chicagotribune--2020-04-25--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report 2,724 new known COVID-19 cases in the biggest dail

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report 2,724 new known COVID-19 cases in the biggest daily increase to date as state surpasses testing goal for 1st time

Gov .
J.B. Pritzker on Friday announced the state conducted 16,124 tests for the new coronavirus during the previous 24 hours , for the first time surpassing his goal of 10,000 tests in a single day .
“ Surpassing 10,000 tests is a very important milestone , not only because it allows us to isolate more of those who are COVID positive so that they don ’ t spread the infection but also because it moves us in the direction of expanding our surveillance for outbreaks , ” Pritzker said .
Officials also announced a daily high number for known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases announced Friday tops the previous high of 2,049 set just two days earlier and brings the total known case count to 39,658 .
There also were 108 more deaths announced , bringing the death toll to 1,795 , officials said .
On a busy stretch of Cermak Road in Cicero , a nine-story nursing home towers over a collection of shops and — by one measure — also looms as one of the state ’ s biggest hot spots for COVID-19 .
Called City View Multicare Center , the massive nursing home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least 38 cases of COVID-19 among residents and employees , with six deaths .
Cicero officials obtained the figures from the home and posted them on the town ’ s website .
But if residents had gone to the state ’ s online lookup tool for nursing homes to check on cases , they ’ d have seen a far different numbers for City View : just two deaths and — inexplicably — a single case .
Cicero Fire Chief Dominick Buscemi said he ’ s not sure why the state ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a shock to us , too , ” he said .
The disparity is a glaring example of a broad problem facing Illinois as it battles the pandemic : inconsistencies and omissions in the data it is collecting on COVID-19 cases .
Read more here .
—Joe Mahr 7 p.m. : How Chicagoans are coping with another month at home Despite Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s repeated encouragement to be “ all in ” on the stay-at-home-order , Illinois enters this next phase of life under the virus as a truly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those who are fighting bankruptcy and those fighting boredom .
With each passing day , the two sides drift further apart as they deal with their own very real struggles .
Read more here .
Some patients with the novel coronavirus suffer a severe immune response that triggers potentially fatal hyperinflammation , studies have shown .
The reaction , named for the body ’ s proteins that attack lung tissue , is known as a “ cytokine storm.
” In response , researchers like Wunderink are racing to see if they can find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chain of events .
Northwestern Medicine in Chicago is testing a drug called sarilumab , which is otherwise used to reduce inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis .
As medical director of the intensive care unit , Wunderink and his colleagues have helped treat more than 100 patients on mechanical ventilation .
Early results elsewhere show that many patients do not do well on ventilators , and the drug treatment is an attempt to avoid that last resort .
“ We have no therapy for COVID-19 , per se , ” Wunderink explained .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research has shown is the best management for acute respiratory distress syndrome , so that ’ s the best we have to offer.
” Read more here .
—Robert McCoppin Chad Leman , a third-generation hog farmer in Eureka , Illinois , thinks he can hold out for two more weeks before he resorts to once-unthinkable measures .
With some of the nation ’ s largest slaughterhouses closed due to worker outbreaks of COVID-19 , he can ’ t sell most of his market-ready hogs .
But freshly weaned piglets continue to arrive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s been shuffling pigs around , but there ’ s just not enough space .
“ We can do this for a couple weeks yet , but then we ’ re going to have some tough decisions , '' Leman said .
`` We are going to have to euthanize baby pigs because there will be nowhere for them to go.
” Outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers at major meatpacking plants are causing ripple effects across the supply chain , creating a backlog of livestock at farms in central Illinois and threatening to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Read more here .
—Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz 5:05 p.m. : Illinois reopens golf May 1 but with strict regulations — twosomes only , no carts and no practice putting Golfers like to joke they ’ ve been social distancing for years : They hit a weak slice that lands in the right rough while their playing partners hit pull hooks or , once in a blue moon , stripe it down the middle of the fairway .
Pritzker ’ s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity laid out a dozen ground rules Friday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ welcome golfers at 6 a.m. May 1 .
Most restrictions mirror those from other states : Walking only ( no carts ) , tee times spread out to 15 minutes , no touching of the flagstick , foam in the cups for easy ball retrieval , no food service and clubhouses that will remain closed .
Gov .
J.B. Pritzker on Friday announced the state conducted 16,124 tests for the new coronavirus during the previous 24 hours , for the first time surpassing his goal of 10,000 tests in a single day .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ important milestone , not only because it allows us to isolate more of those who are COVID positive so that they don ’ t spread the infection but also because it moves us in the direction of expanding our surveillance for outbreaks , ” Pritzker said .
The announcement came the same day the state opened its fifth drive-thru testing facility , the newest one in Rockford .
Officials also announced a daily high number for known cases of COVID-19 .
The 2,724 new cases announced Friday tops the previous high of 2,049 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the total known case count to 39,658 .
Public health officials have attributed the recent spikes in cases in part to increased testing .
There also were 108 more deaths announced Friday , bringing the death toll to 1,795 , officials said .
There have been fatalities in 96 of Illinois ’ 102 counties .
2:35 p.m. : Which fabric is best for homemade masks ?
A new study looked at more than 15 common household materials .
Starting May 1 , Illinois will require everyone over age 2 to wear a mask @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6-foot social distance in public .
N-95 masks , which are in short supply , are best reserved for health care workers , who come into direct contact with COVID-19 patients .
So what fabric or combination of fabrics is best for homemade masks ?
A new study conducted by University of Chicago professor Supratik Guha and colleagues at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont looked at more than 15 common household fabrics to see which were best for protecting against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 .
More specifically , the study investigated the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tiny droplets that are how COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses are spread .
The study found the most effective fabrics to be cotton , natural silk and chiffon ; synthetic silk and satin did not provide as much protection .
Hybrid combinations , such as high thread cotton , along with silk , chiffon or flannel also supplied broad filtration coverage .
Read more here .
—Hannah Herrera Greenspan 2:30 p.m. : A Chicago nurse returned to work after recovering from coronavirus .
His cough came back .
He tested 2 more times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day , Daniel Ortiz walks into a hospital and treats patients who are struggling with the coronavirus .
He hoped he wouldn ’ t test positive for the virus .
But it was , he felt , inevitable .
Ortiz ’ s ordeal started in March , when he was assigned to the COVID-19 unit at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago .
Although escaping exposure felt impossible , he took measures to protect his wife , carefully removing contaminated clothing before entering their home and sleeping on the couch .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me in the head with a hammer , ” said Ortiz , who returned to work in early April .
At the time , he said , protocol to return to work did not include further testing .
Nurses could go back once symptoms subsided after seven days .
“ I go right to the place that got me sick , that took my power , that took everything.
” Ortiz is one of thousands of people working in Illinois health care systems who have been infected with the virus .
Eight have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department .
He and other nurses who have tested positive for the coronavirus told the Tribune they worry about getting sick again .
Last week , Ortiz ’ s cough returned .
Under new hospital policy , he was tested twice before he could return to work this time .
The first result came back negative .
But on Wednesday , two days later , he tested positive .
Read more here .
—Alison Bowen Aldermen approved Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ’ s coronavirus spending ordinance Friday over the objections of critics who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much authority to make big purchases using public money without City Council oversight .
The mayor ’ s emergency powers ordinance passed the council by a 29-21 vote following contentious debate .
Lightfoot had the council meet Friday afternoon to consider the package after opponents used a parliamentary procedure to block it at Wednesday ’ s meeting .
On Wednesday , the mayor had excoriated the five aldermen who stopped the vote as a small group of selfish obstructionists more interested in “ preening in front of the press ” than working to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grips of the COVID-19 pandemic .
But on Friday , Ald .
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa , 35th , said Lightfoot ’ s failure to include provisions in the ordinance guaranteeing equitable distribution of coronavirus funds to protect vulnerable Chicagoans made it unacceptable .
“ With this mayor , we ’ ve seen that you have to get it in writing , ” Ramirez-Rosa said .
The ordinance codifies a set of extraordinary spending powers , many of which Lightfoot already granted herself via a March executive order .
It allows her administration to move @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contracts under $ 1 million without aldermanic approval if the funds are to be spent in response to the virus.Facing aldermanic pushback last week to her proposal , Lightfoot agreed to have her finance team provide weekly reports to the council Budget Committee detailing such spending .
Read more here .
—John Byrne and Gregory Pratt 2:01 p.m. : At least $ 200 million budget gap could hit Cook County government as sales , hotel tax revenue dry up , official says Starting in May , Cook County ’ s forecasted net revenue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a substantial budget gap for the 2020 fiscal year , according to a projection from chief financial officer Ammar Rizki .
Plummeting sales tax revenue from restaurants and other sources could spell long-term damage to the budget as shopping and tourism numbers deflate amid the COVID-19 outbreak .
Rizki said his “ best-case scenario ” projection is if the statewide stay-at-home order ends as scheduled at the end of May , but the projections could fluctuate greatly.
“ If we ’ re not able to control the pandemic and the economy is in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the summer months , '' Rizki said , `` this is going to get only worse for us.
” Rizki said he fears coronavirus ’ clampdown on outside life will not ease once the virus subsides , and warned that “ people are not going to go rush out automatically and start living their daily lives that they used to prior to COVID , despite the pent-up demand.
” Read more here .
—Alice Yin 1:54 p.m. : Chicago police issued more dispersal orders on West Side in early days of stay-at-home order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including the lakefront Chicago police broke up far more gatherings of people on the West Side than any other part of the city during the early days of Illinois Gov .
J.B. Pritzker ’ s stay-at-home order to curb the spread of COVID-19 , according to official police statistics .
More than half of the 956 reports where Chicago police dealt with “ coronavirus loitering ” across the city in an 11-day period from late March through early April occurred in just one of the city ’ s 22 police districts , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to data on coronavirus dispersals obtained by the Tribune through an open records request .
Read more here .
—Jeremy Gorner Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John M. Madonia issued a temporary restraining order Thursday blocking the rule following a lawsuit filed by the Illinois Manufacturers ’ Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association this week against emergency amendments adopted by the Illinois Workers ’ Compensation Commission .
More than two dozen business groups supported the lawsuit .
Read more here .
—Associated Press A Illinois nursing home industry group criticized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus pandemic and warned that outbreaks in homes are likely worse than has been reported and the numbers will grow more dire .
Speaking on behalf of the Health Care Council of Illinois , Citadel Healthcare CEO Jonathan Aaron said on a video conference call with reporters that the state ’ s expanded testing efforts at nursing homes were “ belated and off to a slow start.
” He called for “ coordinated widespread testing ” and said “ a comprehensive plan for COVID-19 in nursing homes is long overdue.
” Aaron , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the effectiveness of pre-shift temperature screening for nursing home employees , saying it wouldn ’ t stop an asymptomatic worker from spreading the virus .
In fact , that mirrors the official account of the spread of the disease at a Joliet home where 24 residents and employees have died .
State officials on Sunday started posting information on cases and deaths at homes online after sustaining criticism about holding back the information .
Aaron warned that those figures likely undercount cases because of delays in reporting and different reporting practices across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is only periodically updating the data it shares publicly , and he said the next update will bring a “ surge ” in cases and deaths .
Aaron ’ s conference call came in the wake of complaints from nursing home workers that managers are not providing adequate gear and training while failing to share information on outbreaks .
Aaron said his peers in the industry were being blamed unfairly .
“ We have done everything we can to secure PPE .
We have literally scoured the globe , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ money .
We are being price-gouged.
” 11:53 a.m. : Is it crazy to launch a restaurant during the pandemic shutdown ?
North Shore to-go spot stays on schedule and finds success That was the question facing Paul Bumbaco , Jeff Hoobler and Kris Walker , the group behind BWB Rocks , a new fast casual restaurant in North Shore , as they had already made plans to open before the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down .
11:49 a.m. : Trump signs $ 484 billion stimulus bill to aid employers and hospitals under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump signed a $ 484 billion bill Friday to aid employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy .
The bill is the latest effort by the federal government to help keep afloat businesses that have had to close or dramatically alter their operations as states try to slow the spread of the virus .
Over the past five weeks , roughly 26 million people have filed for jobless aid , or about 1 in 6 U.S. workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 11:44 a.m. : New executive order by Pritzker waives some graduation requirements for high school seniors , 8th graders The Friday order suspends Illinois School Code requirements that 12th graders successfully complete “ certain courses ” in order to get a high school diploma .
It applies specifically to students unable to finish the coursework because of suspension of in-person classes due to COVID-19 .
Seniors also won ’ t be denied credit for apprenticeships , vocational classes or technical education courses that count toward graduation requirements but are also affected by coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eighth graders , the order suspends the requirement that they show comprehensive knowledge of U.S. history before advancing to high school .
Of more than 15,000 people currently in educator , school support and administrator preparation programs , about half were in the process of completing student teaching or internships , hoping to work in schools starting in the fall , according to the order .
Discussion of the possibility took place at a recent Library Board meeting , held remotely online , after board members heard possible scenarios that could decrease revenue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Nobody wants to talk about it , but I think senior staff has to get together to see if furloughs have to happen , ” said Library Board President Andrew Smith .
“ We need to see that model sooner than later .
I know , it ’ s ugly , unpleasant to discuss.
” Read more here .
—Steve Lord 10:47 a.m. : After reported BBQs and picnic gatherings , parking lots at ‘ too popular ’ Cook County Forest Preserves to be closed during weekend , Preckwinkle says With @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of summer , parking lots in six nature preserves will be closed on Fridays , Saturdays and Sundays , Preckwinkle announced in a press conference Friday .
They are Busse Woods in Elk Grove Village , Maple Lake in Willow Springs , Palos Forest Preserve in Willow Springs , Catherine Chevalier Woods in Chicago , LaBagh Woods in Chicago and Bunker Hill in Niles .
The decision was necessitated by “ repeated violations ” of the statewide ban on large gatherings during weekends at those Cook County Forest Preserve District sites , Preckwinkle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve seen that on warm weekend days , these locations are too popular.
” Preckwinkle said .
“ There ’ s too many visitors who are not following critical public health guidelines to fight COVID-19.
” Those violating the rules include people hauling in barbecue grills and sitting in picnic tables with groups who were “ clearly ” not part of their household , forest preserves General Superintendent Arnold Randall said .
Read more here.—Alice Yin Ramadan will look different this year , particularly for men used to centering their lives in mosques @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Muslims who are women , mothers , disabled or older are used to having a remote or distracted holy month .
“ I was on a Zoom call with friends and one of the men was saying that usually , he ’ d break his fast in the evening and then run off to pray at the masjid .
And now he ’ d have to stay home , help clean up , and then pray with the family , ” said Sara Sadat , who lives in Lisle and works as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the call was laughing and saying , ‘ I ’ ve been doing that forever !
’ ” Read more here .
—Nausheen Husain and Javonte Anderson After consulting with IT staff , Vanden Hoek said he let Cubs Charities know the hospital needed iPads for the patients to communicate with their families .
Read more here .
—Kate Thayer 8:42 a.m. : How to successfully navigate a virtual job search .
Step one : Wear pants .
With hiring freezes , furloughs , stay-at-home orders and more than 26 million Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ five weeks , the coronavirus pandemic may not be the best time to find a new job .
But career experts say you can get hired now , and despite enhanced unemployment benefits , those who have been laid off might not want to spend their time watching Netflix until the stay-at-home order is lifted .
There may be opportunities for remote work in distant markets that wouldn ’ t have been possible before COVID-19 .
So update your resume , arrange your home office for a good video interview and , experts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wear pants .
Read more here .
—Robert Channick 6:30 a.m. : Mayor Lori Lightfoot to preside over City Council meeting after opponents blocked COVID-19 emergency spending powers Mayor Lori Lightfoot will take another stab Friday at getting the Chicago City Council to pass extraordinary spending measures to respond to the COVID-19 crisis after opponents used a parliamentary procedure this week to block temporarily a vote on the proposal .
Five aldermen used the parliamentary procedure to automatically defer Lightfoot ’ s emergency powers ordinance until the next City Council meeting .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see as mayoral overreach may be short-lived .
After the vote was put off , the mayor immediately set a new online meeting for 1 p.m. Friday to vote on the measure ; Wednesday ’ s meeting had been set to be the City Council ’ s first full online meeting in history , after aldermen met last week to approve meeting via the web .
Aldermen opposed to the measure say the mayor is grabbing too much power and failing to take steps to protect economically vulnerable Chicago residents .
The proposal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Committee by a 23-10 vote , just three votes shy of a majority of the full 50-member City Council .
So the fight could be largely symbolic and come to an end Friday afternoon with Lightfoot victorious .
—Chicago Tribune staff 5 a.m. : Unexpected ripple effect of COVID-19 : Important work to restore parts of Cook County forest preserves put on hold In the fall , crews started work on a $ 2.5 million project to restore woodlands in a more than 500-acre Forest Preserves site near Orland Park .
They removed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to preserve resources for the natural trees and bring sunlight to the forest floor at the ecologically valuable land at Tinley Creek Ravines .
Now , the restoration work in Orland Park and elsewhere across Cook County is halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
An unexpected ripple effect of the pandemic , weeds will creep unabated across land maintained by the Cook County Forest Preserve District , meaning the county may need to expend more funds and manpower to get rid of the extra weed growth when life returns to normal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ will lose ground as the state ’ s stay-at-home order that began in March will be extended to the end of May .
Read more here .
—Madeline Buckley A southern Illinois state lawmaker filed a lawsuit Thursday against Gov .
J.B. Pritzker for extending the state ’ s stay-at-home order in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus .
Republican State Rep. Darren Bailey of Xenia claims in the lawsuit filed in Clay County Circuit Court that Pritzker has exceeded his authority and is violating the civil rights of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Thursday extended his stay-at-home order through May 30 as the highly contagious COVID-19 continued to infect thousands in the state .
`` Enough is enough ! ''
Bailey said in a statement .
`` I filed this lawsuit on behalf of myself and my constituents who are ready to go back to work and resume a normal life.
” In the latest order , Pritzker relaxed the decree to allow for some outdoor activities and many previously barred surgeries and medical treatments .
It allows some retailers to reopen to fill online or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face coverings in public for anyone older than 2 , both indoors and outside in circumstances in which the recommended 6-foot social distance can ’ t be maintained .
“ We are in possibly the most difficult parts of this journey , ” Pritzker said .
“ I know how badly we all want our normal lives back .
Believe me , if I could make that happen right now , I would , but this is the part when we have to dig in.
” Bailey said the power and authority Pritzker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for an immediate review and reconsideration of legislative intent.
” —Associated Press Here are five things that happened Thursday that you need to know : Here are five things that happened Wednesday that you need to know : Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know : Here are five things that happened Monday that you need to know :

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday announced the state conducted 16,124 tests for the new coronavirus during the previous 24 hours, for the first time surpassing his goal of 10,000 tests in a single day.
“Surpassing 10,000 tests is a very important milestone, not only because it allows us to isolate more of those who are COVID positive so that they don’t spread the infection but also because it moves us in the direction of expanding our surveillance for outbreaks,” Pritzker said.
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Officials also announced a daily high number for known cases of COVID-19. The 2,724 new cases announced Friday tops the previous high of 2,049 set just two days earlier and brings the total known case count to 39,658. There also were 108 more deaths announced, bringing the death toll to 1,795, officials said.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ As the coronavirus spreads, the Tribune is tracking Illinois cases here ]
[ From closing schools to stay-at-home order, here's how Illinois' coronavirus response compares with other states ]
Here’s a recap of what happened on April with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
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7:50 p.m.: Pandemic exposes inconsistent, incomplete data on COVID-19 cases in Illinois
On a busy stretch of Cermak Road in Cicero, a nine-story nursing home towers over a collection of shops and — by one measure — also looms as one of the state’s biggest hot spots for COVID-19.
Called City View Multicare Center, the massive nursing home by last Sunday afternoon had tallied at least 38 cases of COVID-19 among residents and employees, with six deaths. Cicero officials obtained the figures from the home and posted them on the town’s website.
But if residents had gone to the state’s online lookup tool for nursing homes to check on cases, they’d have seen a far different numbers for City View: just two deaths and — inexplicably — a single case.
Cicero Fire Chief Dominick Buscemi said he’s not sure why the state’s figures are so low. “It was a shock to us, too,” he said.
The disparity is a glaring example of a broad problem facing Illinois as it battles the pandemic: inconsistencies and omissions in the data it is collecting on COVID-19 cases. Read more here. —Joe Mahr
7 p.m.: How Chicagoans are coping with another month at home
Despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s repeated encouragement to be “all in” on the stay-at-home-order, Illinois enters this next phase of life under the virus as a truly bifurcated state, a population split into those who are fighting bankruptcy and those fighting boredom. With each passing day, the two sides drift further apart as they deal with their own very real struggles. Read more here.
6:15 p.m.: Northwestern testing drug to help treat a ‘storm’ inside the body caused by COVID-19
Some patients with the novel coronavirus suffer a severe immune response that triggers potentially fatal hyperinflammation, studies have shown. The reaction, named for the body’s proteins that attack lung tissue, is known as a “cytokine storm.”
“A storm is a good way to describe it,” Northwestern Medicine’s Dr. Richard Wunderink said. “It can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome, … essentially flooding the lungs.”
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In response, researchers like Wunderink are racing to see if they can find a way to prevent such a catastrophic chain of events. Northwestern Medicine in Chicago is testing a drug called sarilumab, which is otherwise used to reduce inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis.
As medical director of the intensive care unit, Wunderink and his colleagues have helped treat more than 100 patients on mechanical ventilation. Early results elsewhere show that many patients do not do well on ventilators, and the drug treatment is an attempt to avoid that last resort.
“We have no therapy for COVID-19, per se,” Wunderink explained. “We are managing these patients using what research has shown is the best management for acute respiratory distress syndrome, so that’s the best we have to offer.” Read more here. —Robert McCoppin
5:40 p.m.: Higher meat prices, fewer choices at supermarkets as slaughterhouses close over COVID-19 cases. For farmers, ‘some tough choices’ ahead.
Chad Leman, a third-generation hog farmer in Eureka, Illinois, thinks he can hold out for two more weeks before he resorts to once-unthinkable measures.
With some of the nation’s largest slaughterhouses closed due to worker outbreaks of COVID-19, he can’t sell most of his market-ready hogs. But freshly weaned piglets continue to arrive, crowding his barns. He’s been shuffling pigs around, but there’s just not enough space.
“We can do this for a couple weeks yet, but then we’re going to have some tough decisions," Leman said. "We are going to have to euthanize baby pigs because there will be nowhere for them to go.”
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Outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers at major meatpacking plants are causing ripple effects across the supply chain, creating a backlog of livestock at farms in central Illinois and threatening to hike meat prices at supermarkets in Chicago. Read more here. —Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
5:05 p.m.: Illinois reopens golf May 1 but with strict regulations — twosomes only, no carts and no practice putting
Golfers like to joke they’ve been social distancing for years: They hit a weak slice that lands in the right rough while their playing partners hit pull hooks or, once in a blue moon, stripe it down the middle of the fairway.
Now as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “strict safety guidelines,” social distancing will become mandatory on Illinois’ 683 golf courses.
Pritzker’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity laid out a dozen ground rules Friday afternoon to course operators, who can welcome golfers at 6 a.m. May 1.
Most restrictions mirror those from other states: Walking only (no carts), tee times spread out to 15 minutes, no touching of the flagstick, foam in the cups for easy ball retrieval, no food service and clubhouses that will remain closed.
Illinois officials, though, have taken things further with this line: “Players shall be grouped in twosomes.”
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So no threesomes or foursomes, the most common-sized group. Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein.
2:46 p.m.: Illinois surpasses single-day testing goal for 1st time
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday announced the state conducted 16,124 tests for the new coronavirus during the previous 24 hours, for the first time surpassing his goal of 10,000 tests in a single day.
“Surpassing 10,000 tests is a very important milestone, not only because it allows us to isolate more of those who are COVID positive so that they don’t spread the infection but also because it moves us in the direction of expanding our surveillance for outbreaks,” Pritzker said.
The announcement came the same day the state opened its fifth drive-thru testing facility, the newest one in Rockford.
Officials also announced a daily high number for known cases of COVID-19. The 2,724 new cases announced Friday tops the previous high of 2,049 set just two days earlier and brings the total known case count to 39,658. Public health officials have attributed the recent spikes in cases in part to increased testing.
There also were 108 more deaths announced Friday, bringing the death toll to 1,795, officials said. There have been fatalities in 96 of Illinois’ 102 counties.
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Officials said Thursday that models show Illinois may be reaching a peak in coronavirus cases. —Dan Petrella
2:35 p.m.: Which fabric is best for homemade masks? A new study looked at more than 15 common household materials.
Starting May 1, Illinois will require everyone over age 2 to wear a mask when they can’t maintain a 6-foot social distance in public. N-95 masks, which are in short supply, are best reserved for health care workers, who come into direct contact with COVID-19 patients. So what fabric or combination of fabrics is best for homemade masks?
A new study conducted by University of Chicago professor Supratik Guha and colleagues at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont looked at more than 15 common household fabrics to see which were best for protecting against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. More specifically, the study investigated the fabric’s filtration efficiencies against the tiny droplets that are how COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses are spread.
The study found the most effective fabrics to be cotton, natural silk and chiffon; synthetic silk and satin did not provide as much protection. Hybrid combinations, such as high thread cotton, along with silk, chiffon or flannel also supplied broad filtration coverage. Read more here. —Hannah Herrera Greenspan
2:30 p.m.: A Chicago nurse returned to work after recovering from coronavirus. His cough came back. He tested 2 more times and got different results.
Day after day, Daniel Ortiz walks into a hospital and treats patients who are struggling with the coronavirus. He hoped he wouldn’t test positive for the virus. But it was, he felt, inevitable.
That fear came true, not once, but twice.
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Ortiz’s ordeal started in March, when he was assigned to the COVID-19 unit at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago. Although escaping exposure felt impossible, he took measures to protect his wife, carefully removing contaminated clothing before entering their home and sleeping on the couch.
Still, a coronavirus test in late March came back positive.
“It felt like somebody was constantly hitting me in the head with a hammer,” said Ortiz, who returned to work in early April. At the time, he said, protocol to return to work did not include further testing. Nurses could go back once symptoms subsided after seven days. “I go right to the place that got me sick, that took my power, that took everything.”
Ortiz is one of thousands of people working in Illinois health care systems who have been infected with the virus. Eight have died, according to the state Health Department. He and other nurses who have tested positive for the coronavirus told the Tribune they worry about getting sick again.
Last week, Ortiz’s cough returned. Under new hospital policy, he was tested twice before he could return to work this time.
The first result came back negative. But on Wednesday, two days later, he tested positive. Read more here. —Alison Bowen
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2:25 p.m.: Chicago City Council approves Lightfoot’s coronavirus emergency powers order
Aldermen approved Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s coronavirus spending ordinance Friday over the objections of critics who say she’s giving herself too much authority to make big purchases using public money without City Council oversight.
The mayor’s emergency powers ordinance passed the council by a 29-21 vote following contentious debate. Lightfoot had the council meet Friday afternoon to consider the package after opponents used a parliamentary procedure to block it at Wednesday’s meeting.
On Wednesday, the mayor had excoriated the five aldermen who stopped the vote as a small group of selfish obstructionists more interested in “preening in front of the press” than working to help their constituents who are in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But on Friday, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, said Lightfoot’s failure to include provisions in the ordinance guaranteeing equitable distribution of coronavirus funds to protect vulnerable Chicagoans made it unacceptable. “With this mayor, we’ve seen that you have to get it in writing,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
The ordinance codifies a set of extraordinary spending powers, many of which Lightfoot already granted herself via a March executive order. It allows her administration to move money within the city budget and sign contracts under $1 million without aldermanic approval if the funds are to be spent in response to the virus.Facing aldermanic pushback last week to her proposal, Lightfoot agreed to have her finance team provide weekly reports to the council Budget Committee detailing such spending. Read more here. —John Byrne and Gregory Pratt
2:01 p.m.: At least $200 million budget gap could hit Cook County government as sales, hotel tax revenue dry up, official says
Cook County government could suffer at least a $200 million budget shortfall this year due to lost tax revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Friday projection.
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Starting in May, Cook County’s forecasted net revenue is expected to begin dropping and spark a substantial budget gap for the 2020 fiscal year, according to a projection from chief financial officer Ammar Rizki. Plummeting sales tax revenue from restaurants and other sources could spell long-term damage to the budget as shopping and tourism numbers deflate amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Rizki said his “best-case scenario” projection is if the statewide stay-at-home order ends as scheduled at the end of May, but the projections could fluctuate greatly.“
If we’re not able to control the pandemic and the economy is in some sort of a suspended state through the summer months," Rizki said, "this is going to get only worse for us.”
Rizki said he fears coronavirus’ clampdown on outside life will not ease once the virus subsides, and warned that “people are not going to go rush out automatically and start living their daily lives that they used to prior to COVID, despite the pent-up demand.” Read more here. —Alice Yin
1:54 p.m.: Chicago police issued more dispersal orders on West Side in early days of stay-at-home order than other parts of the city, including the lakefront
Chicago police broke up far more gatherings of people on the West Side than any other part of the city during the early days of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to official police statistics.
More than half of the 956 reports where Chicago police dealt with “coronavirus loitering” across the city in an 11-day period from late March through early April occurred in just one of the city’s 22 police districts, the Harrison patrol district on the West Side, according to data on coronavirus dispersals obtained by the Tribune through an open records request. Read more here. —Jeremy Gorner
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12:39 p.m.: Judge blocks new Illinois workers’ compensation rule that granted benefits to employees who contract COVID-19
A judge has blocked a new Illinois workers’ compensation rule granting benefits to any employee deemed essential who contracts COVID-19, even if working from home.
Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John M. Madonia issued a temporary restraining order Thursday blocking the rule following a lawsuit filed by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association this week against emergency amendments adopted by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. More than two dozen business groups supported the lawsuit. Read more here. —Associated Press
11:56 a.m.: Nursing home group criticizes state response to COVID-19
A Illinois nursing home industry group criticized the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and warned that outbreaks in homes are likely worse than has been reported and the numbers will grow more dire.
Speaking on behalf of the Health Care Council of Illinois, Citadel Healthcare CEO Jonathan Aaron said on a video conference call with reporters that the state’s expanded testing efforts at nursing homes were “belated and off to a slow start.” He called for “coordinated widespread testing” and said “a comprehensive plan for COVID-19 in nursing homes is long overdue.”
Aaron, who oversees 11 facilities, also questioned the effectiveness of pre-shift temperature screening for nursing home employees, saying it wouldn’t stop an asymptomatic worker from spreading the virus. In fact, that mirrors the official account of the spread of the disease at a Joliet home where 24 residents and employees have died.
State officials on Sunday started posting information on cases and deaths at homes online after sustaining criticism about holding back the information. Aaron warned that those figures likely undercount cases because of delays in reporting and different reporting practices across the state. He noted that the state is only periodically updating the data it shares publicly, and he said the next update will bring a “surge” in cases and deaths.
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Aaron’s conference call came in the wake of complaints from nursing home workers that managers are not providing adequate gear and training while failing to share information on outbreaks. Aaron said his peers in the industry were being blamed unfairly.
“We have done everything we can to secure PPE. We have literally scoured the globe,” he said. “We are paying astronomical amounts of money. We are being price-gouged.”
State officials could not immediately be reached for comment. —Dan Hinkel
11:53 a.m.: Is it crazy to launch a restaurant during the pandemic shutdown? North Shore to-go spot stays on schedule and finds success
How do you host an opening during a mass closing?
That was the question facing Paul Bumbaco, Jeff Hoobler and Kris Walker, the group behind BWB Rocks, a new fast casual restaurant in North Shore, as they had already made plans to open before the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down.
The group pressed on, which elicited some surprise on social media. Read more here. —Adam Lukach
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11:49 a.m.: Trump signs $484 billion stimulus bill to aid employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic
President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill Friday to aid employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy.
The bill is the latest effort by the federal government to help keep afloat businesses that have had to close or dramatically alter their operations as states try to slow the spread of the virus. Over the past five weeks, roughly 26 million people have filed for jobless aid, or about 1 in 6 U.S. workers. Read more here. —Associated Press
11:44 a.m.: New executive order by Pritzker waives some graduation requirements for high school seniors, 8th graders
High-school seniors worried about passing final classes needed to graduate may find relief in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s latest executive order.
The Friday order suspends Illinois School Code requirements that 12th graders successfully complete “certain courses” in order to get a high school diploma. It applies specifically to students unable to finish the coursework because of suspension of in-person classes due to COVID-19.
Seniors also won’t be denied credit for apprenticeships, vocational classes or technical education courses that count toward graduation requirements but are also affected by coronavirus measures.
More than 100,000 Illinois students are getting ready to graduate high school, according to the order.
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For a similar number of eighth graders, the order suspends the requirement that they show comprehensive knowledge of U.S. history before advancing to high school.
It also suspends school code requirements for physical fitness assessments and some foreign language proficiency exams.
In addition, the order eases requirements including performance assessments for student teachers, internships for principal candidates and educators seeking specific licenses, and full-time supervised experience for prospective school psychologists.
Of more than 15,000 people currently in educator, school support and administrator preparation programs, about half were in the process of completing student teaching or internships, hoping to work in schools starting in the fall, according to the order.
The order states the Illinois State Board of Education will file emergency rules as needed to make it effective.
ISBE and Chicago Public Schools did not immediately respond to questions. —Hannah Leone
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11:04 a.m.: Aurora Public Library to consider employee furloughs due to pandemic
As the Aurora Public Library deals with financial issues related to the coronavirus crisis, board members are considering furloughing employees.
Discussion of the possibility took place at a recent Library Board meeting, held remotely online, after board members heard possible scenarios that could decrease revenue for the library in the coming months.
“Nobody wants to talk about it, but I think senior staff has to get together to see if furloughs have to happen,” said Library Board President Andrew Smith. “We need to see that model sooner than later. I know, it’s ugly, unpleasant to discuss.” Read more here. —Steve Lord
10:47 a.m.: After reported BBQs and picnic gatherings, parking lots at ‘too popular’ Cook County Forest Preserves to be closed during weekend, Preckwinkle says
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle shut down further chunks of the forest preserves starting Saturday, citing throngs of visitors who are not listening to social distancing guidelines.
With a month to go before the start of summer, parking lots in six nature preserves will be closed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Preckwinkle announced in a press conference Friday. They are Busse Woods in Elk Grove Village, Maple Lake in Willow Springs, Palos Forest Preserve in Willow Springs, Catherine Chevalier Woods in Chicago, LaBagh Woods in Chicago and Bunker Hill in Niles.
The decision was necessitated by “repeated violations” of the statewide ban on large gatherings during weekends at those Cook County Forest Preserve District sites, Preckwinkle said.
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“Unfortunately, we’ve seen that on warm weekend days, these locations are too popular.” Preckwinkle said. “There’s too many visitors who are not following critical public health guidelines to fight COVID-19.”
Those violating the rules include people hauling in barbecue grills and sitting in picnic tables with groups who were “clearly” not part of their household, forest preserves General Superintendent Arnold Randall said. Read more here.—Alice Yin
9:58 a.m.: For Chicago-area Muslims without traditional mosque access, a remote Ramadan isn’t a new concept
Helping prepare the iftar meal. Missing going to the mosque at night. Dealing with technical difficulties during prayers.
Ramadan will look different this year, particularly for men used to centering their lives in mosques during the holy month. But many Muslims who are women, mothers, disabled or older are used to having a remote or distracted holy month.
“I was on a Zoom call with friends and one of the men was saying that usually, he’d break his fast in the evening and then run off to pray at the masjid. And now he’d have to stay home, help clean up, and then pray with the family,” said Sara Sadat, who lives in Lisle and works as a village trustee. “And his wife on the call was laughing and saying, ‘I’ve been doing that forever!’” Read more here. —Nausheen Husain and Javonte Anderson
9:49 a.m.: Cubs Charities donates iPads to keep UIC patients connected to families
As hospital patients battle illness alone — a consequence of visitor restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic — the staff are figuring out how to use technology to connect them to loved ones.
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At the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago, more iPads were needed to do so. Cubs Charities answered the call.
The charity arm of the Chicago Cubs has been delivering meals to front line healthcare workers in recent weeks, specifically focusing on hospitals and clinics that are more in need on the South and West sides, including UIC. Dr. Terry Vanden Hoek, chief medical officer, said the charity asked him after a meal delivery if the hospital needed anything else.
“That’s always a nice sentence to hear,” he said.
A member of his staff had just told him of a friend who lost her husband to COVID-19, and noted the man died alone, unable to be with his wife, even over Facetime. The staff member asked Vanden Hoek, “What are we doing at UI Health prevent this from happening?'”
“It’s a good question,” he said.
After consulting with IT staff, Vanden Hoek said he let Cubs Charities know the hospital needed iPads for the patients to communicate with their families. Read more here. —Kate Thayer
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8:42 a.m.: How to successfully navigate a virtual job search. Step one: Wear pants.
With hiring freezes, furloughs, stay-at-home orders and more than 26 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits over the last five weeks, the coronavirus pandemic may not be the best time to find a new job.
But career experts say you can get hired now, and despite enhanced unemployment benefits, those who have been laid off might not want to spend their time watching Netflix until the stay-at-home order is lifted.
There may be opportunities for remote work in distant markets that wouldn’t have been possible before COVID-19. So update your resume, arrange your home office for a good video interview and, experts advise, don’t forget to wear pants. Read more here. —Robert Channick
6:30 a.m.: Mayor Lori Lightfoot to preside over City Council meeting after opponents blocked COVID-19 emergency spending powers
Mayor Lori Lightfoot will take another stab Friday at getting the Chicago City Council to pass extraordinary spending measures to respond to the COVID-19 crisis after opponents used a parliamentary procedure this week to block temporarily a vote on the proposal.
Five aldermen used the parliamentary procedure to automatically defer Lightfoot’s emergency powers ordinance until the next City Council meeting. But opponents’ victory in stopping what they see as mayoral overreach may be short-lived.
After the vote was put off, the mayor immediately set a new online meeting for 1 p.m. Friday to vote on the measure; Wednesday’s meeting had been set to be the City Council’s first full online meeting in history, after aldermen met last week to approve meeting via the web.
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Aldermen opposed to the measure say the mayor is grabbing too much power and failing to take steps to protect economically vulnerable Chicago residents.
The proposal had passed Tuesday at the council Budget Committee by a 23-10 vote, just three votes shy of a majority of the full 50-member City Council. So the fight could be largely symbolic and come to an end Friday afternoon with Lightfoot victorious. —Chicago Tribune staff
5 a.m.: Unexpected ripple effect of COVID-19: Important work to restore parts of Cook County forest preserves put on hold
In the fall, crews started work on a $2.5 million project to restore woodlands in a more than 500-acre Forest Preserves site near Orland Park.
They removed non-native trees and brush throughout the winter to preserve resources for the natural trees and bring sunlight to the forest floor at the ecologically valuable land at Tinley Creek Ravines.
Now, the restoration work in Orland Park and elsewhere across Cook County is halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An unexpected ripple effect of the pandemic, weeds will creep unabated across land maintained by the Cook County Forest Preserve District, meaning the county may need to expend more funds and manpower to get rid of the extra weed growth when life returns to normal.
As a result, some land projects will lose ground as the state’s stay-at-home order that began in March will be extended to the end of May. Read more here. —Madeline Buckley
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9 p.m. Thursday: Southern Illinois lawmaker sues Pritzker for stay-at-home order
A southern Illinois state lawmaker filed a lawsuit Thursday against Gov. J.B. Pritzker for extending the state’s stay-at-home order in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Republican State Rep. Darren Bailey of Xenia claims in the lawsuit filed in Clay County Circuit Court that Pritzker has exceeded his authority and is violating the civil rights of the state’s residents. Pritzker on Thursday extended his stay-at-home order through May 30 as the highly contagious COVID-19 continued to infect thousands in the state.
"Enough is enough!" Bailey said in a statement. "I filed this lawsuit on behalf of myself and my constituents who are ready to go back to work and resume a normal life.”
In the latest order, Pritzker relaxed the decree to allow for some outdoor activities and many previously barred surgeries and medical treatments. It allows some retailers to reopen to fill online or pickup orders. The governor is requiring face coverings in public for anyone older than 2, both indoors and outside in circumstances in which the recommended 6-foot social distance can’t be maintained.
“We are in possibly the most difficult parts of this journey,” Pritzker said. “I know how badly we all want our normal lives back. Believe me, if I could make that happen right now, I would, but this is the part when we have to dig in.”
Bailey said the power and authority Pritzker wields in the current crisis "calls for an immediate review and reconsideration of legislative intent.” —Associated Press
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chicagotribune--2020-04-25--Chicago police coronavirus dispersals

Chicago police coronavirus dispersals

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If you want to avoid your chicken @ @ @ @ @ wilting , the Food and Drug Administration provides a refrigerator and freezer storage chart so @ @ @ @ @ each food in your home is good for .

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 13 A Chicago police sergeant gives instructions to officers in the 4700 block of West Madison Street in the West Garfield Park neighborhood April 24, 2020. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago police broke up far more gatherings of people on the West Side than any other part of the city during the early days of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to official police statistics.


chicagotribune--2020-04-25--One case? Or 38? Pandemic exposes inconsistent, incomplete data on COVID-19 cases in Illinois

Health officials want to quickly learn as much as possible about each person infected with the new coronavirus — including @ @ @ @ @ age and race , and what they do for a living — to help figure @ @ @ @ @ spreading and who is most vulnerable .

On a busy stretch of Cermak Road in Cicero, a nine-story nursing home towers over a collection of shops and — by one measure — also looms as one of the state’s biggest hot spots for COVID-19.
Called City View Multicare Center, the massive nursing home by last Sunday afternoon had tallied at least 38 cases of COVID-19 among residents and employees, with six deaths. Cicero officials obtained the figures from the home and posted them on the town’s website.
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But if residents had gone to the state’s online lookup tool for nursing homes to check on cases, they’d have seen a far different numbers for City View: just two deaths and — inexplicably — a single case.
Cicero Fire Chief Dominick Buscemi said he’s not sure why the state’s figures are so low. “It was a shock to us, too,” he said.
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The disparity is a glaring example of a broad problem facing Illinois as it battles the pandemic: inconsistencies and omissions in the data it is collecting on COVID-19 cases.
A woman stands Friday at the entrance to City View Multicare Center nursing home in Cicero. As of April 19, local officials had determined there were 38 COVID-19 cases among residents and staff, with six deaths. The state's data at the time showed two deaths, from just one case. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Health officials want to quickly learn as much as possible about each person infected with the new coronavirus — including where they live, their age and race, and what they do for a living — to help figure out how the disease is spreading and who is most vulnerable.
The state should be in a good position to carry out that kind of analysis. Illinois already has a system in place in which health care providers are required by law to report details on all kinds of diseases, from botulism to chlamydia.
But as the COVID-19 virus has spread rapidly, with tens of thousands of confirmed cases in Illinois, it’s become clear that the information the state has compiled on patients is far from complete.
For example, the race or ethnicity of the infected person is missing in a fourth of all entries — a gap in information that has especially frustrated Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
And although Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said one of his goals is to track infections among health care workers, the state has acknowledged that, for thousands of reported cases, the person’s occupation was not listed.
Meanwhile, the state’s new nursing home lookup tool — released a week ago — has presented figures that, at times, do not align with public statements from the nursing homes, local officials or even the state itself.
In a statement, an Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman acknowledged discrepancies exist but said that state and local health officials are doing the best they can using a strained collection system amid an unprecedented pandemic.
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“While the data are important and we are collecting and tracking it, the priority is to stop the spread,” said agency spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.
At news conferences, state officials have pointed out that the data is provisional, or subject to change, and that the agency relies on doctors, hospitals, local health officials and others to input it.
“I know it sounds like it’s straightforward,” the agency’s head, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, told reporters Monday. “But it’s a little complex. ... The information that we pull out had to have been submitted.”
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike at a daily press briefing about COVID-19 on April 1, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
She added Friday: “We’re working with all of our partners to try to get as much data put in and updated in a timely basis.”
Pritzker offered a similar message Wednesday, when asked about an inconsistency.
“Again," he said, “it’s about the data in and data out.”
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Part of the plan
In planning for a possible pandemic, the state envisioned that its robust system for collecting data on diseases could allow swift and sophisticated analysis to guide policymakers.
The data from the state feeds into a broader system created by the federal government, the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System or NEDSS. Illinois’ version is known as I-NEDSS. Even with no pandemic, it’s a 24-hour data workhorse, allowing state epidemiologists to track outbreaks ranging from Legionnaires’ disease to the West Nile virus.
State and local officials use other data systems to help gather information on infected residents, including systems for lab reports, deaths and hospital patient symptoms. But I-NEDSS is the primary one to log confirmed cases.
According to the state’s pandemic preparedness plan, it’s "specifically designed to handle outbreak situations, such as a ... pandemic event.”
The plan states that I-NEDSS can track, every 60 seconds, “case distribution by city, county and ZIP code; pregnancy status; hospitalization and emergency department admissions; deaths ... ; age, sex and race breakdowns; sensitive occupations, including health care workers; out-of-country travel histories; and laboratory confirmation by either CDC or IDPH.”
But it can’t crunch data that’s not entered.
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Entries on cases are required by law to include a patient’s name, age, date of birth, sex, race, ethnicity, address, email address and telephone number, as well as any other relevant information the state seeks.
People familiar with the system say it relies largely on a variety of health care employees, working in hospitals, labs and other settings, to type the information into a secure, online database. But they don’t always fill out all the fields.
Local health departments are tasked by law with trying to fill in the blanks. In DuPage County, for example, 20% to 30% of cases can be missing fields, according to the county’s medical officer, Dr. Rashmi Chugh.
The department’s staff, while beefed up to help handle the pandemic, still must prioritize which missing information to chase down, as time allows, she said. The county employees also must cope with a rush of new forms, often faxed in, that document the results from ramped-up testing.
“A lot of times, all we’re getting is a fax report of a result that typically does not include a lot of the demographic information we need,” Chugh said.
The gaps don’t surprise Dr. Perry Smith, a retired New York state epidemiologist who’s worked with such systems and studied their challenges.
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He said the systems rely on many workers to input and vet data. With sick or deceased patients, the families may not be reachable or may not have answers to all the questions. Or cases may have been entered twice, requiring a careful edit. And government health budgets have been cut.
“Unfortunately," he said, "over the decades, I think public health surveillance has fallen behind. I know it has.”
‘Not negotiable’
Earlier this month, journalists with WBEZ-FM reported that African Americans were dying at higher rates than other groups in Cook County. That report was based not on data from the state but on records kept by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The racial disparity raised an important question: If so many African Americans were dying from the disease, how many had tested positive? Reporters and public health officials realized that a lot of the cases being sent to the state didn’t list the race of the infected person.
Lightfoot, visibly frustrated, called on providers “not to skip over the boxes that provide us with the demographic information that’s essential” to understanding the virus’s spread.
She said the city would order it. She said it was “not negotiable.”
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“We must understand the magnitude of the impact of this virus on all of our communities," she said.
That was April 6, when race or ethnicity entries were missing for nearly 1,300 Chicagoans who had tested positive, or 25%.
More than two weeks later, the problem appears worse, with such entries missing for more than 4,300 people — 27% of those testing positive. That’s roughly the same percentage seen statewide.
More missing data
On April 17, Ezike was asked how many health care workers had tested positive for the coronavirus, and how many had died.
According to the state’s pandemic plan, the answers should have been readily available. The plan noted that I-NEDSS system was programmed to capture such information.
“We have the occupational status for many of the cases that are in the database, but we haven’t broken it out like that,” Ezike responded.
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That same day, her state agency provided the Tribune with the figures — such as they were. Out of more than 27,000 people who had tested positive at the time, occupations were specified for fewer than 4,000. That group included 1,717 health care workers, with six deaths.
Ezike was asked again Wednesday about the figures. At the podium, as she thumbed through pages in a white binder, she paused.
“So again, I have to remind all that the data that’s put into our electronic reporting systems is put in by someone else,” she said. “We’re not going into the hospitals to get it. ... So it may not be complete. Again, it’s what we have."
She then reported the number of infected health care workers had climbed above 2,500, with eight deaths.
Her agency later clarified to the Tribune that thousands of cases still didn’t include occupation information. Even when narrowing cases to people age 17 to 69 — the primary working years — occupations were missing for nearly half.
Inconsistencies
Perhaps the clearest gaps have been exposed in the state’s long-awaited tallies of cases related to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities — settings where experts long feared deadly outbreaks.
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The Pritzker administration initially resisted calls to release statistics on cases and deaths tied to individual facilities before bowing to pressure for transparency.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Dr. Ngozi Ezike appear during a news briefing about the coronavirus pandemic on April 19, 2020, at the Thompson Center in Chicago. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Last Sunday, Ezike’s agency unveiled a website that listed cases and deaths tied to each long-term care facility. But reporters, and families monitoring homes, quickly found numbers that didn’t add up.
The total number of long-term care facilities on the site with at least one confirmed case was lower than the number the state had released days earlier: 186, down from 305.
The state’s new list also missed some cases that facilities themselves had publicly announced, such as those at the Lincoln Park facility for Little Sisters of the Poor. The group had told the Tribune it had 14 cases, with four deaths. Yet the Tribune could not find the home listed on the state website.
The inconsistencies aren’t just in Chicagoland. An Illinois Times reporter on Wednesday questioned why the state’s database didn’t list a Sangamon County nursing home where local officials had confirmed multiple cases, starting in March, and a death three days before the state’s list came out.
Public health officials cautioned that the data released by the state is not up to date. The state, for example, said the figures it published last Sunday were two days old.
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But that still wouldn’t explain many discrepancies the Tribune and others found. Officials noted again that the state’s system relies on others to input the data.
Ezike on Monday said the state pulls data from its systems hourly. But she acknowledged challenges in getting data from "multiple reporting systems and a lot of players.”
The agency spokeswoman said Friday that the state’s priority, once a case is reported, is ensuring that homes take steps to stop the virus’s spread.
“Reporting numbers is not the most important function at this time and can wait while the facility and public health focus on resident safety and care,” Arnold said.
‘Hot spot’
In Cicero, town officials don’t wait for case numbers to roll in from local nursing homes. Buscemi, the fire chief, said a town official calls each of them at least once a day.
City View Multicare Center nursing home in Cicero. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
After all, he said, Cicero needs to know as soon as possible where the hot spots are. Police officers and firefighters might be going into those buildings.
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The town also has made its findings public. For a month, Cicero has published updates on its website about a host of COVID-related topics.
The updates show the town was concerned about City View, which federal records show is the largest federally regulated nursing home in Illinois — with 485 beds — and has regulators’ lowest overall rating: one star out of five. Inspectors had cited the facility for health violations at nearly twice the average for Illinois homes.
City View administrators did not respond to an electronic message seeking comment. A reporter who called twice was transferred to two administrators whose voicemail boxes were too full to accept messages.
Buscemi said his crews rely on the town’s own figures to chart the virus’s spread, especially at City View.
“We knew the facility was going to be a hot spot,” he said.
Cicero’s updates show City View first told the town on April 1 that two of its residents had tested positive.
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By April 17, the count was 38 residents and workers, with six deaths.
That was the day the state said it pulled data for its nursing home lookup, which it published online two days later. But the website showed City View had one case and two deaths.
The Tribune asked the state about the discrepancy hours after the data was posted. The state again said that it depends on accurate data input.
But within days, the state did update its online website to report one more case for City View, listing two cases, with two deaths.
By then, Cicero officials had logged a seventh death at the home.
Tribune reporters Morgan Greene, Gregory Pratt and Robert McCoppin contributed.
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jmahr@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-26--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report 2,119 new known COVID-19 cases, alongside cautioni

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Officials report 2,119 new known COVID-19 cases, alongside cautioning against ingesting, injecting or snorting disinfectants

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Paca Kujtim of Arlington Heights self-administers a COVID-19 test in his car at the Arlington International Racecourse on March 31, 2021 in Arlington Heights. Kujtim was getting testing as a precaution for upcoming travel. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Sunday announced 2,126 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state and 59 new deaths. That brings the state’s total to 43,903 cases and 1,933 deaths.
That’s the third time in recent days that the number of new daily cases has topped 2,000, with the peak on Friday with more than 2,700. But officials have cited the rate of new cases slowing in asserting that they are starting to “flatten the curve” of the pandemic’s local spread.
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[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ As the coronavirus spreads, the Tribune is tracking Illinois cases here ]
[ From closing schools to stay-at-home order, here's how Illinois' coronavirus response compares with other states ]
Here’s a recap of what happened on April 25-26 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:19 p.m.: One model says Illinois might be able to ease restrictions by May 19
As Illinois enters another month with a modified stay-at-home order in place, easing up on social distancing guidelines — if an intensive containment strategy is in place — may be possible by late May, according to one team of modelers.
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Projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation mark May 19 as the point at which restrictions may be able to be relaxed in Illinois. But that’s dependent on a system of widespread testing, contact tracing, isolating cases and still limiting large gatherings.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has regularly updated its projections, based on each state’s policies and demographics.
The dates represent the modelers’ best estimate of when the daily new infection rate in each state will drop below 1 per 1 million people. Read more here. — Chicago Tribune staff and Associated Press
3:57 p.m.: E-learning likely to continue in the future, whether or not classrooms reopen, governor says
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said schools need to make sure they have robust e-learning programs in place because, pandemic or not, students are likely to see more remote learning in the future.
In the nearer term, the governor said it’s “still unclear what things will look like over the summer and in the fall.”
“E-learning is an important thing for us to develop either way, and I think that we’ve seen that in this short period of time that we’ve been in this COVID crisis … is many, many schools are not ready for e-learning but should be.”
The state has funds to help schools “spin up e-learning,” which he said schools are likely to use more and more in the future. — Sophie Sherry
3:20 p.m.: Pritzker on video said to show Chicago house party: ‘You’re literally putting everyone around you in danger’
A video circulating online purports to show hundreds of people gathered at a crowded house party in Chicago, according to media reports.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker addressed the video during his daily coronavirus press conference Sunday, saying such parties put at risk more than just those who attend.
“I want to remind everyone that by doing that, by standing together and not social distancing … you’re literally putting everyone around you in danger. They are putting you in danger. And all of those people are putting their families and friends who are not there in danger,” he said.
He adds that police ultimately have the ability to enforce stay-at-home order. They can charge individuals with reckless conduct if need be, although Pritzker says they have discouraged police from doing so.
The party was reported to have occurred Saturday night on the city’s West Side, according to online reports. Read more here. –Sophie Sherry
2:45 p.m.: Daily new COVID-19 cases again top 2,100, with 59 deaths in last 24 hours
Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker announced 2,126 new confirmed cases, bringing the statewide total to 43,903.
That’s the third time in recent days that the number of new daily cases has topped 2,000, with the peak on Friday with more than 2,700. But officials have cited the rate of new cases slowing in asserting that they are starting to “flatten the curve” of the pandemic’s local spread.
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Pritzker noted the numbers include many people who have already recovered from the virus.
The governor announced 59 more deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,933.
Pritzker also announced there were 13,335 new tests administered. As of midnight there were 4,595 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state. There are 1,267 patients in the ICU, and 772 of those ICU patients are on ventilators. –Sophie Sherry
11:50 a.m.: Coronavirus-related costs add up to about $23 million so far for Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools has spent about $23 million on coronavirus-related costs, including $16.5 million on technology.
That estimated amount comes in part from a $75 million emergency COVID-19 fund set up by the state’s largest school district and represents spending through April 10.
Among the anticipated technology spending is $6.5 million for 25,000 Chromebooks, $4.8 million for 5,000 Windows laptops, $2.6 million for 12,000 MiFi devices that work as hotspots, $2.5 million on 6,000 iPads and $113,000 on accessories and packaging. That’s part of an effort to provide internet access and devices to more than 100,000 students during the coronavirus school shutdown, which will continue for the rest of the school year.
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Another $3.3 million is expected to cover educational materials including AP exams, packet printing, individualized education plans and literacy supplies.
The district also anticipated spending $2.5 million in premium pay for workers through April 10 and $900,000 on sanitizer, soap and facilities supplies, along with $19,000 on masks.
CPS has said it will start posting monthly updates online showing COVID-19 spending, purchase orders and any new contracts, but that hasn’t happened yet. The figures were provided to the Board of Education last week.
The $75 million measure passed in March requires CEO Janice Jackson to report money spent using that emergency authority. –Hannah Leone
11:45 a.m.: Indiana COVID-19 cases top 15K, 813 dead, officials say
The death toll in Lake and Porter counties rose to 76 in reporting Sunday from state and local health departments.
The Indiana State Department of Health and the Lake County Health Department said 69 deaths have been blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic while the Porter County Health Department is reporting seven deaths.
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According to the state, more than 15,000 Hoosiers have tested positive for the virus and 813 have died. The number of local cases also continues to grow.
In Lake County, 1,533 people have tested positive while 219 have been diagnosed in Porter County. In statewide figures, Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, is reporting 4,796 COVID-19 cases and 259 deaths. Read more here. –Post-Tribune staff
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chicagotribune--2020-04-26--After President Trump makes comments about possibly using disinfectants to fight coronavirus, Illino

After President Trump makes comments about possibly using disinfectants to fight coronavirus, Illinois Poison Center sees increase in calls, state health official says

“ We ’ re still climbing this peak , and we ’ re still , you know , not only @ @ @ @ @ has bent , it is flattening , '' Gov .
J.B. Pritzker said .
`` @ @ @ @ @ know whether there will be any prolonged period of plateau .
I hope that we @ @ @ @ @ peak and start going down again .
But all of that is just something we @ @ @ @ @ to wait and see .
”

In the two days since President Donald Trump made remarks about the possibility that somehow injecting disinfectants into the human body may help fight the novel coronavirus, the Illinois Poison Center has seen an increase in calls about using cleaning agents, the state’s public health director said Saturday.
During her daily news conference with the governor, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said “there has been a significant increase" in calls related to cleaning products, including one regarding a person who had gargled a combination of bleach and mouthwash in an effort to treat coronavirus and another about using a detergent solution as a sinus rinse. She did not provide a count on the increased number of calls into the state.
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“Injecting, ingesting, snorting household cleaners is dangerous,” Ezike said. “It is not advised and can be deadly.”
Without mentioning the president, Ezike said there are many “myths, rumors and general misinformation” circulating about the use of cleaning supplies, and she urged people to listen to scientists and medical professionals regarding safety.
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The surge in poison calls compared with a year ago comes on the heels of Trump’s comment that disinfectants perhaps could be injected or ingested to fight COVID-19. His suggestion also prompted the maker of Lysol to warn its product should never be ingested.
“I see disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning," the president said in the White House press briefing room. “Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that.”
Trump has since said his remarks were meant to be sarcastic.
The best way to treat the coronavirus, Ezike said, is to avoid becoming sick in the first place by staying home, wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing. But if people are sick, using cleaners is not the way to go, she said.
“Please do not try home remedies that involve injecting cleaners or disinfectants," Ezike said. “You could have very dire consequences.”
Ezike’s comments came as she also announced that Illinois had 80 new deaths and 2,119 new cases of coronavirus. A total of 1,874 people in Illinois have died during the pandemic. The new daily cases reported Saturday was lower than the previous 24-hour period but still the second-highest daily total since tracking began in mid-March.
“We’re still climbing this peak, and we’re still, you know, not only climbing but as the curve has bent, it is flattening," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. "So I don’t know whether there will be any prolonged period of plateau. I hope that we’re able to simply peak and start going down again. But all of that is just something we’re going to have to wait and see.”
Across the states, 4,699 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus as of early Saturday, with 1,244 of those patients in intensive care units and 763 on ventilators.
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After recently extending Illinois’ stay-at-home order until May 30, Pritzker said it will be wait-and-see regarding summer activities such as youth baseball, summer camps and children’s classes.
“Those answers just aren’t clear yet,” the governor said. “And I know that everybody would like a definitive answer. Believe me, I wish I had one.”
The fate of summer events may hinge on the state’s testing, contact tracing and whether certain activities or events can be held while still adhering to social distancing or safe practices, the governor said. Ezike acknowledged that stay-at-home requirements are trying, but said continuing them for now is the best way to proceed in the fight against the coronavirus.
“We’re trying to find ways that people can get some level of normalcy back,” Ezike said. “We know the hardship that this necessary measure, and the extension of it, what it has done to people. And so we’re working really hard, trying to think through, trying to take creative solutions in terms of how we can make things available to people without putting additional people at risk."
The state also released figures this weekend that showed a dramatic jump in deaths of those linked to long-term care facilities — to 625, more than double reported a week ago.
The latest figures compiled by the state showed that, as of a Friday count, at least 278 facilities had 4,298 cases of residents or workers testing positive. Illinois Department of Public Health figures from the prior week reported 186 facilities, with 286 deaths out of 1,860 cases.
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As of now, a third of all Illinois deaths from the virus have been tied to long-term care facilities.
In the past week, as the industry pushed for more testing, Illinois officials announced greater focus on testing residents and staff to find cases earlier — both at facilities with no cases and others with outbreaks — to try to catch potential spreaders earlier.
It’s unclear how much the greater testing contributed to the jump in figures for positive cases, because the Tribune had previously found inconsistent figures reported for homes. The state cautions on its website that its data may not be as up to date as those kept by local officials.
The governor also reacted to Chicago-based Potbelly Corp.'s announcement that it will return $10 million it received from the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
“I think companies that don’t need the PPP money should not accept it,” Pritzker said. “... It’s true that the federal PPP program has been very difficult for small businesses to access and I frankly I’m very concerned about that. That’s something I’ve spoken with our federal representatives about because it is really the small businesses in our state that create most of the jobs.”
poconnell@chicagotribune.com
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jmahr@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-25--Officials scale back McCormick Place plans by 2,000 beds as coronavirus curve flattens

Officials are in the process of setting up another 500-bed hall at McCormick for sicker patients .
That hall , @ @ @ @ @ have 750 beds , will feature negative pressure areas , meaning the air in those @ @ @ @ @ through the facility .
Each bed will be in its own tent .
Construction is @ @ @ @ @ could be ready to accept patients within a few days , if needed , Turkal @ @ @ @ @ meant to house patients in need of intensive care .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
City and state officials have decided to open 2,000 fewer beds at the McCormick Place medical center for now, citing the slowing growth of COVID-19 cases in Illinois.
McCormick originally was supposed to have 3,000 beds in case Chicago-area hospitals were hit with more coronavirus patients than they could handle at once. For the time being, however, a planned 1,750-bed hall won’t be opened. And a separate hall for sicker patients has been scaled back by 250 beds.
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In recent weeks, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said Illinois has been bending the curve, meaning the number of cases is growing at a slower rate than it was. Around the beginning of April, cases were doubling every 3.6 days, and as of mid-April, that had been stretched to about 8.2 days.
“We have made alterations at McCormick Place where there are fewer beds that will be available than the original plan because it appears, at least for the moment, that we’re only gradually increasing the number of ... hospitalizations and the result of that is we will probably need fewer beds there,” Pritzker said Saturday.
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The supplies and resources that were going to be used in the 1,750-bed hall might be sent where they’re needed more, said Dr. Nick Turkal, executive director of the McCormick Place alternate care site and a former CEO of Advocate Aurora Health.
Dr. Nick Turkal, who is leading McCormick Place alternate care site and is a former CEO of Advocate Aurora Health. (LinkedIn photo) (LinkedIn)
It’s possible that officials still could open the hall in the future if the growth of COVID-19 cases in the state accelerates. Pritzker has said he expects the illness to peak in Illinois mid-May.
Health officials said they were planning for the worst and hoping for the best. Flattening the curve helped give them time to prepare, Turkal said.
“This virus has been completely unpredictable,” he said. “Our mantra at McCormick was we were going to be flexible and adapt to what was needed in the community and needed by our hospital partners.”
Chicago Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar noted that McCormick still will have two halls with 500 beds each available for patients.
One of those halls began accepting patients earlier this month. Turkal declined to say how many patients are there. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said Tuesday that there were fewer than a dozen patients at McCormick.
The open hall is for patients who are not severely ill, such as those who can walk on their own and may need only low levels of oxygen. That space occupies Hall C, which previously has hosted the Chicago Auto Show and packet pickup for the Shamrock Shuffle. It features 500 individual bays, sized 10-feet-by-10-feet, with three walls each and cloth doors.
So far, McCormick has taken patients from most of the major hospital systems in the city, Mayekar said. McCormick takes patients from hospitals, not from the community at large.
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“Generally, what we’re getting are calls from hospitals at or near capacity that have a lot of COVID patients and are trying to make sure they maintain adequate beds space in the hospital to continue to serve new patients as they come in,” Turkal said.
As of Friday, the state still had many intensive care unit beds available, listing about 947 open ICU beds out of 3,456 total. But some individual hospitals and regions of the state have been running lower on ICU beds.
Officials are in the process of setting up another 500-bed hall at McCormick for sicker patients. That hall, which originally was supposed to have 750 beds, will feature negative pressure areas, meaning the air in those spaces won’t recirculate through the facility. Each bed will be in its own tent. Construction is about done, and it could be ready to accept patients within a few days, if needed, Turkal said. McCormick is not meant to house patients in need of intensive care.
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the agency that runs McCormick Place, was authorized to spend up to $13 million on construction of the medical center. It was built by workers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Illinois National Guard and local contractors. The majority of costs related to McCormick Place are being reimbursed by the federal government, Mayekar said.
Though the city may not end up needing the 3,000 beds originally planned for McCormick, Turkal said it was important to plan as if they’d be required.
“Look at what happened to hospitals in New York,” Turkal said. “The best information we had in March was we would be in the same situation in Chicago, and we did the right thing by being prepared.”
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Some experts have said that a second wave of the illness could strike in the winter. But Turkal said McCormick is not meant to be kept open indefinitely.
“Our belief is we’re here through this wave, and we’ll take direction from our hospital partners, McCormick Place and the city and state as we evaluate how long that is, but eventually we need to return McCormick Place to being a convention center," he said.
Other facilities in Illinois, including the former Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park and MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island also have been designated as alternate care sites.
On Saturday, Pritzker said those sites “don’t need to be spun up until there is a projection that we will need that capability.
“So we’re making them ready, they’re in a kind of state of readiness, but not turned on yet because it does not appear, at least at the moment, that we need them in the near future,” he said.


chicagotribune--2020-04-25--Polish medical delegation helping with COVID-19 response tours Cook County’s emergency operations ce

Polish medical delegation helping with COVID-19 response tours Cook County’s emergency operations center

Nine members of the Polish military ’ s Medical Corps are in Chicago to support the state ’ s response @ @ @ @ @ a news release from the state .
The delegation arrived April 23 and is here @ @ @ @

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, right, thanks members of a Polish Ministry of Defense team at the conclusion of a conference with the Illinois National Guard at the Cook County Emergency Operations Center in Oak Forest on April 25, 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
A delegation of medical professionals from the Polish Ministry of Defense toured the Cook County Emergency Operations Center on Saturday morning, officials said.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle greeted the visitors at the Oak Forest facility that serves as command center for the county’s Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security.
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Nine members of the Polish military’s Medical Corps are in Chicago to support the state’s response to COVID-19, according to a news release from the state. The delegation arrived April 23 and is here until May 2.
The medical professionals are in Illinois after treating COVID-19 patients in Poland and Italy as part of a partnership between the Illinois National Guard and the Polish military.
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mabuckley@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-04-25--Potbelly to return $10 million PPP loan, following lead of other restaurant chains and a warning fro

Potbelly to return $10 million PPP loan, following lead of other restaurant chains and a warning from the feds to public companies

“ It is unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets will be able @ @ @ @ @ in good faith , ” the SBA said .
“ Any borrower that applied for @ @ @ @ @ the issuance of this guidance and repays the loan in full by May 7 , @ @ @ @ @ by SBA to have made the required certification in good faith .
”

Potbelly Corp. said Saturday it would return the $10 million it received from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, a decision that followed days of backlash for it and other publicly held companies that tapped funds designed to help small businesses weather coronavirus-related shutdowns.
The Chicago-based company’s announcement followed an advisory Thursday from the Small Business Administration that companies that could not prove their eligibility for the funds should give back the money by May 7.
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“It is unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets will be able to make the required certification in good faith,” the SBA said. “Any borrower that applied for a PPP loan prior to the issuance of this guidance and repays the loan in full by May 7, 2020, will be deemed by SBA to have made the required certification in good faith.”
The program, launched April 3 as part of the federal coronavirus relief act, offered businesses with fewer than 500 employees two-year, low-interest loans of up to $10 million to cover eight weeks of payroll. The portion of the loans used for payroll don’t have to be repaid so long as at least 75% of the proceeds are used to keep paying employees during those eight weeks.
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The program’s initial $349 billion pot ran out last week with many small businesses still in line for the funds. Outrage ensued when it became known, through regulatory filings, that publicly held companies had applied for, and received, hundreds of millions of dollars in the first round. Potbelly was among them, as was Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, which used two subsidiaries to receive $20 million. Shake Shack received $10 million.
At least 75 companies that received the loans were publicly traded, and some had market values of more than $100 million, according to The Associated Press.
Earlier this week, both Ruth’s Chris and Shake Shack were among companies that said they would return the money.
A Change.org petition calling on Potbelly to return the funds had received more than 51,000 signatures by Saturday afternoon.
In announcing its plan to give back the money, Potbelly said it had applied for the PPP funds after it had to furlough employees, close restaurants and cut salaries, and it sought the loan based on guidelines from the SBA.
“We were surprised and disappointed when the fund was quickly exhausted, leaving many without help,” the company said in the news release. “We are returning the PPP loan after further clarification from the Treasury Department. We will continue to seek alternatives to help support our employees and enable them to return to work so they can serve our loyal customers.”
Legislation passed this week to provide another $310 billion in funding for the PPP program, and Chicago-area companies are waiting to see if their applications are approved.


chicagotribune--2020-04-25--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--2020-04-25--Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 1,874 deaths, 41,777 confirmed cases, 201,617 tests, 27% ICU beds, 55

Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 1,874 deaths, 41,777 confirmed cases, 201,617 tests, 27% ICU beds, 55% 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--2020-04-25--Driver killed when Trans Am hits traffic signal pole in Wadsworth

The man , who was not identified , was the sole occupant of the 2003 Pontiac Trans Am , the @ @ @ @ @ in a news release .
The driver was heading west on Wadsworth Road toward Wadsworth @ @ @ @ @ he lost control of the car and veered off the road to the north , @ @ @ @ @ Trans Am likely rolled before striking and wrapping around a traffic signal pole at Delaney @ @ @ @ @

A man was killed Saturday morning when his car collided with a traffic signal pole near Wadsworth and Delaney roads, the Lake County sheriff’s department said.
The man, who was not identified, was the sole occupant of the 2003 Pontiac Grand Am, the sheriff’s department said in a news release. The driver was heading west on Wadsworth Road toward Wadsworth sometime before 7 a.m. when he lost control of the car and veered off the road to the north, the release said. The Trans Am likely rolled before striking and wrapping around a traffic signal pole at Delaney Road, authorities said.
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An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.


chicagotribune--2020-04-25--Teenage boy wounded Saturday afternoon in shooting on West Side

Shortly before 2 p.m. , the boy suffered wounds to the buttocks and arm in the 3600 block of West @ @ @ @ @ taken to Mount Sinai Hospital , where he was listed in good condition , police @ @

A 16-year-old boy was shot twice Saturday afternoon in the Homan Square neighborhood on the West Side, Chicago police said.
Shortly before 2 p.m., the boy suffered wounds to the buttocks and arm in the 3600 block of West Lexington Street. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was listed in good condition, police said.
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No one was in custody, and detectives were investigating.