including intimidation and social distancing.


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--The Spin: Former Illinois Gov. Edgar on his talk with Pritzker about politics, leadership amid crisi

The Spin: Former Illinois Gov. Edgar on his talk with Pritzker about politics, leadership amid crisis | Lightfoot-Wilson mask feud | New WGN America nightly news program coming

Illinois and its regions : `` I said to him when you open up , you ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ to open up some things sooner than later .
He had already figured that out @ @ @ @ @ last thing you want a governor to do is go too fast on this because @ @ @ @ @ went through in the last two months is going to be for naught , ” @ @ @ @ @ a longstanding Chicago vs. rest-of-the-state tension exists .
But it ’ s also true that @ @ @ @ @ the economy isn ’ t practical .

Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, center, greets people before speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform on June 7, 2016, at The Standard Club in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
While a vocal group of Illinois Republicans may have harsh words for Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plan for eventually reopening the state’s economy, former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar tells The Spin he recently spoke with the Democratic governor. They discussed crisis management in the COVID-19 age, the politics of regionalism and getting residents in all corners of the state to buy in to the stay-at-home order, Edgar said. A “dysfunctional” federal government, as Edgar described it along with his unsparing criticism of President Donald Trump, makes it even more difficult.
The two also had a moment of levity, Edgar said, when Pritzker jokingly “asked me if I wanted my job back. I said, 'No, I think you’re doing a great job.’" While they’re a study in contrasts — the GOP governor from downstate Charleston and Pritzker, a Chicago Democrat — the two have a mutual respect; Edgar was part of Pritzker’s transition team.
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was supposed to unveil her road map for reopening the city’s economy, but then canceled and promised to reschedule for a later date. Here’s the important thing to remember, though: Whatever she announces it must heel to the governor’s stay-home order.
And, during an election year where we’re reminded that cable networks such as Fox News lean right while CNN and MSNBC lean left, WGN America officials announced they will begin airing nightly “News Nation” — described by one boss as “hard news, 100% absent of bias” — Sept. 1. It will be produced in Chicago.
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Welcome to The Spin.
Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar speaks at a luncheon put on by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform at the Standard Club in Chicago on June 7, 2016. (Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune)
The former governor told The Spin in a phone interview that he reached out to Pritzker through a mutual comrade and the two talked for about an hour by phone this week about Pritkzer’s shutdown order and plans to reopen the state — and how difficult the latter will be.
Pritzker acknowledged the call today at a news conference - his 60th on the state’s COVID-19 pandemic - saying he’s conferred with Edgar and others who’ve democstrated “great leadership” in the midst of a crisis.
Praise and warning: “I told him I thought he was doing a great job. It’s so much more different than what I had to deal with, but I also told him to be prepared — enjoy the (favorable) poll numbers while they last — because people will complain. It’s human nature,” Edgar said of his conversation with Pritzker.
The ‘easy part’ is over: Edgar, who extended his stay in Arizona so he didn’t have to travel amid the pandemic, told the governor that, from his own experience in responding to the first days and weeks of a crisis, “what you’ve been through is kind of the easy part. Now’s the tough part — you know you’ve got to decide how to open up. If you do it too soon, you’ll kill people. If you do it too long, people go broke and they’re all going to get to grumbling, and that’s just going to happen anyway.”
Illinois and its regions: "I said to him when you open up, you’re going to have to figure out how to open up some things sooner than later. He had already figured that out — and he knows the last thing you want a governor to do is go too fast on this because then all the pain we went through in the last two months is going to be for naught,” Edgar said, acknowledging that a longstanding Chicago vs. rest-of-the-state tension exists. But it’s also true that a one-size-fits-all answer to reopening the economy isn’t practical.
He said relying on experts and data is key, and that hospitalizations and deaths should be a foremost guide. In looking at a map of the outbreak in Illinois, he says he sees pockets where hospitals have plenty of capacity and the number of deaths are low — and may be heading to reopening their economies soon.
The U.S. and its regions: “Listen to scientists, you’ve got to listen to the experts — and you may have to realize you might have to take a few chances,” Edgar told The Spin, noting that some of the states that are now opening up their economies will be a good barometer of how to proceed.
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“When I was governor, one of the things I always said was, ‘I never wanted to be first on anything other than on election night,'” he said with a laugh. He said it underscored his approach in the office: When solving a problem or planning a new initiative, look at how other states handled something similar.
Do the right thing — but make sure the public is in the front seat for the ride: “But you know in the end you have to do what’s right, but you’ve got to ... have public support to make it work, too," Edgar said. “My definition of leadership is convincing folks to go where they don’t want to go. You can’t sit around and wait for polls — you’ve got to act but you’ve got to make sure you’re bringing the folks along with you as you do this."
'Trump doesn’t understand’: Edgar said, "The federal government’s got to be backing you (the states) up. They’ve got to be sending supplies. You know I was surprised, it’s obvious Trump doesn’t understand his role when he said, 'Well, I’m not a shipping clerk.’ Well, yeah, you are. That’s one of the most important things the federal government does.” Edgar said, recalling the Great Flood of 1993 that devastated Mississippi River towns and the federal government delivered trailers to aid those left homeless by the waters. Edgar added: “I wasn’t no fan of (then-Democrat President Bill) Clinton, but he got the job done.”
A man checks information in front of Illinois Department of Employment Security in Chicago, Thursday, April 30, 2020. Another 3.8 million people filed claims for jobless benefits last week, according to the Labor Department. While that's down from the previous week's 4.4 million, a staggering 30.3 million have applied for unemployment in the six weeks since the coronavirus began taking a wrecking ball to the U.S. job market. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
One of the questions Pritzker has continued to field during daily news conferences – he held his 60th in a row on COVID-19 today - and likely beyond is about laid-off workers complaining of problems signing up for unemployment benefits with the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Today the governor detailed efforts the state has made in response to an array of issues people have reported in filing unemployment claims since the pandemic began. That includes additional agents to process claims made through the IDES website and a new call center, as the state gears up for gig workers to begin filing for jobless benefits next week. Read more here.
Just released statewide data shows the state processed 74,476 new initial unemployment claims for the week that ended May 2. The department processed 1,006,925 initial claims during the period between March 1 and May 2, compared with 78,100 initial claims during the same period in 2019.
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Pritzker’s five-phase plan a ‘gut punch’ to restaurants desperate to open: The Tribune’s Phil Vettel has the story here.
Illinois’ convention industry reopens last under Pritzker’s plan: And a dark McCormick Place in the last half of the year alone could translate into a citywide economic loss — think hotels and restaurant tabs — of $923 million, my Tribune colleagues report here.
Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson speaks during a news conference outside Sava Senior Care, Westchester Health & Rehab Center in Westchester on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 . (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
From the Tribune’s Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas and Robert McCoppin: Certified nursing assistants had threatened to walk out at more than 40 nursing homes tomorrow in “this time of unprecedented vulnerability and risk,” according to a statement from SEIU Healthcare Illinois spokeswoman Catherine Murrell.
But overnight, the union announced it had won “significant contract gains,” including baseline pay of $15 an hour, hazard pay for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and a provision that employees are not required to work without adequate personal protective equipment. Read the full story here.
Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, a Chicago Democrat, is calling for beefing up protections for nursing home residents across Illinois: The Tribune’s Alice Yin reports that he outlined a “Save Our Seniors” crisis plan that would, among other things, free up additional federal money for nursing homes and require more certified workers at such facilities throughout the state.
Yin writes: “Statewide, long-term care facilities have become a tinderbox for the coronavirus to spread. As of Friday, 1,082 of Illinois’ 2,457 COVID-19-related deaths were linked to nursing homes, assisted living centers and other long-term care facilities, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. At least 7,500 residents at 348 facilities across the state have tested positive.” You can read the full story here.
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United Airlines backtracks on plan to cut 15,000 workers’ hours to part time: It comes after the union filed a lawsuit alleging the move violated the terms of an agreement the airline struck with the federal government when it gave United $5 billion in COVID-19 financial assistance to keep workers on the payroll, the Tribune’s Lauren Zumbach reports. The airline called the suit “meritless." Read the full story here.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot wears a mask as she prepares to speak about the coronavirus economic recovery plan on April 23, 2020 at the Historic Water Tower. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune’s Gregory Pratt reports that Mayor Lightfoot canceled a previously scheduled news conference today to outline Chicago’s “COVID-19 reopening framework” her administration announced. The mayor was scheduled to meet with Chicago health officials to announce the plan this afternoon.
Her administration announced just hours ahead of time it would be rescheduled to “a different date due to scheduling conflicts." But the mayor said yesterday that the city can’t reopen without a decrease in COVID-19 cases, “which we have not seen yet at all.” Read Gregory Pratt’s story on that here.
Reminder: The city, like every community in the state, is under the Illinois’ stay-at-home order. That means individual communities must follow those provisions. Local leaders, such as Lightfoot, can enact stricter rules and then lift those as they see fit.
Lightfoot vs. Willie Wilson? My Tribune colleague John Byrne writes: “Former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson will donate up to 5 million disposable face masks at three South and West Side churches on Saturday after the United Center backed out of the giveaway event, he said.” It comes after Wilson asked Mayor Lightfoot via text on Tuesday whether she wanted to appear at a news conference to promote the event. The mayor responded with questions about whether he had adequate security, he said, and after that the United Center pulled the plug.
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The United Center’s chief operating officer, Terry Savarise, released a statement saying officials reviewed Wilson’s proposal and decided it simply didn’t meet the facility’s “critically important safety guidelines.”
“While we appreciate what Dr. Wilson is doing for our community, we have the utmost responsibility to protect the United Center personnel working on behalf of the same community,” Savarise’s statement reads in part.
It’s the latest in what seems to be a simmering feud between the two. Read the story here.
Onetime aldermanic candidate, who lost by a hair, launches PAC: Scientist Marianne Lalonde, who came up a few dozen votes short of beating North Side Ald. James Cappleman in last year’s city election, has joined forces with an up-and-coming politico to establish the Lakeview Uptown Political Organization, state election board records show.
The Political Action Committee’s "mission is to create a more welcoming, safe and affordable community,” said Eli Stone, the chair of the organization — a Chicago resident and 18-year-old high school senior who already has eight campaigns under his belt, including Mayor Lightfoot’s bid for office last year.
“The fundraising we do will be to support our mission and the candidates we choose to endorse,” he said in a statement to The Spin.
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Asked whether this means Lalonde, listed as treasurer, might run for alderman in 2023, Stone said that’s “a long way away.” Lalonde forced Cappleman into a runoff election and lost by 25 votes in the April 2019 contest for the 46th Ward seat representing parts of Uptown, Buena Park and Lakeview.
"News Nation," a nightly three-hour national newscast, will air on cable channel WGN America, based in Chicago. (Nexstar)
Perry Sook, chairman and CEO of Dallas-based Nexstar Media Group, which owns cable channel WGN America in Chicago and nearly 200 TV stations across the country, announced the nightly news program, to be called “News Nation” and produced in Chicago, will launch in the fall, the Tribune’s Robert Channick writes.
Sook reiterated during an earnings call yesterday, “This will be hard news, 100% absent of bias. We’re so serious about that we’re hiring a panel of rhetoricians to review our broadcasts for unconscious bias that may creep into the words we use and the reporting that we do.”
Channick notes: “Sook said the straight news approach will set WGN America apart from the opinion-heavy programming featured on other cable news networks during prime time.”
Sook added: “From my barber to certain investors, people have said that the timing for this couldn’t be better. The country just wants straight news, no opinion and they’ll make their own decisions.” Read the full story here.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
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Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Reopening Illinois: Everything you need to know about getting back to normal at gyms, the office, re

Reopening Illinois: Everything you need to know about getting back to normal at gyms, the office, restaurants and more

When Illinois restaurants were ordered shuttered by Pritzker in mid-March , restaurant owners , chefs and workers braced for several @ @ @ @ @ Under the reopening plan , restaurants will not be able to reopen until phase four @ @ @ @ @ the earliest-possible date ( and that date is by no means definite ) .
For @ @ @ @ @ hang on , that news was devastating .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinoisans finally have a plan for what "getting back to normal” might look like — and how long it will take. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase plan allows for a gradual reopening of businesses, gatherings, events and more — with a strategy that divides the state into regions and takes a careful look at the spread of COVID-19.
Here are three charts that break down the logistics of Pritzker’s plan.
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So how will this affect our daily lives? As summer nears, Chicagoans are desperate to get out and about — to have a summer picnic with family, to get back to work, to get a haircut.
Here’s how and when you might be able to do those things.
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Returning to the office
The body temperature of employees Egor Machaca, left, and Nicole Drougas is measured with DuThermX at Dubak Electrical Group in LaGrange on Monday, May 4, 2020. The company is selling systems for entrances to buildings that can take up to 40 people's temperatures simultaneously and can be integrated with security systems. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The offices that people will return to post-pandemic will contrast sharply with the collaborative workspaces and amenity-filled buildings they walked out of in mid-March. Offices will reopen during the third phase, with restrictions on capacity.
Dining at a restaurant
Rey Guzman hangs a sign at the Emporium bar in the West Loop on March 15, 2020, soon after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced all bars and restaurants would be closed to dine-in customers beginning Monday. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
When Illinois restaurants were ordered shuttered by Pritzker in mid-March, restaurant owners, chefs and workers braced for several weeks of zero income. Under the reopening plan, restaurants will not be able to reopen until phase four — with June 26 as the earliest-possible date (and that date is by no means definite). For an industry already struggling to hang on, that news was devastating.
Chicago restaurant owners have been adjusting and are planning for the future. But as restaurants look forward to the days after the coronavirus crisis, the question remains how many restaurants will be left to see it.
Going to the hair salon and the gym
Mario's Place Barber Shop, 2347 N. Southport Ave., is devoid of activity May 6, 2020, in Chicago. On May 5, Gov. J.B. Pritzker laid out a regional, five-phase plan for reopening the state as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third phase, called "recovery," will allow manufacturing, offices, retail, barber shops and salons to reopen, with capacity limits and other restrictions. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
You need a haircut. You’ll have access to places like barber shops, salons, offices and retail during the third phase of the reopening plan, which will have capacity limits and other restrictions. This phase, called “recovery,” would begin no earlier than the end of the month, when the state’s stay-at-home order is set to expire.
Health and fitness clubs can also begin conducting personal training sessions and outdoor classes in the third phase, when the rate of infection is stable or declining. When they can reopen, it’s uncertain how eager people who have spent weeks avoiding physical contact with others will be to start working out with a bunch of sweaty strangers — especially if they’ve bought home workout equipment while cut off from their favorite studio.
[ Shampoo, a trim and a temperature check: What getting your hair cut will be like when barber shops and salons reopen ]
Experiencing the big screen
A sign at the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge on May 5, 2020. The movie theater has been closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Illinois' current stay-at-home order runs through May 30. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
Moviegoing in Illinois will have to wait until phase four of the reopening plan, leaving exhibitors wondering if there’s room for negotiation regarding the proposed seating capacity guidelines. Pritzker’s “revitalization" phase, which could arrive this summer or later, allows for a movie theater seating capacity of 50.
Listening to live music
Owner Mike Reed at his club Constellation on May 4, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
The city’s five major jazz rooms have been shuttered since mid-March because of the coronavirus. But with Pritzker’s lockdown evolving, venue owners are contemplating when and how they might reopen. And whether a great jazz club can survive in a world of social distancing.
Proceeding with elective surgeries
Brandi Corbello, a cancer patient who had her monthly medication infusion and monitoring canceled in April because of COVID-19, sits for a portrait in the lobby of the building where she lives in Chicago on April 28, 2020. (Jos M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Now that the growth rate of COVID-19 cases in Illinois has slowed, the state health department has said that elective surgeries and procedures may resume May 11 at Illinois hospitals and surgery centers. But some patients might have to wait longer than that, as hospitals deal with backlogs, rebuild their capacities and figure out which patients should go first.
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Attending a convention
Christopher Stephens, Executive Director of Rosemont's Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, stands on the center's empty Hall A, Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Conventions will reopen last — in phase five — under Pritzker’s plan. A dark McCormick Place, alone, could mean a $923 million economic hit in the year’s second half. To reach phase five, a vaccine must be developed, a treatment option must be readily available or no new cases must arise over a sustained period. There’s no telling how long it might take to reach the fifth phase, and increases in cases or hospitalizations could hamper progress.


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Feds charge politically connected not-for-profit boss with fraud involving state grants

According to the charges , FORUM , also known as Fulfilling Our Responsibilities Unto Mankind , received three state grants @ @ @ @ @ to 2016 from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity .
Two of the @ @ @ @ @ commercial properties in cash-strapped Dolton , while the third was meant for FORUM to operate @ @ @ @ @ .

The politically connected head of a Chicago not-for-profit has been indicted on federal charges alleging he misappropriated at least $200,000 in state grants intended to develop south suburban commercial properties and fund a job training program.
The 28-page indictment made public Thursday accused Yesse Yehudah, 71, the longtime leader of the FORUM organization, with eight counts of bank fraud and seven counts of wire fraud. An arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago will be held at a later date.
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According to the charges, FORUM, also known as Fulfilling Our Responsibilities Unto Mankind, received three state grants totaling $575,000 from 2013 to 2016 from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Two of the grants were intended to develop commercial properties in cash-strapped Dolton, while the third was meant for FORUM to operate a weatherization jobs training program.
The indictment — the first notable one returned at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in several weeks as work there has slowed during the coronavirus crisis — alleges that Yehudah made false statements and submitted phony documents misrepresenting how the money was being used.
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In one instance, Yehudah claimed that FORUM had spent a $100,000 grant on construction work to develop a vacant property in Dolton, when, in fact, no actual work had begun, the indictment alleged.
In 2015, he allegedly misused $20,000 in grant money to buy a condominium for the relative of an associate, the indictment alleged. He disguised the fraud by having FORUM cut a cashier’s check to the associate, who then endorsed it over to Yehudah, according to the charges.
The indictment also alleged Yehudah inflated the amount that subcontractors had billed FORUM and kept the extra money for himself.
Yehudah also defrauded a bank used by FORUM by forging the signatures of subcontractors to endorse checks over to himself, the indictment alleged.
The most serious charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Reached by telephone on Thursday, Yehudah acknowledged that the FBI had questioned him about FORUM’s Dolton projects but said he didn’t know anything about any misappropriated funds.
He declined further comment, saying he was unaware that criminal charges had been filed and had yet to retain an attorney.
As the leader of FORUM, Yehudah has long had ties to South Side politicians and legislators in Springfield, using his connections to win taxpayer-funded grants for everything from youth violence prevention to computer-literacy programs.
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In 2002, then-Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan sued Yehudah and another charity operator, David Noffs, for allegedly bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars from similar initiatives, the Tribune reported.
At the time, Noffs was an Elmhurst city councilman and good friend of then-first lady Lura Lynn Ryan. Yehudah was also a frequent donor to political funds controlled by Gov. George Ryan.
The suit accused Yehudah and Noffs of washing money between their two charities and diverting funds for personal travel, health club memberships, auto repairs, dental work, phone bills and college tuition costs.
Yehudah later settled the litigation by agreeing to donate $10,000 to a charity.
Yehudah’s connections to then-state Sen. Barack Obama were also widely reported at the time.
In 1998, he mounted an unsuccessful challenge for Obama’s seat in Springfield. Two years later, Obama awarded a $75,000 grant to FORUM to help churches and community groups get internet access, the Tribune reported.
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The Tribune reported that five FORUM employees, including one who had declared bankruptcy, had donated $1,000 apiece to Obama’s state Senate campaign.
Though Obama was not accused of wrongdoing, he quietly returned the $5,000 in donations after the lawsuit against Yehudah was filed.
“I didn’t want to be associated with money that potentially might have been tainted,” Obama said then.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Coronavirus testing sites in Illinois: Search our map for one near you

The Illinois Department of Public Health is saying that testing is available without a doctor ’ s order to anyone @ @ @ @ @ underlying risk factor .
Tests are also provided to people on the front lines of @ @ @ @ @ medical workers , first responders and employees of prisons or nursing homes .

Testing for COVID-19 has greatly expanded in Illinois.
The state’s information on testing sites changes frequently. This map will be updated periodically. More from the Illinois Department of Public Health here.
There are many sites that are not on the state’s list. Some have asked not to be named. Others may be added at a later date.
Sites as of Dec. 1


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

Search below by street address , ZIP code or city , then click on the map to see the number @ @ @ @ @ state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer .

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
Illinois releases the number of positive COVID-19 cases by ZIP code daily. The map below shows the cumulative cases for each area as well as other analysis of the data.
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Tracking daily Illinois coronavirus deaths, cases and tests.
Search below by street address, ZIP code or city, then click on the map to see the number of confirmed and probable cases. The state is not providing data for any ZIP code with five cases or fewer.
Data as of June 10.
The map search tool above works best in Chrome or Firefox and may not perform consistently in Internet Explorer.
Note: Because of a coding error this map was displaying the incorrect rates for new cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 people — the issue should now be resolved.. The Tribune adjusted the data shown on the map below to focus on new cases, those the state tracked in the last 7 seven days. The totals for the entire pandemic are still available, but in the pop-up after tapping or clicking on a ZIP.


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 3,111 deaths, 70,873 confirmed cases, 379,043 tests, 23% ICU beds and

Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 3,111 deaths, 70,873 confirmed cases, 379,043 tests, 23% ICU beds and 61% ventilators open

As the coronavirus spreads and local , state and national governments work to contain and mitigate the outbreak , the @ @ @ @ @ .

Johns Hopkins University & Medicine tracked coronavirus cases, deaths and test totals from Jan. 22, 2020 through March 10, 2023, but is no longer providing this data. These charts will no longer be updated.
Check the Illinois Department of Public Health for the most up-to-date data for Illinois.
[ Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus ]
Can’t see these charts? Go here.


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Phone prayer service launched by Chicago Catholics to connect people while church doors are closed

“ As people unite in this Call to Prayer , may they be consoled in knowing that it is the @ @ @ @ @ them to one another , ” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a news release .

Julie Rodriguez prays in a parking lot next to Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Chicago on April 11, 2020, a day before Easter. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
A group of Catholics from the Archdiocese of Chicago have started a daily prayer service, called A Call to Prayer, to allow people to pray with others while church buildings remain closed.
“As people unite in this Call to Prayer, may they be consoled in knowing that it is the Lord Himself who is connecting them to one another,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a news release.
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The archdiocese suspended all religious services in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The prayer line will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day and will connect callers with volunteer parishioners so they can pray together.
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In addition to the prayer service phone line, A Call to Prayer also offers voicemail and email options.
The prayer service is for people of all religious beliefs and also will be available for Spanish- and Polish-speaking people, according to an archdiocese release.
People who are interested can call 312-741-3388, visit archchicago.org/calltoprayer or send an email to praywithme@calledtoprayer.org, pomodlsiezemna@calledtoprayer.org (Polish) or rezaconmigo@calledtoprayer.org (Spanish).


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Watch live: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and health officials give an update on COVID-19 in Illinois

Gov .
J.B. Pritzker and state health officials are scheduled to provide an update on the coronavirus in Illinois at @ @ @ @ @ the latest coronavirus updates here .

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chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Need a job? The coronavirus pandemic puts contact tracers in demand, and a local college has a new p

Need a job? The coronavirus pandemic puts contact tracers in demand, and a local college has a new program to train them.

The programs at Oakton and SIU will be based on guidance recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and @ @ @ @ @ that public and private entities will have to work together to “ scale up and @ @ @ @ @ workforce , '' according to its website .
Per CDC guidelines , tracers instruct anyone @ @ @ @ @ for 14 days and check back over that time to monitor their health .

As efforts to expand contact tracing become a priority in Illinois, new training programs at local colleges could help fill the gap by supplying valuable workers to local health departments that need to keep tabs on COVID-19 infections.
Oakton Community College was the first Chicago-area school to announce its online course, which is expected to begin later this month. Southern Illinois University’s School of Medicine in Springfield is also developing a program, but the dates have not been finalized.
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“We have heard the call that in order for us to safely reopen the economy, we will need hundreds of thousands of contact tracers,” said Joianne Smith, Oakton’s president, during a virtual news conference Wednesday. “I am confident that this will help serve the needs of our community, not just in the immediate future but for years to come.”
Oakton Community College, shown May 7, 2020, is launching a training program for contact tracing. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Contact tracing recently entered the public vernacular because it’s frequently touted as a weapon to stop the coronavirus from spreading. Many local health departments are already utilizing the practice, which involves interviewing recently diagnosed patients and tracking down and warning anyone who had close contact with them in the previous two weeks.
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But Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s new five-phase plan to ease restrictions in Illinois depends on a more robust network of contact tracing than what is already in place. Pritzker and his top health officials have previously estimated that an effective program will cost about $80 million and require 3,800 workers.
As outlined in Pritzker’s plan, regions must be able to begin contact tracing on at least 90% of all new diagnoses within 24 hours before schools and restaurants can reopen. Without widespread contact tracing, the plan says, “mitigation and maintaining a 6-foot social distance have been the only options to reduce the spread and save as many lives as possible.”
The programs at Oakton and SIU will be based on guidance recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says that public and private entities will have to work together to “scale up and train a large contact tracer workforce," according to its website. Per CDC guidelines, tracers instruct anyone with potential exposure to isolate for 14 days and check back over that time to monitor their health.
At the SIU School of Medicine, administrators confirmed that a program was being created but declined an interview, saying it was too early to share more information.
“SIU Medicine is developing a contact tracing curriculum to complement our pandemic health worker programs and community outreach initiatives,” spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said in an email. “We are in the early stages of this work and do not have implementation timelines or program details to announce.”
Dr. Catherine Counard, director of health for the village of Skokie, said outside training programs will make it easier for municipalities to build their contact tracing programs. “It lifts the burden on the health department to train individuals,” she said.
Counard, who reviewed the Oakton curriculum and shared the idea with state health officials, said contact tracing is a labor-intensive but successful tool in containing infectious diseases, such as the SARS outbreak.
“(Contact tracing) is really important. It’s basic bread-and-butter public health work that you do for any of the infectious diseases,” Counard said. “This is not unique to COVID-19, but it is a huge need.”
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Often, tracers are reaching out to as many as 10 close contacts for every new COVID-19 diagnoses, she said. In Skokie, which has reported a total of 539 COVID-19 cases, contact tracers working for the village, many in a volunteer capacity, have notified more than 2,000 people about potential exposure, Counard said.
The Oakton program will begin with online courses May 26 and has room for 60 students in its first section, said Jesse Ivory, dean for the Skokie campus and for adult and continuing education. The class costs $299 and will focus on interpersonal skills, keeping health information private and apps used to help with contact tracing, among other areas.
While there is no certification required to work as a contact tracer, Ivory said the program could help people quickly find a job in a growing field. The work has typically been performed by health officials.
“COVID-19 has presented the need to scale (up) the number of contact tracers that are available, and so now we’re looking to our general public to be able to serve and come in,” she said. “With that, folks do need baseline training.”
Smith, the school’s president, said the course will also highlight how black and Latino communities are disproportionately affected during the pandemic.
“The program focuses on educational disparities and health disparities that we’ve seen as a result of the pandemic and will help those who take the program to learn to be empathetic and culturally competent in working with diverse communities who are adversely impacted by COVID-19,” Smith said.
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Oakton’s course predominantly caters to local students, but anyone can apply to participate since it will be offered in online modules over a four-week period. Participants must be at least 18 and have a high school diploma, access to technology and English proficiency.
echerney@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-07--Chicago Park District plans abbreviated summer camp season

The Park District also sent out a letter to parents who have had children in the programs or who opted @ @ @ @ @ Park District .
An email from Jacqueline Guthrie , the park supervisor for Maggie Daley @ @ @ @ @ , “ Things have been ever changing , as well as summer camp .
We @ @ @ @ @ in regards to capacity and age groups we will be serving .
”

The Chicago Park District is moving forward with the possibility of offering a portion of its regular summer camps after the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the schedule.
On social media and in a letter to parents who previously enrolled their kids in similar programs, this past week park district officials shared plans for the modified schedule and important dates for parents. All summer programs, including summer camp, will start July 6 — assuming no new or additional restrictions are called for under any modifications to the state stay-at-home mandate, which helps determine what the Park District can offer.
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The Park District first made the announcement Friday, after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced modifications to the stay-at-home order through May 31.
Dalila Nicholson, 6, and Nicholas Stratton, 6, swim together as part of the Chicago Park District's day camp in 2016. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
Summer programs will be listed online beginning June 1 so caregivers have a chance to evaluate the offerings. Online registration, often competitive with classes and programs filling up within minutes, will be held June 11 and 12. Some spaces in each program are held back so those without internet access can register in person. In-person registration will be on June 13 — unless in-person interactions are not being allowed by the state, the news release said.
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The traditional summer day camps, which usually last six weeks, will be held only from July 6 to July 31, for an abbreviated season. The summer camps originally had been slated to begin June 22. Earlier, the Park District had pushed back online registration for its programs to the beginning of May but that again had to be postponed.
It was not immediately clear what other programs might be offered.
The Park District also sent out a letter to parents who have had children in the programs or who opted in for messages from the Park District. An email from Jacqueline Guthrie, the park supervisor for Maggie Daley and Grant parks, said, “Things have been ever changing, as well as summer camp. We are working out the details in regards to capacity and age groups we will be serving.”
Check back for updates.
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews