chicagotribune--2020-07-23--As the Art Institute, CSO, others work to find a way through the financial struggle, their locked aw

As the Art Institute, CSO, others work to find a way through the financial struggle, their locked away piggy banks remain mostly off limits

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As cultural organizations across the city have laid off workers and otherwise tightened their belts in anticipation of dismal revenues at least through 2020 and likely beyond, a question keeps coming up: What about the endowment?
Many of Chicago’s most prominent arts institutions have big piles of money on their balance sheets, hundreds of millions of dollars earning revenue that contributes mightily to the annual budget. And if a once-in-a-century global pandemic that forces museum and auditorium doors to shut for months on end isn’t the time to tap that pile more aggressively, when is?
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We put that question to leaders at a range of organizations, from Lyric Opera to the Field Museum. Some said, yes, circumstances will force them to skim some number of millions extra from the endowment to make up for COVID-19-related shortfalls. All explained that endowments come with restrictions and encumbrances that complicate the very thought of dipping into them.
But several gave a version of the same answer: not even now.
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Allow James Rondeau, president and CEO of the Art Institute, with an endowment of almost $1.1 billion as of mid-2019, to explain his heck-no thinking. Like most of its peers, the Michigan Avenue museum funnels 5 percent of the endowment into the budget each year, a figure that is roughly what the invested pool of money earns.
“For me, it’s a simple answer. It’s not only not now, it’s never,” he said. “Endowments are about sustainability, about the future, about potentiality. They’re a long-term stabilizer. They’re not a short-term solution. And there’s plenty of cautionary tales. Look what happened in Los Angeles coming on 10 years ago, where MOCA (the Museum of Contemporary Art) spent their endowment down almost by half and almost put the institution into bankruptcy or failure or closure.”
Beyond endowment earnings, revenue from admission and events and “straight-up philanthropy” provide the other two main revenue streams, Rondeau explained, and even when the museum is able to reopen -- which it plans to do July 30 -- it’ll be at no more than 25 percent of capacity. The public’s appetite for filling even so few slots remains unknown.
“Both of those channels are going to be radically depressed since the pandemic,” he said. “So, in fact, we’re seeing our business model jeopardized even without increasing our dependence on the endowment.”
A jogger runs in front of one of the lions wearing newly installed large Chicago flag at the Art Institute lion in Chicago on Thursday, April 30, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
At the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (which planned to reopen July 24) Director Madeleine Grynsztejn calls the unrestricted portion of her museum’s endowment — the portion that was donated without specifying what its earnings must be spend on — “our greatest freedom machine” for management to deploy.
“That is very, very, very important money, because it is the money that is most closely tied to the freedom to pivot the institution towards the future and towards actions that promulgate the society we wish to be,” she said in a June interview.
“Our endowment value went down from $134 million before the pandemic to, today, $127 million. That’s a substantial loss. To draw down on top of that would only lengthen the recovery phase of that unrestricted freedom money. I really need to protect that for the sake of our staff.”
Knowing that some people think an endowment is a sort of piggy bank you can reach into to pay the bills, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Jeff Alexander said, “That comes up even if we’re not in a pandemic. That’s the balance that all of us who manage arts organizations have to deal with. In our heart of hearts we do everything we can to protect our employees and to protect the organization, so that we can continue to have employees in the future, (and) … the wonderful concerts and educational activities.
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“There have been any number of cases through history in the orchestra world where too much has been taken out of an endowment fund over too many years. If you do that for 3, 4, 5 or even 10 years in a row, all of a sudden that 5 percent revenue has diminished so much on an annual basis that things get even more difficult.”
In other words, if you’re depending on a five percent annual draw from the endowment — which at the Art Institute, for example, pays 28 percent of the annual budget — and you start diminishing that endowment, then, yes, you have short-term cash. But every year going forward, that five percent take is going to be worth less.
A not-terrible analogy is the City of Chicago parking meter deal, where Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2009 sold off a kind of civic endowment, long-term rights to parking meter revenue, in exchange for $1.15 billion up front. Instead of having tens of millions in parking revenues feeding the budget every year for the 75 years of the contract, the city spent almost all of that up-front money on immediate needs, the budget has a near-perpetual hole, and the money people pay to park in Chicago goes to a private firm.
“It’s very, very important to protect endowment funds as much as we can,” said Alexander, whose organization’s endowment was $324 million before the pandemic and had dipped to $290 million by the end of May because of investment declines.
Still, however much it feels like it now, the pandemic won’t be around in perpetuity, and the institutions have every intention of doing so.
A pedestrian walks by Symphony Hall in Chicago on Thursday, March 12, 2020, where a concert was cancelled due to fears over the spread of the COVID-19 virus. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
“Institutions have to constantly calibrate the current near-term needs with being in the forever business,” said Grynsztejn, “and the endowment sits at the liminal threshold of those two equally important arcs.”
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For her institution, projected revenue losses and belt tightening caused by the pandemic aren’t the only big factor in her thinking. The Black Lives Matter protests and their cry for civil rights are just as central.
“What I’ve been saying to my team — and by my team, I mean, my board and staff — is we are rightfully being mandated as a field to become post-COVID and racially equitable at once. It is excruciating, and it is the work,” she said.
And while other institutions have laid off staff — 8 percent at the Art Institute and Shedd Aquarium, for instance — Grynsztejn felt that part of striving for racial equity was to not let people go.
Instead, as one example of belt-tightening, the MCA has replaced two major upcoming exhibitions with “less expensive shows,” she said, and it is cutting its budget for the fiscal year by almost a third, from $27 million to $19 million.
“We are back to 2008 levels. That’s how much we’ve cut back,” she said. “We pulled every cost saving lever we could find because we can’t find revenue. We are conservatively budgeting a comeback of 25 percent of revenue.”
Projected losses at other major institutions have them acknowledging that some of the meat of the endowment will need to be spent.
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Lyric Opera of Chicago this spring was forced to cancel a hugely expensive, years-in-the-making production of Wagner’s “Ring” Cycle and to postpone other productions.
You don’t touch the principal in an endowment “except in the most extraordinary of emergency situations,” said Anthony Freud, the company’s general director, president and CEO. “And we currently find ourselves in an unprecedented emergency. So that when we canceled the ‘Ring’ and postponed ’42nd Street’ and ‘Blue’ and the rest of the activities for the season, even after we had done a great deal to reduce the potential worst-case loss stemming from those cancellations, we still faced a loss.
“The current projection is $13.6 million dollars. And when you’re in the last quarter of a fiscal year, there is no way of funding that loss, other than through the endowment … We have not used any of the donor-restricted investment asset to provide us with short-term solutions. But the short-term solution, which couldn’t be provided in any other way, has come from unrestricted investment assets.”
The Lyric has instituted “a combination of salary reductions, furloughs and reductions in working hours that have affected between 50 and 60 members of our administrative staff,” said Freud.
Field Museum reopens to members, with a series of guidelines and signage to guide their visit, after more than four months closed due to coronavirus, Friday July 17, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
At Field Museum, executives moved in mid June to eliminate 71 positions from a 496-person staff, 27 by layoff, 27 by not filling open jobs and 17 by not renewing expiring contracts. Another 56 workers were furloughed and the museum hopes to bring them back as it reopens, a process that began for members July 17 and for the public on the 24th.
The move came as the natural history museum anticipated a $20 million — or 36 percent — budget shortfall this year, President and CEO Richard Lariviere said in an open letter explaining the staff cuts.
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Some of that hole, he said in an interview, will have to be filled by tapping the endowment.
The museum’s endowment is about $400 million, he said, and half of that is unrestricted money. Endowment yields — the 5 percent take — provide about 20 to 25 percent of the annual operating budget.
“If we dipped into that right now, that means we’d have that much less money going forward forever,” Lariviere said. “Having said that, we are dipping into our endowment to the extent we possibly can. We’re going to finish this fiscal year almost certainly in the red, and we’ll have to pay those bills out of the endowment” — to the tune, he figures, of $4 to $7 million.
“This is an extraordinary time and in order to preserve the institution we’re willing to dip into that future capacity,” he said. “We’ve had two goals since this happened: Protect staff safety and security as long as we possibly can. That’s why we postponed layoffs as long as we did. And the second thing is to make sure there’s a viable institution for people to come back to work in after the furlough period is over.”
The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and presenter of various classical and pop attractions -- and of a canceled season -- expects to dip into its endowment, which was valued at $119.2 million before the pandemic and is $109 million now.
“Last year we used $5 million,” or the roughly 5 percent standard, said Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman. “This year, I estimate maybe around $10 million.”
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Goodman Theatre, too, will be tapping its rainy-day funds. Executive director Roche Schulfer said that the theater does not have a traditional endowment, but “working capital which is leveraged against debt.”
Schulfer said that the theater’s board of directors approved drawing up to $1.5 million from that “working capital” of about $20 million in March, “in order to maintain the employment of the artists and staff, including paying the cast of “Schoolgirls” for the full run, even though the production closed in previews.”
The Vanderplow family left to right: Mary, Amelia, 4, Clara, 6, and Jonathan, react to a stingray in the Stingray Touch exhibit on Friday, July 3, 2020 in Chicago. After being closed for 111 days, the Shedd finally opened to a limited number of the public today. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Shedd Aquarium handles its roughly $250 million endowment -- down about $25 million -- a little differently than its peers, President and CEO Bridget Coughlin said.
Instead of funding annual operations, endowment earnings go into a pool that is tapped once a decade or so to fund major improvements, such as the addition and subsequent renovation of the lakeside Oceanarium building, she explained.
What the aquarium has done in the pandemic, as it’s fought to retain staff for as long as possible, she said, all while continuing to care for the animals in an empty building, is spend about half of the aquarium’s roughly $12 million in cash reserves.
The Shedd reopened to the public July 3, but at no more than one-quarter capacity, meaning “we are not sure how quickly we will start operating at a cash-positive position,” Coughlin said. “So while we have spent to date lots of our cash reserves, we also know we will need to continue to spend some of that moving forward. And so that run rate of liquidity is pretty ambiguous.”
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Still, despite the prospect of continued deficits, she said she doesn’t see raiding the endowment as a solution.
“It’s the wrong way to solve the problem because ultimately it won’t solve the problem,” she said. “Hitting the endowment is really a one-time fix for something that’s going to be a problem for many years ahead.”
While the pandemic “is unprecedented,” Coughlin added, “we are a 90-year-old organization, and it is my fiduciary obligation to make sure it’s around for another 90 years… It is an acute moment in time. The core of the endowment is the long view.”
Tribune Theater Critic Chris Jones contributed to this story.
sajohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @StevenKJohnson
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hreich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-22--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened on July 22 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

We put that question to leaders at a range of organizations , from Lyric Opera to the Field Museum .
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All explained that endowments come with restrictions and encumbrances that complicate the very thought @ @ @ @ @

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 1,598 new known cases of COVID-19, the highest number in the month of July so far.
Though Illinois has a positivity rate half that of neighboring states, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at an news conference COVID-19 has “no boundaries” and it would not take long to reverse the state’s progress. Pritzker also addressed virus deniers and encouraged residents to wear face coverings in public settings.
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“This virus is not a blue state virus or a red state virus … going out without a mask is not a political statement,” he said.
A day earlier, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that people traveling from Kansas to Chicago will need to quarantine for 14 days, effective Friday. Kansas became the latest state added to the city’s Emergency Travel Order. The city also continues to monitor a surge of COVID-19 in neighboring Wisconsin.
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[ Illinois’ new COVID-19 plan: How the state will manage any outbreaks in 3 charts ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ Schools reopening tracker: What suburban Chicago districts are planning for the fall ]
[ 20 questions about assessing your COVID-19 risk at restaurants, gyms and more ]
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday regarding COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
6:58 p.m. (update): CPS students will get the option to continue remote learning in the fall, schools chief says
CPS CEO Janice Jackson on Wednesday said parents will be asked to choose hybrid or remote when registering students for the upcoming school year, though if a family starts out participating in the hybrid program and decides later that they don’t feel comfortable, they can pull out and switch to at-home learning.
“If you have preexisting health conditions or you’re uncomfortable with returning to a school setting, you can opt into the fully remote option,” Jackson said. “Similarly we heard from a lot of parents who want to see their children in school and so they will have that hybrid model.”
If a student opts for remote-only, they will have to commit to that for at least 10 weeks, the length of a quarter, to allow schools adequate planning time and to make sure they’re not breaking up the pod system, Jackson said.
“There will be a very strict process for opting back in ... making sure people are quarantining,” Jackson said.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
5:22 p.m.: Chicago tightens restrictions on workout class sizes, even as gyms say members aren’t rushing back
Gym-goers have been cautiously but steadily returning to health clubs and fitness studios in the 3½ weeks since those businesses were allowed to let members back in for more than personal training.
But gym operators worry a new 10-person cap on the size of indoor fitness classes, which takes effect Friday, will hamper their efforts to rebuild business after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close temporarily. More stringent rules for bars that also take effect Friday have prompted some to call it quits for good.
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Some fitness clubs and studios were surprised by the more stringent regulations. They’ve already taken precautions like temperature checks and more aggressive cleaning, and in Chicago, members must wear masks during exercise in addition to practicing social distancing.
“We definitely didn’t think we’d be the subject of being pulled back given all the vigilant measures we’re taking,” said David Blitz, CEO of Chicago-based Studio Three.
Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
4:10 p.m.: Seniors hope new ordinance will protect them during COVID-19: ‘Like living a horror movie’
It was a cold January day when 67-year-old Jackie Reynolds gathered about 60 tenants from two senior buildings.
She called a meeting after one of the residents in her Evergreen Tower building died. A foul smell alerted neighbors to the death. Reynolds organized a team of tenants who were willing to conduct wellness checks on one another.
Soon after, while doing her own checks, Reynolds noticed a neighbor wouldn’t answer the door. A custodian entered the unit and found the woman dead.
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A new ordinance passed Wednesday by the City Council aims to prevent seniors from having to conduct wellness checks themselves. It requires building managers to check on residents at least twice a week, unless residents choose not to be checked on. If a wellness call is not answered by a resident, managers must follow up with a home visit. The ordinance will take effect Aug. 1.
Read more here. —Sydney Czyzon
4:04 p.m.: Chicago banks, stores ask for spare change as they deal with national coin shortage
First, it was the face masks and hand sanitizer. Then, it was toilet paper. Canned foods. Meat products. Flour. Now, the latest scarcity brought on by the pandemic: coins.
Convenience stores, grocers and national retailers like Walgreens and Walmart are asking customers to pay with a debit or credit card or with the exact amount due as they grapple with a national shortage of coins. Some businesses are offering free drinks or buy-back programs to entice people to bring in their spare change.
In June, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers the flow of coins through the economy “kind of stopped” as states enacted stay-at-home orders. Coin deposits from banks to the Fed have declined significantly. Also, production has slowed at the U.S. Mint as it implemented coronavirus safety measures to protect workers and inventory orders from banks picked up.
The Fed, which manages coin inventory and distributes it to banks, announced last month it would ration coins to banks beginning June 15.
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The shortage primarily will affect older people who rely on cash and those who don’t have bank accounts, said Ted Rossman, industry analyst at CreditCards.com.
“Cash is still a big deal. It’s more private. Some people like the privacy aspect of it,” he said.
The Fed announced in late June it would create the U.S. Coin Task Force, comprised of trade organizations, business leaders and government officials, to address the problem. The group hopes to have a set of recommendations by August.
In the meantime, Chicago-area banks and businesses are taking different approaches as they ask customers for assistance.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
2:35 p.m.: United expands mask requirement as spike in COVID-19 cases stalls travel rebound
United Airlines is broadening requirements for where passengers must wear masks as a surge in COVID-19 cases stalls slowly recovering interest in air travel.
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Travelers over age 2 must wear face coverings in gate and baggage claim areas, airline lounges and customer service counters and kiosks, in addition to on board. Those who refuse can be banned from flying United while masks are required, and possibly longer. Travelers who believe “extraordinary circumstances” warrant exception can contact the airline, United said.
Like other major airlines, United already required passengers wear a mask while flying and pledged to crack down last month after travelers complained not everyone followed the rules. Masks are already required in the terminals at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, according to the airports’ websites.
The move comes as U.S. air travel, which plummeted in mid-April to just 5% of typical traffic a year ago, had started to bounce back, until recent spikes led to new quarantine requirements for travelers from hard-hit states in cities including Chicago.
Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
2:08 p.m.: Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb imposing statewide face mask order to slow the coronavirus spread
Indiana will have a statewide face mask mandate starting next week, joining many other states in the attempt to slow the coronavirus spread, Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday.
The order will apply to anyone ages 8 and older in any indoor public or business areas and at outdoor public spaces when sufficient distancing can’t be maintained. The order will take effect Monday.
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Holcomb said his order will also require masks in schools for grades 3 and above by students, teachers and other employees.
Read more here. —Associated Press
1:55 p.m.: Laid-off workers brace for expiration of the extra $600 in unemployment benefits helping them get by. ‘It’s a slap in the face.’
The extra $600 weekly in federal unemployment benefits that people have been receiving during the pandemic is set to expire this weekend. After that, the jobless will be eligible only for regular state unemployment aid, which in Illinois pays 47% of a person’s regular wages, up to a maximum of $484 a week.
For the millions who remain out work, including many in industries that were decimated by stay-at-home mandates and won’t get back to normal for some time, the scenario is devastating. Economists warn that letting the supplement expire could make it difficult for people to buy food and pay bills, dealing a blow to the overall economy.
Lawmakers are debating the future of such supplements as the economic impact of the pandemic drags on. While the unemployment rate has declined from its April peak, in June it was still at 11.1% nationally and 14.6% in Illinois, where more than 946,000 people were out of work. Last week, an additional 38,000 people in Illinois applied for jobless benefits.
Read more here. —Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
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1:31 p.m.: Teachers, parents continue to push back against CPS proposal to reopen schools after Labor Day
Both outside and during a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday, members of the teachers union and other detractors shared their dismay about the tentative plan to reopen schools this fall with a hybrid of in-person and virtual classes.
”Reopening school is not the safest option,” said Yvette McCaskill, who teaches at Morrill Math and Science Elementary. She appeared in a video from a car caravan organized by the teachers union.Marilyn Piggee, a first-grade teacher assistant at Murray Language Academy, said paraprofessionals like herself are the “first responders” within schools, yet may are over the age of 50 and at a higher risk for complications if they get the coronavirus.
CPS CEO Janice Jackson said schools will open reopen if it’s safe.
”It’s important for people to know that the plan we are putting in place is just that. Our goal is to ensure that we can cautiously reopen schools, and we will only do that if it is a safe and responsible thing to do,” she said.
Read more here. —Hannah Leone
12:55 p.m.: Pritzker on rising COVID-19 numbers: ‘It remains a serious threat’
As COVID-19 cases rise in neighboring states, Illinois has expanded testing across the state and on Wednesday announced the highest number of new cases in the month of July with 1,598. There were 23 deaths reported.
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“Let me start with the unfortunate truth, COVID-19 has not gone away and it remains a serious threat,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Though Illinois has a positivity rate half that of neighboring states, Pritzker said COVID-19 has “no boundaries” and it would not take long to reverse the state’s progress.
“If there had been a federal mandate perhaps things would be different, we can’t rely on that possibility,” he said. “A rise is still a rise and it is on all of us to bring these numbers down … you can go from 3% positivity to Arizona’s 23% positivity in a blink of an eye.”
Pritzker also addressed virus deniers and encouraged residents to wear face coverings in public settings.
“This virus is not a blue state virus or a red state virus … going out without a mask is not a political statement,” he said.
There are now more than 280 testing sites around the state and about 1,600 contact tracers to address coronavirus spread.
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The eviction moratorium will extend through Aug. 22, he added.
—Jessica Villagomez
12:07 p.m.: 1,598 new known COVID-19 cases, 23 additional deaths
Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 1,598 new known cases of COVID-19 and 23 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known cases to 165,301 and the statewide death toll to 7,347 since the start of the pandemic. The state also announced the results of 39,633 new test results.
—Chicago Tribune staff
11:38 a.m.: Calumet Fisheries ‘ambassador’ Carlos Rosas dies at 41 of COVID-19
If fish shacks had maitre d’s, then that was Carlos Rosas at Calumet Fisheries, the James Beard award winning smoke stand on the Far South Side of Chicago.
Rosas was more than a store manager, though that was the title he proudly claimed. He was the storyteller at the site first made famous by “The Blues Brothers” car jump at the bridge next door. He was the history keeper on a visit by Anthony Bourdain immortalized on the late chef’s food and travel television series “No Reservations.”
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Rosas was the heart, soul and beacon to the red-roofed store to generations of Black, white, Asian and Mexican families like his own, who came for fish, and left imprinted by his larger than life hospitality.
Rosas died on Monday from complications related to COVID-19. He was 41 years old.
Read more here. —Louisa Chu
10:58 a.m.: Chinese infants born to Chicago-area surrogates are stranded in the U.S. without their parents, due to COVID-19
Seven weeks old, with a thoughtful expression and a full head of silky black hair, Zane is a much-wanted baby.
His parents, an attorney and social worker who live in southern China, experienced a series of miscarriages before a doctor advised them to seek out a surrogate — a woman who agrees to carry someone else’s biological child. Surrogacy is illegal in China, but seeking out surrogates in the handful of nations that openly allow such arrangements is permitted, so Zane’s parents turned to an agency halfway across the world, in Illinois. Their U.S. surrogate got pregnant via in vitro fertilization, and on May 29 the couple became the proud parents of a boy.
There’s only one problem: Zane’s parents can’t hold him, feed him or even see him in person.
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From 8,000 miles away, they watch him via a Wi-Fi baby monitor.
Due to travel and visa issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, Zane is stuck in North Aurora, where a former employee from his parents’ Chicago surrogacy agency, Vicky Li, has agreed to take care of him and another stranded Chinese infant, Ryder.
The boys are among an estimated 200 to 400 international babies born to American surrogates who have been stranded in the U.S. in recent months due to COVID-19, unable to go home to their biological parents in countries such as France, Britain, Israel and China, according to Robin Pope, a Portland lawyer who represents international parents seeking surrogacy in the U.S.
Read more here. —Nara Schoenberg
10:35 a.m.: 19 cases of COVID-19 reported at juvenile justice center in St. Charles
Nineteen cases of COVID-19 were reported at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice’s Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles, officials said.
The cases include 16 staff members and three juveniles at the center, officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health said in a news release. The facility houses approximately 80 youth per day and has 140 employees, according to its website.
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All youth and staff have been tested for the virus and the facility is now implementing programming to reduce further spread, officials said.
The Kane County Jail has no cases of coronavirus at its St. Charles facility, sheriff Ron Hain said.
—Aurora Beacon-News staff
9:10 a.m.: Naperville to add signs, PSAs urging people to wear face coverings
The city of Naperville will increase signage and develop public service announcements urging people to wear face coverings to quell the spread of COVID-19 as many have observed groups of people walking downtown without masks.
Some Naperville residents have avoided the city’s busy downtown area amid the coronavirus pandemic even as businesses and restaurants reopen because many people are not wearing masks or face coverings while walking the central business district sidewalks.
Jim Hill, co-chair of Naperville Senior Task Force, said he and his wife generally love going downtown to shop and dine, but as individuals over 65 with underlying conditions, they now avoid the area because they are at a higher risk for developing severe symptoms if they contract COVID-19.
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The last time they went downtown, the pair found themselves on a crowded sidewalk with unmasked people, Hill said. And they’re not shopping as often because they’ve observed people not wearing face coverings in parking lots, but rather putting them on right before entering a store.
“We’re sort of trapped in our home because people aren’t wearing masks in public,” Hill said.
Read more here. —Erin Hegarty
7:03 a.m.: CTU holds car caravan to protest CPS plan to hold mixed in-person, online classes in fall
The Chicago Teachers Union will hold a car caravan Wednesday to protest the Chicago Public Schools’ hybrid school plan, saying it “falls short on safety.”
The caravan will assemble at 9 a.m. with the intention of circling Chicago Public Schools headquarters during the Board of Education’s regular meeting, according to a news release from the union.
The protest was planned as a way to tell the district that its teachers, clinicians and support staff “reject the mayor’s strategy.” They contend the board “is seeking to force students, faculty and staff into buildings for a full school day without allocating more resources for safety or specifying how they will keep them safe.”
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The union further said it wants to see the mayor reverse course and move to a remote learning plan, such as those being implemented in cities such as Atlanta and Los Angeles.
—Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas
6 a.m.: An estimated 4,400 Chicago-area businesses have closed during the pandemic. 2,400 say they’ll never reopen.
Chicagoans have watched for months as “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs popped up in windows of their favorite coffee joints and neighborhood bars, and they’ve wondered whether treasured restaurants will ever reopen.
A tally is in: The coronavirus pandemic has forced an estimated 4,400 businesses in the Chicago area to close, including 2,400 that say they won’t reopen. The data, released Wednesday, comes from crowd-sourced business review platform Yelp.
Nationally, more than 132,500 businesses have permanently or temporarily closed since March, according to Yelp. Temporary business closures are decreasing nationally as some states reopen, but permanent closures are rising, accounting for 55% of all closed businesses.
The Chicago area has suffered the fourth-highest number of closures among the nation’s metro areas, behind Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. Restaurants and retail were the hardest-hit sectors in the Chicago area.
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Read more here. —Ally Marotti
6 a.m.: Students push back against in-person bar and medical college exams amid coronavirus fears
Designed to measure fitness, character and competence, the bar exam is a grueling 12-hour test typically administered over a two-day period to thousands of recent law school graduates.
But with coronavirus cases still surging in many parts of the nation, some law school graduates view this communal experience not as a shared rite of passage but as a potentially life-threatening risk.
One person worried about the uncertainties of the in-person bar exam is aspiring child protection lawyer Mollie McGuire of Chicago.
McGuire, along with Dalton Hughes and Steven Tinetti, formally filed a legal petition with the Illinois Supreme Court, asking the state’s highest court to grant 2020 law school graduates diploma privilege, meaning they could practice law without sitting for the bar exam. Nearly 1,400 law school graduates, faculty members, lawyers and health care workers signed on to support the effort.
In its response, the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar, which administers the state’s bar exam, reiterated the necessity of the in-person exam, citing the board’s “duty to protect the public from dishonesty and incompetency.”
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Read more here. —Claire Hao
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are five things that happened Tuesday related to COVID-19.


chicagotribune--2020-07-24--Daywatch: Columbus statue gone, racial disparity in CPS remote participation and the Tamale Guy is o

Daywatch: Columbus statue gone, racial disparity in CPS remote participation and the Tamale Guy is opening a restaurant soon

Miss the days when you could just sit in a random Chicago bar with a beer in your hand , @ @ @ @ @ suddenly , desperately hungry , someone would burst through the door with a red cooler @ @ @ @ @ tamales ?
That was Claudio Velez , better known as the Tamale Guy , who @ @ @ @ @ Chicago ’ s bar scene for years .

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Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
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A Chicago police officer stands in front of the Columbus statue in Chicago's Grant Park on July 23, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the controversial statue of Christopher Columbus removed from Chicago’s Grant Park overnight, in part to avoid another high-profile confrontation between police and protesters like the one that happened last week.
Not all Italian American leaders in Chicago are on board with the decision, but it has received the blessing of some groups, sources said. By taking the statue down, Lightfoot may draw criticism from those who believe she caved to activist demands.
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The abrupt move in the dark of night was an about-face for Lightfoot, who has opposed taking down statues of the Italian explorer on the grounds that it would be erasing history.
It also drew comparisons from Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, to former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s midnight bulldozing of Meigs Field in March 2003.
People listen to speakers at Federal Plaza in Chicago on Thursday, July 23, 2020. A coalition of activist groups complained in federal court that Chicago police have abused and insulted protesters for weeks. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
As federal agents prepared to come to Chicago with the stated goal of stopping violence, activist groups voiced fear that those forces would be used to quell protests against police brutality and sued federal officials Thursday to prevent the kinds of civil rights violations alleged during protests in Portland, Oregon.
As CPS debates whether to reopen schools like Orozco Academy in Pilsen, new data highlights how much students participated in remote learning after schools closed in March. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Participation in remote learning after the coronavirus pandemic closed Chicago Public Schools varied significantly for students with different learning needs or racial backgrounds, despite efforts to connect children citywide with computers and internet, according to data released Wednesday.
A woman cooks in the kitchen at Seven Treasures on Wentworth Avenue in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood on July 16, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Chinatown in Chicago was hit first and hard by the coronavirus. Not so much by the virus itself, but fear of the unknown. As restaurants and bars across the city reopened indoor service four weeks ago, Chinatown has remained cautious. Owners, employees and customers follow the news on Chinese media, for better or worse.
Claudio Velez, left, aka the Tamale Guy, sells tamales in this file photo. (Nolan Wells/Chicago Tribune)
Miss the days when you could just sit in a random Chicago bar with a beer in your hand, and the moment you felt suddenly, desperately hungry, someone would burst through the door with a red cooler stocked full of freshly made tamales? That was Claudio Velez, better known as the Tamale Guy, who has been a staple of Chicago’s bar scene for years.


chicagotribune--2020-07-24--Column: South Siders and North Siders together bring paint, plants and hope to a Chicago block

Renaissance is not the word that comes to mind in this violent Chicago summer , which is precisely why it @ @ @ @ @ about the work of Tucker and her companions .
Their efforts are an outgrowth of @ @ @ @ @ artist Tonika Lewis Johnson , who has earned a certain fame with her “ Folded @ @ @ @ @ which she photographs Chicagoans at equivalent addresses on the North and South sides .
It @ @ @ @ @ showing the city ’ s economic disparities .
It has also been a way for @ @ @ @ @ to meet .

Earnest Streeter, left, and Nanette Tucker stand in front of a boarded-up building in the 6100 block of South Bishop Street in Chicago on July 23, 2020. They are working to beautify the building. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Come take a walk in the 6100 block of South Bishop Street in Chicago.
“This house has been vacant for five years,” Nanette Tucker says, passing a set of sagging wooden stairs.
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“Take a look at that one,” says her nephew, Earnest Streeter, pointing to an abandoned wood-frame home with a stove and a shopping cart parked out front.
It’s Thursday, and they keep strolling, along the cracked, weedy sidewalk, past rundown homes and vacant lots, the breeze in the tall trees lending a pastoral air to the blight. He’s wearing a Led Zeppelin T-shirt. Hers says “Respect.”
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Streeter points toward the opposite corner, where a red brick apartment building has been boarded up for years. It belongs to someone in Wisconsin, they say, just another absentee owner who doesn’t care.
“They make no effort,” he says.
This portrait of South Bishop Street in the Englewood neighborhood may sound depressing, but look closer and you’ll see something else. There’s Tucker’s red-brick home, for example, with the blooming trellises on the metal fence and the tall orange lilies in the parkway. After she bought the house 15 or so years ago and her uncle planted flowers, a woman passed by and assured her the garden wouldn’t survive. Not here. Not in Englewood. The woman was wrong.
A vacant lot in the 6100 block of South Bishop Street in Chicago has been turned into a garden, July 23, 2020. People who live on the block are working to beautify their community. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Next to Tucker’s home sits an old white house that until recently was just another empty eyesore. But now the boards on the windows are freshly painted and new plants and flowers push through the dirt outside. It’s the first step in a new endeavor called Englewood Renaissance.
Renaissance is not the word that comes to mind in this violent Chicago summer, which is precisely why it’s important to hear about the work of Tucker and her companions. Their efforts are an outgrowth of a project started by Chicago artist Tonika Lewis Johnson, who has earned a certain fame with her “Folded Map” project, in which she photographs Chicagoans at equivalent addresses on the North and South sides. It’s her way of showing the city’s economic disparities. It has also been a way for North Siders and South Siders to meet.
It’s how Tucker met Wade Wilson and Jennifer Chan, who are married. They were designated as “map twins,” and in the two years since, as they’ve maintained their relationship, they’ve talked about how to turn it into tangible change.
Not long ago, Tucker had an idea. Why not expand the map twin concept into a block twin concept? And that’s how it has come to pass that on Saturday, a group of North Siders, led by Wilson, will head to Tucker’s block for a day of painting and planting.
Earnest Streeter, left, and Nanette Tucker stand in front of a boarded-up building in the 6100 block of South Bishop Street in Chicago on July 23, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
“What I’m finding from North Side people,” says Wilson, who works for a software company, “is that they’ve wanted to find a way to do something meaningful to help disadvantaged neighborhoods, to drive some social equity. Tonika’s project opened the door to that. We’re trying to take the next step by getting engaged with this group Nanette started.”
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The goals of Englewood Renaissance go beyond beautification.
As South Side communities gentrify when the Obama Presidential Center is built, Wilson says, “we want to make sure Englewood people own property.”
As part of the group’s effort, Earnest Streeter has been researching who owns the neglected property along his aunt’s block. It’s LLCs and banks, he says, people holding onto property and hoping it will gain value.
In the meantime, the lots and homes go to seed, and as we walked on Thursday, I asked Tucker if she ever gets depressed.
“Sometimes,” she said. It’s hard to watch generation after generation trapped in poverty.
I asked what percentage of her neighbors have jobs.
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“I don’t even want to say the number that comes into my head,” she said. “Two percent?”
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Still, she loves her block, and believes in it, and she, along with the other Englewood Renaissance members, are thinking big. Once they help people get ownership of neglected homes and vacant lots, how can they help those people pay property taxes? How they can help people understand finances?
While they dream big, they’ll start with Saturday’s project. The North Siders will come south with gardening tools and plants they’ve dug up from their own gardens, and everyone will work with the understanding that what they’re doing goes beyond beautification. They’re cultivating relationships.
“Just planting flowers together can be a similarity that gets people to talk,” Tucker said. “It lets people know that African Americans and Caucasians are not that different. We’re all human beings. It’s the socioeconomics that are different.”
She said this standing in the garden she created in a vacant lot she bought for a dollar a few doors from her home. She named it Tish’s Garden, after her mother. In the rear, she runs a cafe. When the North Siders come down on Saturday — with their masks and hand sanitizer — they’ll be encouraged to have a socially distanced lunch at the tables.
“Everybody wants to put light on the shootings, the murders, but change has to start somewhere,” Tucker said. “We’re starting with ourselves.”
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mschmich@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @MarySchmich


chicagotribune--2020-07-24--Chicago’s Chinatown restaurants reopen slowly as fear of the coronavirus still lingers

Chinatown in Chicago was hit first and hard by the coronavirus .
Not so much by the virus itself , @ @ @ @ @ .
Masks had sold out and Lunar New Year events were already canceled by the @ @ @ @ @ of COVID-19 in the city was announced on Jan. 24 .
Data now shows confirmed @ @ @ @ @ in the Chinatown area compared with ZIP codes with the highest numbers in Chicago .

A woman cooks in the kitchen at Seven Treasures on Wentworth Avenue in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood on July 16, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Chinatown in Chicago was hit first and hard by the coronavirus. Not so much by the virus itself, but fear of the unknown. Masks had sold out and Lunar New Year events were already canceled by the time the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the city was announced on Jan. 24. Data now shows confirmed cases have remained relatively low in the Chinatown area compared with ZIP codes with the highest numbers in Chicago.
Business has still dropped dramatically. Most restaurants have tried to stay open — some never stopped serving bubble tea, bao and dumplings for takeout and delivery. The few bars — all karaoke — went dark until recently. Less than half of the restaurants have reopened for indoor dining and hardly any have room for outdoor dining.
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As restaurants and bars across the city reopened indoor service four weeks ago, Chinatown has remained cautious. Owners, employees and customers follow the news on Chinese media, for better or worse. They hear from family and friends in China on WeChat about what might be coming next. It’s becoming increasingly clear, however, from falling case numbers there and rising numbers here, that we’re defining our own destiny in this country.
Pass under Chinatown Gate, the landmark arching over Wentworth Avenue at Cermak Road, an ancient symbol adopted to mark Chinatown entries worldwide, and you’ll find the historic main street to the neighborhood. Streets are free from double-parked cars and sidewalks clear of white-haired pedestrians, who can speak louder in the Taishanese dialect than any honking horn. They’re the secret signs of what’s under threat. Chinatown is more than restaurants and karaoke bars for outsiders. It’s the densely populated home to a growing number of residents. They drive expansion beyond historical borders.
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The struggle continues on multiple fronts.
“I’ve gotten so many prank calls,” said Spencer Ng, the second-generation owner of Triple Crown. The family-friendly Cantonese restaurant was founded by his mother in the early ’90s. It has remained open for takeout and delivery only. “Really young kids calling and saying, ‘Hey are you guys serving that bat soup?’ If this is our future, then we’re in bad shape.”
Yao Bang Zhen prepares dim sum at Triple Crown on Wentworth Avenue in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood on July 16, 2020. The restaurant is open for takeout and delivery only. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Less than 47% of the food and beverage businesses in the Chinatown area have allowed customers back inside. This Friday, Chicago will again stop bars from serving alcohol indoors. The rollback doesn’t affect any bars in the neighborhood since all serve food too. Yet rising coronavirus numbers, especially with younger residents ages 18 to 29, prompted the prohibition, since some say they just don’t think about it.
Some do think about it, especially in a culture where multigenerational households are the norm.
“I didn’t want to work at the restaurant, risk contracting COVID and bringing that home to my mom,” said John Choi, co-owner of Chi Yatai with co-founder Mier Zhou. Their stall down in the influential Richland basement food court was the last restaurant to open in Chinatown before the coronavirus pandemic, offering Japanese street food and Taiwanese bubble tea. They closed temporarily when Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered restaurants to shut down everything except takeout and delivery in March. Choi is the primary caretaker of his 77-year-old mother who is a three-time cancer survivor.
“So much more than the money we’d make from staying open for delivery or carryout orders, I want to protect my mom’s life and her health,” said Choi.
“My parents are healthy, thank God,” said Zhou. “But living with them as well in the Bridgeport area, I have the same concern. They are around the age of 65, so at risk.”
People wait for takeout orders at two small restaurants in the Richland food court on the lower level of the Chinatown Square mall in Chicago on July 16, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Out of 111 Asian restaurants and bars in the Chinatown area, only 47 have opened indoor service. That includes establishments in the predominantly Chinese neighborhood itself, as well as adjacent Bridgeport and East Pilsen, where the community has expanded. The highly competitive real estate enclave commands rents as high as $25,000 per month for a restaurant space on Wentworth Avenue and a $100,000 investment for a stall in the Richland food court.
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“I’ve been telling customers August,” said Ng at Triple Crown about when he might reopen indoors, though he doesn’t think it’s worth it for health and financial reasons. “I told people earlier maybe the middle of July, but we’re pushing back every two weeks, just seeing how everything is going.
“Some staff has reached out, because unemployment runs out at the end of July, and they need to come back for work,” he said. “If everyone’s in agreement, maybe we open five tables at most. Instead of having 40 people in here we’ll have max 20, so those guys can make a little bit of money.”
The restaurant’s normal occupancy is 190 people, so the city would allow 25% or 47 customers indoors. Triple Crown is on the second floor, so outdoor dining is not an option.
Only 11 restaurants in the Chinatown area have outside tables. The neighborhood was touted by the city in its Make Way for Dining program, which closes streets to allow space for expanded outdoor seating, but that only applied to the Chinatown Square outdoor mall, which is already pedestrian. Joy Yee has the biggest outside space, with bubble tea windows off the central Chinese zodiac square and tables looking into its still-closed indoor dining rooms. MingHin just added outdoor tables last weekend lit with Tiki torches.
Otherwise, outside dining doesn’t work for a number of reasons in Chinatown, but first and foremost because there’s simply not enough space on the narrow sidewalks.
All of the seating has been removed in the Richland basement food court, with tables and chairs stacked up.
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“Theoretically we can reopen on Aug. 11,” said Choi of Chi Yatai. He and Zhou will move into small apartments near their families to keep them safe. The partners plan to offer a free food item every Tuesday in August to people in need. “We know there are still so many people struggling and we want to bless them,” said Choi.
Cai restaurant is the most notable among Chinatown restaurants that have not reopened. The fancy Cantonese dim sum palace served thousands of customers on a typical weekend. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Ten restaurants have closed temporarily in the Chinatown area. Cai is the most notable among them. The fancy Cantonese dim sum palace served thousands of customers on a typical weekend day.
One bakery owner said as an older woman that she grew so afraid of people entering without masks despite signs everywhere that she had to shut down for now. Another restaurant owner, when asked when he might reopen, said, “Ask Donald Trump.” He declined to be identified for fear of retribution. The president called the coronavirus “kung flu” at recent campaign rallies to cheering crowds, mostly unmasked.
Construction has stalled at what was once the oldest restaurant in Chinatown. Al Capone was said to hold a regular table at the former Won Kow. The historic building was to be transformed into a multistory hot pot fantasyland. Chef and restaurateur Tony Hu was the local lead on one of the first U.S. locations of the internationally acclaimed Xiaolongkan. “Everything has stopped because of the pandemic,” said Hu.
Well, not everything, and definitely not hot pot. Hot pot popularity simmered down a few years ago in Chicago, but it’s bubbling back up. A few restaurant owners seem to be betting that the siren song of spicy cauldrons and epic spreads will still draw customers.
Qiao Lin Hotpot held its grand opening on Wednesday. It’s the first new restaurant to open in the Chinatown area after the statewide coronavirus closure in March. The spacious spalike setting can be found across the river from Lawrence’s Fish & Shrimp.
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Lao Jiu Men Hotpot will follow hot on its heels, opening Aug. 8. It’s an auspicious date, because the number eight is considered the luckiest in Chinese numerology. This sister restaurant to a Toronto import will be on Clark Street near Archer Avenue, between MeetFresh and Hello Jasmine.
Expensive and aggressive developments continue with shiny storefronts at Canal Plaza on Canal Street and Archer Avenue. Hoyt Plaza has plans for a hotel on Cermak Road in the shadow of the expressway overhead, with a supermarket and restaurants too. The massive new 78 neighborhood looms next to the lovely Ping Tom park.
Nearly lost in the shuffle of big restaurant news, the award-winning A Place by Damao is now called Da Mao Jia, after chef and namesake Aishan Zhong left her position, but the Sichuan menu remains the same. Nine Bar, a pop-up by the daughter of Moon Palace owners, Lily Wang, and partner Joe Briglio, has been selling out of Japanese convenience store-inspired sandwiches, snacks and cocktails since mid-June.
Back at Triple Crown, Ng has a new Chinese barbecue side project in the works with the son of the former Wing Chan BBQ family.
“We’re using Berkshire pork belly and higher-end meats,” said Ng. “We’re smoking with apple wood, but doing it Chinese style.” The first taste came with char siu chicken wings at a collaboration beer launch party with Marz Brewing for Lunar New Year. Ng hopes to offer his new style Chinese barbecue within a month. “Knock on wood,” he said.
Chinatown area outdoor dining
You’ll find listed below the 11 elusive spots in the Chinatown area with outdoor dining, which experts say is safer when dining out. Indoor seating and curbside pickup are also noted if available. Four restaurants may still be added to the list. Three have applied for outdoor permits (Emperor’s Choice, Evergreen and Kam Fung), while one (Dolo) has not yet decided if it will open a private patio.
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B.B.Q. King: Outdoor and indoor, Chinatown Square, 2148 S. Archer Ave., 312-326-1219, bbqkingonline.com
Daebak Korean Street Food & Chatime: Outdoor and indoor, Chinatown Square, 2017 S. Wells St., 312-225-9088, daebakstreetfood.com
Icy Honey: Outdoor only, 3132 S. Morgan St., 312-868-8855, icyhoneyshop.com
Joy Yee Noodle: Outdoor only, Chinatown Square, 2139 S. China Place, 312-328-0001, joyyee.com
Joy Yee Plus Shabu Shabu: Outdoor only, Chinatown Square, 2159 S. China Place, 312-842-8928, joyyee.com
Lee Wing Wah: Outdoor only, Chinatown Square, 2147 S. China Place, 312-808-1628, (no website)
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MingHin Cuisine: Outdoor and indoor, Chinatown Square, 2168 S. Archer Ave., 312-808-1999, minghincuisine.com
Potsticker House: Outdoor, indoor and curbside pickup, 3139 S. Halsted St., 312-326-6898, potstickerhouse.com
Saint’s Alps Teahouse and Gourmet: Outdoor, indoor and curbside pickup, Chinatown Square, 2157 S. China Place, 312-842-8882, saintsalpchicago.com
Shinya Ramen House: Outdoor, indoor and curbside pickup, 3240 S. Halsted St., 312-877-6008, shinyaramenhouse.com
Tang’s Garden: Outdoor, indoor and curbside pickup, 1826 S. Canal St., 312-226-1826, tangsgardenil.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-24--MLB players get tested for COVID-19 every other day. But is this diverting resources from the rest o

MLB players get tested for COVID-19 every other day. But is this diverting resources from the rest of us?

“ At what point is it incumbent on me as a human and a member of society to say it @ @ @ @ @ and this fire truck , I should really be using it to not have my @ @ @ @ @ down ?
” he said .
“ Even if I ’ m not going to @ @ @ @ @ the houses .
Even if I might only be able to save one neighbor , @ @ @ @ @ And at what point does it become incumbent on me to do that ?
And @ @ @ @ @ that MLB is facing .
”

Chicago Cubs center fielder Ian Happ is masked in the dugout July 20, 2020, in an exhibition game at Guaranteed Rate Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
As Major League Baseball opened its unprecedented 2020 season, the plan to bring back America’s pastime mid-pandemic hinges on rigorous COVID-19 testing, with thousands of players and staff to be routinely checked for the new coronavirus.
Yet some medical experts are questioning the ethics of dedicating mass testing to professional sports amid a national shortage of tests and laboratory resources, which has driven up wait times for results and made it more difficult for the general public to get tested.
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“With the massive testing challenges we are facing as a nation, it seems hard to justify committing any capacity for something optional like sports,” said Dr. Neel Gandhi, infectious disease expert and associate professor of epidemiology at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.
Some doctors note that the revival of baseball could give a mental health boost to fans who have faced months of social isolation and severe economic repercussions from the pandemic. Professional sports are also a major economic engine. The question is whether those things are worth the potential public health risk, said Dr. Geoffrey Baird, acting chair of laboratory medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
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Even with meticulous testing protocols, some scientists and physicians worry that MLB’s reopening measures might not be enough to fend off outbreaks of the highly contagious virus, which has already infected more than 4 million people and killed over 143,000 nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Illinois as of Friday had reported more than 168,000 positive cases and more than 7,000 deaths.
Chicago White Sox center fielder Adam Engel, wearing No. 15, watches from the stands on July 20, 2020, in an exhibition game at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
While Baird called the league’s guidelines well thought out and “rational,” he added that no plan can be foolproof, particularly with so much about the virus still unknown.
“That’s all well and good and it will work just fine, right up until the time it doesn’t work,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves, is it worth it? That’s a societal question. It’s a moral, ethical question.”
As the shortened baseball season gets underway, with the Cubs and White Sox both playing their first games Friday, a litany of new safety measures and game modifications are in place to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Fans will be absent from the stadiums. Balls touched by multiple hands will be removed from play.
And behind the scenes, players and team personnel are being tested for the virus every other day to help guard against outbreaks. Athletes and staff will also undergo serology testing, a blood test that can identify a previous infection, about once a month.
Minnesota Twins center fielder Max Kepler and Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo stand at first base near a masked umpire during an exhibition game between the Cubs and Twins at Wrigley Field July 22, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The 60-game season is scheduled to culminate with a World Series in October. By then, MLB officials expect to have conducted some 275,000 saliva tests, which determine whether a live virus is present, on their athletes and employees.
Testing turnaround has been significantly quicker for people working in professional sports — sometimes a day or less — than for much of the public, where nonpriority results have often been delayed a week or more because of high demand and backlogs at labs processing the tests.
The league in a recent statement refuted concerns that its testing protocols are diverting resources from the general public, arguing that its testing capacity was produced specifically to meet MLB’s demand.
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“By creating its own laboratory and not relying on a commercial laboratory to process most of its samples, MLB has not taken laboratory capacity from the healthcare sector,” said the statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “We have been assured by the manufacturer of the saliva testing kits that the test kits themselves are in ample supply. Most clinical laboratories in the U.S. are not using the saliva kits at this time to analyze samples.”
Yet even if sports leagues are creating their own testing resources, Gandhi said that system still consumes valuable testing materials and takes up in-demand laboratory space that could be prioritized for other populations, such as essential workers or students and educators with some schools preparing to open in the fall.
A recent surge in COVID-19 cases is already straining testing as well as hospital capacity in large swaths of the country, Gandhi said.
“Those resources — testing capacity, personnel, finances — should be devoted to helping our society tackle these difficult times,” he said. “Imagine if the several thousand individuals engaged in MLB’s reopening volunteered that time to help at testing sites and the public health efforts in their communities.”
Eighty MLB players and 13 staff members have tested positive. Thirteen teams have had a player test positive, but there have been no major outbreaks. Two White Sox players tested positive in early July and isolated themselves from the rest of the team. Two Cubs employees tested positive for the virus in late June, but no players have so far.
The league’s most recently released statistics, covering a seven-day period ending mid-July, show that six positive cases were identified out of more than 10,000 tests — a 0.05% positivity rate. Five players and one staff member tested positive during this time, according to the league and the Major League Ball Players Association.
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At a recent news conference Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein praised the conduct of players, saying they’ve been taking the pandemic protocols seriously.
“That said, we can’t allow the good results thus far to create the illusion for us that we’re in control,” he said. “Because we’re not. The virus is the only thing in control right now.”
‘Baseball is back'
The National Basketball Association suspended its season in early March after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for COVID-19, an early indicator of how much the virus was going to disrupt life in the United States.
A day later the National Hockey League also suspended its season. Shortly after, the NCAA Tournament for college basketball was canceled and MLB announced that 2020′s opening day, planned for March 26, would be pushed back.
To many, baseball’s return in July signifies hope for a revival of all professional sports — as well as some semblance of normalcy as the pandemic continues.
“Baseball is back…3 of the best words ever!” one fan posted on the Chicago Cubs Facebook page. “Now please stay healthy!”
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Others have expressed frustration that professional athletes seem to have better access to testing than others do.
“But why isn’t this testing facility being used for public people and not MLB players and staff?” one woman posted on Twitter recently. “We’re going through a big spike right now, to the point I couldn’t get to a doctor today because I was on hold so long. But MLB?”
“Why are we taking better care of our baseball and basketball players than our children and their teachers?” a woman who identified herself as an elementary school teacher asked on Twitter.
Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University, said there’s a good argument that testing dedicated to professional sports is just a “drop in the bucket”; the hundreds of thousands of tests MLB expects to use for the entire season amount to less than half the tests performed in the United States each day.
But this rationale can be harder to accept on an individual level, when the test that gets delayed is yours or the test of a family member, he said.
Binney likens the situation to a homeowner purchasing a fire engine to water a yard while the rest of the neighborhood is on fire.
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“At what point is it incumbent on me as a human and a member of society to say it’s an all-hands-on-deck moment and this fire truck, I should really be using it to not have my neighbor’s houses burn down?” he said. “Even if I’m not going to be able to save all the houses. Even if I might only be able to save one neighbor, should I do that? And at what point does it become incumbent on me to do that? And that’s the situation that MLB is facing.”
He praised how seriously Major League Baseball seems to be taking health and safety precautions, including recently canceling practices and workouts because of testing delays. Several Cubs players sat out a workout earlier this month as a precaution while awaiting test results, which ultimately came up negative for COVID-19. Those MLB employees who do test positive have to quarantine for two weeks, remain asymptomatic, and then test negative twice before returning to their clubs, according to MLB.
But Binney said starting the season is still a gamble, particularly in regions with skyrocketing COVID-19 cases.
While baseball tends to be a lower-risk game — it’s usually played outside, with built-in social distancing measures and less physical contact than football or basketball — players are still traveling and interacting before going home to their families and communities, raising the potential for outbreaks.
About a dozen players have opted out of the shortened season over health and safety concerns, including White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech.
The difficulty stems from the nation’s overall weak response to the virus, Binney said, citing testing delays and poor social distancing measures in some parts of the country.
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MLB’s plan is similar to the reopening guidelines of the Bundesliga professional soccer league in Germany, Binney said. “The problem is,” he added, “we are not Germany. We are not South Korea. We are not New Zealand.
“We have a poorer response to the virus and more cases. … That means if we are going to bring sports back, it is going to be more complicated, more expensive and more dangerous.”
Research potential
Some medical experts look forward to professional sports resuming, anticipating the data that might emerge from the leagues’ recurrent testing.
Professional sports is one of the few segments of American society undergoing large-scale COVID-19 screenings, as opposed to case-by-case testing of patients with symptoms or possible exposure, said Dr. Elizabeth McNally, director for the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
The consistent testing could lead to new information about the virus, a potential boon for greater public health, she said.
“So from a research perspective, I find it very informative to actually see what the positivity is when you screen people who didn’t think they had exposure or aren’t feeling any symptoms,” she said. “I think it’s actually informing us and teaching us something we wouldn’t know otherwise.”
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Stanford University researchers in April analyzed the serology tests for thousands of MLB employees, finding the presence of antibodies in 0.7% of those tested, lower than the rates in several major U.S. cities. About 70% of those who tested positive for antibodies reported experiencing no symptoms, indicating the virus could be more widespread than might be assumed.
“It is critically important to study how widespread the epidemic is, and the MLB’s participation in this effort is laudable and has helped us better understand the virus and the epidemic,” said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor of medicine who ran the study, which was conducted with researchers from the University of Southern California and the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Salt Lake City.
McNally said she doesn’t believe testing for professional sports is displacing tests for the most vulnerable populations: patients undergoing imminent procedures or essential workers like hospital staff and first responders. She added that MLB employees have also struggled with testing delays and longer-than-anticipated results, which shows testing snafus can impact everyone.
“I appreciate that these leagues are trying to do this in a very sensible way,” she said. “I hope they’re successful.”
Yet she cautions fans to be prepared for unexpected bumps along the way or a shorter-than-anticipated season “because anything can happen.”
If the World Series occurs, McNally hopes to see the Cubs face off against the White Sox. Two local teams would minimize travel, limiting exposure to the virus while boosting the morale of all Chicago baseball fans.
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“We need to get some semblance of normal back, and this is one way to do it,” she said. “It’s not going to look normal … baseball with no fans. That’s all strange to think about. But at the same time, I think people are going to watch it and I think they’re going to really appreciate having it back. I think it will be a good mental health boost to actually have that back.”
Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan contributed to this story.
eleventis@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-24--Mayor Lori Lightfoot has Christopher Columbus statue removed from Chicago’s Grant Park in middle of

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has Christopher Columbus statue removed from Chicago’s Grant Park in middle of the night

But chaos followed the protest as officers and demonstrators clashed around the statue .
At least 20 complaints of police @ @ @ @ @ cops , including one involving activist Miracle Boyd , who said she was hit in @ @ @ @ @ officer during the skirmish , knocking out at least one of her teeth .

Gregory Pratt, Peter Nickeas, Armando L. Sanchez

The Christopher Columbus statue is transported after being removed in Grant Park in the early hours of July 24, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Hoping to avoid another high-profile confrontation between police and protesters like the clash that happened last week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the statues of Christopher Columbus removed from Chicago’s Grant and Arrigo parks early Friday.
Not all Italian American leaders in Chicago are on board with the decision, but it has received the blessing of key politicians including Northwest Side Ald. Nick Sposato. By taking the statues down in the middle of the night, Lightfoot drew criticism from those who believe she caved to activist demands.
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Later Friday morning, Lightfoot said in a series of tweets that the statues were removed “until further notice.”
“We took this step in response to demonstrations that became unsafe for both protesters and police, and to efforts by individuals to independently pull the Grant Park statue down in an extremely dangerous manner,” Lightfoot said in the tweets. “This step is an effort to protect public safety and to preserve a safe space for an inclusive and democratic public dialogue about our city’s symbols. It also will allow us to focus public safety resources where they are most needed — particularly in our South and West Side communities.”
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Last night, after consultation with a variety of stakeholders, the City temporarily removed the Christopher Columbus statues in Grant Park and Arrigo Park until further notice. — Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) July 24, 2020
Lightfoot’s abrupt move in the dark of night was an about-face for the mayor, who has opposed taking down statues of the Italian explorer on the grounds that it would be erasing history. Lightfoot also said that the city would soon announce “a formal process to assess the monuments, memorials, and murals across Chicago’s communities, and develop a framework for a public dialogue to determine how we elevate our city’s history and diversity.”
Crews arrived at Grant Park sometime around 1 a.m. and began the process of bringing down the monument honoring Columbus a little afterward. A couple dozen people cheered from across the street and passing cars honked as the statue came down at about 3 a.m.
The Christopher Columbus statue is transported after being removed from Grant Park in the early hours of Friday, July 24, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
It was not immediately clear where the statues were taken. Reports from television stations showed the statue in Arrigo Park, 801 S. Loomis St., in Chicago’s historic Little Italy neighborhood, was removed a few hours after the downtown statue.
Unlike its unceremonious departure from Grant Park in front of a relatively small crowd of people, the Columbus statue was dedicated nearly 87 years ago to considerable fanfare. Thousands of people turned out for the dedication, on Italian Day during Chicago’s second World’s Fair, A Century of Progress, according to Tribune archives and the Chicago Park District.
But its creation was nonetheless controversial.
In 1932, Illinois’ State Board of Art, in reviewing sculptor Carlo Brioschi’s models, announced, “This statue is so bad it should not be put on public display.” Several days later, however, board members admitted it was the pedestal they objected to — not the statue. The piece, a gift of Italian Americans living in Chicago and Cook County, was dedicated on Aug. 3, 1933.
A woman argues with bystanders before crews remove the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park early on Friday, July 24, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The monument was again singled out in 1963 when a Tribune reader complained to the paper that a likeness of Benito Mussolini, former Italian prime minister and leader of the country’s National Fascist Party, was one of four bas-reliefs included in the statue’s base. Amerigo Brioschi, the sculptor’s son, told the Tribune the relief was only an allegorical figure representing the Roman symbol for strength and unity.
The 9-foot-tall bronze Columbus statue at Arrigo Park was created for and displayed in the Italian Pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Following that World’s Fair, the statue was placed in a niche above the entrance to the Columbus Memorial building at State and Washington streets. That’s where it stood until the structure was demolished in 1959.
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It spent much of the 1960s stored flat on its back in a yard outside the Joseph Lumber Co. on the city’s Northwest Side after the Loop building it had been installed on following the fair was demolished.
“We’ll find a place eventually,” said James Murray Haddow, then the vice president of the Municipal Art League of Chicago, in a 1965 interview with the Tribune. “He is too good looking to be lying where he is lying.”
Then-state Rep. Victor Arrigo, an Italian American lawyer, spearheaded a campaign to raise $25,000 to move the statue to Loomis Street in Little Italy. The statue was dedicated on Oct. 12, 1966 and the park was renamed for Arrigo following his death in 1973.
In Arrigo Park on Friday morning, red, green, and white ribbons representing the Italian flag had been tied around fencing where the Columbus statue once stood. Some neighborhood residents expressed their displeasure with the mayor’s decision.
Pasquale Gianni said he felt as if the Italian community had been robbed of a piece of its culture. Gianni, who said he’s a lifelong Chicago resident and member of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans and the Italian American Human Relations Foundation, does not live near Taylor Street but has many family members who do. He said the Columbus statue was an important part of the neighborhood.
“They’ve (neighborhood residents) been expressing a sense of deep sorrow that they can no longer walk their children to school and look over at the icon and the symbol that for their entire lives has meant so much to them,” Gianni said. “Through the contributions, the suffering, the blood, sweat and tears of their parents and grandparents who came here as immigrant peoples and saw Columbus as a beacon of hope, a symbol of coming to a new world in search of something new.”
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“They’ve been robbed of a piece of their heritage and their upbringing,” Gianni added.
Gianni said he hopes the mayor will soon select a time and date when the statute can return to Arrigo Park.
The removal of the statue in Grant Park capped off an evening that was surreal at times. Late Thursday, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara made his way to the downtown statue wearing an “Italia” T-shirt. He hung out, talking with cops, criticizing Lightfoot and promising there would be a pro-police protest there on Saturday even if the statue stayed in place.
He also got into debates with anti-Columbus protesters, some of which grew heated.
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, whose ward includes parts of downtown, said the mayor decided to remove the statue “unilaterally.”
Among the city’s prominent Italian American politicians supporting Lightfoot’s move was Sposato, 38th, who said the statues should continue to be displayed prominently but added that he believes it was appropriate to take them down for now.
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“I support the mayor in her difficult decision out of our concern for public safety, including the protection of police officers and citizens of all neighborhoods,” he said in a statement. “I support her decision to TEMPORARILY remove those statues from harms way, so as not to create a distraction and divert police resources from the issues of lawlessness, anarchy and domestic terrorism facing our beloved city and nation.”
A bloc of socialist aldermen, including Alds. Daniel La Spata, 1st; Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th; Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd; Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th; and Jeanette Taylor, 20th; released a statement praising the move:
“We applaud the news that two monuments to white supremacy have come down in Chicago. Chicago’s Christopher Columbus monuments have been removed — and will stay that way — because of the Indigenous, Black, and Brown Chicagoans that have been fighting for so long to make this happen. We thank the activists and organizers who put their bodies on the line to make this happen, and we commit to continue to work towards replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and dismantling white supremacy in all it’s forms.”
But Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, posted on Facebook: “I have never been more disappointed, not only for the removal of a city statue, but the cowardly fashion in which it was removed in the middle of the night.”
I have never been more disappointed, not only for the removal of a city statue, but the cowardly fashion in which it was... Posted by Alderman Anthony Napolitano on Friday, July 24, 2020
“The American way to remove the Christopher Columbus statue should have been a discussion, debate and decision made by the City Council,” Napolitano wrote. “The city didn’t just lose a statue on the sneak last night, it lost its sense of decency and American soul!”
The removal also drew comparisons from Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, to former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s midnight bulldozing of Meigs Field in March 2003. Lopez later took to Twitter with his criticism of Lightfoot’s decision.
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“What has become of Chicago? We have a mayor forced into submission by anarchy & mob-rule? No more public process, official discourse, or on-the-record debate,” tweeted Lopez, a frequent Lightfoot critic. “The lesson learned is that if you want action from Lightfoot, show up en mass at her house & she will cave every time.”
What has become of Chicago? We have a mayor forced into submission by anarchy & mob-rule? No more public process, official discourse, or on-the-record debate. The lesson learned is that if you want action from Lightfoot, show up en mass at her house & she will cave every time. — Ald. Raymond Lopez (@RLopez15thWard) July 24, 2020
Protesters marched downtown last Friday then headed into Grant Park, where a group of people attempted to take down the statue, similar to what’s happened in other cities across the country.
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But chaos followed the protest as officers and demonstrators clashed around the statue. At least 20 complaints of police brutality were filed against Chicago cops, including one involving activist Miracle Boyd, who said a police officer hit her in the face during the skirmish, knocking out at least one of her teeth.
Lightfoot and police leaders blamed a group of protesters wielding black umbrellas and shields for inciting what they called “anarchy.” Lightfoot also said she isn’t happy with officers who may have mistreated protesters or reporters.
A worker closes up fencing after the statue of Christopher Columbus was removed by the city at Arrigo Park on Friday, July 24, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago’s statues of the explorer have become the center of a heated controversy for Lightfoot, who also has rejected calls to rename the Columbus Day holiday.
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Columbus has been condemned by activists around the country who point to the Italian explorer’s mistreatment of Indigenous people after he landed in the Americas in 1492.
Earlier in the evening, protesters gathered near Lightfoot’s Logan Square home to criticize the police. Drawing loud cheers, hugs and applause, an activist informed the crowd over a megaphone that Lightfoot would be removing the statue.
The Tribune first reported news of the mayor’s plans to remove the Grant Park statue.
Rodriguez Sanchez traveled downtown to watch the statue’s removal and shared her thoughts on Twitter.
It’s coming down because of the activism that has led to this moment. Indigenous, Black and Brown people have been fighting for so long to see this happen. It’s also a balancing act, the Mayor just accepted Federal Agents from Trump. https://t.co/cwlBxz2vja — Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez 🌹 (@RossanaFor33) July 24, 2020
“It’s coming down because of the activism that has led to this moment,” she wrote. “Indigenous, Black and Brown people have been fighting for so long to see this happen.”
The Tribune’s Pete Nickeas contributed.
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krumore@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-25--Column: Thanks, A.O.C., for making it a little easier to confront the vulgar bullies

The big deal is context .
When a man says those words to a woman , they ’ re nothing @ @ @ @ @ to dominate and demean .
When a powerful man says those words about a woman @ @ @ @ @ of power as well as of the woman .
When he does it in the @ @ @ @ @ Yoho was with another congressman — he makes it clear how permissible it is to @ @ @

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks out on violent language against women July 23, 2020, in the U.S. House. (House Television)
As I sat down to write this column, I realized I had a problem: Could I say f------ b---- in the Tribune?
A week ago I would have known the answer was no and it would never have occurred to me to ask. Two vulgar words that become even more vulgar when used together was definitely not Tribune style.
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But a week ago feels like a long time ago.
It was before a U.S. congressman allegedly used the term to describe a U.S. congresswoman, publicly and loud enough to be overheard by a journalist from The Hill, who reported it.
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It was before the congresswoman — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York — stood on the floor of the House of Representatives to decry the behavior of the congressman — Ted Yoho, Republican of Florida — and in doing so quoted the two vulgar words, which were recorded in the Congressional Record for what must be the first time in history.
And it was before publications everywhere had to debate whether to print those words. Some, including The New York Times and The New Yorker, printed them in full, presumably to convey their full brutal punch. Many, like the Tribune, have chosen a more oblique approach, which gets to the heart of the matter from a different angle: They’re awful words.
But wait, you may be protesting. We hear those words all the time. Women use them. They’re on T-shirts, in songs. What’s the big deal?
The big deal is context. When a man says those words to a woman, they’re nothing but ugly, an attempt to dominate and demean. When a powerful man says those words about a woman, they are an abuse of power as well as of the woman. When he does it in the presence of another man — Yoho was with another congressman — he makes it clear how permissible it is to bully women.
From an early age, women are forced to endure a certain kind of verbal insult from certain kinds of men. We learn to ignore much of it. But Ocasio-Cortez chose not to ignore this. She said she’d been tempted to, but then Yoho stood up in Congress and offered some mumbo-jumbo of excuses.
“Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of language,” he said. He said he’d been misheard. He apologized for the “misunderstanding” but added, “I cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country.”
Ocasio-Cortez decided that ignoring his non-apology was to accept the unacceptable.
“This issue is not about one incident,” she said in her speech. “It is cultural. It is a culture of … accepting violence and violent language against women and an entire structure of power that supports that.”
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Cynics chalked her speech up to political theater, and it was good theater. A smart, passionate woman with force and restraint commanded a hall of power as she said things that hadn’t been spoken in that room in that way before. Call it theater, or call it truth.
“A distraction from our pressing issues!” cried the cynics, but she understood that from the White House on down, the bullying of women by men is one of the country’s greatest problems.
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“This is not new,” she said. “And that is the problem.”
She spoke for millions of women when, referring to other congresswomen, she said, “All of us have had to deal with this in some form, some way, some shape in our lives.”
She derided the common tactic of “using women, wives, and daughters as shields and excuses for poor behavior.”
“Having a daughter does not make a man decent,” she said. “Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man.”
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Most women have their version of the f------ b---- stories. Some of mine include emails from readers who resort to sexual vulgarities to disagree with something I’ve written. They sneak through the spam filters by using asterisks or dashes. Sometimes, when I can’t help myself, I write to tell them I hope they don’t talk to the women in their lives that way, though I fear they do.
Mostly, though, I ignore them. Women learn early that speaking out or talking back to men who talk that way can be exhausting and downright dangerous. But Ocasio-Cortez has done us all a service. By standing in front of the world, in a room full of power, refusing to ignore the unacceptable, she makes it a little easier for others to do the same.
mschmich@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-07-24--New CDC guidance adds pressure for schools to reopen in the fall, but teachers’ demands for remote l

New CDC guidance adds pressure for schools to reopen in the fall, but teachers’ demands for remote learning are getting louder

“ The current plan that CPS has in place does follow the CDC guidelines and we are looking at the @ @ @ @ @ our plans accordingly , ” Jackson said .
“ But I want parents and students @ @ @ @ @ that we put in place will be guided by the science and that we will @ @ @ @ @ have students return to school if we don ’ t believe it ’ s safe @ @

Ray Elementary School teacher Gabriel Sheridan gives a thumbs-up during a Chicago Teachers Union caravan rally to Chicago Public Schools headquarters Wednesday. The union is protesting plans for a partial school reopening this fall. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
As Chicago Public Schools collects feedback from families on its proposal to bring students back into the classroom part time this fall, federal officials continue to signal they favor schools reopening fully.
Vice President Mike Pence’s comments Friday that reopening schools “is the best thing for our kids” and “also the best thing for working families” followed the release of new resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which made a statement on “The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools this Fall.”
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The CDC’s new guidance includes resources for elementary and secondary schools and decision-making tools for parents and caregivers. Many of the recommendations sound familiar, such as social distancing, cloth face coverings, proper cleaning and personal hygiene, and “cohorting,” in which a group of students sticks together throughout the day to minimize exposure. Schools are instructed to be prepared for COVID-19 cases and exposure, and have systems such as contact tracing in place for when that happens.
Though the guidance itself focuses on how to keep students and staff members safe and mitigate transmission risks, other language from the CDC and federal officials strongly encourages schools to reopen.
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Deputy Education Secretary Mitchell Zais, a member of the coronavirus task force, called teachers essential workers and said schools will be “stronger and more student focused than ever before.” The Trump administration is working with Congress to make sure schools have what they need to safely open, he said Friday in a conference call with reporters.
“If schools still refuse to reopen, the president has said that parents should receive the money that would be used for their child’s education to find a school that is willing to educate their child full time whether that’s a public charter school, a private school or a faith-based school,” Zais said.
With statements like that and the latest CDC guidance stressing that extended school closure is “harmful to children” and can lead to severe learning loss, local districts such as CPS are caught in between federal pressure to reopen and teachers union calls to stay remote.
In recent days, CPS joined a federal lawsuit in which several cities and states are seeking to prevent private schools from getting a share of coronavirus relief bill funding they say would be harmful to public school districts. CPS estimates it would lose about $10 million of the $205 million it expects from the first federal pandemic relief package.
Though CPS did not directly address any concerns about parents withdrawing children, CEO Janice Jackson on Friday said the district is taking the new CDC guidance into consideration.
“The current plan that CPS has in place does follow the CDC guidelines and we are looking at the new guidelines and will update our plans accordingly,” Jackson said. “But I want parents and students to know that any plan that we put in place will be guided by the science and that we will not make a decision to have students return to school if we don’t believe it’s safe.”
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American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on Friday criticized the CDC statement and guidance, saying the agency could better help parents and educators by providing clear, easy-to-navigate protocols rather than “endless checklists that send people searching for answers.”
“The CDC may have changed its tone to accommodate President (Donald) Trump’s whims, but the details of its guidance remain the same: Schools cannot reopen safely and equitably until we have effectively contained the virus spread and have a robust testing system, a plan for a future surge, and appropriate safety protocols in place,” Weingarten said in a statement.
Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey had similar words, pointing out that while district-run schools start in September, some Chicago charter operators are planning to reopen in a matter of weeks.
“Our Black and Latinx neighborhoods contain a disproportionate number of front-line workers at greater risk of COVID-19, from bus drivers and nursing assistants to grocery store clerks and janitors,” Sharkey said. “Insisting that these families send their students into classrooms that intensify the risk of virus transmission as the pandemic spikes is not just risky. It’s morally reprehensible.”
Sharkey assessed that the president had “successfully bullied the CDC to revise its ‘guidelines’ and risk the lives of students, their families and their educators by forcing in-person learning this fall.”
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Though schools have a role screening students and staff for COVID-19 symptoms or exposure, school staff are not expected to administer tests, according to the CDC.
Whether to have testing in schools is an important question, CPS Chief Health Officer Kenneth Fox said Wednesday. While CPS has a contact tracing plan, it does not have plans for coronavirus testing in its schools, though some school property has been used as testing sites, he said. But if reliable, simple-to-administer and rapid testing becomes more accessible, that could be a “game changer,” he said.
In the media call Friday, CDC chief Robert Redfield said he personally stands by the guidance and believes it’s in the best public health interest for children to get back in school.
“There were many negative public health consequences that happened to K-12 individuals as a consequence of school closure,” Redfield said.
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Schools provide safe, supportive learning environments for students and enable parents, guardians, and caregivers to work. For months, CDC has consulted with states, schools, and partners on how to best get students back in the classroom safely. https://t.co/LkKfHghJNb pic.twitter.com/KSi6z2d0iR — Dr. Robert R. Redfield (@CDCDirector) July 24, 2020
Redfield also tweeted a thread about the much-anticipated guidance, promoting the role of schools in child development and the economic impact of enabling parents and caregivers to get back to work.
Zais said Friday: “In individual situations where teachers have underlying conditions or do not feel safe returning to the classroom, the secretary has said that those individual teachers should work with their local school districts to develop a solution. We recognize that school may look different this fall. That’s fine. But this is an opportunity to show our children that with some ingenuity and creative thinking, we can overcome most any challenge.”
Jackson on Friday said the district is in the process of finalizing its operating budget for the upcoming school year and will need support from the federal government to make it work.
“Those additional resources are going to be the difference between what kind of supports we can put in place to ensure students are safe when they return in the fall,” Jackson said.
Chicago Tribune’s Claire Hao contributed.
hleone@chicagotribune.com