chicagotribune--2020-05-15--Coronavirus deaths at long-term care facilities grow to nearly 2,000, accounting for nearly half of

Coronavirus deaths at long-term care facilities grow to nearly 2,000, accounting for nearly half of overall state total

The death tally at long-term care facilities has continued to account for a greater share of Illinois deaths as the @ @ @ @ @ figures were first released April 17 , those deaths were 25 % of all those @ @ @ @ @ time .
By last week , they ’ d grown to 48 % , and @ @ @ @ @ of all deaths , as of Friday .

In the past week, Illinois recorded an additional 422 coronavirus deaths tied to long-term care facilities, bringing the tally of such deaths to nearly 2,000 since the pandemic began, according to state data.
The latest data, released Friday shows the most recent number of weekly deaths was lower for the first time, with 471 deaths of residents and staff recorded a week before. But it appears the state, without notice, tightened the criteria for what counts as a coronavirus case in the figures, making it difficult to compare the latest figures with past weeks.
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The latest figures — even with the tighter reporting criteria — reinforce how entrenched the virus has become in long-term care facilities: still accounting for nearly half the state’s deaths.
The weekly data release comes amid increasing calls for the Pritzker administration to do more to lower the virus’s spread among a population considered the most vulnerable, even as Illinois expands previously scarce testing for residents and staff at the roughly 1,200 facilities across the state.
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There are now at least 16 facilities with at least 20 deaths, and, for the first time, one is downstate: The Villa East in Sangamon County, with 20 deaths.
But metro Chicago facilities continue to post the worst numbers, led by Meadowbrook Manor of Bolingbrook and Center Home for Hispanic Elderly, each with 26 deaths. They are followed by Glenview Terrace and Symphony of Joliet (25) and Elevate Care Chicago North, Villa at Windsor Park, Woodbridge Nursing Pavilion and Manorcare Hinsdale (24).
Meadowbrook Manor had previously released a statement addressing the high toll, blaming it on the virus’s ability to infect people without causing symptoms, allowing its spread. While noting most residents were safe, facility officials said they take “each loss to heart.”
The death tally at long-term care facilities has continued to account for a greater share of Illinois deaths as the pandemic has lingered. When figures were first released April 17, those deaths were 25% of all those recorded in Illinois at the time. By last week, they’d grown to 48%, and now account for 49% of all deaths, as of Friday.
The Elisabeth Ludeman Developmental Center is shown April 9, 2020, in Park Forest. It has the most cases COVID-19 cases of 268. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
As for confirmed cases, the Chicago area — which has had much of the boosted testing — also leads the rest of the state, according to the state’s updated online list.
The most cases ― 268 — have been recorded at the Elisabeth Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest, a sprawling state-run facility for adults with developmental disabilities. It’s followed by 242 cases at City View Multi-Care Center in Cicero, which has been embroiled in a lawsuit filed by Cicero officials alleging health directives weren’t being followed.
Behind them are Woodbridge Nursing Pavillion, with 204 cases, Meadowbrook Manor of Bolingbrook, with 184 cases, and Symphony at Midway and Symphony of Morgan Park, both with 177 cases
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The state cautions the data may not be up to date or complete. A previous Tribune investigation showed the challenges in collecting data in real time.
In its latest installment of data, the state — for reasons not explained on its website — changed the criteria for how it counts cases.
In the prior week, the state health department stated that it counted not only lab-confirmed cases, but also ones “meeting the CDC outbreak case definition (clinically compatible and epidemiological linked with or without a confirmed test).” Friday’s release states the figures include only lab-confirmed cases, leaving out other cases not formally confirmed by a lab.
That left some facilities, from one week to the next, actually seeing their cumulative pandemic counts drop. For example, in the prior week, Bickford of Aurora, in Kane County, was reported to have had 35 cases so far that led to eight deaths. But on Friday, the state reported the same facility had just 28 cases to date, with just seven deaths.
The facility was among seven that saw cumulative death counts drop from one week to the next, and among 70 that saw case counts drop, under the tightened criteria. That included three places in McHenry County that saw the biggest drops: The Fountains at Crystal Lake, from 67 to 35; Alden Terrace of McHenry, from 123 to 60; and Sheltered Village, from 121 to 41.
This story has been changed to note that the state tightened the criteria for what counts as a coronavirus case in the figures it released this week.
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jmahr@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-15--Prom wishes and graduation dreams: Area seniors haven’t given up on partaking in memorable moments d

Prom wishes and graduation dreams: Area seniors haven’t given up on partaking in memorable moments during the pandemic

“ I ’ ve been at Latin since I was like 4 years old .
So to never get closure @ @ @ @ @ seeing all the grades that went to graduation in the past , and waiting for @ @ @ @ @ and all of that — like May 1 especially — there are just some huge @ @ @ @ @ never get to have as a senior , ” Koo said .
“ I do @ @ @ @ @ its best to do all they can to keep our spirits up ... which is @ @ @ @ @ ’ s nothing that can really make up for this situation for all seniors .
@

When Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls out the name of your high school during a coronavirus press conference, you may think it’s a bad thing. But on Friday, May 22, it was all good.
That’s what happened for seniors of Muchin College Prep, a public charter school part of the Noble charter school network, located in the Loop. Muchin staff and seniors registered 243 out of 247 students to vote as part of the 2020 Prom Challenge created in partnership between MTV and When We All Vote, Michelle Obama’s nonpartisan organization. Their almost perfect voter registration number won them a chance to partake in MTV’s Prom-athon, a virtual prom with celebrities like Chloe x Halle will perform, Fat Joe and Janelle Monáe are slated to make special appearances and DJ Khaled is the night’s “Prom Boss.”
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Muchin is one of 20 high schools across the country selected to participate in the festivities that take place online Friday evening, including Calumet City’s Thornton Fractional North High School, according to the list of winners. Seniors got a link to attend the event and the school received $5,000 for its civic endeavor.
“We could not believe it,” said 10th grade teacher and incoming dean of students Evie Deavila. “It’s incredible to get recognized for doing incredible things. Muchin feels appreciative for the recognition. 1,600 schools applied ... and we’re a small school compared to other high schools (we only have about 1,000 kids), so we were extremely humbled to even be considered a finalist. The idea that the mayor mentioned us today, was the coolest thing ever.”
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Obama spoke to some Muchin seniors and staff last week to inform them of their win via Zoom.
I'm so proud of these students, who each registered their classmates and community to vote. These are the kind of actions that make all the difference.
To celebrate these young people, join us on May 22 for #MTVPromathon with @MTV & @WhenWeAllVote. RSVP: https://t.co/ggVjRpS3CU pic.twitter.com/njiqDpOcGy — Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 15, 2020
The 20 schools will be highlighted when MTV’s Prom-athon kicks off tonight, featuring short-form original content from the winners. Afterward, MTV’s YouTube will host the virtual prom party.
Muchin’s June 5 prom was canceled due to the pandemic. According to Deavila, the school is doing everything it can to make their seniors feel special with a spirit week specifically for seniors where every senior’s college decision will be posted on social media. And a virtual dance with DJ May 29. The $5,000 will be used to send care packages to each senior — packages that include things like lawn signs, T-shirts, caps and gowns. Gift cards are also being considered, she said.
“We’re just over the moon," Deavila said. "I’m sure you understand, losing your senior year of high school, you look forward to these events for so long — their class trip was canceled, their prom, their graduation, so having this as a memory for them will just be incredible.They’re excited that just registering to vote really got them this ticket.”
Virtual proms are virtually everywhere since coronavirus has upended many senior plans. Senior classes from Nicolas Senn High School and Glenbrook North High School were invited to join the AXE x Teen Vogue Virtual Prom on May 16. The Zoom event included TikTok creator Rickey Thompson, DJ sets, curated playlists, interactive choreography, and custom thematic backdrops. Chipotle Mexican Grill threw a @ChipotleAfterParty. And artists like singer Maylyn wrote a song called “Prom Night” that featured an Illinois senior from Plainfield.
Coronavirus closed down the state and schools before senior activities really started, so many students held out hope that the pandemic would merely delay planned festivities. Now, two months indoors with restrictions still in place, school administrations are trying to juggle best case scenarios for students and parents for proms and graduations, online platforms keep providing venues where virtual dances can be had, and some youth are taking the reins of what their IRL senior moments will look like once stay at home rules are loosened. Here’s what some area schools are doing:
Oak Forest High School’s graduation is slated for July 14, but still pending updated guidance from Gov. J.B. Prtizker regarding public events. The city scheduled a parade of graduates at 6 p.m. May 19. Prom is tentatively scheduled for July 10.
Hinsdale Central High School held a virtual commencement on May 21, but there is also a possibility of a second ceremony in the summer. As for prom, details are not finalized but according to Sally Phillip, the school’s director of student activities, a summer event that would include a social, a graduation stage to walk across for pictures and an opportunity for signing yearbooks, among other things.
School District U-46 (which includes Elgin, South Elgin, Bartlett, Streamwood and Larkin high schools) reversed course on its commencement ceremonies for the class of 2020, canceling the July 11 in-person event at the Sears Centre in favor of a virtual graduation June 13. The change has some parents asking for something better. Jean Driscoll, aunt to a Streamwood High School senior, started a petition for a more personal graduation ceremony after reading a text from her niece that said “Graduation is a virtual ceremony June 13th. Graduation attire: my pjs 😢.” “That just broke my heart,” Driscoll wrote in an email. And as far as proms being rescheduled, Mary Fergus, School District U-46′s director of School & Community Relations said there’s no news on that, even though “a couple of our schools have had ‘Prom on the Lawn’ events,” where kids got dressed up.
Kenwood Academy High School recently sent out a Senior Town Hall note asking seniors if they were interested in a virtual prom. The school’s graduation will happen virtually via Zoom at 6 p.m. June 8.
The Latin School of Chicago has been Maddie Koo’s place of learning for the past 14 years. Before coronavirus, the senior was looking forward to school traditions like “Decision Day,” where on May 1, students show up to campus wearing the college apparel of the institution of higher learning they chose to attend in the fall. Or signing her name on the walls of the senior stairway.
“You walk down those staircases and you see everyone’s name from the past — it’s a cool tradition that we have,” she said. According to the Bucktown resident, the school’s administration is trying to figure out if seniors would be able to go inside the school, maybe one by one after a virtual graduation, to make that happen.
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According to Koo, a group senior picture is traditionally taken outside before school starts — a show of camaraderie to recognize seniors’ accomplishments. Pictures with parents and friends follow.
“I’ve been at Latin since I was like 4 years old. So to never get closure with this school and just seeing all the grades that went to graduation in the past, and waiting for that and for senior prom and all of that — like May 1 especially — there are just some huge traditions that I’ll never get to have as a senior,” Koo said. “I do know that Latin is trying its best to do all they can to keep our spirits up ... which is much appreciated. But there’s nothing that can really make up for this situation for all seniors.”
Koo, 17, said that although prom was canceled for the Latin School of Chicago, virtual dances have taken place on Zoom through the school. But nothing can replace prom, she said. A spring formal for seniors has been proposed for Aug. 4; a virtual graduation is slated for June 4, and an in-person graduation is tentatively set for Aug. 8, Koo added.
“My parents have had their high school experiences and so have all my teachers, so it’s sort of like no one understands our position because they’ve already had it,” Koo said. “My younger siblings will probably be able to have that in the future, so it’s kind of like all seniors are in a bubble because we’re getting pity from other people but they don’t exactly know how it feels.”
Caellin Flaherty, a senior at Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, knows how it feels. He said while many schools in the area have postponed their proms, Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 has canceled it completely, leaving the senior class devastated. So he and four of his peers started planning a private prom for July 8 at Bolingbrook Golf Club. The teens started a GoFundMe campaign to see it to fruition. So far, they have $9,260 of their $20,000 goal raised to help with the cost of hiring a DJ, buying decorations and private security. Ticket sales are set to begin June 1. The prom’s theme: Roaring ’20s.
“We wanted to give our seniors a correct send-off,” Flaherty said. “A lot of people want closure with an in-real-life prom. A virtual prom just isn’t the same.”
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Seniors and parents, send your prom photos to drockett@chicagotribune.com. We will feature them in our Senior Week coverage.
drockett@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-15--As researchers at Northwestern and elsewhere scramble to find a treatment for COVID-19, they hope th

As researchers at Northwestern and elsewhere scramble to find a treatment for COVID-19, they hope this time the money won’t run out before the next threat hits

“ People are going to know what the word ‘ coronavirus ’ means for the rest of their lives , @ @ @ @ @ The attention is there .
Now it ’ s going to be , ‘ I @ @ @ @ @ happen again.
’ Let ’ s get the legislators to say , ‘ You know @ @ @ @ @ like HIV was , and we have an entire institute for HIV at NIH .
@ @ @ @ @ funding increases to infectious diseases and pandemics so we ’ re prepared better next time @ @ @

More than a decade ago, a center was founded at Northwestern University as a rapid-response operation against infectious disease.
But funding for coronavirus research across the country was sporadic — a boom when epidemics like MERS hit, a bust when they were under control. Some promising drugs never made it out of the laboratory as funding waned.
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Now, researchers with the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases are rushing to find an effective treatment for COVID-19, making up for lost time against a disease that has already killed more than 300,000 people around the world, including more than 86,000 in the United States.
And they hope they’ll be ready for whatever comes next.
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“I think we’re making substantial strides,” said Karla Satchell, director of the center who is a professor of microbiology-immunology at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “Drug discovery is a slow process, and our hope is that we can do something in time to help this round of the pandemic. But at the very least, we can do enough that this won’t happen again.”
One researcher funded through the center is working on modifying a drug originally approved to treat hepatitis C. It isn’t on the market anymore because it was replaced by more efficient therapies, but it could be adjusted fairly quickly to disrupt how the coronavirus replicates itself.
Purdue University biochemistry graduate student Emma Lendy talks with Andy Mesecar, one of the leading scientists identifying protein targets for potential COVID-19 drug therapies, on campus at Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, on April 30, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
Others at the center, which coordinates research at eight universities, are reviewing past work on drugs that showed potential against the SARS epidemic in 2002 and the MERS outbreak in 2012. Both diseases are also caused by coronaviruses.
At some point, though, scientists with the center and across the country hope to break new ground as future threats loom.
“You can make a lot of movement fast, based on what you know," Satchell said. “But at some point, you hit a wall where you have to discover new things.”
‘Know where to start’
Andy Mesecar needs a weekend off.
An expert in biochemistry and gene therapy, he’s worked seven-day weeks for the last few months, racing to find a drug for patients with COVID-19 while teaching at Purdue University and submitting frequent reports to the National Institutes of Health. The center at Northwestern has funded his work since 2018.
Mesecar has a manuscript under review in a scientific journal on how a drug approved to treat hepatitis C could be modified to potentially treat COVID-19. His is one of the leading labs in the center studying coronaviruses, and he and his team have dedicated nearly two decades to the research.
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With a background in biochemistry and structural biology, Mesecar started out as an assistant professor at the University of Ilinois at Chicago, studying enzymes that could fight cancer. He got into infectious diseases after the anthrax attacks in the weeks after 9/11. Then, he pivoted to studying enzymes that could be used against SARS when it surfaced in November 2002.
“My training in structural biology allows me to work on any diseases that go around,” Mesecar said. “I can apply it to any disease and do so rapidly.”
The bulk of coronavirus research — both through the center and across the country — began during the SARS epidemic and continued through the MERS outbreak less than 10 years later. At the time, hardly anything was known about coronaviruses, Satchell said, so researchers sprinted to learn its basic biochemistry and how it entered the body and replicated itself.
Remdesivir, the latest promise in treating COVID-19, was shown in animal studies to be effective against both MERS and SARS. But it was not approved for human trials until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and is just now being distributed to some patients across the country after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized its emergency use.
During the basic science phase of drug discovery, scientists are looking for inhibitors to stop the virus. This is where Mesecar’s research lies.
When researchers identify the genetic sequence of a protein or enzyme that is essential to the virus’s replication, they then look for a compound that blocks it, called the inhibitor. The compounds are developed into a drug that not only lasts long enough in the body to kill the virus but is also nontoxic. Only then can it move to animal trials and, eventually, human trials.
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At Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, Andy Mesecar, one of the leading scientists identifying protein targets for potential COVID-19 drug therapies, points to an image of an atomic model of the coronavirus main protease bound to an FDA-approved drug. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
When the NIH put out a call for grant proposals during the SARS outbreak, Mesecar was part of a group that focused on development of inhibitors that could be used to treat the disease. They were given five years of funding. When the money ran out, he was faced with the question of how to continue his work. No one was getting infected with SARS anymore, so the incentive for more research faded away and, with it, the money.
When MERS emerged in 2012, Mesecar’s team switched to this new coronavirus, publishing papers that shared their discovery of compounds that worked against it. He and his team were among the first to predict that the next coronavirus outbreak would come from bats, the suspected origin of COVID-19. “Everything we did was to predict the next outbreak,” he said. “What we wanted to do was to have compounds that could rapidly move toward the particular coronavirus strain that emerged.”
They worried their research would meet the same end as their SARS research — and they were right. Again, interest and funding declined.
To continue their work, they scoured for small amounts of funding that they could pool. But even three years ago, they didn’t have enough to support a single person fully. In 2018, Mesecar’s lab started to get funding from the center at Northwestern.
But the lull in funding across the country had already done its damage. No clinical trials of the compounds had been done by the time the pandemic hit.
“Nothing ever got out of the laboratory (for SARS),” she said. “There’s no treatment for COVID-19 that is specific to this virus and this infection, and the research tracking it really seems like it just ended. Most papers, they’ll have dates on them from 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2009, and then the literature just goes blank. It picks up again around 2014 with regards to MERS.”
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‘You get stretched’
It’s ultimately up to the NIH to determine which basic science research should go forward. Should it continue funding research for a disease such as SARS with no known cases anymore, or allocate money to something else, like studying drug-resistant bacteria that still kills thousands of people?
And with new viruses surfacing all the time, how does NIH ensure there is enough money for what is needed most? “You get stretched,” Mesecar said.
A Biosafety Level 2 lab at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, on April 30, 2020. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
As the coronavirus spread at an alarming rate, the NIH was allocated $1.78 billion for research on the novel coronavirus, including $1.5 billion to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is funding the work at the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases.
Drug therapies for Ebola, influenza, yellow fever and other viruses are now being reviewed for their potential against COVID-19, according to the NIAID. Investments are being made on more rapid testing of vaccines and antibody-based therapies.
“It is also important to note that SARS-CoV-2 emerged in 2019,” the agency said in a statement. “While NIAID supports the development of broad-spectrum therapeutics to be prepared for such an event, it is difficult to understand whether a drug is effective against a certain virus until that virus emerges.”
But Satchell, Mesecar and others point to earlier warnings. In 2015, the World Health Organization said coronaviruses were one of the top emerging health threats and likely to cause major epidemics. And in 2017, a paper was published in PLOS Pathogens by experts studying coronaviruses in horseshoe bats in China who emphasized the need for “preparedness for future emergence of SARS-like diseases.”
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Mesecar said researchers could have studied the effects of certain compounds on animals so they could be more quickly developed when new viruses appeared. This was the key to remdesivir reaching patients now. “We’re not as far behind as we could be because of the love and ingenuity of scientists who want to pursue and learn about it,” he said.
The coronavirus field is undergoing a rapid change, with many new researchers and much more money. Half the supplemental funding the center got from NIAID went to Mesecar’s drug discovery unit — which “was not particularly well-funded and short-staffed,” Satchell said — and the other half went to other labs that are a part of the center.
Satchell and others hope some of these people will want to stay in the field to prepare for the next public health threat. She’s seen this effect during the tuberculosis crisis, anthrax attacks and SARS, and she believes the COVID-19 pandemic will yield similar results.
“Let’s go for a good drug. Not a vaccine but a universal vaccine,” Satchell said. “Let’s understand a little more about immunology; let’s understand how this virus engages the immune system in the host response.”
She said treatments for HIV improved because of “consistent dedication” to develop therapies, and that needs to be the attitude going forward in coronavirus research too.
“People are going to know what the word ‘coronavirus’ means for the rest of their lives,” Mesecar said. “The attention is there. Now it’s going to be, ‘I never want to have this happen again.’ Let’s get the legislators to say, ‘You know what, coronaviruses are nasty like HIV was, and we have an entire institute for HIV at NIH. Maybe we should think about funding increases to infectious diseases and pandemics so we’re prepared better next time.' "
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gwong@chicagotribune.com