chicagotribune--2020-11-26--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials plea with residents to skip Thanksgiving gatherings as 11

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials plea with residents to skip Thanksgiving gatherings as 11,378 new cases and 155 more deaths reported Wednesday

Lightfoot also reiterated that the city is working on how it will distribute COVID-19 vaccines when they become available .
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Initially it ’ ll be healthcare workers getting the @ @ @ @ @ later be followed by high-risk individuals , but all adults should be able to get @ @ @ @ @ she said .

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CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
For the latest updates, click here for the Thanksgiving weekend live blog.
A day before Thanksgiving, Illinois and Chicago officials painted a dire picture of what could happen if residents don’t skip the holiday’s traditional gatherings.
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”Let me put this as bluntly as we can. We are extremely concerned about Thanksgiving weekend becoming a superspreader event,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday.
Public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the Canadian Thanksgiving last month led to a dramatic spike in cases, upping Chicago officials’ concern.
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Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 11,378 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 155 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 685,467 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 11,832 since the start of the pandemic.
Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
6 p.m.: McHenry County state’s attorney says he won’t enforce Illinois’ ban on indoor dining in restaurants
McHenry County’s top prosecutor announced Wednesday that his office will not enforce Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to ban indoor dining at restaurants.
State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally issued a statement that the Illinois Emergency Management Act, which gives the governor authority to issue executive orders, does not require or empower the state’s attorney to enforce the orders.
Kenneally also wrote that there is “the legitimate question” being litigated in court over whether the governor’s repeated orders are authorized by law. So far, while two trial courts have ruled that the orders were not lawful, two McHenry County judges, as well as appellate and federal courts, have upheld the orders on at least a preliminary basis.
Kenneally said he would continue to enforce legitimate mask and distancing orders, but chided lawmakers for failing to clarify the law on “one of the most important issues this State has ever faced.”
“Rather, the Governor has taken it upon himself to unilaterally make ‘laws’ by executive order ― without any identifiable criteria or process ― that drastically impact the day-to-day lives and constitutional rights of every Illinois resident and then execute those laws,” Kenneally wrote. “This is a dangerous combination in a constitutional republic.”
Pritzker has said the law clearly gives him authority to issue the closure orders and that they are needed to prevent further illness and deaths. Nearly 12,000 people with COVID-19 have died in Illinois, and about 6,000 patients are in hospitals. Pritzker has called lawyers who argue he doesn’t have the authority to issue the orders “snake oil salesmen.”
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Read more here. —Robert McCoppin
5:45 p.m.: Pritzker tells feds Illinois plans to borrow another $2 billion from coronavirus lending program
Gov. J.B. Pritzker notified the Federal Reserve on Wednesday that Illinois plans to borrow an additional $2 billion from a special lending program established earlier this year to aid state and local governments ailing because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The state is facing a nearly $4 billion hole in the budget year that ends June 30 due in part to voters’ earlier rejection of Pritzker’s proposed graduate-rate income tax plan in the Nov. 3 election.
The spending plan approved by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and signed into law by Pritzker also relied heavily on uncertain aid from Washington, which has been blocked by Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
The plan authorizes the state to borrow up to $5 billion from the Fed program, but Pritzker said he doesn’t want to saddle the state with that much short-term debt.
Illinois’ budget calls for spending $43.1 billion from the state’s general funds, but the state currently only anticipates bringing in $39.2 billion in revenue, creating a shortfall of $3.9 billion, or about 9%.
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While the governor said he’s optimistic that President-elect Joe Biden and Congress will reach a deal on an aid package to help offset the revenue states have lost due to the pandemic, the state is going ahead with more borrowing.
Read more here. —Dan Petrella
4:50 p.m.: State and city officials make one last plea: Skip the traditional Thanksgiving
A day before Thanksgiving, state and city officials painted a dire picture of what could happen if residents don’t skip the holiday’s traditional gatherings amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We don’t want anybody’s Thanksgiving dinner to turn into a COVID-19 superspreader event,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said during the state’s daily coronavirus briefing. “Our goal is to protect and not infect those that we love and care for.”
Ezike said the first sign of a post-Thanksgiving wave of coronavirus infections would arise in cases within the next week or two. That could be followed by a new surge in hospitalizations and, ultimately, deaths, she said.
“The safest thing we can do for one another is stay within our own households,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “But if you are hellbent on gathering with others outside your own home, please do it with just a few people. And, importantly, this is not the year to have everybody over at grandma’s house.”
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State officials are encouraging those who do ignore the warnings against mixed household gatherings to get tested for the coronavirus a week later, or sooner if symptoms develop.
The holiday comes at a precarious time for Chicago and Illinois in the battle against the virus, although increases in both new cases and positivity rates have leveled off in recent days after rapid gains throughout October and early November.
Read more here. —Gregory Pratt and Dan Petrella
12:08 p.m.: 11,378 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 155 additional deaths reported Wednesday
Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 11,378 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 155 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 685,467 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 11,832 since the start of the pandemic.
There were 114,233 tests reported in the previous 24 hours. The statewide positivity for the previous seven days is 12.2% and the rate for cases as a percent of total test in that timeframe is 10.6%
—Chicago Tribune staff
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11:15 a.m.: Lightfoot and Arwady say it again: Skip Thanksgiving gatherings this year
A day before Thanksgiving, Chicago city officials painted a dire picture of what could happen if residents don’t skip the holiday’s traditional gatherings.
”Let me put this as bluntly as we can. We are extremely concerned about Thanksgiving weekend becoming a superspreader event,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
Public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the Canadian Thanksgiving last month led to a dramatic spike in cases, upping Chicago officials’ concern. Arwady cited an Internet meme to encourage people to stay home with just members of their household: “It’s better to have a Zoom Thanksgiving than an ICU Christmas.”
About 50 million Americans are expected to travel so people need to double down on precautions to avoid spikes in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, Lightfoot said.
If cases continue to go up, Lightfoot said it could lead to limited hospital beds, staff, and supplies. Many have experienced continued trouble breathing, fatigue, migraines, dizziness and memory loss, as well as loss of smell and taste, she said.
“COVID-19 is being spread by people being close together in enclosed spaces,” Lighfoot said.
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Lightfoot also reiterated that the city is working on how it will distribute COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. Who gets the vaccine first and the order thereafter will be determined by federal rules, she said, but the city already has a robust system for distributing vaccines. Initially it’ll be healthcare workers getting the vaccine. It’ll later be followed by high-risk individuals, but all adults should be able to get vaccines sometime in 2021, she said.
Asked whether the city regrets not closing indoor bars and restaurants sooner since cases have started going down after Gov. J.B. Pritzker closed them, Lightfoot reiterated her argument that it wasn’t bars and restaurants leading to spikes in cases.
”We should not be blaming restaurants. That’s not appropriate. That’s not right,” she said.
—Gregory Pratt
8 a.m.: US unemployment claims rise to 778,000 as COVID-19 pandemic worsens
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week to 778,000, evidence that the U.S. economy and job market remain under strain as coronavirus cases surge and colder weather heighten the risks.
The Labor Department’s report Wednesday said jobless claims climbed from 748,000 the week before. Before the virus struck hard in mid-March, weekly claims typically amounted to roughly 225,000. They shot up to 6.9 million during one week in March before dropping yet remain historically high more than eight months later, with many businesses unable to fully reopen.
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The number of people who are continuing to receive traditional unemployment benefits is now 6.1 million, up from fewer than 1.7 million a year ago. Still, that figure had been declining for months. It shows that more Americans are finding jobs and no longer receiving unemployment aid. But it also indicates that many jobless people have used up their state unemployment aid — which typically expires after six months — and have transitioned to a federal extended benefits program that lasts 13 more weeks.
Read more here. —Associated Press
6 a.m.: Contact tracing in Illinois may not slow the coronavirus much. But the data is helping guide state decisions.
Contact tracing for COVID-19 has gotten off to a slow start in Illinois, with the state still short of its initial goal of 3,800 people doing that work. And now, with infections soaring, caseloads are overwhelming tracers’ ability to slow the spread of the virus by tracking down contacts and getting them to quarantine.
But the information gleaned by contact tracers is proving useful in another way: It is feeding a growing database that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has cited as a guide in making decisions about pandemic restrictions. The governor singled out the data, along with scholarly studies, when defending his late October decision to shut down indoor dining.
Experts on contact tracing say that using contact tracing data in this way is valid and part of the reason contact tracing is done in the first place, particularly when cases are surging.
When case levels are higher, “understanding where people have gotten infected is going to help us understand what are the risky places or risky activities that can inform what kind of response we want to do,” said Jaline Gerardin, assistant professor of preventive medicine at McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.
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Read more here. —Hal Dardick
6 a.m.: Peck Elementary teacher Sandra Ramirez has given out thousands of boxes of food to students’ families. ‘Her heart is so enormous.’
As the COVID-19 pandemic tightened its grip on Chicago in March, Peck Elementary teacher Sandra Ramirez learned that some students weren’t logging in for remote classes.
Ramirez called their homes and found out that parents were losing their jobs. Household internet connections weren’t working or were strained by multiple children doing remote learning. Adult relatives — many of them essential workers — were getting the coronavirus, and some were dying.
“I was hearing some very tragic stories,” Ramirez said.
So when the Christian charity World Vision, which works with Peck on other projects, called Ramirez to ask if she wanted to help start weekly food distributions at the Southwest Side elementary school, she didn’t hesitate.
“Let me know what I need to do,” she said.
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Since then, Ramirez has gone above and beyond as the Peck food distribution program’s on-site organizer, according to World Vision Chicago site manager Jonathan Smith. She has hauled milk in her own SUV, coordinated a team of two dozen volunteers and personally handed out hundreds of boxes of food.
At last count, Ramirez and her fellow Peck volunteers have given away 3,000 gallons of milk, 600 boxes of fresh food and 4,200 boxes of food and essential supplies.
“I have to tell Sandra, all the time, to take a day off,” Smith said with a chuckle.
“Her heart is so enormous. She’s the type of person who just gives her all to be sure that someone has the same things that she has.”
Read more here. —Nara Schoenberg
6 a.m.: Have a question about COVID-19? University of Chicago’s Dr. Emily Landon will answer readers’ questions Dec. 2 on Facebook Live.
The number of COVID-19 cases is rising, along with worries and concerns: Am I doing all that I can to stay safe from the coronavirus? Why did I test positive if I wore a mask and isolated? I haven’t been infected though I’m not taking any precautions, so is this even real? It can be hard to keep up with the news with so many new developments.
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That’s why the Chicago Tribune is partnering with the University of Chicago to answer readers’ questions with a Facebook Live event Dec. 2. I’ll be asking readers’ questions to University of Chicago Medicine infectious diseases expert Dr. Emily Landon in hopes of quelling some of those concerns. If you have a question you haven’t been able to find an answer to, now is your chance to be heard.
The link to the Facebook Live stream will go live on our Facebook page Dec. 2. Also, our written Q&A is continuously updated, so if you have a question that we haven’t answered yet there, send it to the Tribune here.
Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
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chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Austin man charged with shooting neighbor to death

On the day of the shooting , Ollison and Barber were having a conversation about a girl when several shots @ @ @ @ @ inside his home , up to his second floor and collapsed , prosecutors said .
@ @ @ @ @ car who heard the shooting saw a man wearing a red hooded sweatshirt , like @ @ @ @ @ the same day , leap from the porch and flee on foot , authorities said @

An Austin neighborhood man is charged with shooting to death his neighbor in an attack early this month, according to police and court records.
Denzel Ollison, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death Nov. 4 near where he lives in the 5800 block of West Superior Street, according to police and court records. Killed was Mitchell Barber, 27, who lived a few doors west of Ollison on Superior, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
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Ollison was arrested about 3:30 pm. Monday in the 3100 block of West Harrison Street after police identified him as the man who shot Barber, according to police.
Denzel Ollison, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 4, 2020, shooting death of Mitchell Barber, 27, near where they both lived in the 5800 block of West Superior Street, according to police and court records. (Chicago Police booking photos / HANDOUT)
Barber was shot about 11:20 a.m. Nov. 4, according to police. Barber told police he heard shots and felt pain, but did not immediately give any other information about the shooting, which left him with a gunshot wound to the head.
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Ollison was ordered held without bail in a hearing before Judge John F. Lyke Jr.
During his bail hearing, broadcast on YouTube, prosecutors described Ollison and Barber as childhood friends and neighbors on their Superior Street block, with only a vacant lot separating their homes.
On the day of the shooting, Ollison and Barber were having a conversation about a girl when several shots rang out and Barber stumbled inside his home, up to his second floor and collapsed, prosecutors said. A witness sitting in her car who heard the shooting saw a man wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, like one Ollison was seen wearing the same day, leap from the porch and flee on foot, authorities said.
Ollison, who had no known history of psychological hospitalizations, told authorities of feeling suicidal and hearing spirits telling him to do things such as put a gun to his head.
But officials found no psychoreactive substances in his system after the shooting, finding only marijuana and alcohol, prosecutors said.
Barber was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.


chicagotribune--2020-11-25--Pritzker tells feds Illinois plans to borrow another $2 billion from coronavirus lending program

While the governor said he ’ s optimistic that President-elect Joe Biden and Congress will reach a deal on an @ @ @ @ @ the revenue states have lost due to the pandemic , the state is going ahead @ @ @ @

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a news conference Nov. 4, 2020, at the Thompson Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker notified the Federal Reserve on Wednesday that Illinois plans to borrow an additional $2 billion from a special lending program established earlier this year to aid state and local governments ailing because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The state is facing a nearly $4 billion hole in the budget year that ends June 30 due in part to voters’ earlier rejection of Pritzker’s proposed graduate-rate income tax plan in the Nov. 3 election.
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The spending plan approved by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and signed into law by Pritzker also relied heavily on uncertain aid from Washington, which has been blocked by Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
The plan authorizes the state to borrow up to $5 billion from the Fed program, but Pritzker said he doesn’t want to saddle the state with that much short-term debt.
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Illinois’ budget calls for spending $43.1 billion from the state’s general funds, but the state currently only anticipates bringing in $39.2 billion in revenue, creating a shortfall of $3.9 billion, or about 9%.
While the governor said he’s optimistic that President-elect Joe Biden and Congress will reach a deal on an aid package to help offset the revenue states have lost due to the pandemic, the state is going ahead with more borrowing.
The plan is to repay the Fed as quickly as possible if federal aid comes through or if revenues rebound more quickly than expected, Pritzker said.
He said he would look to cutting state spending to fill the rest of this year’s budget hole.
Illinois so far has been the only state to tap the Fed’s Municipal Liquidity Fund, which will expire after Dec. 31.
The state borrowed $1.2 billion to close a hole in last year’s budget and has repaid $200,000 so far, according to the governor’s office.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com