chicagotribune--2020-12-14--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Dec. 12-13 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 115 additional fatalities , bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 848,904 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 14,291 since the start of the pandemic .
The first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States headed Sunday from Michigan to distribution centers across the country .
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center could begin administering the vaccine to its workers as soon as Monday , depending on when the vaccine arrives , hospital officials said .
University of Chicago Medicine might start inoculating employees Wednesday .
Edward-Elmhurst Health , which has hospitals in west suburban Naperville and Elmhurst , is tentatively expecting to begin vaccinating its workers Tuesday .
And Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood was selected as one of roughly three dozen veterans health administration sites across the country to receive initial doses , the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could create COVID-19 superspreader events .
Officials have said the state is entering the period during which a possible post-Thanksgiving surge could begin to show up .
Meanwhile , here ’ s what the FDA approval of Pfizer ’ s coronavirus vaccine could mean for Chicago and the rest of Illinois .
White House , other top officials to get early vaccine access Senior U.S. government officials , including some White House officials who work in close proximity to President Donald Trump and Vice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus vaccines as soon as this week , while its public distribution is limited to front-line health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities .
Doses of the newly approved vaccine from Pfizer will be made available to those who work in close quarters with the nation ’ s top leaders , two people familiar with the matter confirmed .
They said the move was meant to prevent more COVID-19 spread in the White House , which has already suffered from several outbreaks of the virus that infected Trump and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facilities .
As coronavirus vaccine distribution begins , prepare to carry another thing in your pocket : A COVID-19 credential to show you ’ ve been inoculated Among all the tools that health agencies have developed over the years to fight epidemics , at least one has remained a constant for more than a century : paper vaccination certificates .
In the 1880s , in response to smallpox outbreaks , some public schools began requiring students and teachers to show vaccination cards .
In the 1960s , amid yellow fever epidemics , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ document , known informally as the yellow card .
Even now , travelers from certain regions are required to show a version of the card at airports .
Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 115 additional fatalities , bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 848,904 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 14,291 since the start of the pandemic .
Features Bar and Grill unveiled its own take on unique winter seating and dining Thursday when it began stationing dining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seat customers — outside its Chicago Avenue location .
The project is a joint effort by the restaurant , Naperville Public Works , the Downtown Naperville Alliance , the Naperville Development Partnership , and private contractors .
COVID-19 testing sites continue to pop up around south suburbs As the promised rollout of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus nears , testing centers remain busy this holiday season following a recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases .
While usually focused on treating children ’ s ailments , Alzein Pediatrics ’ staff in recent weeks were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and grandparents about where they could go for COVID-19 testing .
“ We had a lot of patients looking for places to get tested out of concern about being around their children or grandchildren , ” said Marie Armstrong , clinical manager for the practice , which has offices in Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn .
Trucks with first COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the US roll out of Pfizer manufacturing plant in Michigan The first trucks carrying a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States pulled out of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shots that are critical to stopping the nation ’ s coronavirus outbreak destined to reach states a day later .
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide .
COVID-19 vaccine will start arriving in states Monday , officials say , as US surpasses 16 million total confirmed cases The nation ’ s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning , U.S. officials said Saturday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go-ahead to the shots needed to end an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans .
Initially , about 3 million doses were expected to be shipped nationwide .
It was unclear exactly who would receive the first shots , though health care workers and nursing home residents were the priority .
Perna said health authorities would decide .
The announcement Saturday kicks off a massive logistical operation involving the federal and state governments , private companies and health care workers to quickly distribute limited vaccine supplies throughout the U.S .
It offers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 infections and deaths , which are overwhelming hospitals and raising fears that things will only get worse as people gather over the holidays .
The U.S. has recorded more than 16 million cases of COVID-19 , by far the most of any country in the world , according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University , and also leads the world in deaths related to the coronavirus at more than 297,600 , including a record 3,309 recorded on Friday .
The coronavirus has caused more than 1.6 million global deaths .
Charley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black star , dies at 86 of COVID-19 complications Charley Pride , one of country music ’ s first Black superstar whose rich baritone on such hits as “ Kiss an Angel Good Morning ” helped sell millions of records and made him the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame , has died .
He was 86 .
Pride died Saturday in Dallas of complications from Covid-19 , according to Jeremy Westby of the public relations firm 2911 Media .
“ I ’ m so heartbroken that one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pride , has passed away .
It ’ s even worse to know that he passed away from COVID-19 .
What a horrible , horrible virus .
Charley , we will always love you , ” Dolly Parton tweeted .
127 new deaths , 8,737 new cases of COVID-19 reported Illinois health officials announced Saturday 8,737 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-10 and 127 new fatalities , bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 841,688 and the statewide death toll to 14,177 since the beginning of the pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced Chicago-area hospitals were getting ready to deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines to their employees during the first few days of next week .
The nation ’ s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning , U.S. officials said Saturday , after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end the outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans .
Pritzker put on defensive by COVID-19 outbreak that tore through LaSalle VA home with terrifying speed Beginning Oct. 31 , as the coronavirus pandemic was surging once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ LaSalle County , an outbreak tore through the home with terrifying speed , infecting more than 200 residents and staff members and killing at least 33 veterans , including Jerome Liesse .
The fallout has been equally swift .
Initial inspections by federal and state inspections identified myriad problems at the home , including lax use of personal protective equipment and poor social distancing .
State legislators have set hearings , and an investigation by a state inspector general has been launched .
Gov .
J.B. Pritzker , who in his 2018 campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican predecessor Bruce Rauner ’ s handling of a deadly Legionnaires ’ disease outbreak at another state veterans home , is now on the defensive over his own VA home crisis .
“ The governor owns this .
This is his job , ” said state Rep. Jim Durkin of Western Springs , the Illinois House Republican leader .
“ It ’ s the state ’ s job to provide for the care of the men and women who live and also work within that facility.
” ‘ We just pray that we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by day.
’ Family cancels pilgrimage after third brother dies of coronavirus Tragedy has once again struck the family who started the pilgrimage from Chicago to Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Des Plaines .
In September , 63-year-old Ricardo Alanis , founder of the first and largest yearly pilgrimage from Chicago to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines , died of COVID-19 .
Two months after Ricardo Alanis died , one of his brothers died from COVID-19 in Mexico .
And on Friday , a third brother , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Amita Health St. Francis Hospital in Evanston , according to a family member .
Read more here .
—Madeline Buckley , Lisa Schencker and Angie Leventis Lourgos Walgreens to hire 25,000 as part of plan to start giving COVID-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and staff before Christmas Walgreens expects to receive its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 21 and plans to inoculate nursing home residents and workers at more than 30,000 longterm care facilities nationwide .
Deerfield-based Walgreens plans to hire about 25,000 workers across the U.S. , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care workers , to administer the vaccine , once approved , to longterm care facilities through a partnership with pharmacy service provider PharMerica , the companies said during a panel discussion Friday on the vaccine rollout .
Pandemic puppies , holiday tamales and binge-watching TV from a cardboard ‘ yacht ’ : How 39 Chicagoans made it through 2020 Few would deny that 2020 has been difficult for a host of reasons , from the quarter-million lives lost due to the coronavirus pandemic to the continuing fight against racial injustice .
How did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We asked Illinois residents to tell us what they did to get through 2020 .
Some adopted dogs , some volunteered in their neighborhoods and others discovered a new hobby .
Here ’ s what they had to say .
Here are five things that happened Friday related to COVID-19 :

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 115 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 848,904 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 14,291 since the start of the pandemic.
The first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States headed Sunday from Michigan to distribution centers across the country.
Advertisement
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.
Chicago-area hospitals are gearing up to give the first COVID-19 vaccination shots to their employees as soon as early this week now that emergency use authorization has been granted by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.
Advertisement
Rush University Medical Center could begin administering the vaccine to its workers as soon as Monday, depending on when the vaccine arrives, hospital officials said. University of Chicago Medicine might start inoculating employees Wednesday. Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has hospitals in west suburban Naperville and Elmhurst, is tentatively expecting to begin vaccinating its workers Tuesday.
And Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood was selected as one of roughly three dozen veterans health administration sites across the country to receive initial doses, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday.
[ Doctors to answer reader questions about COVID-19 vaccinations Dec. 14 and 16 on Facebook Live ]
The numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could create COVID-19 superspreader events. Officials have said the state is entering the period during which a possible post-Thanksgiving surge could begin to show up.
Meanwhile, here’s what the FDA approval of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine could mean for Chicago and the rest of Illinois.
Here’s what’s happening this weekend with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
Sunday
White House, other top officials to get early vaccine access
Senior U.S. government officials, including some White House officials who work in close proximity to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, will be offered coronavirus vaccines as soon as this week, while its public distribution is limited to front-line health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
Doses of the newly approved vaccine from Pfizer will be made available to those who work in close quarters with the nation’s top leaders, two people familiar with the matter confirmed. They said the move was meant to prevent more COVID-19 spread in the White House, which has already suffered from several outbreaks of the virus that infected Trump and other top officials, and other critical facilities.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Advertisement
As coronavirus vaccine distribution begins, prepare to carry another thing in your pocket: A COVID-19 credential to show you’ve been inoculated
Among all the tools that health agencies have developed over the years to fight epidemics, at least one has remained a constant for more than a century: paper vaccination certificates.
In the 1880s, in response to smallpox outbreaks, some public schools began requiring students and teachers to show vaccination cards. In the 1960s, amid yellow fever epidemics, the World Health Organization introduced an international travel document, known informally as the yellow card. Even now, travelers from certain regions are required to show a version of the card at airports.
Read more here. —The New York Times
7,216 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, 115 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 115 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 848,904 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 14,291 since the start of the pandemic.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Downtown Naperville’s Features Bar and Grill unveils rail cars for winter dining
Features Bar and Grill unveiled its own take on unique winter seating and dining Thursday when it began stationing dining cars — actual rail cars refurbished to seat customers — outside its Chicago Avenue location.
Advertisement
The project is a joint effort by the restaurant, Naperville Public Works, the Downtown Naperville Alliance, the Naperville Development Partnership, and private contractors.
Read more here —Rafael Guerrero, Naperville Sun
COVID-19 testing sites continue to pop up around south suburbs
As the promised rollout of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus nears, testing centers remain busy this holiday season following a recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
While usually focused on treating children’s ailments, Alzein Pediatrics’ staff in recent weeks were getting questions from children’s parents and grandparents about where they could go for COVID-19 testing.
“We had a lot of patients looking for places to get tested out of concern about being around their children or grandchildren,” said Marie Armstrong, clinical manager for the practice, which has offices in Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn.
Read more here —Mike Nolan, Daily Southtown
Advertisement
Trucks with first COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the US roll out of Pfizer manufacturing plant in Michigan
The first trucks carrying a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States pulled out of a Michigan manufacturing facility Sunday, with the shots that are critical to stopping the nation’s coronavirus outbreak destined to reach states a day later.
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Saturday
COVID-19 vaccine will start arriving in states Monday, officials say, as US surpasses 16 million total confirmed cases
The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.
Initially, about 3 million doses were expected to be shipped nationwide. It was unclear exactly who would receive the first shots, though health care workers and nursing home residents were the priority. Perna said health authorities would decide.
The announcement Saturday kicks off a massive logistical operation involving the federal and state governments, private companies and health care workers to quickly distribute limited vaccine supplies throughout the U.S. It offers hope in a country grappling with surging COVID-19 infections and deaths, which are overwhelming hospitals and raising fears that things will only get worse as people gather over the holidays.
Advertisement
The U.S. has recorded more than 16 million cases of COVID-19, by far the most of any country in the world, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University, and also leads the world in deaths related to the coronavirus at more than 297,600, including a record 3,309 recorded on Friday. The coronavirus has caused more than 1.6 million global deaths.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Charley Pride, country music’s first Black star, dies at 86 of COVID-19 complications
Charley Pride, one of country music’s first Black superstar whose rich baritone on such hits as “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” helped sell millions of records and made him the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, has died. He was 86.
Pride died Saturday in Dallas of complications from Covid-19, according to Jeremy Westby of the public relations firm 2911 Media.
“I’m so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. It’s even worse to know that he passed away from COVID-19. What a horrible, horrible virus. Charley, we will always love you,” Dolly Parton tweeted.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Advertisement
127 new deaths, 8,737 new cases of COVID-19 reported
Illinois health officials announced Saturday 8,737 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-10 and 127 new fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 841,688 and the statewide death toll to 14,177 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The figures come a day after officials announced Chicago-area hospitals were getting ready to deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines to their employees during the first few days of next week.
The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end the outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.
—Rosemary Sobol
Pritzker put on defensive by COVID-19 outbreak that tore through LaSalle VA home with terrifying speed
Beginning Oct. 31, as the coronavirus pandemic was surging once again across the state, including in LaSalle County, an outbreak tore through the home with terrifying speed, infecting more than 200 residents and staff members and killing at least 33 veterans, including Jerome Liesse.
The fallout has been equally swift. Initial inspections by federal and state inspections identified myriad problems at the home, including lax use of personal protective equipment and poor social distancing. State legislators have set hearings, and an investigation by a state inspector general has been launched.
Advertisement
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who in his 2018 campaign for governor was highly critical of his Republican predecessor Bruce Rauner’s handling of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at another state veterans home, is now on the defensive over his own VA home crisis.
“The governor owns this. This is his job,” said state Rep. Jim Durkin of Western Springs, the Illinois House Republican leader. “It’s the state’s job to provide for the care of the men and women who live and also work within that facility.”
Read more here. —Rick Pearson and Dan Petrella
Friday
‘We just pray that we get the strength to keep going day by day.’ Family cancels pilgrimage after third brother dies of coronavirus
Tragedy has once again struck the family who started the pilgrimage from Chicago to Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Des Plaines.
In September, 63-year-old Ricardo Alanis, founder of the first and largest yearly pilgrimage from Chicago to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, died of COVID-19.
Two months after Ricardo Alanis died, one of his brothers died from COVID-19 in Mexico. And on Friday, a third brother, Jose Alanis, died of COVID-19 complications at Amita Health St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, according to a family member.
Advertisement
Read more here. —Javonte Anderson
Local hospitals ready to give first COVID-19 vaccines to employees as soon as next week
Chicago-area hospitals are gearing up to give the first COVID-19 vaccination shots to their employees as soon as early next week now that emergency use authorization has been granted by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.
Rush University Medical Center could begin administering the vaccine to its workers as soon as Monday, depending on when the vaccine arrives, hospital officials said. University of Chicago Medicine might start inoculating employees Wednesday. Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has hospitals in west suburban Naperville and Elmhurst, is tentatively expecting to begin vaccinating its workers Tuesday.
And Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood was selected as one of roughly three dozen veterans health administration sites across the country to receive initial doses, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday. The west suburban hospital was the only VA hospital in Illinois to make the list, in part because it has the capacity to store the vaccine at extremely cold temperatures, the hospital said in a news release.
Read more here. —Madeline Buckley, Lisa Schencker and Angie Leventis Lourgos
Walgreens to hire 25,000 as part of plan to start giving COVID-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and staff before Christmas
Walgreens expects to receive its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 21 and plans to inoculate nursing home residents and workers at more than 30,000 longterm care facilities nationwide.
Advertisement
Deerfield-based Walgreens plans to hire about 25,000 workers across the U.S., including up to 9,000 pharmacists and other health care workers, to administer the vaccine, once approved, to longterm care facilities through a partnership with pharmacy service provider PharMerica, the companies said during a panel discussion Friday on the vaccine rollout.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
Pandemic puppies, holiday tamales and binge-watching TV from a cardboard ‘yacht’: How 39 Chicagoans made it through 2020
Few would deny that 2020 has been difficult for a host of reasons, from the quarter-million lives lost due to the coronavirus pandemic to the continuing fight against racial injustice.
How did people make it through this year? We asked Illinois residents to tell us what they did to get through 2020. Some adopted dogs, some volunteered in their neighborhoods and others discovered a new hobby. Here’s what they had to say.
Read more here. —Hannah Herrera Greenspan
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
In case you missed it
Here are five things that happened Friday related to COVID-19:


chicagotribune--2020-12-15--Daywatch: First COVID vaccinations in Illinois, Electoral College confirms Biden victory and planets

Daywatch: First COVID vaccinations in Illinois, Electoral College confirms Biden victory and planets to create ‘Christmas star’

Since the beginning of the pandemic , 163 such school-based outbreaks have been reviewed in the state , including nine @ @ @ @ @ Department of Public Health .
But while the state is now posting such numbers online @ @ @ @ @ assisting schools with surveillance of cases , contact tracing and guidance — it still falls @ @ @ @ @ the biggest decision : Does the school need to shut down again ?

Good morning, Chicago. On Monday, Illinois health officials announced 7,214 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 103 additional fatalities.
Meanwhile, the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history is now underway. Illinois received its first shipments of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Monday. Here’s everything you need to know.
Advertisement
In Chicago, the Loretto Hospital, a 122-bed medical facility in the Austin community, will administer the ceremonial first COVID-19 vaccination Tuesday, sources told the Tribune.
Here’s more coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
Advertisement
For your smart speaker | Holiday gift guide | Join our COVID-19 Facebook group | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games
Mayor Bill de Blasio bumps forearms with Tara Easter, a registered nurse at NYU-Langone Hospital who received the COVID-19 vaccine, Dec. 14, 2020, in New York. (Kevin Hagen / AP)
The first COVID-19 vaccinations in Illinois are scheduled to be administered Tuesday, bringing a sense of hope along with the most significant action yet to blunt a pandemic that has killed more than 14,000 people statewide.
Amid a massive distribution effort that will take several days to reach medical centers in more than four dozen counties, Chicago selected a hospital in one of its hardest-hit neighborhoods to administer the city’s first shot. The vaccination will be given Tuesday morning at Loretto Hospital in the Austin community, where the death rate dwarfs the citywide average.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks after the Electoral College formally elected him as president, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
The Electoral College decisively confirmed Joe Biden on Monday as the nation’s next president, ratifying his November victory in an authoritative state-by-state repudiation of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost.
Trump says Attorney General William Barr resigning, leaving ‘just before Christmas’
Kitty Horne, the school secretary, takes the temperature of students arriving for in-person student learning at The School of Saints Faith, Hope and Charity in Winnetka on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. After a COVID-19 outbreak, the school pivoted to remote learning for two weeks in November, but it has now reopened classrooms for in-person student learning. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 163 such school-based outbreaks have been reviewed in the state, including nine reported Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health. But while the state is now posting such numbers online — and health departments are assisting schools with surveillance of cases, contact tracing and guidance — it still falls to school officials to make the biggest decision: Does the school need to shut down again?
Doug and Kim White share a kiss while dining in their van outside of Kizuna Sushi in Glen Ellyn on Dec. 11, 2020 (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Kim and Doug White, like many others, have sought ways to find happiness and some normalcy during an isolating time. Their solution: turn their Ford Transit van into a mobile dining room. Since October, the two have been pulling into restaurant parking lots and eating their takeout at the table covered in a red-and-white checkered table cloth in the back of their van.
Stars shine in the sky as vegetation sits near a utility pole in the County Line Conservation area in the early hours of on Dec. 10, 2020, in Garden Prairie, Ill. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
When something inordinately rare or unexpected happens, it is said “the planets aligned.”
On Dec. 21, the winter solstice, two planets will appear nearly aligned, resulting in an event so uncommon it’s befitting of the saying. At one time, astronomers may have felt it so closely resembled a Christmas miracle — or, perhaps, the star of Bethlehem — that they named the spectacle the “Christmas Star.


chicagotribune--2020-12-15--Illinois schools have tallied more than 160 outbreaks of COVID-19. But what happens when they occur,

Illinois schools have tallied more than 160 outbreaks of COVID-19. But what happens when they occur, and who decides if a school should close?

The details are then reviewed , and the school is given a date the student or staff member is cleared @ @ @ @ @ and school also seek to determine if anyone else at the school was exposed to @ @ @ @ @ that defined as being within 6 feet of an infected person for 15 or more @ @ @ @ @ 24 hours or less , Rubin said .

After a string of COVID-19 cases were reported at The School of Saints Faith, Hope and Charity in Winnetka last month, school officials dutifully notified the Cook County Department of Public Health and were soon delivered some troubling news.
The Roman Catholic elementary school had met the criteria for an outbreak, thrusting a thorny health and safety decision into the hands of the principal and the Archdiocese of Chicago about whether to halt in-person instruction.
Advertisement
“We decided to immediately pivot to e-learning for a temporary period, because first and foremost is the safety of our students and staff, and we just didn’t want to take the risk,” said Justin Lombardo, the leader of the archdiocese’s COVID-19 task force, who said students have been back in the classroom at the North Shore school since Nov. 30.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 163 such school-based outbreaks have been reviewed in the state, including nine reported Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health. But while the state is now posting such numbers online — and health departments are assisting schools with surveillance of cases, contact tracing and guidance — it still falls to school officials to make the biggest decision: Does the school need to shut down again?
Advertisement
Instead of an outbreak triggering a mandated closure, the Cook County health department typically advises local education officials like those at the Winnetka school that while it would be ideal to return to remote learning, it’s up to them to decide. Five to 10 cases among both staff members and students were reported at Faith, Hope and Charity, according to state data.
Kitty Horne, the school secretary, takes the temperature of students arriving for in-person student learning at The School of Saints Faith, Hope and Charity in Winnetka on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. After a COVID-19 outbreak, the school pivoted to remote learning for two weeks in November, but it has now reopened classrooms for in-person student learning. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
At least one recent addition to the outbreak list, Wheaton Christian Grammar School in Winfield, remained open, with no plans to close before its holiday break begins next week, according to the person who answered the school’s phone on Friday. The school had five to 10 cases involving students only, according to the state data, which lists outbreaks by ranges of cases rather than specific numbers.
To be classified as an outbreak, a school must have five or more students or staff members who test positive for the coronavirus, are not from the same household and may have a shared exposure on school grounds or during a school activity like a sport.
The state’s school COVID-19 data, which is updated weekly, includes outbreaks identified within the previous 30 days. IDPH is also posting numbers of cases among school-age children.
That such data is being reported, but does not come with specific actions that must be taken by school officials, prompted two of the state’s largest teachers unions last week to demand clear metrics and direction they say are imperative to ensure the safety of teachers and students.
But an IDPH official said Friday that while school closure decisions are ultimately the jurisdiction of local authorities, county and state health departments help schools navigate outbreaks every step of the way.
For example, once a school reports a positive COVID-19 case, the local health department immediately partners with the school to conduct contact tracing, IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said.
One common scenario is the local health department may ask a school to let them know if “Johnny” was in the same classroom at the same time as “Billy, Bobby, Mary and Sue,” as outbreaks are identified by cases being in the same time and space, Arnold said.
Advertisement
As to whether there’s a point at which the state would mandate a school closing — as Gov. J.B. Pritzker did statewide at the pandemic’s onset in March — Arnold reiterated, “Decisions regarding in-person or virtual learning are made by local school districts.”
She also noted that even if five unrelated students from the same school test positive for COVID-19, if they have never been in the same classroom or other school space at the same time, the cases do not qualify as an outbreak.
Dr. Rachel Rubin, a Cook County Department of Public Health senior medical officer, said when the department learns of a COVID-19 case related to a school, a staff member contacts the school administration and nurse to gather case-related information and exposure dates.
The details are then reviewed, and the school is given a date the student or staff member is cleared to return. The department and school also seek to determine if anyone else at the school was exposed to the infected person, with that defined as being within 6 feet of an infected person for 15 or more minutes over a period of 24 hours or less, Rubin said.
School nurse Nichole Coutts takes temperatures of students arriving for in-person student learning at The School of Saints Faith, Hope and Charity in Winnetka on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Hand sanitizer dispensers are located at the entrance for students to use as they enter the school. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
The county follows the state health department’s guidance on pausing in-person instruction but “does not make specific recommendations unless there’s an outbreak at the school,” Rubin said.
Yet despite the health departments’ diligence in contact tracing, local school officials are left to grapple with these decisions at a volatile time that has divided many suburban Chicago communities into two factions: parents demanding that schools remain open for those who choose to send their children back, and those who say remote learning is the only safe option as COVID-19 rates continue to surge.
Advertisement
At Thomas Middle School in Arlington Heights, which was on the state’s school outbreaks list last week with 11 to 16 cases among staff members and students, District 25 Superintendent Lori Bein, announced that the school’s roughly 940 students would shift to remote learning from Dec. 3 through Monday. Students were expected to return to the classroom Tuesday.
The superintendent’s decision did not require the support of the school board. However, the board did recently vote to continue in-person instruction districtwide, despite a recommendation from Bein that its nine schools move to remote learning until January due to soaring COVID-19 rates.
In Plainfield School District 202, while the vast majority of its 25,000 students have been engaged in remote learning this school year, the in-person classroom instruction for about 300 special education students was halted last month after just two weeks, following an outbreak at Plainfield North High School, district spokesman Tom Hernandez said. The school had five to 10 cases among staff members, state data showed.
One of two Chicago private schools that appeared on the state’s school outbreaks list this month, Yeshiva Tiferes Tzvi School, was closed Friday, and officials were not immediately available for comment.
But in a Dec. 3 statement to parents posted on the school’s website, officials said there were at that time four full classes and four partial classes in quarantine, with more than 100 students and 20 staff members temporarily out of school, and more than 30 positive cases among the school’s families and staff, though the state data only listed five to 10 cases among students.
“This is nearly 10% of our students and staff. ... The numbers are real and we cannot keep them from increasing without your help,” officials said.
Advertisement
Indeed, with a growing number of studies finding that coronavirus transmission at schools is rare, some experts say what happens outside the classroom is as important as what’s happening inside school buildings.
“Being careful outside of school is the way to be safe inside school,” Dr. Ravi Kalhan, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said Thursday.
“The bottom line is, the risk of transmission at schools comes from bringing groups of people together to gather at a time when the prevalence of COVID-19 is high in the community,” said Kalhan. “But at schools, particularly with younger kids, people are following the rules, wearing masks, social distancing and doing daily screenings ... doing all of the stuff known to mitigate the spread of the virus.”
Kalhan said traveling to other states, and celebrating the holidays with large groups of family members and friends, is far more likely to lead to transmission of the virus than attending school, which he described as “a very controlled environment.”
“Parents can’t say in the same breath that they want schools to be open, but then do whatever they want outside of school,” Kalhan added.
To be sure, the impossible task of controlling COVID-19 transmissions that occur outside of school buildings underscores the recent request from two statewide teachers unions that Illinois lawmakers “step in and set up clear enforceable COVID-19 metrics.”
Advertisement
“Some districts aren’t following their own plans, some districts aren’t following the state’s guidance, local health departments aren’t following the guidance from (IDPH) to work with school districts to determine whether students should go remote or put new protocols in place,” Kathi Griffin, the president of the Illinois Education Association, said Friday.
“In some cases local school boards are overriding the best advice of school superintendents,” Griffin said, adding: “We need lawmakers to step in and help us with these safety measures so we can safely reopen all schools and keep them open.”
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kcullotta


chicagotribune--2020-12-15--COVID-19 pandemic backlash jeopardizes nation’s public health system as firings, resignations and re

COVID-19 pandemic backlash jeopardizes nation’s public health system as firings, resignations and retirements accelerate problems

In California , near Lake Tahoe , the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted to end a local health emergency @ @ @ @ @ widely discredited “ herd immunity ” strategy , which would let the virus spread .
@ @ @ @ @ many conservatives , including former Trump adviser Dr. Scott Atlas , as a way to @ @ @ @ @ but it has been denounced by public health experts who say millions more people will @ @ @ @ @ The supervisors also endorsed a false conspiracy theory claiming many COVID-19 deaths are not actually @ @ @

LAUREN WEBER, ANNA MARIA BARRY-JESTER, MICHELLE R. SMITH, and HANNAH RECHT, Associated Press and KHN

Mayor Bill de Blasio bumps forearms with Tara Easter, a registered nurse at NYU-Langone Hospital who received the COVID-19 vaccine, Dec. 14, 2020, in New York. (Kevin Hagen / AP)
Tisha Coleman has lived in close-knit Linn County, Kansas, for 42 years and never felt so alone.
As the public health administrator, she’s struggled every day of the coronavirus pandemic to keep her rural county along the Missouri border safe. In this community with no hospital, she’s failed to persuade her neighbors to wear masks and take precautions against COVID-19, even as cases rise. In return, she’s been harassed, sued, vilified and called a Democrat, an insult in her circles.
Advertisement
Even her husband hasn’t listened to her, refusing to require customers to wear masks at the family’s hardware store in Mound City.
“People have shown their true colors,” Coleman said. “I’m sure that I’ve lost some friends over this situation.”
Advertisement
The months of fighting over masks and quarantines were already wearing her down. Then she got COVID-19, likely from her husband, who she thinks picked it up at the hardware store. Her mother got it, too, and is hospitalized and on a ventilator.
Across the United States, state and local public health officials such as Coleman have found themselves at the center of a political storm as they combat the worst pandemic in a century. Amid a fractured federal response, the usually invisible army of workers charged with preventing the spread of infectious diseases has become a public punching bag. Their expertise on how to fight the coronavirus is often disregarded.
Some have become the target of far-right activists, conservative groups and anti-vaccination extremists who have coalesced around common goals: fighting mask orders, quarantines and contact tracing with protests, threats and personal attacks.
The backlash has moved beyond the angry fringe. In the courts, public health powers are being undermined. Lawmakers in at least 24 states have crafted legislation to weaken public health powers, which could make it more difficult for communities to respond to other health emergencies in the future.
“What we’ve taken for granted for 100 years in public health is now very much in doubt,” said Lawrence Gostin, an expert in public health law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
It is a further erosion of the nation’s already fragile public health infrastructure. At least 181 state and local public health leaders in 38 states have resigned, retired or been fired since April 1, according to an ongoing investigation by The Associated Press and KHN. According to experts, this is the largest exodus of public health leaders in American history. An untold number of lower-level staffers have also left.
“I’ve never seen or studied a pandemic that has been as politicized, as vitriolic and as challenged as this one, and I’ve studied a lot of epidemics,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan. “All of that has been very demoralizing for the men and women who don’t make a great deal of money, don’t get a lot of fame, but work 24/7.”
The investigation found five such officials in Illinois, all in the Chicago area, who have left their jobs in local public health departments.
Advertisement
In April, Cook County’s public health chief, Dr. Terry Mason was terminated unexpectedly, after 7 years at the helm. In November, Oak Park public health director Michael T. Charley left his post to take a similar position with the village of Skokie. Charley replaced Dr. Catherine Counard, who left the Skokie position for a position at the Illinois Department of Public Health, according to a post on Patch.
The head of the Kane County Health Department, Barbara Jeffers, is set to retire Dec. 1. Jeffers has worked at the health department for 15 years, and has been executive director for more than eight years. She also oversaw Kane County Animal Control. Kendall County Health Department Executive Director, Dr. Amaal Tokars, left her job in May, according to WSPY FM 107.1, to become an assistant director at the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Only 11 states had more changes in health department’s than the state’s tally. Kansas had the most with 19, followed by California with 17 and Colorado with 14.
One in 8 Americans — 40 million people — lives in a community that has lost its local public health department leader during the pandemic. Top public health officials in 20 states have left state-level departments, including in North Dakota, which has lost three state health officers since May, one after another.
Many of the state and local officials left due to political blowback or pandemic pressure. Some departed to take higher-profile positions or due to health concerns. Others were fired for poor performance. Dozens retired.
An anti-mask protestor holds up a sign in front of the Ohio Statehouse during a right-wing protest "Stand For America Against Terrorists and Tyrants" at State Capitol on July 18, 2020 in Columbus, Ohio. (JEFF DEAN/AFP via Getty Images)
KHN and AP reached out to public health workers and experts in every state and the National Association of County and City Health Officials; examined public records and news reports; and interviewed hundreds to gather the list.
Advertisement
Collectively, the loss of expertise and experience has created a leadership vacuum in the profession, public health experts say. Many health departments are in flux as the nation rolls out the largest vaccination campaign in its history and faces what are expected to be the worst months of the pandemic.
“We don’t have a long line of people outside of the door who want those jobs,” said Dr. Gianfranco Pezzino, health officer in Shawnee County, Kansas, who is retiring from his job earlier than planned because, he said, he’s burned out. “It’s a huge loss that will be felt probably for generations to come.”
EXISTING PROBLEMS
The departures accelerate problems that had already weakened the nation’s public health system. AP and KHN reported that per capita spending for state public health departments had dropped by 16%, and for local health departments by 18%, since 2010. At least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession.
Those diminishing resources were already prompting high turnover. Before the pandemic, nearly half of public health workers said in a survey they planned to retire or leave in the next five years. The top reason given was low pay.
Such reduced staffing in departments that have the power and responsibility to manage everything from water inspections to childhood immunizations left public health workforces ill-equipped when COVID-19 arrived. Then, when pandemic shutdowns reduced tax revenues, some state and local governments cut their public health workforces further.
“Now we’re at this moment where we need this knowledge and leadership the most, everything has come together to cause that brain drain,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents leaders of more than two dozen public health departments.
Advertisement
POLITICS AS PUBLIC HEALTH POISON
Public health experts broadly agree that masks are a simple and cost-effective way to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and save lives and livelihoods. Scientists say that physical distancing and curtailing indoor activities can also help.
But with the pandemic coinciding with a divisive presidential election, simple acts such as wearing a mask morphed into political statements, with some on the right saying such requirements stomped on individual freedom.
During the 2020 campaign, President Donald Trump ridiculed Democratic challenger Joe Biden for wearing a mask and egged on armed people who stormed Michigan’s Capitol to protest coronavirus restrictions by tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”
Kansas official Coleman, a Christian and a Republican, said that’s just what happened in Linn County. “A lot of people are shamed into not wearing a mask ... because you’re considered a Democrat,” she said. “I’ve been called a ‘sheep.’”
The politicization has put some local governments at odds with their own health officials.
In California, near Lake Tahoe, the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted to end a local health emergency and declared support for a widely discredited “herd immunity” strategy, which would let the virus spread. The idea is endorsed by many conservatives, including former Trump adviser Dr. Scott Atlas, as a way to keep the economy running, but it has been denounced by public health experts who say millions more people will unnecessarily suffer and die. The supervisors also endorsed a false conspiracy theory claiming many COVID-19 deaths are not actually from COVID-19.
Advertisement
The meeting occurred just days after the county public health officer, Dr. Aimee Sisson, explained to the board the rigorous standards used for counting COVID-19 deaths. Sisson quit the next day.
In Idaho, protests against public health measures are intensifying. Hundreds of protesters, some armed, swarmed health district offices and health board members’ homes in Boise on Dec. 8, screaming and blaring air horns. They included members of the anti-vaccination group Health Freedom Idaho.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, has tracked the anti-vaccine movement. He said it has linked up with political extremists on the right and taken on a larger anti-science role, pushing back against other public health measures such as contact tracing and physical distancing.
Members of a group called the Freedom Angels in California, which sprung up in 2019 around a state law to tighten vaccine requirements, have been organizing protests at health departments, posing with guns and calling themselves a militia on the group’s Facebook page.
The latest Idaho protests came after a July skirmish in which Ammon Bundy shoved a public health employee who tried to stop him and his maskless supporters from entering a health meeting.
Bundy, whose family led armed standoffs against federal agents in 2014 and 2016, has become an icon for paramilitary groups and right-wing extremists, most recently forming a multistate network called People’s Rights that has organized protests against public health measures.
Advertisement
“We don’t believe they have a right to tell us that we have to put a manmade filter over our face to go outside,” Bundy said. “It’s not about, you know, the mandates or the mask. It’s about them not having that right to do it.”
Kelly Aberasturi, vice chair for the Southwest District Health, which covers six counties, said the worker Bundy shoved was “just trying to do his job.”
Aberasturi, a self-described “extremist” right-wing Republican, said he, too, has been subjected to the backlash. Aberasturi doesn’t support mask mandates, but he did back the board’s unanimous recommendation that people in the community wear masks. He said people who believe even a recommendation goes too far have threatened to protest at his house.
THE MASK FIGHT IN KANSAS
The public health workforce in Kansas has been hit hard, with 17 of the state’s 100 health departments losing their leaders since the end of March.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly issued a mask mandate in July, but the Legislature allowed counties to opt out. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed the 24 Kansas counties that had upheld the mandate saw a 6% decrease in COVID-19, while the 81 counties that opted out entirely saw a 100% increase.
Coleman, who pushed unsuccessfully for Linn County to uphold the rule, was sued for putting a community member into quarantine. She won the lawsuit. In late November, she spoke at a county commissioner’s meeting to discuss a new mask mandate. It was her first day back in the office after her own bout with COVID-19.
Advertisement
She pleaded for a plan to help stem the surge in cases. One resident referenced Thomas Jefferson, saying, “I prefer a dangerous freedom over a peaceful slavery.” Another falsely argued that masks caused elevated carbon dioxide. Few, besides Coleman, wore a mask at the meeting.
Commissioner Mike Page supported the mask order, noting that a close friend was fighting COVID-19 in the hospital and saying he was “ashamed” that members of the community had sued their public health workers while other communities supported theirs.
In the end, the commissioners encouraged community members to wear masks but opted out of a countywide rule, writing they had determined that they are “not necessary to protect the public health and safety of the county.”
Coleman was disappointed but not surprised. “At least I know I’ve done everything I can to attempt to protect the people,” she said.
STRIPPING OF POWERS
The state bill that let Linn County opt out of the governor’s mask mandate is one of dozens of efforts to erode public health powers in legislatures across the country.
For decades, government authorities have had the legal power to stop foodborne illnesses and infectious diseases by closing businesses and quarantining individuals, among other measures.
Advertisement
When people contract tuberculosis, for example, the local health department might isolate them, require them to wear a mask when they leave their homes, require family members to get tested, relocate them so they can isolate and make sure they take their medicine. Such measures are meant to protect everyone and avoid the shutdown of businesses and schools.
Now, opponents of those measures are turning to legislatures and even the Supreme Court to strip public officials of those powers, defund local health departments or even dissolve them. The American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed group of conservative lawmakers, has published model legislation for states to follow.
Lawmakers in Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Virginia and at least 20 other states have written bills to limit public health powers. In some states, the efforts have failed; in others, legislative leaders have embraced them enthusiastically.
Tennessee’s Republican House leadership is backing a bill to constrain the state’s six local health departments, granting their powers to mayors instead. The bill stems from clashes between the mayor of Knox County and the local health board over mask mandates and business closures.
In Idaho, lawmakers resolved to review the authority of local health districts in the next session. The move doesn’t sit right with Aberasturi, who said it’s hypocritical coming from state lawmakers who profess to believe in local control.
Governors in Wisconsin, Kansas and Michigan, among others, have been sued by their own legislators, state think tanks or others for using their executive powers to restrict business operations and require masks. In Ohio, a group of lawmakers is seeking to impeach Republican Gov. Mike DeWine over his pandemic rules.
Advertisement
The Supreme Court in 1905 found it was constitutional for officials to issue orders to protect the public health, in a case upholding a Cambridge, Massachusetts, requirement to get a smallpox vaccine. But a 5-4 ruling last month indicated the majority of justices are willing to put new constraints on those powers.
“It is time — past time — to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote.
Gostin, the health law professor, said the decision could embolden legislators and governors to weaken public health authority, creating “a snowballing effect on the erosion of public health powers and, ultimately, public’s trust in public health and science.”
WHO IS LEFT
Many health officials who have stayed in their jobs have faced not only political backlash but also threats of personal violence. Armed paramilitary groups have put public health in their sights.
In California, a man with ties to the right-wing, anti-government Boogaloo movement was accused of stalking and threatening Santa Clara’s health officer. The suspect was arrested and has pleaded not guilty. The Boogaloo movement is associated with multiple murders, including of a Bay Area sheriff deputy and federal security officer.
Linda Vail, health officer for Michigan’s Ingham County, has received emails and letters at her home saying she would be “taken down like the governor,” which Vail took to be a reference to the thwarted attempt to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Even as other health officials are leaving, Vail is choosing to stay despite the threats.
Advertisement
“I can completely understand why some people, they’re just done,” she said. “There are other places to go work.”
In mid-November, Danielle Swanson, public health administrator in Republic County, Kansas, said she was planning to resign as soon as she and enough of her COVID-19-positive staff emerged from isolation. Someone threatened to go to her department with a gun because of a quarantine, and she’s received hand-delivered hate mail and calls from screaming residents.
“It’s very stressful. It’s hard on me; it’s hard on my family that I do not see,” she said. “For the longest time, I held through it thinking there’s got to be an end in sight.”
Swanson said some of her employees have told her once she goes, they probably will not stay.
As public health officials depart, the question of who takes their places has plagued Dr. Oxiris Barbot, who left her job as commissioner of New York City’s health department in August amid a clash with Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. During the height of the pandemic, the mayor empowered the city’s hospital system to lead the fight against COVID-19, passing over her highly regarded department.
“I’m concerned about the degree to which they will have the fortitude to tell elected officials what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear,” Barbot said.
Advertisement
In Kentucky, 189 employees, about 1 in 10, left local health departments from March through Nov. 21, according to Sara Jo Best, public health director of the Lincoln Trail District Health Department. That comes after a decade of decline: Staff numbers fell 49% from 2009 to 2019. She said workers are exhausted and can’t catch up on the overwhelming number of contact tracing investigations, much less run COVID-19 testing, combat flu season and prepare for COVID-19 vaccinations.
The remaining workforce is aging. According to the de Beaumont Foundation, which advocates for local public health, 42% of governmental public health workers are over 50.
Back in Linn County, cases are rising. As of Dec. 11, 1 out of every 26 residents has tested positive.
Coleman fought to hold back tears while describing her 71-year-old mother, a former health care worker with a strong work ethic who is fighting COVID-19 on a ventilator.
“Of course, I could give up and throw in the towel, but I’m not there yet,” she said, her voice quavering. “I will continue on this journey with my mom and continue to fight to prevent this happening to someone else.”
As the numbers rise, Coleman has noticed more people are wearing masks these days.
Advertisement
But at the family hardware store, they are still not required.
Michelle R. Smith is an Associated Press reporter. Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Hannah Recht and Lauren Weber are reporters for KHN.
This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KHN (Kaiser Health News), which is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
___
METHODOLOGY
KHN and AP counted how many state and local public health leaders have left their jobs since April 1, or who plan to leave by Dec. 31.
The analysis includes the exits of top department officials regardless of reason. Some departments have more than one top position and some had multiple top officials leave from the same position over the course of the pandemic.
Advertisement
To compile the list, reporters reached out to public health associations and experts in every state and interviewed hundreds of public health employees. They also received information from the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and combed news reports and public records, such as meeting minutes and news releases.
The population served by each local health department is calculated using the Census Bureau 2019 Population Estimates based on each department’s jurisdiction.
The count of legislation came from reviewing bills in every state, prefiled bills for 2021 sessions, where available, and news reports. The bills include limits on quarantines, contact tracing, vaccine requirements and emergency executive powers.


chicagotribune--2020-12-15--Hope at a historic moment: First COVID-19 vaccinations scheduled to be given in Illinois on Tuesday

“ The Loretto Hospital and our colleagues at safety net hospitals across the city have been in the trenches of @ @ @ @ @ COVID since day one , ” Loretto President and CEO George Miller said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ a part in this historic moment , on behalf of all the front-line health care @ @ @ @ @ and our brothers and sisters so disproportionately impacted by this pandemic .
We look forward @ @ @ @ @ together .
”

Dan Petrella, Sarah Freishtat, Stacy St. Clair, Lisa Schencker, Lisa Donovan, Gregory Pratt, Jamie Munks

Mayor Bill de Blasio bumps forearms with Tara Easter, a registered nurse at NYU-Langone Hospital who received the COVID-19 vaccine, Dec. 14, 2020, in New York. (Kevin Hagen / AP)
The first COVID-19 vaccinations in Illinois are scheduled to be administered Tuesday, bringing a sense of hope along with the most significant action yet to blunt a pandemic that has killed more than 14,000 people statewide.
Amid a massive distribution effort that will take several days to reach medical centers in more than four dozen counties, Chicago selected a hospital in one of its hardest-hit neighborhoods to administer the city’s first shot. The vaccination will be given Tuesday morning at Loretto Hospital in the Austin community, where the death rate dwarfs the citywide average.
Advertisement
“The Loretto Hospital and our colleagues at safety net hospitals across the city have been in the trenches of Chicago’s battle against COVID since day one,” Loretto President and CEO George Miller said. “We are honored to play a part in this historic moment, on behalf of all the front-line health care providers, our heroes, and our brothers and sisters so disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. We look forward to turning this corner, together.”
Advertisement
Vaccinations also were slated to begin at a hospital in Peoria. Vaccinations planned Tuesday for Edward Hospital in Naperville and Elmhurst Hospital were postponed at least until Wednesday.
At Edward, priority access will be given to front-line workers caring for patients with COVID-19, as well as emergency department employees. Clinical and nonclinical staff members also will be able to receive doses in this early round.
“I didn’t think they would be able to do it as quickly as they did, but we didn’t have the time to wait,” emergency room doctor Scott Yilk said. “I’m very happy to be among those getting the first shot.”
On Monday, the state received 43,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine that federal regulators approved for emergency use late last week, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office. The initial shots will be reserved for health care workers in 50 counties that have seen the highest per capita death rates from COVID-19.
Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 24 Scherina Seaton, critical care nurse, at Loretto Hospital, from left, Carol Bailey, respiratory therapist, at OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center, and Adam Gomez, emergency department technician, at Loretto Hospital, all in April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker’s press office released a video of him watching with apparent elation as the doses were unloaded Monday from a UPS truck and then stored in ultracold freezers at the Illinois outpost of the Strategic National Stockpile. The administration did not allow reporters inside the warehouse, which is being guarded by Illinois State Police to protect the highly coveted shipment.
“Eleven months after scientists the world over first got their hands on the genetic sequence of this virus — and we are seeing the beginning of the end of this pandemic,” Pritzker said later during his daily news conference. “May we all take a moment to feel hope.”
Illinois expects to receive 100,000 doses over the next few days, with hundreds of thousands of additional doses in the coming weeks. The shipments are part of the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history, an effort to start beating back a pandemic has killed 1.6 million people and sickened 71 million people worldwide.
Hospitals in other parts of the country, including New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, began administering the shot to staff members Monday, raising questions about the speed with which Illinois is distributing its first allotment. Some Chicago-area hospitals told the Tribune they may not begin vaccinating personnel until Wednesday or Thursday.
Advertisement
The vaccines were shipped last weekend from the Pfizer manufacturing plant just a few hours away in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and flown out to other parts of the country through O’Hare International Airport.
During his press briefing, Pritzker said some hospitals across the country received direct shipments of the vaccine and were able to get them into staff members’ arms quickly. Chicago — like other major metropolitan areas — also received a direct shipment, but the city’s first vaccination isn’t slated until take place until Tuesday morning.
Though the state has practiced its distribution plan for weeks, it still has the arduous task of divvying its allotment among the 50 counties slated to receive initial doses, the governor said.
“We have to receive it here and split it up into (dozens of) different packages to go to those public health departments,” he said.
Chicago public health officials on Monday selected Loretto Hospital, a 122-bed medical facility, to administer the city’s ceremonial first COVID-19 vaccination.
The community hospital, which treats all patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay, was chosen because of the care it has provided to neighborhoods hit hardest by the virus, sources familiar with the decision told the Tribune. City leaders hope the choice also allays concerns about the vaccine in the Black community, where the country’s history of inhumane medical experiments such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study remains an unhealed wound.
Advertisement
In a recent Pew Research Center poll, more than half of African Americans nationwide said they would not get the vaccine.
Home to the first testing center on the West Side, Loretto has performed more than 18,000 COVID-19 tests, expanded an intensive care unit and created a 15-bed coronavirus ward to handle the onslaught of cases over the past 10 months.
Austin’s main ZIP code has one of the city’s highest death rates, with 1 in every 468 residents killed by the virus, according to data maintained by the Chicago Department of Public Health. The neighborhood death rate is about 62% higher than that of the entire city, a reflection of the deadly consequences that underserved Black communities have endured for generations.
The hospital is currently at 92% capacity, with more than half of its ICU beds open.
During an appearance Sunday on “Against the Grain” with Tio Hardiman and Raza Siddiqui on WCPT-AM 820, hospital CEO Miller said he understood the skepticism but insisted the vaccine was safe and necessary to achieve herd immunity. Without it, he said, Black Chicagoans likely would continue to die at a rate nearly twice that of white residents.
“We certainly understand and appreciate the history,” Miller said in response to a caller who expressed doubts. “As a gatekeeper, we give that promise to you. At the Loretto Hospital — taking care of African American people, run by an African American CEO — we want to be sure you understand we’re doing the best thing for our community.”
Advertisement
Most counties will receive their allotment directly form the state, but health departments in Cook, Lake, Madison and St. Clair counties will receive direct shipments in the coming days and oversee distribution. Suburban Cook County expects 20,000 doses this week, which will go to workers at 15 hospitals.
Employees at Cook County Health’s own hospitals, Stroger and Provident, may start receiving vaccines Wednesday, Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha Jr. said. The department has identified about 1,000 workers who will get the vaccines first, based on their contact with COVID-19 patients and participation in aerosol-generating procedures.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said the state is working closely with hospitals across Illinois to make sure they track each dose from the time it arrives until it is injected into a patient’s arm.
Those administering the vaccine “will log every single dose that’s given and give all the information on every recipient: name, address, date of birth, ethnicity data,” Ezike said. “All of that information has to be put in for every single person within 24 hours and uploaded into our system.”
That will allow the state to see who has been vaccinated and where more outreach efforts might be needed to encourage more eligible people to participate, she said.
Hospitals also are being encouraged to stagger who receives the vaccine to make sure there aren’t staff shortages in key areas if people who’ve received the shot need to take time off due to known side effects, such as headache and fatigue, Ezike said.
Advertisement
The state still awaits further guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on who should be included in the next round of vaccinations, including who would qualify as an essential worker.
Cook County health officials indicated EMS workers could be next, followed by essential employees such as first responders, corrections officers, education, transportation, food and agricultural workers. High-risk adults might then follow, though the exact order of vaccinations may depend on further recommendations expected from a CDC advisory committee in coming weeks.
When the vaccinations expand to larger swaths of the population in the coming months, suburban residents may receive shots in a variety of places, including doctor’s offices, parking lots and churches, health officials said.
Cook County Health also plans to launch a public awareness and community engagement campaign, visiting churches, schools and businesses and holding town halls to answer questions about the vaccine and try to build confidence in it, Rocha said..
“The reluctance of many Americans to be vaccinated is understandable,” Rocha said. “Our country has not always treated every American honestly and equitably, and we must recognize that,” he said, noting that minority communities have borne the brunt of COVID-19.
A federal Food and Drug Administration advisory panel could recommend emergency use authorization Thursday to a second coronavirus vaccine, developed by Moderna. When the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine received the panel’s stamp of approval last week, the FDA authorized it the next day.
Advertisement
If the Moderna vaccine follows a similar timeline, the first shipment could arrive in Illinois next week.
At that point, the state would begin setting aside a portion of its shipments for residents of long-term care facilities, who will be vaccinated through a federal program being run by Deerfield-based Walgreens and CVS, Pritzker said.
The much-anticipated vaccine arrived as Illinois reported 7,214 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, the lowest daily total since Nov. 30, when there were 6,190 cases reported following Thanksgiving weekend. The state has averaged 8,551 new cases per day over the past week, the lowest seven-day average since the week ending Nov. 7.
There have been 856,118 known cases statewide since the start of the pandemic.
The share of coronavirus cases out of all tests also continues to decline on a seven-day average. The statewide case positivity rate reached an average of 8.7% for the week ending Sunday, the lowest it’s been since Nov. 3.
But the number of coronavirus deaths in the state remains high, even compared with the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.
Advertisement
The state recorded 103 fatalities Monday, marking seven straight days with more than 100 deaths for an average of 150 per day over that period. In all, Illinois has seen 14,394 deaths related to COVID-19 since March.
On Monday, the United States surpassed 300,000 total coronavirus deaths.
While state officials hailed the first vaccine shipment as a watershed moment, they continued to preach patience to the public. Most people are months away from being able to get vaccinated.
“I definitely look forward to the day when the vaccine is widely available to every single person in the state,” Ezike said. “Until that time, we still need to continue with our masking, avoiding crowds, watching our distance and washing our hands.”


chicagotribune--2020-12-16--Joe Biden will nominate Pete Buttigieg for transportation secretary, dealing a blow to former Chicag

Joe Biden will nominate Pete Buttigieg for transportation secretary, dealing a blow to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

And in a videoconference between Biden and civil rights leaders last week ( footage of which was leaked to The @ @ @ @ @ .
Al Sharpton plainly told the president-elect that it was “ totally ridiculous for anyone @ @ @ @ @ a Rahm Emanuel , who covered up Laquan McDonald ’ s killing as mayor , @ @ @ @ @ raising , from the civil rights community , that this man did something that in @ @ @ @ @ ” indefensible .

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg will be nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as secretary of transportation, making him likely to become the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet secretary confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
“Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a leader, patriot, and problem-solver. He speaks to the best of who we are as a nation,” Biden said in a tweet Tuesday night. “I am nominating him for Secretary of Transportation because he’s equipped to take on the challenges at the intersection of jobs, infrastructure, equity and climate.”
Advertisement
The historic choice of Buttigieg, however, dealt a blow to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose behind-the-scenes pursuit of the transportation post was met with vocal opposition from top progressives and African Americans within the Democratic Party over his City Hall response to the 2014 police murder of Black teenager Laquan McDonald.
Emanuel, however, still could be tapped for another role in the administration. Biden is said to like the former mayor, and the two worked together closely as White House chief of staff and vice president in President Barack Obama’s administration. Emanuel also informally advised Biden and his senior aides during the 2020 campaign.
Advertisement
Then-Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, right, greets former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left, on Feb. 7, 2020, in the spin room after participating in the Democratic presidential primary debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Charles Krupa / AP)
For Buttigieg, the nomination to become the nation’s next top transportation official marks the latest stop in the 38-year-old’s remarkable political ascension.
Nearly a year ago, Buttigieg shocked the Democratic establishment by rocketing from near political obscurity as the unusually named mayor of a midsize Midwestern city to winning the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, making him the first openly gay candidate to win a major party presidential nominating contest. At an event scheduled Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden will introduce him as one of the youngest nominees for a Cabinet secretary post in American history.
“This is a moment of tremendous opportunity — to create jobs, meet the climate challenge, and enhance equity for all,” Buttigieg tweeted Tuesday night. “I’m honored that the President-elect has asked me to serve our nation as Secretary of Transportation.”
Innovation in transportation helped build my hometown, and it propels our country.
Now is the time to build back better through modern and sustainable infrastructure that creates millions of good-paying union jobs, revitalizes communities, and empowers all Americans to thrive. — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) December 16, 2020
During the lengthy Democratic primary season, Buttigieg emerged as the major moderate alternative to Biden. But just as the former vice president’s strong support among African American people propelled him to the party’s nomination, Buttigieg’s lack of support among the key bloc of Democratic voters doomed his bid in the end.
After Biden’s dominant win in the South Carolina primary, Buttigieg quickly dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden, who favorably compared the millennial mayor to his deceased son Beau Biden.
Buttigieg’s strong campaign showing, prompt support for Biden and bright political future left little doubt whether he would be asked to join the administration. It was more a matter of where.
The former Rhodes scholar and multilinguist was said to covet the position of United Nations ambassador, but that went to the more experienced Linda Thomas-Greenfield. He also had been rumored at various points for the posts of commerce secretary, ambassador to China, secretary of veteran affairs and U.S. trade representative.
In picking Buttigieg for transportation, Biden settled on a role more in line with the South Bend native’s experience. After all, what mayor isn’t well-versed in matters of infrastructure and the federal government’s role — or lack thereof — in funding major improvements?
Advertisement
The selection also promises to put Buttigieg at the center of what could be one of the few areas of bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill — the need for a major national infrastructure program to shore up crumbling roads, bridges, airports and railways while creating jobs amid a national recession sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data-driven former mayor promises to bring an analytical approach to the position, which oversees roughly 55,000 employees and an $84 billion budget across nearly a dozen agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Highway Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration. As mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg oversaw more than 1,000 employees and a budget of around $380 million.
On the campaign trail, Buttigieg frequently spoke about infrastructure from the vantage point of a small-city mayor, noting the many ways the federal government has failed to help local communities.
In his autobiography, “Shortest Way Home,” Buttigieg wrote about how the Federal Rail Administration sending a letter to a long-deceased city attorney resulted in the expiration of a neighborhood’s designation as a railroad “Quiet Zone.” That led to trains blaring their horns at all hours of the day and angry calls from “frazzled neighbors desperate for a good night’s sleep” who were unsympathetic that the matter remained beyond his control as mayor.
Buttigieg also embarked on a “Smart Streets” initiative in South Bend, which spent $25 million to slow traffic on major thoroughfares in the city’s downtown while making them more pedestrian friendly. In his book, Buttigieg wrote about how the project was unpopular during construction but ultimately helped rejuvenate the city’s core, leading to $100 million in new development and businesses.
“I was convinced that the community would eventually embrace the vision once they could see the results — an improved downtown and more business investment,” Buttigieg wrote.
Advertisement
Biden’s transition team on Tuesday held up Buttigieg’s South Bend experience, saying he had transformed “one of America’s dying cities” into a “hub of innovation and job growth.”
South Bend was once called one of America’s “dying cities.” Today, it’s a hub of innovation and job growth.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg led that resurgence, and has been nominated by the President-elect to continue that work as Transportation Secretary.https://t.co/dyqdH2LLk3 — Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) December 16, 2020
During the campaign, Buttigieg frequently expressed astonishment that Republican President Donald Trump never pursued his promise for a major infrastructure package, since elected officials in both parties are largely in agreement for the need. As a candidate, Buttigieg rolled out a more than $1 trillion infrastructure plan that promised to create 6 million jobs in part by ambitiously aiming to cut backlogged road repairs in half and repair half of the nation’s ailing bridges over 10 years.
Buttigieg also sought to bolster rail transit systems and electric cars while adopting a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee to replace the gas tax as en effort to shore up the eroding Highway Trust Fund, which he proposed injecting with $165 billion over a decade. He also called for doubling funding for more accessible sidewalks and bike lanes among other proposals.
The plans’ $1 trillion-plus price tag also included initiatives to expand broadband access, ensure access to clean drinking water by replacing lead water lines while lowering bills and a $40 billion “Sea Level Defense Fund” to help coastline cities build infrastructure to protect against rising sea levels.
Emanuel loses out
If Emanuel does not land another prominent job in the Biden administration such as a high-level ambassadorship or another senior role, losing the job to Buttigieg would amount to a political embarrassment for a Beltway veteran steeped in the who’s-up-who’s-down ways of Washington.
Buttigieg clearly has a larger national following and ran a successful and unlikely presidential campaign, and during his time as mayor became known for innovative programs that used data and analytics to improve the city’s streets and wastewater system. But Buttigieg has far less experience with mass transit or large-scale management than Emanuel.
Advertisement
Chicago is the nation’s rail hub, home to massive “L” and bus transit systems and has two major airports, including the nation’s busiest — O’Hare International Airport, where Emanuel struck a deal with airlines for a massive $8.5 billion expansion project. In South Bend, Buttigieg had no authority over the small airport outside the city where there is also a rail stop along the South Shore Line. There are just 47 buses in the city’s fleet and a handful of Amtrak trains stop per day at a station on the west side of South Bend.
As mayor, Emanuel ran the nation’s third largest city and some of its biggest and busiest transportation systems. He secured hundreds of millions of dollars from the White House of fellow Chicagoan Obama for the city’s two airports, “L” lines, The 606 trail and the Riverwalk expansion. Plus, Emanuel had the D.C. experience of serving as not only chief of staff to Obama but as senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and as a Democratic leader in Congress.
But Emanuel’s D.C. “Rahmbo” reputation isn’t what it once was, and the tough-guy lore of him sending a dead fish to an enemy pollster has given way to his association with McDonald’s death — especially at a time when racial justice and police brutality are front-and-center issues for the party.
As such, Emanuel has faced headwinds from progressives, civil rights organizations — and even some unions — that Buttigieg has not. Even though the former South Bend mayor weathered a controversial, high-profile police shooting of a Black resident in his city, it has not proved as politically damaging long-term.
In fact, among all of Biden’s potential Cabinet picks, Emanuel has proved to be perhaps the most controversial in large part because McDonald’s killing has served as a lasting moment in the nation’s ongoing struggle with police brutality and systemic racism. Those issues have only been elevated following several high-profile police killings in the last year, including those of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.
Progressive dynamo Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the NAACP held up Emanuel’s handling of the McDonald killing as reason to disqualify him from serving under Biden, who owes much of his 2020 electoral success to the unwavering support of African American voters. Emanuel long has denied the assertion that he was behind a City Hall cover-up of the shooting to aid his 2015 reelection, but some progressives and Black leaders argued the chain of events surrounding McDonald’s death support that narrative.
Advertisement
“Rahm Emanuel helped cover up the murder of Laquan McDonald. Covering up a murder is disqualifying for public leadership,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted last month, as she argued Emanuel would be a “pretty divisive pick” and signal a “hostile approach” to the party’s progressives. “It is shameful and concerning that he is even being considered.”
We must govern with integrity and accountability. Laquan McDonald’s life mattered. https://t.co/wDlIVe5zPl — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 9, 2020
Emanuel also drew opposition from NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who told the Huffington Post that Emanuel’s “actions and approach to governing are detrimental to the Biden administration and, more importantly, the American people” while saying the former mayor was “not a principled leader or person.”
And in a videoconference between Biden and civil rights leaders last week (footage of which was leaked to The Intercept), the Rev. Al Sharpton plainly told the president-elect that it was “totally ridiculous for anyone to think we could put a Rahm Emanuel, who covered up Laquan McDonald’s killing as mayor, in any position without our raising, from the civil rights community, that this man did something that in our opinion was just absolutely” indefensible.
Emanuel has denied covering up the shooting and said he fought against releasing video footage of the shooting at the time because he was following policies against doing so while a matter remained under investigation.
Since leaving office, Emanuel has taken up investment banking again (a previous stint following his time in the Clinton White House earned him millions) and has worked as a TV pundit on ABC alongside his fellow Clinton veteran and friend George Stephanopoulos.
Advertisement
Throughout the verbal jousting over his Cabinet prospects over the last several weeks, Emanuel upheld the Beltway tradition of staying quiet while under consideration for a post. But there were plenty of moderate Democrats, Obama administration veterans and City Hall allies who spoke up in his defense.
On his side of the PR spin battle, Emanuel had some Obama administration veterans taking up his cause, including former Transportation Secretary and onetime Illinois Republican Rep. Ray LaHood, who told the Tribune last month “there is nobody better than Rahm” to pull together a massive infrastructure bill on Biden’s behalf.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Among other Capitol Hill friends who publicly voiced support: Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley and Sen. Dick Durbin, who told WGN Radio earlier this month that he had spoken several times with Emanuel about the post.
“Selfishly, the best thing that could happen for the state of Illinois is for Rahm Emanuel to become secretary of transportation,” Durbin said. “He wouldn’t need an explanation about what the state needs or the city needs. I’m supporting him. He’d be a great transportation secretary.”
Advertisement
At City Hall, aldermanic allies Michelle Harris and Michael Scott vouched for Emanuel in national interviews. In all cases, Emanuel’s backers spoke of his wide-ranging experience and track record getting funding for transportation projects in Chicago while steering clear of the McDonald controversy.
Emanuel spent the better part of a year fighting against releasing a police dashcam video of the October 2014 shooting, arguing that the matter was under investigation. In November 2015, a Cook County judge ordered the mayor to release the graphic footage, which showed then-Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times in the middle of a Southwest Side street as the Black teen walked away holding a small folding knife.
On the same day Emanuel made the video public, then-State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez charged Van Dyke with murder, and it soon was revealed that several officers’ accounts of the shooting in police reports varied dramatically from the video. Those reports and the delay in the murder charge, combined with the fact that Emanuel’s administration and aldermen paid a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family before a lawsuit was even filed, led to accusations of a City Hall cover-up, calls for Emanuel’s resignation and weeks of street protests.
Emanuel was reelected before the settlement and the video was released, but the fallout played a major role in the mayor abandoning a bid for a third term. Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder in 2018 and is serving a nearly seven-year prison sentence.
Even before the McDonald shooting, Emanuel had drawn the ire of many national progressives for his decision to close half of the city’s mental health clinics, undertake the largest mass school closings in American history — 50 schools, mostly on the predominantly Black South and West sides. His pro-growth, pro-business sensibilities and sparring with the Chicago Teachers Union that led to the historic 2013 strike earned him more animosity among progressives — and the nickname of Mayor 1%.
Advertisement
That history also led to pushback from some transit unions over the transportation post, as labor leaders cited his battles with the CTU and previous push to reduce public employee pension benefits as evidence Emanuel isn’t friendly enough to labor.
“DOT is effectively the labor department for aviation — 80% union,” flight attendant union President Sara Nelson tweeted. “We do not need a union buster setting the rules for workers in aviation.”
John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union of America, told The Intercept an Emanuel appointment would be a “nightmare” and a “betrayal,” labeling him “anti-trade union” and “anti-worker.”
While Emanuel was in office, however, he enjoyed widespread support from the city’s unions, many of whom made major contributions to his reelection campaign. The two exceptions were the CTU and the Service Employees International Union.
Karen Kent, president of the Unite Here Local 1 union that represents hospitality workers, cleaning and maintenance workers at hotels and in Chicago’s airports, told the Tribune last month that Emanuel “worked with us to change the lives of thousands of Chicagoans who work in our airports.”
The union was among the many that endorsed Emanuel in 2015, and Kent said he would make a good transportation secretary.
Advertisement
“With his focus on people who work with their hands,” she said. “Rahm will rebuild lives as America rebuilds its infrastructure.”
Instead, that job has been left to another former city executive also well-known by his first name — Mayor Pete.
bruthhart@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BillRuthhart