chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Tired, numb and burned out: With hospitals short on workers, those remaining feel pushed to the edge

Tired, numb and burned out: With hospitals short on workers, those remaining feel pushed to the edge by COVID-19

That effort led to some odd statistical moments .
Over the summer , Illinois hospitals were reporting they had more @ @ @ @ @ a year earlier , at a time when there was no pandemic to drive up @ @ @ @ @ , roughly 7,000 more hospital beds were available than the previous year .
And yet @ @ @ @ @ were busier than the year before , treating roughly 2,500 more patients at that point @ @ @ @ @ 14 % higher patient load , according to a Tribune analysis of state figures .

Consuelo Vargas, an ER nurse at Stroger Hospital, attends a rally with other front-line workers in opposition to funding cuts Dec. 10, 2020, outside Provident Hospital. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Consuelo Vargas can’t shake the memory.
Earlier this month, as the nurse’s 12-hour shifts were stretching to 16s, she maneuvered through the emergency department at Stroger Hospital to check on COVID-19 patients. She remembered how one begged her to check up on him more.
“The patient said, ‘Why did you leave me by myself for so long?’” Vargas recalled. But she just didn’t have any more time to give.
“I ran the Chicago Marathon before,” she said, “and this is like the marathon that never ends. Nurses are just running on fumes right now. I want to say that I’m numb. I don’t feel anything. I’m just going through the motions, just to get it done.”
Even as the first vaccine shots begin to roll out to health care workers, doctors and nurses say they are struggling to make it through the pandemic’s darkest surge yet, in an atmosphere some describe as bordering on exhaustion.
Federal data shows that roughly 1 in 5 of the state’s hospitals is reporting a “critical” staff shortage each day, a problem reflected in the desperate competition among hospitals for trained staff at a time when the pandemic is straining resources across the country.
The advertised pay for some workers is approaching $3,000 a week, amid stories of workers quitting or calling in sick, and hospitals adding more beds than they have the staff to cover.
“Compensation now is through the roof ... which tells you it’s hard to find people to fill all the jobs we need to fill now,” Joshua Gottlieb, an associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said earlier this month.
Federal officials aren’t providing the names of hospitals reporting staff shortages, but they have released weekly numbers showing that some facilities are at or near capacity in terms of available beds, particularly in working-class areas hit especially hard by the pandemic.
There are some positive signs, with case counts and hospitalizations starting to drop in Illinois, though the latter numbers can be affected by hospitals’ decision making. Hospitals have been more choosy about who gets admitted — some COVID-19 patients who arrive in emergency departments are being sent home with monitoring instructions — and doctors and nurses told the Tribune that some patients with conditions that are usually monitored in intensive care have been moved to other areas.
Workers also said staffing has been strained as hospitals continue to perform elective surgeries. These are often time-sensitive and necessary operations, but they also can be moneymakers for hospitals. Indiana recently tightened the rules on what surgeries hospitals can do amid the surge, but Illinois has not.
Nicole Costa, pharmacy manager, brings a container of the COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to the medical personnel at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet on Dec. 16, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
“People are tired,” said Pat Meade, a recovery nurse at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet who is also vice president of the Illinois Nurses Association. “You can’t consistently ask of the same group of people to give more than they can. They’ve got to rest, but the need still exists, so what do you do?”
The staffing shortage
Every day, the federal government collects data from hospitals across the country. One piece of the information is based on this simple question: Do you have a “critical staffing shortage” today?
Back on Labor Day, just 9% of Illinois hospitals answering the question said yes. By the week after Thanksgiving, the figure was 26%, or more than 1 in 4. It’s since slid down a bit to near 20%, or roughly 1 in 5.
Dr. Sanjeeb Khatua knows the struggle. The hospital system where he is chief physician executive and COVID-19 incident commander, west suburban Edward-Elmhurst Health, has, like many systems, been asking nurses to work more shifts, with extra pay.
One reason for that? Sick workers. This past week, about 25 of the system’s employees tested positive for COVID-19.
Besides Khatua’s workers being on the front lines of the fight against the virus, they often live nearby, in a region where the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive has recently been among the highest in the state.
Staff members applaud as a colleague receives the COVID-19 vaccination at Edward-Elmhurst Hospital on Dec. 17, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
“With fatigue and trying to take care of everyone at the same time, it obviously stretches your staffing,” Khatua said.
Even before the pandemic, some health care workers catered to temporary staffing needs by traveling from one place to another for short-term gigs. In the spring, when the pandemic’s first surge was mainly limited to a few, bigger urban areas, it was easier to recruit such workers for temporary jobs to help hospitals cope with COVID-19.
Now, the flare-up is nationwide, to the point that Illinois’ staffing woes seem merely average by comparison. In California, Wisconsin and Virginia, around 30% of hospitals are reporting critical staffing shortages. It’s closer to 40% in Arizona and Missouri.
And in North Dakota — which has been hit so badly that the state allowed some infected health care workers to stay on the job — nearly half of all hospitals said they had a critical shortage the week before Thanksgiving.
Many hospitals across the country are desperate for the specially trained nurses who can handle critically ill COVID-19 patients. But there’s only so many to go around and who are willing to travel, which has resulted in competition among hospitals for workers.
Gottlieb, the University of Chicago researcher, found that pay for ICU traveling nurses increased 50% during the spring.
Nationally, hospitals may now be paying about double what they normally do for agency nurses, said John Sebastian, president of travel nursing for Cincinnati-based agency Health Carousel.
That struggle to find enough staff has complicated efforts hospitals made to deal with the pandemic by adding capacity. This year, Illinois hospitals reported they built out roughly 10,000 more beds, up from about 25,000 before the spring surge.
That effort led to some odd statistical moments. Over the summer, Illinois hospitals were reporting they had more beds open than they did a year earlier, at a time when there was no pandemic to drive up demand. At one point, roughly 7,000 more hospital beds were available than the previous year. And yet, hospitals also reported they were busier than the year before, treating roughly 2,500 more patients at that point in time, or a 14% higher patient load, according to a Tribune analysis of state figures.
The number of open beds being reported to the state has since shrunk — in part because of staffing issues. Worried that hospitals might not be able to staff all of the beds they said they had available, state regulators in November tightened the rules on what qualified as an open bed, which erased nearly 2,000 open beds overnight.
Meanwhile, the fall surge was putting more people in the hospital. Now, the number of Illinoisans hospitalized — for any reason — is approaching 25,000 a day, about 6,000 more than last year at this time.
Even at some of the hospitals with a higher percentage of open beds — such as Joliet’s Saint Joseph — nurses are quitting under the strain, said ICU nurse Jeanine Johnson.
“The patient load, while it’s been busy, hasn’t been at capacity or anything like that,” Johnson said recently. “But because of unhappiness (among) staff, more and more nurses are leaving, and that’s really causing our short staffing.”
It’s created a vicious cycle that forces the remaining nurses to look after more patients, which leads to more departures. The nurses union has also battled with hospital management this year, striking for two weeks in July.
Johnson said the hospital has hired more nurses and is paying more for nurses to pick up extra shifts, “but that still doesn’t even cover the amount of nurses we’re actually short.”
Michelle Hereford, senior vice president, chief nursing officer and post-acute officer at Amita Health, which runs the Joliet hospital, acknowledged in a statement that “a lot has been asked” of Amita’s workers.
“Nurses and all members of the caregiver team throughout the nation are under unique strain — this is certainly not unique to Joliet or Chicagoland,” Hereford said.
As the pandemic has dragged on, some hospitals even have asked the state for help on staffing — something the state’s health director mentioned to reporters Nov. 13.
“We get that information more anecdotally, by making calls or when people reach out and say, ‘Does IDPH have any staff?’” Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. “And you’re like, ‘Wait a second. We’re not a staffing agency. What’s going on?’ And then you hear some of the stories.”
During that briefing, Ezike said the Illinois Department of Public Health was “starting to think about how we can gather that information” on staffing shortages.
A month later, her agency has yet to require hospitals to report their staffing figures to the state, including ratios of nurses to patients. The department did not respond to questions about why that hadn’t happened and whether it tracks the information that hospitals report to federal regulators.
In an email, agency spokeswoman Melaney Arnold mentioned IDPH’s tightening of the definition of an available bed as one thing the state has done to better monitor hospitals’ capabilities. She also said IDPH and two other state agencies are working on a program for hospitals to ask for more staff to help treat COVID-19 patients.
“This is in direct response to hospitals telling us that staffing is the most challenging part of being able to increase their capacity — they may have the space but need the people,” Arnold wrote.
The Pritzker administration has yet to take steps, like Indiana did earlier this month, to order that elective surgeries be canceled or curtailed. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said he did so because his state was “on fire” and hospital workers were “overwhelmed.”
On that day, 19% of Indiana hospitals reported they had a critical staffing shortage.
The same day, the percentage of Illinois hospitals saying the same was 22%.
‘Just burned out’
The combined effects of staffing shortages and heavier patient loads can be seen in places like Stroger Hospital, a 450-bed teaching hospital in the Illinois Medical District considered the hub of Cook County’s public health care system.
Vargas has been a nurse in the hospital’s emergency room for six years and is also Stroger’s chief nurse representative for the National Nurses United union. She describes the situation as more chaotic and disorganized than the spring, when the hospital suspended elective surgeries, allowing more resources to be directed to the emergency department.
She said she normally works three 12-hour shifts a week, but lately they’ve lasted 16 hours. Sometimes staffing is so tight that ER beds are being shut down, forcing longer patient waits, Vargas said.
In a statement, Cook County Health said that since the beginning of the pandemic, it has worked to handle additional patients through a staffing situation center, by using agency nurses, reducing elective and outpatient care to shift workers to needed areas, and offering staff additional hours.
“Cook County Health continues to closely monitor staffing levels and activate many components of the resurgence plan that address staffing, bed capacity, supplies and more as the pandemic continues,” the statement said.
Recent federal data showed the hospital’s ICU averaged 85% full — beyond the 80% threshold the state considers concerning.
And some hospitals were even worse off, with 10 in the Chicago area reporting their ICUs were at least 90% full.
ICUs filling up across Illinois During the latest COVID-19 surge, more hospitals are reporting that their intensive care units are at least 80% full, a level concerning to state health officials. Some ICUs are even 90% full or more. Check the Tribune's list of hospital capacity SOURCE: Tribune analysis of data from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Data for the date listed is an average of the date and the following 6 days.
Two suburban doctors told the Tribune that hospital officials said they should not tell reporters how full the facilities were, fearing a loss of customers in what remains a competitive and strained health care economy.
The state collects detailed bed counts from each hospital daily. But the Pritzker administration has refused to release that data, without explanation, and ignored a legal deadline to comply with a public records request. The Tribune is appealing to the state attorney general’s office.
According to the weekly numbers the federal government has made available, one of the busiest area hospitals was Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, which told federal officials that its ICU averaged 99% full in the most recent reporting period. Nearly two-thirds of its ICU patients were there because of the virus.
Dr. Shameeta Thanki is an anesthesiologist at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Dr. Shameeta Thanki works at the hospital as an anesthesiologist, often helping oversee care of ICU patients. She — like other health care workers across the region — said her fear is that they won’t be able to provide the same level of care with staff so strained.
She said the pace seems relentless, with little guidance on treatment from the federal government.
“Every day, you’re flying by the seat of your pants,” she told the Tribune. “We don’t have a lot of time to go figure something out. Things are happening right in front of us — a patient is getting really sick in front of us. We do the best we can.
“We finish the day,” she said, “and our faces hurt. And our ears hurt. And we’re just burned out.”
Chicago Tribune’s Dan Petrella contributed.
jmahr@chicagotribune.com
lschencker@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Column: Anjanette Young reminds Black women of their ancestors who stood naked on a slave auction bl

Column: Anjanette Young reminds Black women of their ancestors who stood naked on a slave auction block

She is Coffey , the 45-year-old African woman with no last name who arrived in Beaufort , South Carolina , @ @ @ @ @ ship J.D .
Morgan .
She is 13-year-old Barbury , who arrived at the same @ @ @ @ @ George Washington , six days later .
And she is 9-month-old Susan , who arrived @ @ @ @ @ on the slave ship Hamburg in 1826 .

Once upon a time in America, Black women routinely were forced to stand naked on a slave auction block in front of hordes of white men who were trying to decide if each was worth the price they were asked to pay.
Often, her young children would cling to her legs as she was sold separately to the highest bidder. She would wail in despair at the thought of losing her babies. But her cries were unheard because she and her children were deemed less than human.
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I thought of that scene as I watched the video of Anjanette Young for the third time.
________
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Columns are opinion content that reflect the views of the writers.
________
The first time I saw the video of this African American woman standing naked in her living room as a group of mostly white male police officers swarmed around her, seemingly oblivious to her exposed breasts and genitals, I burst into tears.
I didn’t know why I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t articulate why the image struck me so deeply. I wanted to scream. Instead, I rested my head on my desk and sobbed.
Most African American women know that we could have been Anjanette Young. Any one of us, regardless of our status in life, could have been undressing in our bedroom after coming home from work and be startled by the noise of police bursting through our front door.
We always have known that Black women’s lives aren’t valued as much as white women’s. America doesn’t mourn for us the way it mourns for murdered or missing white women. White women aren’t forced to stand naked in front of men.
But my reaction and that of many Black women to this video was more visceral than normal. The sight of Young standing naked with her hands cuffed behind her back, begging for someone to have mercy on her struck Black women to the core.
The video awakened something in our unique African American female DNA. It struck a nerve buried so deep that few events are able to touch it. Not only did we see ourselves in Anjanette Young, Anjanette Young became our slave ancestors.
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She is Coffey, the 45-year-old African woman with no last name who arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1830 on the slave ship J.D. Morgan. She is 13-year-old Barbury, who arrived at the same port on the slave ship George Washington, six days later. And she is 9-month-old Susan, who arrived in Augusta, Georgia, on the slave ship Hamburg in 1826.
Anjanette Young is every Black woman listed on the National Archives slave manifests. She is every Black woman who was placed on an auction block and stripped of her dignity.
The modern African American woman is 155 years removed from slavery, but the blood of our ancestors runs through our veins. It is as much a part of us as our lungs, our heart or our limbs. It makes us who we are.
Our ancestors’ DNA, with its strength and fortitude combined with agony and degradation, sits dormant inside us until an experience or event awakens it and reminds us of how we came to be.
Young provided African American women that moment. We felt her pain and we cried for her, uncontrollably.
To those police officers, Young was nothing more than an object, devoid of all feminine value, undeserving of respect, dignity or even pity.
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Like the female slaves, her only value was in what she could provide for them. They needed information from her about a suspect they wrongly believed she was harboring.
She tried to tell them at least 43 times that they were in the wrong place. But they didn’t hear her. There was no reason to listen to someone as insignificant as she.
The officers decided Young’s worth, just as the crowd of white men decided the value of the enslaved Black women they intended to buy. Nothing Young said was of any importance, because as far as they were concerned, she had no human value.
So she stood naked in her living room with at least nine police video cameras noting every curve of her body. Some of the officers must have known this was wrong.
An officer walked over, stood directly in front of her and did nothing. Eventually, someone draped a short jacket around her shoulders, but it did not cover her private parts. Someone else tossed a blanket loosely over her, but with her hands bound, she could not hold it up.
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At one point, an officer secured the blanket. But by then, the damage had been done. The humiliation had set in too deeply.
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Recently, Young set off on a journey to tell the world what happened to her. She chose to hold her head high rather than wallow in shame for something she could not control.
She decided that her story had to be told because silence would only benefit those who deemed her irrelevant. Simply telling the story was not sufficient. People needed to see the video themselves.
Perhaps she channeled the strength of the brave Black women who stood naked on the auction blocks centuries ago. Perhaps she felt the blood of her ancestors running through her veins, prodding her to do what she must to bring about change.
Our ancestors were powerless to say, “No more.” But Anjanette Young was not. She spoke up, and America was forced to listen.
dglanton@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @dahleeng


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Woman, 71, shot dead while inside Morgan Park neighborhood home: police

The woman was in the 10800 block of South Morgan Street about 7:40 p.m. when two assailants began shooting into @ @ @ @ @ multiple times , police said

Emma Wright was known as “Nana” to most of the people who knew her in the Morgan Park neighborhood where she had lived for more than 50 years.
“Just a mother to anybody,” her daughter Kimberly Lewis said Monday. “Not just to her own children. To anybody.”
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Emma Wright was shot and killed Dec. 20, 2020, after two gunmen walked into her backyard in the 10800 block of South Morgan Street and fired as many as 50 rounds into her home. (Wright family)
Sunday night, police say two gunmen walked into the backyard of Wright’s home in the 10800 block of South Morgan Street and fired as many as 50 rounds. Bullets shattered Wright’s bedroom window and hit the 71-year-old in the head, left arm, right shoulder and right hand.
Her grandson and his girlfriend were in the home and told police they rushed to her room after hearing the gunshots. Wright was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead. Police said they had no one in custody.
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Her daughter told the Tribune that Wright had deep roots in Morgan Park. She had lived in the same house for at least 52 years and was known for opening her door to people in need.
“This community is going to be very sad because they all know her,” Lewis said. “And this is just tragic.”
Her mother had just visited her in Texas for Thanksgiving. “She was just with me in San Antonio,” Lewis said. “For her to return to something so — I have no words.”
The grandson’s girlfriend told police she saw two people in dark clothes fire shots at the home around 7:40 p.m., police said. About 50 shell casings from possibly three weapons, including a rifle, were found in the backyard.
Paramedics transport a 71-year-old woman who was shot on the 10800 block of South Morgan Street in the Morgan Park neighborhood Dec. 20, 2020, in Chicago. According to police the woman was struck inside the home by gunfire coming from outside the residence. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
According to a police report, investigators suspect the grandson “was likely the intended target” in the shooting. But the grandson, reached by the Tribune, said he told police he didn’t know why he would be a target.
“I don’t know nothing about no intended target, and I don’t have nothing to say,” he said by phone. “I told them (police) everything I know already, which is too much nothing.”
Lewis said police were asking people for any potential video footage or information on the shooting.
Paramedics transport a 71-year-old woman who was shot on the 10800 block of South Morgan Street in the Morgan Park neighborhood Sunday in Chicago. The woman was struck inside the home by gunfire coming from outside the residence, according to police. pic.twitter.com/4D5ajqNVid — armando l sanchez (@mandophotos) December 21, 2020
rsobol@chicagotribune.com
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Twitter @KelliSmithNews


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--Police: CCL holder fatally shot during Bridgeport robbery

The victim was a concealed carry permit holder , but it was unclear whether he was carrying a weapon at @ @ @ @ @ found at the scene , authorities said .
Police did not release a description of @ @ @ @ @ had been made .

A man was shot and killed near his Bridgeport home after a carjacker demanded the key to his white SUV but, for some reason, was unable to put the car into drive and opened fire on the man as he called 911, according to Chicago police.
When officers arrived in the 3000 block of South Union Avenue on Monday evening, they found Shuai Guan, 33, lying dead on the pavement. Personal belongings were found near his body, along with three 9 mm shell casings. Guan was married and had a 4-year-old son.
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Sources said police have at least one suspect in custody, but no charges had been announced by late Tuesday afternoon.
The attack happened less than 2 miles from the site of a carjacking in February in which two men were killed as they were parking an SUV near Chinatown Square. There have been more than 1,225 carjackings this year in Chicago, more than double the total for all of last year.
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Chicago police process a crime scene after a shooting near 30th Street and Union Avenue on Dec. 21, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Monday’s attack happened around 6:10 p.m. as Guan parked his SUV and got out, leaving his hazard lights on. Surveillance video shows two dark-colored cars — an Audi and a Subaru — driving up and stopping in front of the SUV.
A man in a black hoodie and white mask gets out of the Subaru and walks to the passenger side of the SUV. He opens and closes the passenger side door, then walks toward the back of the SUV, out of the frame.
“Hey, give me the key for that,” someone is heard saying. “Give me the key! Give me the key!”
“What?” another voice says.
“Give me the key!” the first voice says.
The man in the hoodie then gets into the SUV and appears to put it in drive. The man revs the engine several times but the SUV does not move. The man can be seen going through the center console before getting out and running back to the Subaru.
The Audi and Subaru both drive off and turn right into an alley, out of the frame. Ten seconds later, three gunshots are heard. Both cars were later located by police, who held a suspect for allegedly possessing a stolen car, the Subaru.
It was not clear why the carjacker could not drive off with the SUV, but one police source said he may have electronically disabled it while calling 911. Officers were responding to a call of a robbery in progress when a ShotSpotter detector picked up three shots.
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In a GoFundMe post, the family said Guan’s death “leaves behind a family steeped in tragedy. He was a loving husband and father.”


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--Illinois says 63,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered from state’s supply

While the arrival of more vaccine doses is welcome news , Illinois ’ second shipment of the vaccine developed by @ @ @ @ @ smaller than state officials anticipated .
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has @ @ @ @ @ is still on track to make available 20 million doses by the end of the @ @

Laquitta Boyd, holds her 6-year-old daughter Venisha while receiving her first COVID-19 vaccination at a back-to-school health fair hosted by RUSH University Medical Center at the Salvation Army Freedom Center on July 30, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
A week after the first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrived in Illinois, about 63,000 health care workers across the state have received their first of two doses of the immunization, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said Monday.
As of Sunday, 9,383 Chicago residents had received the vaccine, according to the city, a figure that includes city residents who received their vaccine elsewhere. The state’s total number does not, however, include inoculations from the city’s supply of the vaccine.
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The state has been allocated an additional 60,450 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, the bulk of which will be set aside for a federal partnership with CVS and Deerfield-based Walgreens to immunize nursing home residents, according to the governor’s office. The program is expected to begin vaccinations next week.
The remaining 20,000 doses are expected to arrive Tuesday and Wednesday at hospitals statewide that have the ultracold freezer equipment required to store the Pfizer vaccine.
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Chicago’s Pfizer allocation for this week is 16,575 doses.
Illinois also expects to receive about 174,000 doses of a second vaccine, from Moderna, on Wednesday and Thursday. The doses, which can be stored at regular freezer temperatures, also will go directly to hospitals to continue ramping up the immunization of health care workers.
Chicago is set to receive 46,800 doses this week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of those shots are being set aside for long-term care facilities through the partnership with Walgreens and CVS, city Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said.
Nurse Alyssa Miller receiives a COVID-19 vaccination on Dec. 18, 2020, from Shawn O'Connor at Amita Health St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The federal Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency use authorization to the Moderna vaccine, which also requires two doses.
While the arrival of more vaccine doses is welcome news, Illinois’ second shipment of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is significantly smaller than state officials anticipated. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said its Operation Warp Speed is still on track to make available 20 million doses by the end of the year.
Together with Chicago and a handful of local health departments that got direct shipments, Illinois received about 109,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the first week. Those shots were earmarked for health care workers serving the 50 counties in the state with the highest per capita death rates from the coronavirus.
On Monday, Illinois logged its lowest number of newly reported daily coronavirus infections in nearly two months, with 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19.
The last time the daily number of new coronavirus cases was below 5,000 was Oct. 27, as the state was starting to see an aggressive fall resurgence of the illness.
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At that time, the state was reporting only newly confirmed cases, and has since begun combining new daily confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19.
The daily case numbers the state reports tend to be lower on Mondays due to weekend lags.
The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 7.5% for the period ending Sunday.
The new cases reported on Monday came out of a batch of 86,454 tests conducted during a 24-hour period, for a daily case positivity rate of roughly 5.4%.
The state surpassed the 900,000-case mark over the weekend, and with Monday’s numbers the known case count statewide grew to 905,069.
The state also reported an additional 98 deaths on Monday, raising the death toll to 15,299 throughout the pandemic. Monday was the second consecutive day the number of deaths reported in a 24-hour period was in the double digits, after 12 days in a row with daily death tolls over 100.
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As of Sunday night, 4,460 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized across the state, with 981 in intensive care units and 546 patients on ventilators. Those figures have dropped gradually over the past several weeks — there were more than 6,000 people with COVID-19 hospitalized in the state in late November.
jmunks@chicagotribune.com
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-22--Gunmen firing from a backyard kill 71-year-old woman in the home where she lived for more than 50 ye

Gunmen firing from a backyard kill 71-year-old woman in the home where she lived for more than 50 years in Morgan Park. ‘This community is going to be very sad.’

Her grandson and his girlfriend were in the home and told police they rushed to her room after hearing the @ @ @ @ @ to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn , where she was pronounced dead .
@ @ @ @ @ one in custody .


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 4,699 new cases of COVID-19 — the lowest daily count in nearly two

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 4,699 new cases of COVID-19 — the lowest daily count in nearly two months — and 98 additional deaths reported Monday

There are some positive signs , with case counts and hospitalizations starting to drop in Illinois , though the latter @ @ @ @ @ hospitals ’ decision making .
Hospitals have been more choosy about who gets admitted — @ @ @ @ @ in emergency departments are being sent home with monitoring instructions — and doctors and nurses @ @ @ @ @ patients with conditions that are usually monitored in intensive care have been moved to other @ @

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
Laquitta Boyd, holds her 6-year-old daughter Venisha while receiving her first COVID-19 vaccination at a back-to-school health fair hosted by RUSH University Medical Center at the Salvation Army Freedom Center on July 30, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois on Monday logged its lowest number of newly reported daily coronavirus infections in nearly two months, with 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19. The last time the daily number of new coronavirus cases was below 5,000 was Oct. 27, as the state was starting to see an aggressive fall resurgence of the illness.
Officials also announced 98 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 905,069 and the statewide death toll to 15,299 since the start of the pandemic.
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Meanwhile, after months of Washington gridlock, Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The package would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction. Here are other highlights from the bill.
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Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
11 p.m.: Congress passes $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, authorizing long-sought aid
Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Monday night that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The bill combines coronavirus-fighting funds with financial relief for individuals and businesses. It would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants, and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.
On Monday morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a key negotiator, said that the direct payments would begin arriving in bank accounts next week.
Read more here. —Associated Press
5:45 p.m.: More than 63,000 COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Illinois since shots arrived last week
A week after the first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrived in Illinois, more than 63,000 health care workers across the state have received their first of two doses of the immunization, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said Monday.
That total does not include vaccinations in the city of Chicago, which received its own shipment of the vaccine.
The state has been allocated an additional 60,450 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week, the bulk of which will be set aside for a federal partnership with CVS and Deerfield-based Walgreens to immunize nursing home residents, according to the governor’s office. The program is expected to begin vaccinations next week.
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The remaining 20,000 doses are expected to arrive Tuesday and Wednesday at hospitals statewide that have the ultracold freezer equipment required to store the Pfizer vaccine.
Illinois also expects to receive about 174,000 doses of a second vaccine, from Moderna, on Wednesday and Thursday. The doses, which can be stored at regular freezer temperatures, also will go directly to hospitals to continue ramping up the immunization of health care workers.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks and Dan Petrella
4:13 p.m.: Priority vaccinations are urged for the incarcerated and workers at jails and prisons
More than five dozen community and social justice groups joined forces Monday to urge Illinois public health officials to include incarcerated people and staff working in prisons, county jails and other detention facilities with others receiving priority COVID-19 vaccinations.
The activists also are asking that low-wage warehouse workers aren’t forgotten among essential workers in the state’s rollout plan.
In a letter sent Monday to the state’s top public health official, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the coalition of groups noted positive cases have surged in recent months in the Illinois Department of Corrections and other institutions where many incarcerated people are old and have underlying medical conditions.
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The letter was addressed to Ezike, the Illinois Department of Public Health director, and sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker as well. The advocates also held a Facebook Live event on Monday, organized by the nonprofit Westside Justice Center in Chicago.
Mirroring state and national trends, a second wave of the pandemic has hit state prisons, with cases rising widely across the system. More than 6,000 inmates and 3,000 staff have tested positive since the pandemic began in March, with at least 59 inmate fatalities, according to state data released Dec. 21.
One IDOC staff member also has died of a virus-related illness.
To date, 20% of Illinois’ prison population of 30,000 inmates has tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center, said incarcerated people – especially those who are elderly and infirm – should be prioritized with other populations in congregate care settings, such as nursing homes. And inmates who work in health care units should be on the list with other health care professionals, according to Mills.
”Back in August, we told the (Illinois) Department of Corrections that they should be testing everyone, two or three times a week ... They didn’t do that,” said Mills, noting thousands of new infections in recent months.
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“Unlike the rest of the world, prisons have total control over who comes in and out. They could have stopped the introduction (of the virus) entirely. They chose not to do that.”
The state has not announced yet when incarcerated people will receive the vaccine shot but prison staff, especially those who work in health care units, are expected to be prioritized, state officials have said.
Sharyln Grace, executive director of Chicago Community Bond Fund, said the rising statistics call for an urgent response. She also mentioned the Cook County Jail, where thousands of adult detainees are housed.
”The state of Illinois and the individuals responsible for running each facility have a duty to protect people in their custody from COVID-19 because people inside don’t have the ability to practice social distancing the way we do on the outside,” said Grace, speaking at Monday’s Facebook Live event.
—Christy Gutowski
3:05 p.m.: Dozens test positive for coronavirus in Lake County Jail COVID-19 outbreak
With 35 inmates at the Lake County Jail in Waukegan testing positive for COVID-19, Lake County Sheriff’s Department officials said they are taking steps to curb the spread of the virus among prisoners and staff.
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After four inmates housed in pod 5-North at the jail for several weeks tested positive for the virus Dec. 14, the area was quarantined and all 53 prisoners there were tested. Authorities learned Sunday that 35 were positive. All are asymptomatic, according to a news release.
Sgt. Chris Covelli, the spokesman for the sheriff’ department, said in an email the 35 are in good condition. Those who tested positive cannot go to other areas of the jail. Only specific employees can enter the area wearing personal protection equipment including masks and possibly gloves.
Covelli said steps were also taken to protect the inmates with negative test results though they remain in the area. Any time they leave their individual cell, they must wear a mask and distancing rules have been implemented, he said.
Read more here. —Steve Sadin, Lake County News-Sun
1:04 p.m.: Daily COVID-19 case count dips below 5,000 for first time in nearly two months
Illinois on Monday logged its lowest number of newly reported daily coronavirus infections in nearly two months, with 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19.
The last time the daily number of new coronavirus cases was below 5,000 was Oct. 27, as the state was starting to see an aggressive fall resurgence of the illness.
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At that time, the state was reporting only newly confirmed cases, and has since begun combining new daily confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19.
The daily case numbers the state reports tend to be lower on Mondays due to weekend lags.
The seven-day statewide positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 7.5% for the period ending Sunday.
The new cases reported on Monday came out of a batch of 86,454 tests conducted during a 24-hour period, for a daily case positivity rate of roughly 5.4%.
The state surpassed the 900,000 case mark over the weekend, and with Monday’s numbers the known case count statewide grew to 905,069.
The state also reported another 98 deaths on Monday, raising the death toll to 15,299 throughout the pandemic. Monday was the second consecutive day the number of deaths reported in a 24-hour period was in the double digits, after 12 days in a row with daily death tolls over 100.
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As of Sunday night, 4,460 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized across the state, with 981 in intensive care units and 546 patients on ventilators. Those figures have dropped gradually over the past several weeks — there were more than 6,000 people with COVID-19 hospitalized in the state in late November.
—Jamie Munks
9 a.m.: Second stimulus bill would give airlines $15 billion more, bring back 32,000 furloughed airline workers
Airlines will bring back more than 32,000 furloughed workers as part of the sweeping $900 billion economic stimulus bill that congressional leaders agreed to Sunday.
After wrangling over a stimulus package for months that includes direct payments to Americans and increased relief for small businesses, the air travel industry was able to secure another $15 billion in aid to airlines that would bring back workers, guarantee pay and delay talk of payroll cutbacks until at least the end of March.
The bill is still waiting on a final vote and signature from President Donald Trump, but Senate key Democrat and Republican leaders in both chambers endorsed the compromise.
Chicago-based United Airlines furloughed about 13,000 workers and laid off 1‚400 management and administrative employees.
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Read more here. —Kyle Arnold, The Dallas Morning News
8:18 a.m.: Vatican tells Catholics it’s ‘morally acceptable’ to get COVID-19 vaccines based on research using fetal tissue from abortions
The Vatican on Monday declared that it is “morally acceptable” for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used fetal tissue from abortions.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, said it addressed the question after receiving several requests for “guidance” during recent months. The doctrine office noted that bishops, Catholic groups and experts have offered “diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements” on the matter.
Drawing on Vatican pronouncements in past years about developing vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted fetuses, the watchdog office issued a statement it said Pope Francis had examined last week and ordered to be made public.
The Catholic Church’s teaching says that abortion is a grave sin.
The Vatican concluded that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses” in the research and production process when “ethically irreproachable” vaccines aren’t available to the public. But it stressed that the “licit” uses of such vaccines “does not and should not in any way imply that there is a moral endorsement of the use of cell lines proceeding from aborted fetuses.”
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Read more here. —Associated Press
8:12 a.m.: COVID-19 fills winter break with angst and uncertainty for families about 2021 reopening plans
For many teachers, students and parents, a COVID-19 winter break offers little break from anxiety over 2021 reopening plans, which remain uncertain in Chicago Public Schools and many suburban districts.
With community spread of the coronavirus still high, along with continued resistance to reopening plans from teachers union and a small number of school outbreaks statewide, many school officials are still trying to calibrate plans for when and how schools can reopen, with parents feeling frustrated.
”There’s a lot of uncertainty for us, but it’s got to be really terrible for the teachers,” Arlington Heights parent Danny Strauss said after School District 25 last week postponed a decision on virus metrics that he believes would definitively determine whether school buildings remain open or closed.
Some suburban districts, including Winnetka School District 36 and Township High School District 214, as well as the Archdiocese of Chicago, have announced they will be offering strictly remote learning following winter break to allow time to gauge virus rates before students return to school buildings in mid-January.
But officials at other suburban school districts, including District 25 and New Trier High School, are optimistic that 2021 will ring in a return to more classroom learning, and are planning to resume classes immediately following winter break, as well as expanding the amount of in-person instruction offered to students.
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Whatever the plans, in many districts they’ve been met by some parents who aren’t pleased.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
6 a.m.: With hospitals short on workers, those remaining feel pushed to the edge by COVID-19
Even as the first vaccine shots begin to roll out to health care workers, doctors and nurses say they are struggling to make it through the pandemic’s darkest surge yet, in an atmosphere some describe as bordering on exhaustion.
Federal data shows that roughly 1 in 5 of the state’s hospitals is reporting a “critical” staff shortage each day, a problem reflected in the desperate competition among hospitals for trained staff at a time when the pandemic is straining resources across the country.
The advertised pay for some workers is approaching $3,000 a week, amid stories of workers quitting or calling in sick, and hospitals adding more beds than they have the staff to cover.
“Compensation now is through the roof ... which tells you it’s hard to find people to fill all the jobs we need to fill now,” Joshua Gottlieb, an associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said earlier this month.
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Federal officials aren’t providing the names of hospitals reporting staff shortages, but they have released weekly numbers showing that some facilities are at or near capacity in terms of available beds, particularly in working-class areas hit especially hard by the pandemic.
There are some positive signs, with case counts and hospitalizations starting to drop in Illinois, though the latter numbers can be affected by hospitals’ decision making. Hospitals have been more choosy about who gets admitted — some COVID-19 patients who arrive in emergency departments are being sent home with monitoring instructions — and doctors and nurses told the Tribune that some patients with conditions that are usually monitored in intensive care have been moved to other areas.
Workers also said staffing has been strained as hospitals continue to perform elective surgeries. These are often time-sensitive and necessary operations, but they also can be moneymakers for hospitals. Indiana recently tightened the rules on what surgeries hospitals can do amid the surge, but Illinois has not.
“People are tired,” said Pat Meade, a recovery nurse at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet who is also vice president of the Illinois Nurses Association. “You can’t consistently ask of the same group of people to give more than they can. They’ve got to rest, but the need still exists, so what do you do?”
Read more here. —Joe Mahr and Lisa Schencker
5 a.m.: City distributing grab-and-go activity kits for kids, teens at parks, libraries
Starting Monday, Chicago is handing out grab-and-go activity kits for children and teens for use during the winter break, according to the mayor’s office.
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The kits will be handed out at Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Library locations and “will be filled with hands-on projects,” according to a release from the mayor’s office.
The city is providing what it’s calling “enriching, virtual content and resources” for young people from Dec. 19 to Jan. 3, including prerecorded online content and live classes, according to the release. Anyone interested can go to MyCHIMyFuture.org to learn more.
—Chicago Tribune staff
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chicagotribune--2020-12-21--The Spin: Lightfoot working to rebuild trust after wrongful police raid, video scandal | Cops reassi

The Spin: Lightfoot working to rebuild trust after wrongful police raid, video scandal | Cops reassigned, city’s top lawyer given the boot | Congress prepares to OK relief bill

Anjanette Young reminds Black women of their ancestors who stood naked on a slave auction block , Tribune columnist Dahleen @ @ @ @ @ new piece .
“ To those police officers , Young was nothing more than an @ @ @ @ @ feminine value , undeserving of respect , dignity or even pity , ” Glanton writes @ @ @ @ @ slaves , her only value was in what she could provide for them .
They @ @ @ @ @ a suspect they wrongly believed she was harboring .
”

The shoes are starting to drop.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she “sought” and received the resignation of her good friend and head of the City Law Department Mark Flessner.
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His exit, announced over the weekend, comes after the department he ran tried unsuccessfully to block CBS-Ch. 2 from airing police video of a wrongful raid on the home of social worker Anjanette Young — and then requested the courts sanction her and her attorney for allegedly violating a confidentiality order on the video.
This afternoon, the mayor announced during a news conference that the officers involved in the February 2019 raid had been placed on desk duty over the embarrassing episode, video of which captures the largely white group of male officers walking through the apartment as a naked and eventually handcuffed Young, who is African American, pleaded with them and said more than 40 times that they had the wrong house.
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Lightfoot is in full damage-control, saying she knows the raid and the way the Law Department handled the video further erodes the trust of law enforcement and government, particularly Black people who “feel angry and feel violated” by the city’s treatment of Young.
House cleaning and hearings — City Council hearings on the matter start tomorrow — will at least give the impression of a reset. But true police reform — that is, meting out justice fairly and evenly regardless of race — is what activists are demanding.
Congress is about to approve a new COVID-19 relief package that establishes, at least temporarily, a $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit on top of the state benefit, a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction, The Associated Press reports.
And in Delaware, President-elect Joe Biden got his first of two COVID-19 vaccine shots. Vice President Mike Pence got his in recent days, but there’s no word on when or if his boss, President Donald Trump, might get one.
Welcome to The Spin.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot departs after speaking about the Anjanette Young raid and other issues Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, at City Hall. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Over the weekend, Lightfoot told MSNBC it’s “unacceptable” that Chicago police officers involved in the raid haven’t been “held to account.” She pointed the finger at the head of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which is charged with investigating misconduct complaints and recommending discipline to the police superintendent, for taking too long to wrap up the panel’s work.
“It’s unacceptable that those officers haven’t been held to account yet,” Lightfoot said. “And, so, believe me, I’m putting my foot on the accelerator to make sure that that happens.”
The mayor seemed to be foreshadowing her announcement today: “All of the Chicago police officers who were involved in the raid of Anjanette Young’s home have been placed on desk duty, the latest measure taken by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration in response to the ongoing scandal,” report the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and John Byrne.
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“Monday’s news conference was another effort by Lightfoot and her administration to rebuild trust with residents after initially trying to stop WBBM-Ch. 2 from airing video of the February 2019 raid on Young’s home by police who targeted the wrong address,” Pratt and Byrne note. Read the full story here.
Aldermen on Tuesday have scheduled a hearing on the Young case, though they won’t consider any legislation or take a vote. The joint subject matter-only meeting of the Human Relations and Public Safety committees will give aldermen a high-profile setting to unload on police officials about the handling of the raid of Young’s home and the department’s search warrant policies.
Public Safety Chairman Ald. Chris Taliafero, 29th, joined Lightfoot Monday and promised a “top-to-bottom legislative hearing… to find out how we can better serve the residents of the city of Chicago.”
Full story: Chicago’s top lawyer, Mark Flessner, resigns amid uproar over Anjanette Young raid, video: My Tribune colleague Gregory Pratt had the scoop over the weekend. The mayor said today, she’ll appoint Celia Meza, a senior legal adviser in her office, interim corporation counsel.
These days, we’re feeling a bit of political deja vu with both Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Chicago Sun-Times Mark Brown observes. For Lightfoot, it’s a video scandal that comes a few short years after she campaigned on a vow of transparency, knocking Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration for withholding video of the police shooting and killing of Laquan McDonald.
For Pritzker, Brown notes, it’s the COVID-19 deaths of 33 residents at the state-run LaSalle Veterans’ Home. While no one can blame the governor for a global pandemic, candidate Pritzker in 2018 “tried to leave the impression” that former Gov. Bruce Rauner was to blame for deaths from Legionnaires’ disease of 13 residents at the state-operated Quincy Veterans’ Home, Brown writes. Read the full column here.
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One more thing about civilian oversight: Today, “Chicago’s City Council Black Caucus also called for civilian oversight of police, which has been stalled for months due to disagreement between Lightfoot and community groups over how to best structure such a group,” my colleagues note.
Anjanette Young reminds Black women of their ancestors who stood naked on a slave auction block, Tribune columnist Dahleen Glanton writes in a powerful new piece. “To those police officers, Young was nothing more than an object, devoid of all feminine value, undeserving of respect, dignity or even pity,” Glanton writes. “Like the female slaves, her only value was in what she could provide for them. They needed information from her about a suspect they wrongly believed she was harboring.”
“Like the female slaves, her only value was in what she could provide for them. They needed information from her about a suspect they wrongly believed she was harboring.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot presides over a City Council meeting as Jeff Levine, attorney with the city's Law Department, left, and Mark Flessner, corporation counsel, look on at the start of the virtual meeting April 22, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
“The city’s handling of police video in Young’s raid also highlights a major problem in Chicago’s Law Department,” Pratt and Byrne write in their piece about the officers being moved to desk duty.
Story excerpt: A 2016 Chicago Tribune investigation found that, of nearly 450 cases alleging police misconduct since (then-Mayor) Emanuel took office, a federal judge had to order the city to turn over potential evidence in nearly 1 in every 5 cases.
In numerous cases, the city’s conduct was found to be so inappropriate that a federal judge took the unusual step of handing down sanctions.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives a coronavirus update from the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago on Dec. 1, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has put a hold on his weekday COVID-19 news briefings with the number of cases falling in the state.
The latest number is 4,699 new cases, the lowest daily count in nearly two months, and nearly 90 deaths in the state.
It comes, though, as England and South Africa report they’re dealing with patients who have contracted a new strain of the virus, which seems to spread more easily.
Here in Illinois, hospitals are short on workers, and those remaining feel pushed to the edge by COVID-19, the Tribune’s Joe Mahr and Lisa Schencker report.
As schools break for the holidays, there’s little break from anxiety over when and how they will reopen in 2021, the Tribune’s Karen Ann Cullotta reports.
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City distributing grab-and-go activity kits for kids, teens as winter break camps go online, my Tribune colleagues report.
The U.S. Capitol Christmas tree is seen at the Capitol at night after negotiators sealed a deal for COVID-19 relief Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, in Washington. Top Capitol Hill negotiators sealed a deal Sunday on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
Associated Press dispatch: After months of Washington gridlock, Congress is set to vote on a $900 billion pandemic relief package, finally delivering long-sought cash to businesses and individuals as well as resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Beyond the temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, there’s a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction. Read the full story here.
“We have more work to be done. We’re not out of the woods,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Springfield Democrat said earlier today on the floor of the senate about the stimulus package and the nation’s economy.
But he cheered the compromise package, saying it was born out of the $748 million bipartisan working group he served on. To strike the deal, Democrats had to drop their demands for local government funding and GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had to shelve his call to shield businesses from COVID-19-related lawsuits.
For cash-strapped state and local governments, like Illinois and Chicago where tax revenues have dried up amid business shutdown orders, looking to the federal government for some relief, the wait-and-see game continues. President-elect Biden, who takes office Jan. 20th, has vowed to help state and city governments.
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Congress OKs 5-year extension of Great Lakes cleanup program, The Associated Press reports.
Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.
Twitter @byldonovan


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Woman dies in fire at Zion senior apartment complex

The woman was found in a smoke-filled , third-floor apartment at the Carmel House Senior Apartment complex in the 2800 @ @ @ @ @ the Zion fire department said .
The victim was in need of immediate medical attention @ @ @ @ @ she was taken to the Vista East Medical Center in serious condition .

One woman died and two people were hospitalized following a fire at Carmel House on Elisha Avenue in Zion early Monday morning. (Joe Shuman / Pioneer Press)
A woman died in a fire early Monday morning a Zion senior apartment center, according to Lake County authorities.
The Lake County coroner’s office was withholding release of the victim’s identity until next of kin was notified, Coroner Jennifer Banek said Monday.
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The woman was found in a smoke-filled, third-floor apartment at the Carmel House Senior Apartment complex in the 2800 block of Elisha Avenue, the Zion fire department said. The victim was in need of immediate medical attention, authorities said, and she was taken to the Vista East Medical Center in serious condition.
Two other residents were taken to the hospital for underlying medical issues that may or may not have been exacerbated by the incident, firefighters said.
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Zion Fire Department and other departments responded to the scene of a fire and evacuation of Carmel House early Monday in Zion. One woman died and others were hospitalized, officials said. (Joe Shuman/News-Sun)
The fire was reported just before 12:20 a.m. by an alarm company and then by multiple residents of the 90-unit complex, according to the fire department.
Because smoke was not contained in the apartment where the fire apparently started, and because the residents ranged in age and mobility, firefighters said they decided to evacuate everyone. Nearby Zion City Hall was opened as a warming shelter and staging location.
After firefighters extinguished the fire and ventilated the smoke, most of the residents were allowed to return to their apartments, though nine units were deemed uninhabitable due to smoke or water damage, the fire department said. But a representative of the building management company on Tuesday said only one resident remained displaced.
“At 5 a.m., all of our residents were allowed to return to their homes with the exception of the resident who lived directly below the apartment where the fire occurred,” SHP Management President Matt Brucker said in a statement emailed to the News-Sun Tuesday.
Zion City Hall was opened as a warming shelter and staging location after a fire at Carmel House. (Joe Shuman/News-Sun)
The State Fire Marshal’s Office and Zion Fire Department are investigating the cause.
The blaze drew 55 first-responders from 18 regional fire and police departments and emergency service agencies. Firefighters were on the scene until just before 4 a.m.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter for the Lake County News-Sun.
This article was updated to include new information provided by the building management company.


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Cops involved in Anjanette Young raid placed on desk duty; Lightfoot says Black people nationwide ‘f

Cops involved in Anjanette Young raid placed on desk duty; Lightfoot says Black people nationwide ‘feel angry and feel violated’

“ We will right the wrongs inflicted on Ms. Young and the wrongs inflicted on many others like her , @ @ @ @ @ of color , and repair the trust that is necessary for us to make the @ @ @ @ @ our values demand .
”

The Chicago police officers involved in the botched raid of Anjanette Young’s home have been placed on desk duty, the latest measure by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration in response to the ongoing scandal.
Lightfoot, who said the reassignments were made by police Superintendent David Brown, also criticized the Civilian Office of Police Accountability for taking too long investigating the case, saying “justice delayed is justice denied.”
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“Frankly, there is no excuse that this matter has languished for a year without any significant movement on the part of COPA,” Lightfoot said.
Monday’s news conference was another effort by Lightfoot and her administration to rebuild trust with residents after initially trying to stop WBBM-Ch. 2 from airing video of the February 2019 raid on Young’s home by police who targeted the wrong address.
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Body camera footage shows some of the Chicago police officers who conducted an errant raid at Anjanette Young’s home on Feb. 21, 2019. (Chicago Police Department)
The mistaken raid has become a major crisis for Lightfoot, who initially said that she had only learned of it after CBS aired police body camera footage that showed Young, who was naked and handcuffed, repeatedly telling officers who barged into her home that they had the wrong place.
Lightfoot has since acknowledged that members of her team told her about the raid via emails in November 2019, as CBS was reporting on search warrants being served at the wrong addresses. Lightfoot said her administration would release those emails, though the mayor’s office has not yet done so.
Twelve cops involved in the raid were moved to desk duty, effective immediately, said department spokesman Don Terry. Asked why the officers are being put on desk duty nearly two years after the raid took place and only after the incident became public, Terry declined to answer, saying the department does not discuss personnel matters.
Lightfoot also said she will appoint Celia Meza, a senior legal adviser in the mayor’s office, interim corporation counsel after Law Department head Mark Flessner resigned over the weekend.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot arrives to talk about the Anjanette Young raid with Celia Meza, left, a senior legal adviser in the mayor's office who was named interim corporation counsel, Dec. 21, 2020, at City Hall. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Flessner came under fire after the Law Department filed a motion seeking to prevent CBS from airing disturbing body camera footage of the raid. Lightfoot said she asked for his resignation in person.
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City lawyers previously filed a request to have Young sanctioned for allegedly violating a confidentiality order on the video, though the city later said it only wanted her lawyer sanctioned. The city eventually filed paperwork seeking to drop the matter altogether.
A federal judge rejected the Lightfoot administration’s unusual request to prevent a television station from airing a news report. The courts long have ruled against efforts to prevent news companies from publishing reports, saying it’s an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment.
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Lightfoot has repeatedly criticized the Law Department for taking the action and denied knowing about it beforehand.
The mayor’s office also disclosed over the weekend that it failed to give Young’s attorney all of the body camera footage of the wrongful police raid, a recurring problem for the Law Department.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel famously fought to keep secret a video showing white police Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting Black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times, but a county judge ordered his administration to release the video. Emanuel has since been dogged by accusations that he covered up the scandal to preserve his 2015 reelection campaign, an allegation he’s denied.
Chicago has since instituted a rule allowing the release of police shooting videos and audio within 60 days. Responding to the Young controversy, Lightfoot said her administration will no longer withhold video from residents seeking police records about their cases and acknowledged that the city’s handling of the matter harmed her relationship with Chicagoans.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot departs after talkng about the Anjanette Young raid, Dec. 21, 2020, at City Hall. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
As a candidate, Lightfoot ran on a transparency platform and promised to handle police accountability issues differently than her predecessors, which has compounded the political fallout of the police raid on Young’s home for her administration.
The city’s handling of police video of the raid also highlights a major problem in the Law Department.
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A 2016 Chicago Tribune investigation found that, of nearly 450 cases alleging police misconduct since Emanuel took office, a federal judge had to order the city to turn over potential evidence in nearly 1 in every 5 cases.
In numerous cases, the city’s conduct was found to be so inappropriate that a federal judge took the unusual step of handing down sanctions.
On Monday, Chicago’s City Council Black Caucus called for civilian oversight of police, which has been stalled for months due to disagreement between Lightfoot and community groups over how to best structure such a group.
Aldermen on Tuesday have scheduled a hearing on the Young case, though they won’t consider any legislation or take a vote. The joint subject matter-only meeting of the Human Relations and Public Safety committees will give aldermen a high-profile setting to unload on police officials about the handling of the raid of Young’s home and the department’s search warrant policies.
Public Safety Chairman Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, joined Lightfoot Monday and promised a “top-to-bottom legislative hearing … to find out how we can better serve the residents of the city of Chicago.”
Seven aldermen on Monday sent Lightfoot a letter calling on her to attend the hearing.
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“As committee members, and representatives of our constituents, we have many unanswered questions regarding this matter and ask for your willingness, as the city’s executive, to bring transparency to this case that has dismayed and disturbed us all,” the letter reads in part.
But Lightfoot said she would not take part in what she said would be a “very comprehensive subject matter hearing.”
Seeking to build trust in her administration, Lightfoot also said Black people across the country “feel angry and feel violated” by the city’s treatment of Young and promised to do better.
“Now is the time for action. We have to take action to address the changes to policies and regulations to protect all Chicagoans against any kind of abuse, particularly one in their homes, and to ensure that our city government is as transparent as it can be,” Lightfoot said.
“We will right the wrongs inflicted on Ms. Young and the wrongs inflicted on many others like her, others who are disproportionately people of color, and repair the trust that is necessary for us to make the reforms that our city and our values demand.”
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
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jebyrne@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--City distributing grab-and-go activity kits for kids, teens as winter break camps go online

The Chicago Park District in recent years has run activities during winter break at park field houses , while libraries @ @ @ @ @ s activities during school breaks , but because of coronavirus-related restrictions , activities only are @ @ @ @ @ .

Chicago on Monday started handing out grab-and-go activity kits for children and teens for use during the winter break, as other activities usually held in libraries and park field houses moved online.
The Chicago Park District in recent years has run activities during winter break at park field houses, while libraries have stepped up children’s activities during school breaks, but because of coronavirus-related restrictions, activities only are being held online this winter.
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The kits are being handed out at Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Library locations and “will be filled with hands-on projects,” according to a release from the mayor’s office.
The city is providing what it’s calling “enriching, virtual content and resources” for young people through Jan. 3, including prerecorded online content and live classes, according to the release. Anyone interested can go to MyCHIMyFuture.org to learn more.
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The city and the library were scheduled to hold more than 150 online activities for young people, focusing on topics including culinary skills, sports and wellness, the arts, STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — skills and academic and college readiness, according to a release.


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Home for the holidays

Home for the holidays

The Chicago Housing Authority has given 54 families in public housing their own home this year through their Choose To @ @ @ @ @ program allows public housing residents to use their housing subsidy to buy themselves a home @ @ @ @ @ Roberson , has moved into her new four-bedroom home with her children on Chicago ’ @ @ @ @ @ Brainerd neighborhood .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 7 Sonja Robinson talks with security technician Abraham Arce at her new home in Chicago on Dec. 12, 2020. The Chicago Housing Authority has given 54 families in public housing their own home this year through their Choose To Own homeownership program. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune)
The Chicago Housing Authority has given 54 families in public housing their own home this year through their Choose To Own homeownership program. The program allows public housing residents to use their housing subsidy to buy themselves a home. One resident, Sonja Roberson, has moved into her new four-bedroom home with her children on Chicago’s South Side in the Brainerd neighborhood.


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Watch live: Mayor Lori Lightfoot holds news conference

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scheduled to hold a news conference at 1 p.m .

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chicagotribune--2020-12-21--COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital da

COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area

Among the metrics ( see below ) tracked under guidelines set by Gov .
J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses , and the capacity of hospitals @ @ @ @ @ state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics @

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
To assess how different parts of Illinois are handling the COVID-19 pandemic, officials look at the state through the 11 regions of Emergency Medical Services. The city of Chicago is one region, for example, and the rest of Cook County is another.
Among the metrics (see below) tracked under guidelines set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of coronavirus tests that return positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses, and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.The state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics. (Cases, deaths and tests data is as of Dec. 31).
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus.
• Other Chicago, suburbs and Illinois COVID-19 metrics.
• See how the governor’s plan to manage the regions works.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Created by the Chicago Tribune dataviz team. On Twitter @chitribgraphics


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 98 new deaths, 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases and 86,454

Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 98 new deaths, 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases and 86,454 new test results

Illinois announced 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 Monday for a total of 905,069 .
The state also @ @ @ @ @ a total of 15,299 and 86,454 new test results for a total of 12.52 million @

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


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Here’s what you need to know about COVID-19 vaccines

Suburban Cook County expects 20,000 doses this week , which will go to workers at 15 hospitals .
Next , @ @ @ @ @ care facilities will be vaccinated by Walgreens and CVS Health workers .
Other health care @ @ @ @ @ workers , will then likely get the vaccine , followed by essential workers , including @ @ @ @ @ , education , transportation , food and agricultural workers , said Dr. Kiran Joshi , @ @ @ @ @ Department of Public Health , during a news conference Monday .


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--Jupiter and Saturn to create ‘Christmas star’ last widely visible 800 years ago. Here’s how you migh

Jupiter and Saturn to create ‘Christmas star’ last widely visible 800 years ago. Here’s how you might be able to see it.

“ Conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn happen every 20 years and most aren ’ t very close at all .
@ @ @ @ @ year is they ’ re right , right next to each other , ” said @ @ @ @ @ planets have never been this close in the sky for 400 years so no one @ @ @ @ @ s going to look like because it hasn ’ t happened since 1623 , in @ @ @ @ @ That kind of gives you a sense of the rarity of the event .
This @ @ @ @ @ event , this is a once-in-our-history since-we-built-the-telescope event .
”

Streaks of beacon and strobe lights from a passenger jet departing O'Hare International Airport pass Saturn and Jupiter as the two planets approach conjunction on Dec. 20, 2020, over Chicago. The Great Conjunction will occur Dec. 21, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
When something inordinately rare or unexpected happens, it is said “the planets aligned.”
On Dec. 21, the winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will appear nearly aligned, resulting in an event so uncommon it’s befitting of the saying. At one time, astronomers may have felt it so closely resembled a Christmas miracle — or, perhaps, the star of Bethlehem — that they named the spectacle the “Christmas Star.”
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The event is called a conjunction, said Shane Larson, associate director of Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics.
“Conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn happen every 20 years and most aren’t very close at all. What’s special this year is they’re right, right next to each other,” said Larson. “These two planets have never been this close in the sky for 400 years so no one really knows what it’s going to look like because it hasn’t happened since 1623, in Galileo’s time. That kind of gives you a sense of the rarity of the event. This is not just a once-in-a-lifetime event, this is a once-in-our-history since-we-built-the-telescope event.”
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While catching a glimpse of either Jupiter or Saturn is relatively commonplace, Michelle Nichols, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium, said the 1623 Christmas Star occurred so close to the sun, it’s possible it went largely unnoticed.
A star map of the night sky as seen on Dec. 21, 2020, shows the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter that will create a bright "Christmas star" on the southwest horizon. (TNS)
The last time the two gas giants were this close and easily seen? A cool 800 years.
“It’ll be closer than anybody on Earth has ever seen those two planets,” Nichols said.
She recently has been fielding questions at Adler about what the event will and won’t involve and said she’s encountered a great deal of misinformation. For one thing, she said, “nearly aligned” is not aligned.
“They’re coming close together, but they are not going to merge; they are not forming a single star. They will still appear as two distinct objects,” Nichols said. “The distance between them will appear as about one-fifth of the diameter of the full moon.”
And that’s just how close they’ll look. They’ll still be about half a billion miles apart.
“It’s a rare event that people should take advantage of to go take a look at, if they can,” said Adina Feinstein, a researcher in the University of Chicago’s astronomy and astrophysics department.
And timing is of the utmost importance, she said. The “star” will only be visible for about an hour shortly after sunset, which in Chicago should be at 4:23 p.m. on Monday. (The winter solstice is when the northern hemisphere has the fewest hours of daylight all year.)
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“Remember it won’t be the whole night. People wishing to see it will want to look to the horizon, in the southwest sky, or use an app that tells them where Jupiter is,” Feinstein said.
But Larson doubts an app will be necessary. He said to look near where the sun has set and make a fist, lining up the bottom with the horizon. The top should be about where Jupiter will be, and it will be the brightest star in the sky.
Saturn will be much less so, but within about 45 minutes of sunset, Nichols said, the Christmas Star should appear. It will “set” about 6:40 p.m. in Chicago.
“You’ve got about an hour of decent viewing. Whether or not you see it past that time depends on your local horizon and how far down to the horizon you can see,” she said.
Some good news for Chicago residents: Light pollution from the city isn’t likely to affect visibility. But remember the star will be low — more out than up. If the horizon is obscured by buildings or trees, it won’t be visible.
Stars shine in the sky as vegetation sits near a utility pole in the County Line Conservation area in the early hours of on Dec. 10, 2020, in Garden Prairie, Ill. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Nichols said one question she has not been able to answer is whether it’s possible the star of Bethlehem described in the Bible might have been a conjunction. There was a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in 7 B.C., she said.
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“The answer is we have absolutely no idea,” Nichols said. “What people considered celestially significant then was very different from what people consider significant today, so it is extremely difficult to know what was being referred to.”
Larson encouraged everyone to get out and enjoy the night sky generally, and this event specifically. Although access to a backyard telescope isn’t necessary, it will magnify the experience.
“People have these kinds of moving experiences the first time they look at Jupiter and Saturn through a telescope because they will look just like they do in pictures. It’s really kind of remarkable in that way,” Larson said.
“Either way, go look. And just kind of appreciate the precise and very elegant clockwork of the universe that made this possible. For those of us who enjoy finding our place in the universe by staring into the sky, that is what this event is really most important for.”
kdouglas@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @312BreakingNews


chicagotribune--2020-12-21--As schools break for the holidays, there’s little break from anxiety over when and how they will reo

As schools break for the holidays, there’s little break from anxiety over when and how they will reopen in 2021

In District 25 , the week before winter break was a rough one for many parents , regardless of their @ @ @ @ @ forward after the holidays .
A protest that had been planned for Thursday by parents @ @ @ @ @ in-person classes was canceled amid claims that organizers were being harassed by those with opposing @ @

When the last day of school before winter break arrived Friday, Arlington Heights parents Danny and Leigh Strauss had hoped, for at least the next two weeks, they would get a respite from the unpredictability of their two sons’ COVID-19-era education.
But after spending nearly three hours Thursday night glued to a YouTube live broadcast of their local school board meeting, the couple was dismayed that officials at Arlington Heights School District 25 once again postponed a decision on virus metrics that the Strausses said is needed to definitively determine whether school buildings remain open or closed.
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“There’s a lot of uncertainty for us, but it’s got to be really terrible for the teachers,” Danny Strauss said, adding that even though the couple’s sons are enrolled in the district’s remote learning option, they remain wary of the school board’s plans to ramp-up in-person instruction by mid-January.
“I’m worried about our amazing teachers, who taught our kids how to read and the basic functions of math. ... They put on our kids’ Band-Aids and give them hugs, and now the school board is not showing them any form of respect,” Leigh Strauss added.
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For many suburban Chicago families with school-age children, the arrival of the two-week winter break amid worrisome COVID-19 rates across the region is adding up to a holiday season fraught with anxiety and uncertainty about what school will look like when classes resume in January.
In Chicago Public Schools — which has yet to resume any in-person instruction since the statewide school shutdown went into effect in March — plans to begin bringing staff and students back in early January remain tentative as Chicago Teachers Union officials have said they remain unconvinced it can be done safely.
Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago, as well as some suburban public school systems such as Winnetka School District 36 and Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, have announced they will be offering strictly remote learning following winter break to allow time to gauge virus rates before students return to school buildings in mid-January. The extra time will also provide space between potential holiday gatherings and the return to in-person instruction.
But officials at other suburban schools, including New Trier High School and those in District 25, are optimistic that 2021 will ring in a return to more classroom learning, and are planning to resume classes immediately following winter break, as well as expanding the amount of in-person instruction offered to students.
At New Trier, officials said the number of students attending in-person classes is expected to double at the start of the new semester on Jan. 26.
With the anticipated increase of students at the high school’s campuses in Winnetka and Northfield, the high school’s new $1.3 million saliva screening will now be mandatory, rather than voluntary, New Trier Superintendent Paul Sally said in a recent parent letter.
“We created this program to help us assess the risks of COVID-19 on our campuses and to lessen community spread, both of which help us consistently offer in-person instruction,” Sally said.
“While the participation rate has been high, due to the voluntary nature of the program, we do not have a complete picture of the risks of in-person instruction,” Sally said, adding that for the high school to continue to support in-person instruction, officials “need to make sure all students are screened each week.”
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The new year is also expected to bring a transition from remote learning to an in-person hybrid plan on Jan. 25 for students in Naperville Community Unit School District 203.
“We feel confident returning in a hybrid model as the number of positive cases in our community has stabilized,” District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges said in a Dec. 15 email to parents.
“We continue to see a low number of positive student and staff cases and these numbers have been consistent over the past weeks, as well as a low level of transmission of the virus within our schools,” Bridges said. “We are looking forward to transitioning to a hybrid model as long as the health metrics continue this trend.”
After halting its in-person student instruction last month in the wake of surging COVID-19 rates, officials at District 214 are taking a cautious approach to the start of 2021, and plan to continue with strictly remote learning until Jan. 19, officials said.
The pause to in-person classroom learning was prompted by five metrics that “were consistently in the substantial community spread range for three consecutive weeks,” officials said.
Nevertheless, starting Jan. 19 and continuing through the third quarter, the district plans to “maximize the opportunity for in-person attendance for those who would like to attend more frequently while maintaining social distance requirements,” officials said.
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In District 25, the week before winter break was a rough one for many parents, regardless of their opinions on the right path forward after the holidays. A protest that had been planned for Thursday by parents concerned about the continuation of in-person classes was canceled amid claims that organizers were being harassed by those with opposing views.
Just a few hours later, District 25 Superintendent Lori Bein announced that the Cook County Department of Public Health has recommended that Thomas Middle School — which reopened on Tuesday, after being closed for two weeks by a COVID-19 outbreak — would move to an all remote learning model again until mid-January.
Since Oct. 23, there have been 29 reported cases of COVID-19 at Thomas in an “ongoing outbreak,” Bein said in a parent letter.
“I know this is disappointing for our students, families and staff. However, we need to follow the guidance of our local health experts,” Bein said.
As the school board gathered Thursday night to discuss the Thomas outbreak, as well as another debate about COVID-19 metrics, Kerri Hood was one of about a dozen parents who huddled outside the district headquarters, holding a sign carrying the message: “Re-open D25 Schools! Let parents decide in-person or remote.”
On Friday, Hood said she is encouraged by the district’s plans to expand in-person instruction in mid-January from two days to four days a week if metrics are met.
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Danny Strauss outside District 25 in Arlington Heights. As the parent of two elementary students in the district, "there’s a lot of uncertainty for us, but it’s got to be really terrible for the teachers," he said. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Despite the differing views on what schools should look like after winter break, Hood said all of the families she knows in the community share common ground when it comes to their appreciation for the district’s teachers.
“I’ve had my teachers’ gifts ready and wrapped for weeks,” Hood said. “I think whether you’re a family who has chosen remote for your children, or who is sending your kids to school, we all love our teachers, and we know how hard they’re working right now.”
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kcullotta