chicagotribune--2020-05-08--‘It kind of feels like a murder’: COVID-19 complicates Mother’s Day for Illinoisans who lost their m

‘It kind of feels like a murder’: COVID-19 complicates Mother’s Day for Illinoisans who lost their moms to the virus

“ Deaths from COVID are often unexpected or sudden , which can increase our level of grief because we just had no preparation for that , ” said Schlueter .
“ We might be wrestling with feelings of guilt or responsibility wondering if there was something that we could have done to prevent our loved one from getting sick .
We might have extra concern for a surviving parent or loved one who are all of a sudden on their own now and doing so in isolation , where we can ’ t be together and support them the way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who lost a parent to COVID weren ’ t able to be with them in their final days , hours , minutes , and that is a loss .
That ’ s something we tend to think we want to be able to do for our parents , but even more so , it really halts our ability to accept what happened because we didn ’ t see it , we weren ’ t there , and it just feels unreal .
It can diminish our ability to process our resulting grief because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Relatives of Sandra Evans-Green, including her brother Clint Evans, standing from left, daughter LaKendel Evans-Smith, granddaughter Saniya Evans, son Denurris Evans, daughter Alicia Evans, and grandchildren Cor'Sean Ross, sitting from left, An'tenice Pitchford, Ja'Nylah Smith, Jayden Evans and Coreon Ross pose for a photograph at a relative's home, May 7, 2020, in Joliet. Sandra Evans-Green, 58, died on April 18, 2020, from complications of COVID-19. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Alicia Evans chuckled when she admitted that she was one of her mother’s “rebellious kids” growing up. But as Evans got older, she said, she and her mother’s relationship grew stronger, and their bond grew tighter.
“I just took her to Miami in February and she was so excited,” said Evans, 36. “It was so good for me to finally do something like that for my mom, kind of let her see something different.”
Advertisement
The mother-daughter duo talked about 10 times a day, Evans said. When Evans would leave work at midnight, her mother would call to make sure she made it home safely.
“Her love for her children and grandchildren was so unconditional,” said Evans, who lives in Shorewood, Illinois. “There was nothing that she wouldn’t do or sacrifice for her children. That’s why this Mother’s Day is just going to be devastating for us.”
Advertisement
LaKendel Evans-Smith displays the funeral service program for her mother, Sandra Evans-Green, on May 7, 2020, in Joliet. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Sandra Evans-Green, the mother of Evans and her three siblings, died April 18 due to complications from COVID-19. She stayed in the hospital 24 days before she died at age 58.
Evans saw her mother a week before she went into the hospital. A couple days later, Evans-Green started feeling sick and began to cough. The next day, she told Evans she felt better. The two even talked on the phone and swapped Netflix recommendations, a regular occurrence for the pair.
“She was normal,” said Evans. “And then the next day, she was taken to the hospital. She said that she couldn’t breathe.”
Evans-Green raised her four children by herself, Evans said, so that made past Mother’s Days special, but it makes this one all the more challenging given her mother’s unexpected death. Evans and her family plan to go to Evans-Green’s gravesite Sunday to release balloons in her honor.
“It kind of feels like a murder because she went to the hospital and then we just never talked to our mother again,” said Evans. “We couldn’t go up there to see our mother. We couldn’t make sure they were giving her the care that she needed. It’s the most helpless feeling that you can have when all you can do is call and hope that they’re doing right by your mother.”
Charles Green displays the funeral service program for his wife, Sandra Evans-Green, on May 7, 2020, in Joliet. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
This Mother’s Day will mark two weeks since Ashley Franklin and her family lost their mother, Yvette Franklin, due to COVID-19 complications that caused a heart attack. She was 65.
“Everybody loved my momma, and everybody was close to my momma,” said Ashley Franklin, 30, of Schaumburg. “She did a lot for a lot of people.”
Franklin plans to treat her dad on Mother’s Day and make him a dinner. She said that’s what her mother would’ve done, despite it being a holiday for her.
Advertisement
“I plan on pretty much just being there for my dad,” said Franklin. “There’s not much we can do but be there for each other. We don’t have anything planned for my mom. It’s still fresh on us.”
Yvette Franklin’s colleagues did hold a small memorial for her, said Ashley Franklin. “They put a sign in the front yard and did like a little parade to drive past the house.”
Aside from that, Franklin said there’s not much else that can be done because of the stay-at-home order.
“We can’t have a memorial, we can’t have a repast, we can’t have a burial, we can’t do anything,” said Franklin, who mentioned that she tries to keep busy during the day so she won’t “go insane or overthink or lash out.”
Lydia Schlueter, a licensed professional counselor at Libertyville Counseling who specializes in grief counseling, says losing a parent is already devastating, but the present circumstances — including the quarantine and the pandemic — can exacerbate the emotions, especially if that parent died from the coronavirus.
“Deaths from COVID are often unexpected or sudden, which can increase our level of grief because we just had no preparation for that,” said Schlueter. “We might be wrestling with feelings of guilt or responsibility wondering if there was something that we could have done to prevent our loved one from getting sick. We might have extra concern for a surviving parent or loved one who are all of a sudden on their own now and doing so in isolation, where we can’t be together and support them the way we normally would have. Likely those who lost a parent to COVID weren’t able to be with them in their final days, hours, minutes, and that is a loss. That’s something we tend to think we want to be able to do for our parents, but even more so, it really halts our ability to accept what happened because we didn’t see it, we weren’t there, and it just feels unreal. It can diminish our ability to process our resulting grief because it just is such a surreal experience.”
Advertisement
Adding an intense loss of a parent on top of all the other loss and grief the pandemic has caused creates “bereavement overload,” said Schlueter, who also teaches graduate-level grief counseling at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield.
“Every aspect of our grief is being affected by this pandemic, but exacerbated,” she said.
The pandemic has also halted our ability to grieve and mourn the way we normally would have, said Schlueter, like having an in-person funeral, seeing the deceased’s body, or other gatherings.
“That social support is so integral to our grief because we’re not meant to grieve in isolation,” she said.
Sam Awad isn’t sure how he will celebrate his mother on Sunday. Elvira S. Awad, who immigrated from Egypt to America in 1962, died early the morning of April 24, just nine days after she tested positive for COVID-19. She was 92.
Elvira S. Awad celebrated her 85th birthday three years after she retired. (Sam Awad)
“She could be the kindest woman in the world and a fierce, fierce defender of her family,” said Awad, 56, of Hinsdale, who said his mother was a “very determined and strong-willed woman” who came from an “incredibly strong and incredibly stubborn” family of eight other girls and one boy.
Advertisement
Even though Awad said his mother “was ready (to die) before COVID,” he hasn’t really had time to process it all.
“None of us envisioned it being like this,” said Awad. “Those 10 days (after her symptoms started) were so incredibly hard, and helpless was the only feeling you had.”
Kathy and Sam Awad on their wedding day in 1990, standing with his mother, Elvira S. Awad. (Sam Awad)
He does plan to celebrate his wife, Kathy, the mother of his two children.
“All I know is if my wife wasn’t here, I don’t know what I’d done,” he said. “We’ll celebrate her as a mother without our two kids — one’s in the city and the other in Colorado. We’ll celebrate that, we’ll think about her mom who passed in 2015, and we’ll think about my mom, who passed just a few weeks ago, and we’ll go on.”
If grief is like waves in the ocean, days like Mother’s Day make it feel like you’re in the middle of a hurricane in terms of the level of weight, Schlueter explained.
“Our tendency is to fight against that, but then we just become more exhausted and defeated and depleted,” said Schlueter. “The best things we can do for ourselves is to figure out how to ride those waves, like actively stepping into them, and grieving in active ways so that we can make it through. If we extend kindness and grace to ourselves, and to others while we do this work of actively mourning, that’s the best way to make it through that storm and to hope for calmer waters ahead.”
Advertisement
Evans fondly thinks of the times she and her mother sat outside her grandmother’s house and cracked jokes; they loved going there, she said, and her mom had a hilarious sense of humor. She remembers her mother’s love of getting dressed up, and the way she’d perfectly coordinate her outfits. She will miss the unflinching outpouring of love her mother showered upon her grandchildren.
And she wants people to know her mother cannot — and should not — be reduced to a stat line shouted out at a daily briefing.
“My mother is not just another number,” said Evans. “She was a mother, she was a grandmother, she was a person that so many people loved, she was a newlywed. She has been taken from us for something that could’ve been avoided. They keep adding these numbers and numbers and numbers, but these are people’s relatives, their lives are affected (forever). They’ll never be the same.”
chrjohnson@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Illinois surpasses 20,000 COVID-19 tests for the first time, but research suggests many more needed

Illinois surpasses 20,000 COVID-19 tests for the first time, but research suggests many more needed to safely reopen

“ We want people to be safe when they go to work ; we want people to be safe when @ @ @ @ @ We want people to be safe in all their activities , and they want to @ @ @ @ @ tested around them so that nobody is without an opportunity to get a test .
@

CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois has passed another milestone in testing for the new coronavirus, for the first time conducting more than 20,000 screenings in a single day, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.
Expanded testing is a cornerstone of Pritzker’s five-phase plan for reopening the state, but a study released this week suggests Illinois is still a long way from doing enough to safely relax the governor’s stay-at-home order. And Pritzker himself has said the state needs to test even more than the study from Harvard University suggests.
Advertisement
“Testing is fundamental to our ability to reopen the economy while controlling the spread of the virus,” the governor at his daily news briefing. “That’s what it takes to keep the public safe.
"The progress we’ve made on testing over the last two months — building a statewide testing program from scratch, to around 15,000 to 20,000 tests per day — is tremendous. Even if we’re one of the best states in the nation on testing, we know it’s not enough to be where we need to be on a longer time frame.”
Advertisement
In March, Pritzker set a goal of conducting 10,000 tests per day, a benchmark it took nearly a month to achieve as Illinois, like other states, struggled with supply shortages and other roadblocks. The state finally surpassed that goal on April 24 and since has been averaging about 15,000 daily screenings.
Medical staff, medical students and registered nurses meet before the start of coronavirus testing at the VIDA Wellness Center in Little Village on May 6, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Officials said Friday that 20,671 specimens were tested in the previous 24 hour, for a total of 399,714 since the outbreak began.
The state also announced 2,887 new known cases of COVID-19, along with 130 more fatalities. That brings the total count of known cases to 73,760 and the death toll to 3,241 statewide since the start of the outbreak.
The state averaged 113 deaths per day for the week ending Friday, compared with 96 for the previous seven days.
Under the “Restore Illinois” reopening road map Pritzker released Tuesday, the positivity rate in any of the plan’s four regions must be at or under 20% and increase no more than 10 percentage points over a 14-day period, among other criteria, in order to move to the next phase.
According to a recent analysis conducted by Harvard and the STAT online medical publication, Illinois would have to conduct more than 64,000 tests every day before it should further relax its stay-at-home order.
By that measure, Illinois falls far short. The state has averaged 16,432 tests a day for the week ending Friday.
Illinois is not alone, the analysis found. Dozens of states are falling well short of what’s needed, with estimates based on the number of detected cases so far and the population of each state. New York, for example, is conducting about 22,000 tests a day but should be doing nearly 113,000.
Advertisement
Pritzker acknowledged Thursday that the state still needs to conduct many more tests per day before it will be safe to fully reopen the economy.
“Every state in the country, let’s be clear, is trying to ramp up testing,” Pritzker said when asked about the Harvard study at his daily news briefing. “We’re doing it better than most; indeed, we’re No. 2 among the top 10 most populous states in the nation.”
However, he added, “We’re all trying to get to a sense of adequacy. I don’t think 64,000 is adequate for the state of Illinois. I think we’re going to need many more tests than that.
“We want people to be safe when they go to work; we want people to be safe when they go to school. We want people to be safe in all their activities, and they want to know that others have been tested around them so that nobody is without an opportunity to get a test.”
Illinois and other states have been navigating a worldwide shortage of testing supplies and a lack of coordination on the federal level, Pritzker said, adding that he’s grateful that Washington is now sending more testing supplies to Illinois.
Pritzker said the first shipment of supplies pledged by the Trump administration — which includes 620,000 swabs — was scheduled to arrive the first week of the month but has been delayed until Sunday.
Advertisement
Despite the delay, the state continues to expand its testing efforts as it moves toward a phased reopening, Pritzker said.
The state will be setting up three new drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites next week and will be announcing their locations “in the coming days.” Illinois is currently operating seven of these drive-up testing sites statewide.
There are 244 public testing locations in Illinois, with 52 sites in Chicago, 26 sites in the southwest suburbs, nine sites in the west suburbs, 20 sites in the northwest suburbs and 20 sites in the north suburbs.
Chicago Tribune’s Hal Dardick and Angie Leventis Lourgos contributed.
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--State says Cicero nursing home is following COVID-19 rules but judge gives skeptical town right to i

State says Cicero nursing home is following COVID-19 rules but judge gives skeptical town right to inspect

“ We have never minimized the dangers and challenges of COVID , but City View is not doing anything different @ @ @ @ @ other nursing homes are doing to combat this .
… Unfortunately , the numbers ( @ @ @ @ @ and scary because we ’ re in a big and scary pandemic , ” Lundy @ @ @ @

City View Multicare Center is shown March 12, 2021, in Cicero. Workers and residents haven't received COVID-19 vaccinations and the nursing home is dealing with an outbreak. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
In the latest development to a high-profile lawsuit, state health inspectors say they’ve found no major violations at a Cicero nursing home where most residents now have COVID-19.
But the home, City View Multi-Care Center, will remain under a Cook County judicial order that allows surprise visits by local officials who’ve alleged widespread rule-breaking at a facility that houses 285 people.
Advertisement
In a Friday hearing held by videoconferencing, attorneys said 167 residents had tested positive along with 32 staffers, with another 30 residents’ tests inconclusive. Nine residents and a worker have died.
Circuit Judge Alison Conlon said that while encouraged by findings in the state’s inspection, she remained concerned about the extent of the virus spread there, as well as prior, repeated evidence the facility broke rules meant to contain the spread.
Advertisement
“These numbers are extremely alarming to people, to the residents, to the heroes who are going to work every day (in the facility) … to people who are also worried about them,” Conlon said.
The order extends a weeklong case that began when Cicero town officials took the unusual step of filing a lawsuit against not just the nursing home, but also the administration of Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Cicero alleged the home broke rules to limit the virus spread and state regulators did little to fix the problems.
The home’s lawyers denied the home had broken rules. The state Department of Public Health, which regulates nursing homes, told the judge it for weeks had chosen to not inspect and, instead, do daily phone check-ins to provide guidance on following directives.
During a Tuesday hearing, Conlon prodded state public health officials to agree to conduct an in-person inspection. The next day, the state sent in 10 inspectors who spent much of the morning reviewing infection control practices in the nine-story building. The health department’s lawyer, Katherine Snitzer, said they found only minor concerns.
“Overall, they found City View was in compliance with all the recommendations,” Snitzer told the judge.
City View’s lawyer, Jason Lundy, said the report confirmed what the facility’s leaders had been saying all along: They’d been doing all they could to follow the rules.
“We have never minimized the dangers and challenges of COVID, but City View is not doing anything different or less or worse than other nursing homes are doing to combat this. … Unfortunately, the numbers (of cases) are big and scary because we’re in a big and scary pandemic,” Lundy told the judge.
Cicero officials didn’t dispute state inspectors’ findings, but they questioned how much the home could be trusted to continue to follow the rules, considering Cicero cited it for repeatedly breaking them in the month before the inspection.
Advertisement
“To put it bluntly, City View was well aware that IDPH was going to go out and inspect,” said Cicero lawyer Cynthia Grandfield. “So while I’m happy they’re compliant, I’m not surprised they’re compliant.”
With the state unwilling to commit to doing more inspections, the town pushed the judge to let it conduct its own. The judge agreed to order up to two unannounced “visits” by the town public health director, or someone she picked to go, over the next 28 days.
If any problems are found, the town must first contact City View to try to work it out and, if that doesn’t work, Cicero can ask state inspectors to return, although the state isn’t required to do so. The lawyers are set to report back to the judge June 5.


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--More rigorous study of hydroxychloroquine is getting underway with help of Cook County health resear

More rigorous study of hydroxychloroquine is getting underway with help of Cook County health researchers

“ A lot of doctors used the drug in the absence of randomized , controlled trials because they didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ patients , ” said Dr. Sybil Hosek , the system ’ s research director and @ @ @ @ @ ’ s trial arm .
`` And so now we ’ re really pulling away @ @ @ @ @ ‘ Whoa , whoa , we just can ’ t answer this question truthfully until @ @ @ @ @ , ’ and that ’ s what we ’ re trying to do .
”

Despite all the experimentation and debate surrounding the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients, no one really knows if the drug is effective, useless or harmful.
That’s because of a lack of completed, carefully controlled trials evaluating how patients who have the disease fared on the drug. Now, researchers at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System are joining a host of medical institutions around the country seeking to answer the question.
Advertisement
“A lot of doctors used the drug in the absence of randomized, controlled trials because they didn’t have anything to give patients,” said Dr. Sybil Hosek, the system’s research director and lead investigator of the county’s trial arm. "And so now we’re really pulling away from that and saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, we just can’t answer this question truthfully until we do a rigorous trial,’ and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Specifically, the health system is looking to enroll about 100 patients who were recently diagnosed with COVID-19 but are not sick enough to need hospital care. Equal numbers would be enrolled at five other medical institutions, with the tab for the work being covered by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Advertisement
Some patients will be given hydroxychloroquine, others will receive the same drug along with the antibiotic azithromycin and the rest will be given vitamin-filled placebos. All will receive the type of doses already approved for treating malaria and autoimmune disorders like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
When the results are tabulated in a couple of months, the researchers will then evaluate whether hydroxychloroquine, whether alone or in combination with the antibiotic, helps to prevent severe illness and keeps patients out of the hospital.
The study is among nearly 200 being conducted around the country to determine if the drug actually works as a COVID-19 treatment, Hosek said. Other studies will test its efficacy in severely ill patients or examine whether it helps prevent the disease when taken by health care workers or close contacts of sick people, she said.
Enrolling patients could be complicated by the perception that questions about the drug’s effectiveness already have been answered, Hosek said, given the publicity surrounding less rigorous studies of the drug in COVID-19 patients.
In a study at U.S. veterans hospitals where severely ill patients were given hydroxychloroquine, the drug was found to be of no use against the disease and potentially harmful when given in high doses. And part of a trial involving chloroquine, a related drug, in Brazil was aborted after heart rhythm problems were detected in 1 out of 4 people given high doses.
The National Institutes of Health has recommended against using hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin because of the potential to create abnormal heart rhythms that could be fatal. “There are insufficient clinical data to recommend either for or against using chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine (alone) for the treatment of COVID-19,” the guidance added.
Doctors who have analyzed previous studies of the drug concluded that more study was needed, in controlled settings.
“Let’s do it right," Hosek said. "Let’s stop speculating and really try to find treatment for this disease, because we don’t have it right now. We don’t have anything to offer somebody that’s symptomatic and at home.”
Advertisement
hdardick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Lack of ankle monitors keeps defendants behind bars: ‘He’s just kind of stuck there’

“ Nobody could have anticipated ( so much of ) the jail population being released , and many of them @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ I do n't think that ’ s something anybody could have planned @ @ @ @ @ We now just have another example where the government was caught flat-footed in trying to @ @ @ @ @ .
”

After overcoming what felt like a thousand hurdles, Candina Crane’s son Christopher was finally scheduled for release from Cook County Jail on an ankle monitor this week.
“Tuesday night he was supposed to come out, Wednesday night he was supposed to come out,” Crane told the Tribune on Friday. “Then Thursday morning, we found out.”
Advertisement
Christopher, 22, would be staying in jail. The Cook County sheriff’s office ran out of equipment for their electronic home-monitoring program this week, the office confirmed.
“He’s just kind of stuck there,” Crane said of her son.
Advertisement
Christopher Crane with his mother, Candina. Christopher Crane remains in Cook County Jail because the sheriff's office has run out of electronic monitors for court-ordered home confinement. (Family photo)
A massive push to reduce the jail’s population amid the coronavirus crisis had the intended effect: The number of detainees behind bars is at historic lows. But many of those released were assigned to home monitoring instead — pushing an already-stressed supply of monitors past its breaking point this week, the sheriff’s office said.
Those placed on home monitoring now may remain in jail instead, “a result that threatens to undo the successes we have achieved in slowing the spread of the virus,” the office noted in a statement Thursday.
Supplies were being replenished bit by bit. By Friday afternoon, the office had received 12 new monitors from their vendors and had collected 22 previously used ones, according to the office. They are expecting a shipment of 50 “alternative devices” soon. In addition, about 26 defendants will have their electronic monitoring orders returned to court for review by a judge.
The blame can’t really be placed on the sheriff’s office, defense attorney David Gaeger told the Tribune.
“Nobody could have anticipated (so much of) the jail population being released, and many of them on EM,” he said. “I don't think that’s something anybody could have planned for logistically or financially. We now just have another example where the government was caught flat-footed in trying to deal with an aggressive pandemic.”
Gaeger had two clients as of Friday who remained behind bars because they couldn’t get ankle bands.
One of them has been diagnosed with COVID-19, Gaeger said. He was held without bail on gun and armed habitual criminal charges until Friday, when a judge in the suburban Markham courthouse ordered him released on a $100,000 bond and electronic monitoring.
His family can post the necessary $10,000 to get him out, Gaeger said, but the judge rebuffed Gaeger’s request to make monitoring a condition of his bond only if equipment is available.
Advertisement
“(He’s got) no chance of being placed on a band, and the judge is well aware there are no bands left,” Gaeger said.
So the client, whom the Tribune is not identifying due to the sensitive nature of the medical information, will remain in the reopened barracks that are serving as quarantine wards for jail detainees with confirmed infections.
A detainee puts her shoe on after receiving an electronic monitoring device prior to being released from the Cook County Jail in 2018. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Another client, Romell Evans, has been in state prison serving out his parole term after violating the conditions of his release by picking up new gun and drug charges last year.
That term is nearly up, and Evans is slated for a return to Cook County Jail this week. His family has attempted to post his bail in advance.
They were told they could pay, Gaeger said, but Evans still wouldn’t be released, since there wasn’t an ankle monitor for him. All it would do is put him on a waiting list, Gaeger said.
“It’s a serious charge, I don’t think EM is an inappropriate condition for a bond on this charge, but it’s not his problem that they don’t have the bands,” Gaeger said.
Advertisement
Sheriff’s officials have stressed for years that their monitoring program has been stretched thin after bail reform measures saw defendants with more serious charges released on the ankle bracelets. But since the pandemic sparked efforts to empty the jail as much as possible, the number of defendants on EM has skyrocketed.
A statement from the sheriff’s office Thursday said they had been warning county authorities for weeks that their supplies were running low. The office is asking prosecutors and public defenders to review cases to see which defendants might be eligible to have their monitors removed.
Meanwhile, Christopher Crane waits in jail, anxious and depressed, his mother said.
He was initially released on a recognizance bond after being arrested for DUI. But in mid-March he was locked up again because a new drug case in DuPage County violated the terms of his bail, Candina Crane told the Tribune.
The family couldn’t afford the necessary $5,000 to get him out on his new $50,000 bond, but a bail charity reached out last month and offered to pay, Crane said.
Procedural issues with his DuPage County case kept Christopher from being slated for release until the end of the month. He was dressed in street clothes and ready to go when the county found a court order affiliated with Crane’s address, making it ineligible for home confinement, she said.
Advertisement
That order only prohibits her son from using drugs or alcohol in the house, she said, which he shouldn’t be doing anyway as a condition of his bond.
Crane’s son-in-law offered to let Christopher stay there instead, but it wasn’t until early this week that she was able to get through to authorities to tell them her son had another place to stay.
By chance, she was on the phone with her son in jail this week when she found out the sheriff’s office had run out of ankle bands.
“We were both in quite a bit of shock,” she said. " … He talks low and slow, you can hear the depression in his voice when he’s on the verge of tears. You can hear it.
“He’s like, ‘I’m just going to give up,’ trying to get me to give up,” she said. “And I’m like, I can’t give up, I’m your mother.”
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--The Spin: Lightfoot outlines plan to reopen Chicago | No-bid deals to fight COVID-19 | Don’t hug you

The Spin: Lightfoot outlines plan to reopen Chicago | No-bid deals to fight COVID-19 | Don’t hug your mother this Mother’s Day

The mayor did say that she ’ s been fielding suggestions about ways to re-open the lakefront , from opening @ @ @ @ @ , to social distancing who would firmly but politely birddog offenders : “ I think @ @ @ @ @ at Wrigley , “ Lightfoot , an avowed Chicago White Sox fan said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ , they ’ re checking your ticket , they ’ re making sure you ’ @ @ @ @ @ seat .
We need to have that same kind of rigor … in thinking about @ @ @ @ @ public spaces.
” The Tribune ’ s Byrne has a story about that here .

Mayor Lori Lightfoot wears a mask as she prepares to speak about the coronavirus economic recovery plan April 23, 2020, at the Historic Water Tower. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
A short time ago, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a five-phase plan to reopen the city’s economy, revealing a tougher set of bench marks to ease stay-at-home rules in the city than Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker did in his statewide strategy, my Tribune colleagues Gregory Pratt and John Byrne are reporting.
In recent weeks, the governor and mayor gave themselves the power to act nearly unilaterally, in the name of expedience and the public health, to purchase supplies and services amid the pandemic. A new WBEZ-91.5 FM report examines a multimillion-dollar pair of no-bid contracts the Pritzker administration inked to fix a state unemployment system in overdrive because of COVID-19-related business closures.
Advertisement
With Mother’s Day on Sunday, Gov. Pritzker’s public health chief Dr. Ngozi Ezike — herself a mom — didn’t detour from her message this week about the rules of engagement, saying “virtual hugs” are optimal at one point and imploring at another: “Please, let’s honor our elderly mothers and our grandmothers this Mother’s Day by keeping them safe. To do that, please stay at home, please wear your face coverings, please wash your hands frequently.”
Welcome to The Spin.
Advertisement
Mayor Lori Lightfoot wears a mask as she prepares to speak about the coronavirus economic recovery plan April 23, 2020, at the Historic Water Tower. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lightfoot delivered a five-phase plan for lifting coronavirus-related restrictions in the city, with a big caveat. Until there’s a vaccine “the structure of our lives will continue be based on how we can safely move around,” meaning social distancing and face covering requirements may last into the new year.
Her benchmarks, as the Tribune’s Pratt and Byrne note, could irk restive Chicagoans already wanting lakefront access as the mercury rises. The Tribune examined the difference between the city and state plans here.
The mayor did say that she’s been fielding suggestions about ways to re-open the lakefront, from opening different sections at different times, to social distancing who would firmly but politely birddog offenders: “I think a lot about the ushers at Wrigley, “ Lightfoot, an avowed Chicago White Sox fan said. “They’re pretty tough, they’re checking your ticket, they’re making sure you’re going to the right seat. We need to have that same kind of rigor … in thinking about reopening the parks and big public spaces.” The Tribune’s Byrne has a story about that here.
Lightfoot said she and Pritzker discussed their plans: Both said at separate news conferences today that they talked over the mayor’s plan this morning. “I talk to him virtually every day,” Lightfoot told reporters. She said they’ve previously discussed a phased-in “gradual reopening” and that “those conversations have been happening for some time.”
Lightfoot not only talked about address the urgent public health crisis, but nodded to businesses shuttered as a result of government orders aimed at stemming the spread of the virus.
“We are facing an urgent crisis with scores of businesses struggling to survive, particularly our small and micro-businesses, many of whom are truly hanging on by a thread,” she said. “Based on the numbers we’re seeing, if these businesses don’t open soon, many will be forced to close their doors entirely —and so, to our businesses, I want you to know we’re doing everything we can to keep that from happening.”
Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, who called the governor’s plan to reopen the economy a “gut punch” to eateries statewide, was on hand for the mayor’s afternoon news conference. He talked about how eateries were “hemorrhaging” but thanked Lightfoot for not only communicating with him and the businesses he represents, but also listening to the concerns and advice from the restaurant industry.
He told the Tribune earlier this week that the governor’s plan caught him and other industry leaders flatfooted, suggesting they didn’t have any input in the strategy.
Advertisement
The mayor’s clearly thinking about post-pandemic life — and how the city will pay the bills: The Chicago Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman reports that Lightfoot spoke online to dozens of Democratic state lawmakers yesterday, and her three big asks include: a fix to casino legislation that in its current form doesn’t make it very lucrative for would-be operators, according to one study; extending a $5-per-month phone tax that’s expiring; and assurances that the city won’t see its share of sales tax revenues slashed. Read the full story here.
Earlier this week, the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt reported, the mayor was asked about the financial impact from COVID-19 on government budgets. She said the city wouldn’t be cutting back on public safety and police, noting Chicago’s chronic street violence. Pratt wrote: “She did express concern about the casino legislation in Springfield and said proposed revenue increases at the statehouse need to balance the realities being faced by people and businesses who are hurting.”
WBEZ’s Becky Vevea wrote about the possible impact on city finances, reminding readers that the biggest, most reliable chunk of change that keeps the city’s engines firing on all cylinders is property tax dollars. But with unemployment rates soaring and businesses closed temporarily or permanently, will that once reliable funding stream be upended? Read the piece here.
Column: How does Gov. Pritzker — and how do local governments — collect taxes from businesses he’s shut down? The Tribune’s John Kass weighs in here.
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during the daily news briefing about the coronavirus pandemic May 3, 2020, at the Thompson Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
From WBEZ′s Dan Mihalopoulos: “Struggling to deal with the record-breaking number of unemployment benefits applications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has agreed to pay more than $22 million for immediate help under two contracts with a private company.”
Advertisement
According to documents obtained by the outlet, both contracts were awarded to Deloitte Consulting LLC. Mihalopoulos notes: “Both deals with Deloitte Consulting were done without seeking other bids, with the state citing the governor’s March 9 disaster proclamation to suspend contracting rules ‘for purchases necessary for response to COVID-19.’” Read the story here.
Mayor Lightfoot also issued an executive order that gave her procurement office the authority to negotiate contracts up to $1 million for COVID-19-related services and materials. That’s up from the cap of $500,000 — and the move caused a stir in the City Council. When the Lightfoot administration inked a deal to buy masks and other personal protective equipment from a suburban furniture store pivoting to PPE sales, one alderman questioned why officials weren’t looking to spend taxpayer money on city businesses hurting amid the pandemic, WTTW-Ch. 11′s Heather Cherone reports here.
Physician's assistant Peter Schorr stands outside a vehicle and performs a nasal swab on a sick person at the Edward-Elmhurst Health drive-thru testing center March 20, 2020 in Warrenville. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Late this afternoon, Pritzker announced that the state tested more than 20,000 specimens for the new coronavirus in the previous 24 hours - double the daily testing goal of 10,000 that the governor set in March, the Tribune’s Dan Petrella and Hal Dardick report.
According to a recent analysis conducted by Harvard University and the STAT online medical publication, Illinois would have to conduct more than 64,000 tests every day before it can further relax its stay-at-home order, Petrella and Dardick note.
By that measure, Illinois falls far short. Illinois has averaged 15,829 tests a day for the five days ending Tuesday. That, according to the Harvard analysis, is about 48,000 fewer than needed. Illinois is not alone, the analysis found. Pritzker acknowledged Thursday that the state still needs to conduct many more tests per day before it will be safe to fully reopen the economy. Read more about it here.
Two Chicago-area churches launch new legal challenge over governor’s coronavirus rules: The Tribune’s Jason Meisner writes: A federal lawsuit filed late Thursday by the Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church on Chicago’s Northwest Side and Logos Baptist Ministries of Niles alleges Pritzker’s order violates their religious freedoms and seeks a temporary restraining order allowing services to continue without “threat of criminal sanctions’ by the government.” A federal judge gave the governor’s office a deadline of 5 p.m. to respond, but says he won’t be able to rule on the churches’ TRO request before Sunday services. Read the story here.
Advertisement
Cook County sheriff runs out of electronic monitoring devices amid efforts to drastically reduce jail population: The Tribune’s Megan Crepeau writes, “The concerted efforts to reduce jail population amid the COVID-19 pandemic seem to have led to skyrocketing demand for the equipment, as judges ordered more defendants out of cells and on to ankle bracelets.” Read the story here.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker unveils his graduated income tax plan during a press conference in the governor's office at the Illinois State Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Springfield, Ill. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register)
The Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes: The coronavirus pandemic has added an emotional dimension to the battle over Gov. Pritzker’s proposal for a graduated-rate state income tax, as increasing economic anxieties are added to a long-standing mistrust of Illinois’ handling of tax dollars.
Pearson notes: “The campaigns over the proposed state constitutional amendment going before voters on Nov. 3 haven’t gone dormant during the economic shutdown. But strategists are trying to navigate a world of stay-at-home orders and social distancing that have effectively eliminated door-to-door canvassing and rallies.”
Taking sides: Proponents say the current flat tax is unfair because it calls on workers to pay the same income tax rate regardless of how much they earn and instead should pay their fair share, Pearson writes. “Opponents contend Illinois is already a high tax state with a history of fiscal mismanagement and there’s no guarantee that the higher rates wouldn’t eventually be extended to middle-income families,” he writes. Read his full story here.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Capitol Hill on May 7, 2020. (KEVIN DIETSCH/AP)
In nonpandemic news: U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth was once again asked this morning on a cable news show whether, if asked, she’d join Joe Biden’s presidential ticket as his vice presidential running mate. She didn’t say no.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, artfully dodged a question about whether she’s being vetted by the Biden campaign.
Advertisement
The onetime U.S. Army pilot, who was injured in combat, said: “I personally have always answered the call when my country has called me to serve,” pointing out that she was a patient at Walter Reed military hospital when asked to run for Congress. Watch the MSNBC interview here.
She also talked about co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation that would give U.S. families with newborns a crack at federal coronavirus aid. Under the original $2.2 trillion COVID-19 federal relief bill approved earlier this year, the government doled out $1,200 checks to each adult and $500 for each dependent child they have, save for children born in 2020.
While families with newborns could get aid after filing their taxes next year, Duckworth told MSNBC this morning that she wants to change that so struggling parents get the money sooner.
Duckworth, along fellow Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, and Republican Sens. Mike Braun, of Indiana, and Tim Scott, of South Carolina, are co-sponsors of the package, which Duckworth said would be built into the next CARES Act.
“Right now my job is to convince Mitch McConnell to allow it to be attached to the next CARES package, which is in negotiations now,” she said, referring to the GOP Senate majority leader. Republicans and Democrats have been at odds over where to direct the money as the economy continues to tank as a result of the pandemic.
State’s congressional delegation asks Defense Secretary Mike Esper for a one-month extension of federally funded Illinois National Guard activations amid the pandemic, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson reports. Last month, WTTW-Ch. 11′s “Chicago Tonight” and other news outlets reported the Guard had been dispatched to conduct testing in nursing homes, which like other so-called congregate settings have seen severe outbreaks of the virus. And the Sun-Times reported that medics had been sent to Stateville Correctional Center to tend to the sick.
Advertisement
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--2020-05-08--Two local churches challenge governor’s coronavirus rules, arguing for right to worship

Pritzker ’ s Restore Illinois plan breaks the state down into four regions , each of which could reopen on @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus infection rates , hospitalizations and other measures .
Under the plan , gatherings of @ @ @ @ @ continue to be banned until Phase 4 , and none of the regions would fully @ @ @ @ @ a vaccine or effective , widely available treatment .

Two Chicago-area churches have launched a new legal challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s strategy to contain the spread of the coronavirus, saying the recently announced “Restore Illinois” plan violates their right to worship while practicing accepted social distancing guidelines.
A federal lawsuit filed late Thursday by the Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church on Chicago’s Northwest Side and Logos Baptist Ministries of Niles seeks a temporary restraining order allowing services to continue without “threat of criminal sanctions” by the government.
Advertisement
The churches vowed to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines, including reduced seating to keep worshippers more than 6 feet apart, advising attendees to wear masks or gloves and avoid physical contact, and keeping “doors propped open or held open by ushers to prevent the need for congregants to touch doors while entering and exiting the church or sanctuary.”
The 46-page lawsuit asked U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman to issue an immediate restraining order preventing “plaintiffs, their pastors, and their congregants from being subject to criminal sanctions for hosting in-person worship services on Sunday during which plaintiffs will implement social distancing and hygiene protections on an equal basis with other non-religious gatherings.”
Advertisement
Gettleman said in an order Friday that he will not make a decision in time for Sunday religious services. The judge gave the governor’s office until 5 p.m. Saturday to file a response, and any reply by the plaintiffs was to be be filed by Sunday. A hearing, if any, would likely be held next week.
Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said Friday the governor’s standing executive order “protects the free exercise of religion," and noted that a different judge rejected nearly identical claims in a lawsuit filed earlier this month.
In that suit, the Beloved Church in rural northwest Illinois also sought a temporary restraining order claiming the governor’s blanket executive actions were discriminatory against religious practices.
The same day the suit was filed, Pritzker modified his order to add “free exercise of religion” as a permitted essential activity, but limiting religious gatherings to 10 people or fewer, in line with limits on all gatherings laid out in the order.
U.S. District Court Judge John Z. Lee ruled the stay-at-home order constitutional, saying in a 37-page order that he was mindful that religious activities permitted by the order are “imperfect substitutes” for in-person services during which the 80-member church can sing and pray together.
"Still, given the continuing threat posed by COVID-19, the Order preserves relatively robust avenues for praise, prayer and fellowship and passes constitutional muster," Lee wrote.
The Beloved Church has appealed the ruling to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan breaks the state down into four regions, each of which could reopen on its own timeline based on coronavirus infection rates, hospitalizations and other measures. Under the plan, gatherings of 10 or more people would continue to be banned until Phase 4, and none of the regions would fully reopen until there’s a vaccine or effective, widely available treatment.
Advertisement
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Chicago police watchdog turns down Bronzeville mom’s plea to reopen investigation into fatal shootin

Chicago police watchdog turns down Bronzeville mom’s plea to reopen investigation into fatal shooting of son. ‘I’m still fighting like before.’

Mitchell had hoped the DNA would conclusively show whether her son ’ s DNA was not on the handgun fired @ @ @ @ @ analysis showed that the partial DNA profile obtained from the 9 mm Glock “ was @ @ @ @ @ three or more individuals , including at least one male contributor , ” according to @ @ @ @ @ Technology of Lorton , Virginia .
No conclusion could be made on the mixture , @ @ @ @

Octavia Mitchell poses for a portrait in her home in 2019 in Chicago. According to police, her son Izael Jackson was shot and killed in 2010 by police during a traffic stop after he got out of the vehicle and started firing shots at the officers. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Octavia Mitchell had been hoping for a triumphant Mother’s Day celebration this year, her first since her son Izael Jackson was fatally shot during a confrontation with Chicago police a decade ago.
She expected the agency that reviews police shootings to reopen the investigation into her son’s death because of new DNA evidence. She was wrong.
Advertisement
“I’m still fighting like before. I will still plead for a meeting with our mayor, I will still go to police board meetings,” she said recently. “I will still ask why until I get an answer.”
Police said Jackson, a Hyde Park Academy student with a prior gun arrest, opened fire on mobile strike unit officers after they pulled over a car he was riding in. Police returned fire, and he died. The shooting was ruled justified.
Advertisement
But Mitchell’s meticulous managing of court and police documents helped her notice that one piece of evidence had never been tested: a swab taken from a 9 mm Glock found at the scene. Mitchell contended that her case depended on showing that her son was not holding a gun, and the swab could prove it.
A photo of Izael Jackson sits in mother Octavia Mitchell's home in 2019 in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Last spring, the Chicago Office of Police Accountability offered her some hope. It agreed to a partial reopening of the investigation so that the untested DNA could be examined. A full investigation would only happen if further evidence prompted then- Superintendent Eddie Johnson to approve it.
Then came months of waiting. She called laboratory workers for any findings and made regular trips to Chicago Police Board meetings, hoping for some shred of new information. But earlier this year, COPA provided a final answer: The results of tests on the swab were inconclusive.
That, along with evidence from the original investigation by the defunct Independent Police Review Authority, didn’t support a deeper inquiry, according to a letter from COPA to Mitchell’s attorney obtained by the Tribune.
Mitchell had hoped the DNA would conclusively show whether her son’s DNA was not on the handgun fired at police. But the analysis showed that the partial DNA profile obtained from the 9 mm Glock “was consistent with a mixture of three or more individuals, including at least one male contributor,” according to a report submitted by Bode Technology of Lorton, Virginia. No conclusion could be made on the mixture, the lab found.
“I tried to get more understanding about the DNA results. I wanted to hear exactly what does inconclusive mean,” Mitchell said. “No one will go on record with an answer. No one wants to answer that question. Use your own terminology to explain it … just answer.”
Octavia Mitchell at her home in 2019. “I’m still fighting like before. I will still plead for a meeting with our mayor, I will still go to police board meetings,” she said recently. “I will still ask why until I get an answer.” (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
COPA officials also pointed to evidence and reports from the original IPRA investigation, like the presence of gunpowder on Jackson’s right hand, tests on the officers’ guns and shell casings at the scene. “The results of COPA’s limited re-investigation do not suggest a reasonable possibility that this office would reach a result contrary to IPRA’s prior conclusion that the officers acted within policy,” COPA general counsel Kevin J. Connor said in the letter.
He acknowledged the pain the untested evidence caused Mitchell. "There is no question that failures in the department’s evidence storage and retrieval practices induced uncertainty in this matter,” Connor said. “We regret that such failures have contributed to Ms. Mitchell’s continuing grief. We further regret, given the constraints of its authority, COPA cannot take effective action to allay Ms. Mitchell’s enduring concern about the tragic events of April 24, 2010.”
Advertisement
Mobile strike force officers in two cars had tried to curb a white Buick in the 6100 block of South Indiana Avenue around 10:15 p.m. on April 24, 2010. Flashing their lights, the officers stopped the Buick with no front license plate near Parkway Gardens, a complex known for gang violence.
Jackson, a front seat passenger, got out and immediately began firing the 9 mm at the two squad cars, according to the officers’ testimony. One of the officers fired back through the windshield of his car, and the Buick sped off, leaving Jackson on the street.
The officers said Jackson began running away and kept firing at them. Another officer got out of his squad car with a high-powered rifle and fired, according to testimony. Jackson fell to the ground and stopped moving, police said. Sixteen spent cartridges were found nearby, according to police.
IPRA ruled the shooting justified, saying a bullet fired at the officers didn’t match any of the police shots fired that night. But the shooting started a long campaign by Mitchell, starting with a federal lawsuit the following year that ended with a finding for the two officers.
With the federal case over and COPA unlikely to reopen the case, Mitchell pledged to keep up the pressure.
“CPD has a history of telling lies. They had the DNA all this time. How do I know they’re not slipping this time?” Mitchell said. “Who can I trust under this administration?”


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Lightfoot: Possible staggered start times, social distancing ushers in store for Chicago’s lakefront

Lightfoot: Possible staggered start times, social distancing ushers in store for Chicago’s lakefront when it reopens

“ A lot of that is going to be guided by the science , and I have to be confident @ @ @ @ @ those larger venues , the lakefront , The 606 , interior trails in a way @ @ @ @ @ maintain social distancing , ” Lightfoot said at a news conference to announce her five-phase @ @ @ @ @ to be met for reopening different parts of the city .

People run and walk on the Lakefront Trail near Foster Avenue on March 24, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot raised the possibility Friday of assigning different times of the day for joggers, walkers and bikers to use Chicago’s lakefront and other popular outdoor areas that are now closed due to overcrowding during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lightfoot refused to set a timetable for when she might reopen lakefront parks, The 606 elevated trail and the downtown Riverwalk, which she closed in late March after residents flouted social distancing rules to pack into them on a warm weekend afternoon.
Advertisement
“A lot of that is going to be guided by the science, and I have to be confident that we can open up those larger venues, the lakefront, The 606, interior trails in a way that still allows us to maintain social distancing,” Lightfoot said at a news conference to announce her five-phase framework for benchmarks that need to be met for reopening different parts of the city.
Under Lightfoot’s five-part plan, in order to move to phase three and “cautiously reopen,” the city would need to see a decline in the COVID-19 case rate over 14 days and stable or declining rates of certain hospitalization data.
Advertisement
Lightfoot also wants to see the rate of positive tests decrease to less than 15% in a community setting. The current test rate is about 26%, according to Dr. Allison Arwady, director of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
“We fundamentally need to see a declining rate of new cases,” Arwady said Saturday. “We are already flattening. We need to see it coming back down.”
The state reported 2,325 new known cases of COVID-19, along with 111 more deaths on Saturday. The announcement brings the total count of known cases to 76,085 and the death toll to 3,349 statewide since the start of the outbreak.
The city did not update its numbers, though Arwady said it was likely to cross 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, with more than 1,200 since March.
The mayor repeatedly has said she doesn’t want to backslide as the city tries to move forward from the stay-at-home order, a stance she reiterated Friday.
“When I made the hard decision — but I think appropriate decision — to close down the lakefront, it’s because we talked, we talked, we talked, and people ignored it. Now the weather’s even nicer, the lakefront is beautiful, it’s an incredible attraction, we can’t reopen it up and go back to where we were,” she said.
But she also said she’s open to outside-the-box ideas such as staggered start times for different modes of transportation along Lake Michigan.
“People have been sending me really interesting ideas about a phased reopening, even having segmented hours for particular types of activities, I think those are really interesting ideas,” Lightfoot said.
Advertisement
Social distancing ambassadors to tell people to move farther apart could also be considered, she said.
“I think a lot about the ushers at Wrigley,” she said. “They’re pretty tough. They’re checking your ticket, they’re making sure you’re going to the right seat. We need to have the same kind of rigor, I believe, in thinking about reopening our parks and other big public spaces. So I see that as another area where we’re going to be employing people where those jobs didn’t exist before.”
Stacy St. Clair and Madeline Buckley contributed.
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @_johnbyrne


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Chicago-area flea market vendors with no other income are forced to sell products on the street. ‘We

Chicago-area flea market vendors with no other income are forced to sell products on the street. ‘We have no other option.’

Aviles and her husband , Luis Avalos , 38 , sell spices , a wide range of specialty peppers and @ @ @ @ @ El Picosito .
The couple , who has four children , set up a small @ @ @ @ @ 26th Street and Whipple Avenue in Little Village when the Swap-O-Rama in the Back of @ @ @ @ @ They opted to sell on the streets of Little Village because the area is known @ @ @ @ @ a predominantly Mexican and Mexican-American neighborhood .
They thought they ’ d have good clientele @ @ @ @

Spring usually kicks off one of the highest-selling seasons for flea market vendors. But with the coronavirus restrictions, the closure of nonessential businesses like Swap-O-Ramas have vendors struggling to make ends meet.
Jose Garcia, 60, began to sell nopales (cactus pads) on a lonely road near Kostner Avenue and 26th Street in Chicago’s Little Village shortly after Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order went into effect and the Swap-O-Ramas closed.
Advertisement
[ Para leer en Español, haga click aquí ]
He said it is his only option to attempt to earn some money to buy food and pay for rent, on which he is two months behind.
“We won’t make it and we have to find a way out of this,” Garcia said in Spanish as he peeled a prickly pear at his stand in early April. The nopales are exported from Mexico and many of his loyal flea market clients have been buying them from him for the past 10 years because he sells them for a cheaper price than some grocery stores: 3 pounds for $5. He makes anywhere from $50 to $80 a day.
Advertisement
Though Garcia, a permanent resident and independent contractor, is frightened by the virus that has aggressively hit Latino communities in Illinois in the past weeks, he says that he has no other option but to continue selling on the streets because he is unable to navigate the system to obtain governmental aid due to his limited English, internet access and technology knowledge.
Food vendor Jose Garcia sold nopales at the Chicago area Swap-O-Rama flea markets for years, beginning shortly after arriving from Michoacan, Mexico. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the flea market where he worked was closed, leaving him with no place to sell and not enough income to sustain himself and take care of his wife, who has been in a nursing home since suffering a second stroke. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Some of Garcia’s fellow Swap-O-Rama vendors, whose livelihoods depend on selling things such as groceries, clothing and tools, share Garcia’s fear of COVID-19, but their financial needs are much greater, they said. Many have set up their shops on streets across the city on weekends, while others also attempt to sell their products online in Facebook groups.
“We have to risk exposing ourselves to a deadly virus because we are late on rent, we don’t have enough savings and we can’t get any help from the government,” said Adela Aviles, 46.
Aviles and her husband, Luis Avalos, 38, sell spices, a wide range of specialty peppers and Mexican snacks under the name El Picosito. The couple, who has four children, set up a small shop on the corner of 26th Street and Whipple Avenue in Little Village when the Swap-O-Rama in the Back of the Yards neighborhood closed. They opted to sell on the streets of Little Village because the area is known for its vendors and as a predominantly Mexican and Mexican-American neighborhood. They thought they’d have good clientele, Avalos said.
Jose Garcia prepares prickly pear cactus on West 26th Street near Kostner Avenue in Chicago on April 7, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Garcia decided to sell his nopales in Little Village for the same reason. He said that at first sales were really low but picked up when people began to notice him, some even sharing photos of him wearing a face mask sitting behind a small table covered with the cactus and a small scale.
Along with financial uncertainty, fear of contracting the virus also has intensified now that the number of COVID-19 cases in the Latino community has surpassed all other ethnic groups, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. ZIP codes in Cook County with the highest and fastest-growing rates of the coronavirus are in predominantly Latino neighborhoods. Little Village is one of them.
Advertisement
Avalos said he and his wife are complying with safety precautions by wearing face masks and practicing social distancing with their customers.
Despite setting up their shop every day, their weekly earnings have dropped 80% compared with what they earned at the Swap-O-Rama on 41st Street and Ashland Avenue, Aviles said. Like Garcia, they also are behind on rent and other bills.
“I don’t know how or when we’ll be able to catch up,” Aviles said. Based on Pritzker’s plan to reopen the state, the earliest nonessential businesses could open with limited capacity is at the end of May, but details remain unclear.
A Swap-O-Rama on South Ashland Avenue in Chicago is among the flea markets that have shut down due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune reached out to a Swap-O-Rama spokesperson, but she declined to make a statement on the current state of the business. A manager for some of the Chicago-area locations said that COVID-19 has “caused a tremendous impact on hundreds of vendors who relied on their sales at the Swap-O-Rama.”
The manager, who asked that his name not be used, citing internal issues, added that many of the vendors — at least 70% at the flea market in the Back of the Yards neighborhood — are Latino immigrants. Each seller is treated as an independent contractor and the flea market provides only space to lease, “so unfortunately, there’s not much we can do,” the manager said.
There are about 500 sellers inside the Back of the Yards Swap-O-Rama and 600 more outside the building. On any given weekend, the average number of shoppers reaches up to 25,000, according to the flea market’s website.
Advertisement
Adela Aviles works at her food stand on West 26th Street near Whipple Street in Chicago on April 7, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Some of those vendors, including food vendors, have attempted to set up their shops near the Swap-O-Rama since the stay-at-home order started. A few even tried to sell in the flea market parking lot on Ashland Avenue, but police quickly shut them down, Avalos said.
“We fear the virus, the police, and also, not being able to provide for our families,” Avalos said.
While some community members have called on others to support the vendors on social media, others are concerned for their safety.
Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th Ward, recently shared photos of the vendors along 43rd Street on his aldermanic Facebook page, voicing his discontent with the alderman of the 12th Ward, George Cardenas, for allowing the vendors to congregate.
“It is extremely frustrating for me as alderman to be bordered next to a ward that does not take this daily outdoor flea market seriously. This is a threat to the health & well-being of my Back of the Yards residents,” the post says.
For Aviles and Avalos, that is disheartening “because the only way they can help us is by not getting us in trouble with the police,” they said. Avalos added that police patrolling the Little Village area where he and his wife set up shop have reassured him that they won’t move them unless they are ordered to.
Advertisement
Luis Avalos sells food products from his truck on West 26th Street on April 7, 2020. The COVID-19 virus pandemic has disrupted life for small vendors like Avalos. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
The couple urged city officials to “consider and understand” their situation, and to create safety guidelines for vendors like themselves to be able to continue to do their work.
Though many vendors are registered and operate as small businesses, others are not, and therefore may not qualify for monetary aid and unemployment. Many also don’t have health insurance and cannot access governmental aid due to their immigration status.
“We can’t get any aid anywhere else; at least help us to continue doing our job safely,” Avalos said.
City officials recognize that outreach to raise awareness of city services and policies is challenging because of language barriers and social-distancing rules. Like other community organizations, the city has relied on social media campaigns.
Aviles said she and her husband mostly get their information from watching the Spanish news or on their Facebook to find out what to do next.
Advertisement
Nubia Willman, director of the City’s Office of New Americans, which focuses on serving Chicago’s immigrant and refugee communities, acknowledged that the city is aware of the struggle street vendors faced prepandemic and of their new issues since nonessential businesses have closed.
Willman said part of the city’s efforts to address the needs of immigrants included the one-time rental assistance program to help 2,000 Chicago residents last month. Mayor Lori Lightfoot also signed an executive order that gives residents, regardless of immigration status, access to city services and programs such as small business loans.
Neither Garcia, the nopales vendor, nor the owners of El Picosito, know how much longer they’ll be able to sell, fearing illness or policing.
Either way, Garcia, who has diabetes, said he hopes to continue selling to keep himself active until he sees his wife again. She used to help him sell nopales until she suffered a second stroke earlier this year, he said.
Due to her illness, she was placed in a nursing home to help her recover, and he hasn’t seen her since the shelter-in-place order.
Garcia calls her every day. Some days she’s hopeful, others not so much, Garcia said.
Advertisement
But he will continue to call her before heading out to sell his nopales for the day, until “this is all over.”
larodriguez@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 3,241 deaths, 73,760 confirmed cases, 399,714 tests, 23% ICU beds and

Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 3,241 deaths, 73,760 confirmed cases, 399,714 tests, 23% ICU beds and 75% ventilators open

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Shampoo, a trim, a temperature check: What getting your hair cut will be like when barbershops and s

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

Strunk said he will reopen once the state gives businesses like his the green light .
He will establish a @ @ @ @ @ customers before a session about their symptoms and the exposure they ’ ve had to @ @ @ @ @ plans to increase the time between each session to an hour so that he can @ @ @ @ @ cradle .
And he will wear a mask .
Strunk said he is considering not @ @ @ @ @ and head to avoid face contact with clients .

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


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--COVID-19 pandemic’s economic fallout adds emotional element to battle over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s grad

COVID-19 pandemic’s economic fallout adds emotional element to battle over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s graduated income tax plan

“ We very much need to alleviate some of the burden on the working class and middle class and people @ @ @ @ @ to the middle class and to also pay for the services that the state has @ @ @ @ @ as well as to deal with the structural deficit that already existed in this state @ @ @ @ @ the shortfall that will exist as a result of the attack of the coronavirus , @ @ @ @

Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
The coronavirus pandemic has added an emotional dimension to the battle over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposal for a graduated-rate state income tax, as increasing economic anxieties are added to a long-standing mistrust of Illinois’ handling of tax dollars.
“There’s no ballot amendment in the country that’s ever taken a state from a flat tax to a graduated tax,” said Quentin Fulks, chairman of Vote Yes for Fairness and Pritzker’s former deputy campaign manager. “And so we were already facing that kind of uphill battle. I won’t say that (the pandemic) made it harder. It definitely didn’t make it easier."
Advertisement
The campaigns over the proposed state constitutional amendment going before voters on Nov. 3 haven’t gone dormant during the economic shutdown. But strategists are trying to navigate a world of stay-at-home orders and social distancing that have effectively eliminated door-to-door canvassing and rallies.
The basic arguments on both sides, largely drawn along partisan lines, remain the same as they did before the pandemic.
Advertisement
Proponents say it is unfair for people to pay the same income tax rate regardless of how much they earn and instead should pay their fair share. Opponents contend Illinois is already a high tax state with a history of fiscal mismanagement and there’s no guarantee that the higher rates wouldn’t eventually be extended to middle-income families.
But those arguments are now set against soaring unemployment and shuttered businesses. The pandemic also has blown a crater in the state budget, and Pritzker says that only increases the need to change the income tax system. Opponents say the state’s worsening financial condition opens the door for lawmakers to extend the reach of the tax beyond the very highest earners to raise even more revenue.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during the daily news briefing regarding the coronavirus pandemic earlier this month at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
The graduated-rate tax proposal had been Pritzker’s signature issue as governor — until the pandemic struck. The proposed amendment, placed on the Nov. 3 ballot by Democratic lawmakers without any GOP support, would replace the current 4.95% personal flat rate income tax with a tax that increases as income rises.
Democrats have already approved a law, taking effect Jan. 1 if voters approve the proposed constitutional amendment, that would levy varying rates on incomes up to $250,000, where it would reach the current 4.95%.
Above $250,000 in income the rates would increase before reaching a maximum of 7.99% for single filers with an income of $750,000 and joint filers making $1 million. At the top bracket, the higher rate applies to all income earned.
To amend the constitution, the proposal will need the backing of 60% of those voting on the question or a simple majority of all votes cast in the election.
Pritzker has said that under the proposal 97% of Illinois residents would pay the same or less than they do now in income taxes. It was to have raised $1.4 billion in the first six months of 2021 and $3.6 billion for a full year. But with the crash of the economy and Illinois tax revenues, the half-year forecast has already been lowered to $1.2 billion.
In mid-April, Pritzker projected a $2.7 billion shortfall for the budget year that ends June 30 and a $6.2 billion hole for the new budget year that starts July 1. Absent voter approval of the constitutional amendment, the shortfall for the next budget year jumps to $7.4 billion, he said.
Advertisement
The governor is attempting to use those numbers to bolster his argument for a graduated income tax.
“There is nothing new or changed or different about the effect of the graduated income tax during this moment than there was four or five months ago, before we knew about this pandemic, other than that I think it’s needed perhaps now more than ever,” Pritzker said at a recent coronavirus news briefing.
“We very much need to alleviate some of the burden on the working class and middle class and people who are striving to get to the middle class and to also pay for the services that the state has and needs to provide — as well as to deal with the structural deficit that already existed in this state, not to mention now the shortfall that will exist as a result of the attack of the coronavirus,” he said.
But opponents, led by Republicans and pro-business groups, have gone so far as to urge the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to use its authority to withdraw the proposed amendment from the ballot. They contend the time is not right to move forward with a major tax change with significant effects on businesses hurt by the pandemic.
As for Pritzker’s comment that the graduated-rate tax is needed “now more than ever,” Jason Heffley, executive director of Ideas Illinois, which opposes the change, countered: “Taxes are already too high in Illinois and now is the worst time to push a massive tax hike when small businesses and working families are hurting.”
Opponents say the state budget shortfall created by the pandemic raises the potential that graduated rates would be raised, or income brackets lowered, to scoop up more money from lower-income taxpayers. Their arguments could play to those concerned about the personal costs of any changes to state tax policy.
Advertisement
Fulks counters that if the proposed amendment doesn’t pass, then all Illinoisans, not just the wealthy, will likely face an income-tax increase through the flat tax.
“Undoubtedly, (the graduated tax) is going to bring in additional revenue that we’re going to need to fund things like social services that a number of people who most likely got hit the hardest during the pandemic depend on,” Fulks said.
“We were never going to try to sell this as a fix-all Band-Aid for the economy. This is about changing the trajectory of the state and putting us on a path towards fiscal sustainability,” he said.
Vote Yes for Fairness, funded with $5 million from the wealthy Pritzker, spent $610,000 in the first three months of this year, largely on payroll and organization. The Vote Yes for Fair Tax committee, backed by organized labor, had nearly $400,000 available on April 1 and has raised another $73,000 in cash and other help since.
The opposition groups have not yet shown any funding to fuel their efforts in financial reports filed with the State Board of Elections. But they are expected to heavily tap the business community and its political allies for funding.
David Merriman, an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said a graduated tax will “raise a significant amount of income and we’re certainly going to need that income at this point.” In part, he said the income from wealthier taxpayers will pay for services for “people with more moderate or lower income (who) are probably going to be hurt worse than those of us who are more fortunate.”
Advertisement
As for concerns of higher income taxpayers moving out of state to avoid the higher rates if they are imposed, Merriman said there was no evidence to suggest “that there’s going to be a massive whooshing sound” of people leaving given the experience in high tax-rate states like California, New York and New Jersey.
Merriman also said data from the last 20 years have not shown efforts of rate-creep in those states with an existing graduated tax seeking to capture more taxpayers and more revenue at lower income levels. Instead, he said, any income tax increases “have been quite rare” and that most changes have been to cut taxes.
Even before the pandemic, Illinois faced massive financial problems, including its worst-in-the-nation $138 billion unfunded public employee pension liability.
Merriman said additional revenues from a graduated tax could help the state but he offered one caution.
“The wealthy don’t have enough money — there’s just not enough money out there (from them) to totally bail us out,” he said.
rap30@aol.com
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Watch live: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and health officials provide update on coronavirus in Illinois

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

This website stores data such as cookies to enable essential site functionality, as well as marketing, personalization, and analytics. By remaining on this website, you indicate your consent.