chicagotribune--2020-05-07--The high-rise office you left in March may not resemble the one you’re going back to. Here’s what wo

The high-rise office you left in March may not resemble the one you’re going back to. Here’s what workplaces may look like after the coronavirus shutdown.

The company already has equipped some of its own workers in research and development and warehouse facilities with devices that @ @ @ @ @ get too close .
The device also would be able to track data on workers @ @ @ @ @ an employee tested positive for COVID-19 , the company could determine who may have been @ @ @ @ @ Officer Olivier Leonetti .

The body temperatures of employees Egor Machaca, left, and Nicole Drougas are detected with DuThermX, a fully integrated body temperature measurement system, at Dubak Electrical Group in La Grange on May 4, 2020. Dubak Electrical Group is selling temperature-taking systems for entrances to buildings that can take up to 40 people's temperatures simultaneously and can be integrated with security systems. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Masked workers walk through an entrance-only door into the office high-rise, where their temperatures are taken while passing through security.
Lines form in lobbies as elevators bring small groups of workers — each facing a different wall — to their floors.
Advertisement
Touchless doors open into corporate offices, which have been reconfigured to limit close, face-to-face encounters.
Building extras like restaurants, if they’re open, only offer carry-out. Fitness centers and lounges are closed.
Advertisement
DuThermX, a fully integrated body temperature measurement system, is built at Dubak Electrical Group in LaGrange. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
The offices that people will return to post-pandemic are a sharp contrast from the collaborative work spaces and amenity filled workplaces they walked out of in mid-March to begin working from home.
Indeed, Chicago’s return to the office is expected to usher in the most dramatic changes in big commercial buildings in nearly two decades. And new technologies are emerging to help make the return safer.
“Just like life after 9/11, when you saw all this security being added in buildings, you’ll see changes happen in our public environments because of the pandemic,” said Karl Heitman, president of Itasca-based Heitman Architects.
While Chicago’s biggest employers and property owners are drawing up plans and strategizing on best practices, they are doing so behind virtual closed doors.
Those decisions will affect 406,000 downtown office workers, according to World Business Chicago.
Arriving at a consensus may not be easy, since COVID-19 responses have largely been left up to city and state leaders. Locally, Mayor Lori Lightfoot last month announced the formation of the COVID-19 Recovery Taskforce, which she will co-chair with Sam Skinner, who was chief of staff for former President George H.W. Bush.
The 2001 terrorist attacks and natural disasters provide some return-to-work precedents, but there has been no event that leaves behind a playbook for the aftermath of a pandemic that effectively shut down the global economy to all but the basics.
Willis Tower and Chase Tower are lit in red to honor first responders in downtown Chicago on May 2, 2020. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
There’s also an unclear timeline for a vaccine, widespread testing or other medical breakthroughs that would clear the path to a full-fledged return of economic activity. Offices will be among the third phase of businesses to reopen in Illinois, with restrictions on capacity, according to a plan unveiled Tuesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Advertisement
“There just isn’t a standard of practice that employers can turn to and say ‘We’re doing what other employers are doing,’” said Dave Guilmette, president of health solutions for global consulting giant Aon, which advises clients on risk management, health policies and other workplace issues.
His firm is the anchor tenant in Chicago’s third-tallest skyscraper, which serves as Aon’s U.S. headquarters. Aon is talking with 20 of Chicago’s biggest employers, as well as building owners and local authorities, to establish a cohesive plan for the Chicago area, which is home to some of the world’s largest corporations, Guilmette said.
“You’re going to need to look to businesses to take the lead,” Guilmette said.
Real estate brokerages, architecture firms and other companies are creating their own guidelines.
Ideas discussed include having everyone in an office walk in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction like one-way traffic on a road, moving desks so they don’t face one another, installing barriers between workstations and reducing crowds in highly populated areas like cafeterias and conference rooms. Employers also must decide whether masks or other face coverings will be mandatory.
Employer-provided meals and community refrigerators could be among the many casualties, at least initially, said Michelle Osburn, workplace practice leader and associate principal at architecture firm Perkins and Will.
Advertisement
“In the near term, it’s not about radical changes,” Osburn said. “It’s understanding protocols around things like food and beverage. What are we going to do about coffee?”
Early goals also will include making employees comfortable with their commutes and navigating tight areas such as elevators, she said.
Workers’ top concerns include office cleanliness, returning to public transportation and proximity of co-workers, according to a workplace survey of 110 North American companies by commercial real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle. Among workers who typically take trains or buses to work, 28% said they will seek an alternate form of transportation when they return to the office, according to JLL.
How quickly workers regain trust in public transportation could have a lasting impact on commuting patterns, residential markets and where companies ultimately choose to locate.
And the idea of only allowing four or five people in an elevator at a time could create a major bottleneck in the lobby of a skyscraper such as the 110-story Willis Tower, where 15,000 people work each day.
“A lot of big, high-rise office buildings are struggling with that,” said Michael Cornicelli, executive vice president of BOMA/Chicago, an association of 240 downtown buildings.
Advertisement
Chicago-based GlenStar Properties got its first look at elevator etiquette May 1, when workers returned to the Dallas-area office properties it owns.
There has been strong compliance to new rules, such as exterior doors designated for entrance or exit only, GlenStar co-founder and managing director Michael Klein said. Elevators are limited to four passengers, each facing a different direction marked on the floor, he said.
Texas’ return to the office has been a trial run for the eventual reopening of GlenStar’s buildings in Chicago, where it owns the Chicago Board of Trade Building and 55 East Monroe. GlenStar also owns Chicago office complexes near O’Hare International Airport and in suburbs including Schaumburg and Rolling Meadows.
The re-entry process in Chicago could move slowly. Companies are expected to bring in a small percentage of workers initially, while staggering start and end times to further limit crowds.
While landlords and employers map out their plans, new technology is emerging to help them. One area where there’s keen interest is assessing who might be coming to work sick.
La Grange-based Dubak Electrical Group recently unveiled a system that allows as many as 40 employees’ temperatures to be taken simultaneously, using an entryway similar to a metal detector. Results are integrated into a facility’s security system.
Advertisement
The body temperature of employee Nicole Drougas is detected with DuThermX, a fully integrated body temperature measurement system at Dubak Electrical Group in LaGrange on May 4, 2020. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
As groups of people walk through the entrance to a warehouse, office building, sports venue or airport security checkpoint, a high temperature sets off an alarm. The person with a fever can be pulled aside immediately, or the system can be used to alert building management, security and the ill employee’s human resources department by email and text message.
Dubak’s system, DuThermX, which is patent pending, can quickly identify an office worker who already has a fever, but it doesn’t capture people who are asymptomatic, said Chief Operating Officer Nick Dubak.
Widespread temperature-taking already is emerging in food processing plants, distribution centers and warehouse settings. It would be new in corporate offices.
“This is the new normal,” Dubak said. “This cuts the anxiety of coming back to work, which is something we need to solve from a business perspective.”
The company already has 150 orders, from Denver to the East Coast, Dubak said. Several systems already are in use in the Chicago area, Dubak said, but he declined to specify locations.
The family-owned firm sped up the system’s development in January, when it became apparent the virus would have a major impact on the United States, Dubak said.
Advertisement
“I think this is a tool where we can start looking at the data and spotting trends,” he said. “You can use that data to enhance sanitation or take seasonal approaches to the unknown. Today we have COVID-19. What’s next tomorrow?”
Meanwhile, Zebra Technologies is developing a contact-tracing tool that could ensure social-distancing policies are followed in the workplace.
The company already has equipped some of its own workers in research and development and warehouse facilities with handheld devices using a software application that senses when workers get too close. The application also would be able to track workers’ movements so that if an employee tested positive for COVID-19, the company could determine who may have been exposed, said Chief Financial Officer Olivier Leonetti.
The application, called Zebra MotionWorks Proximity, will be used primarily in distribution centers, warehouses, postal and manufacturing environments, and has the potential to be used in other workplaces, the company said.
Advertisement
Experts have mixed opinions on whether temperature checkpoints will become commonplace in Chicago. And using technology to closely monitor the flow of people in an office or more broadly through contact tracing is viewed as effective but also controversial.
“There’s a really important question about contact tracing that will need to be thought through,” Aon’s Guilmette said. “We know the technology works. We don’t have policy at the government level or the business level, and there are privacy issues associated with it.”
While navigating tricky ethical and legal issues, many corporations also are laying off workers, renegotiating leases and slashing other spending. It’s unclear how long the economy might take to recover.
With those conditions in mind, Chicago-based Big Construction recently circulated a pricing list for a wide ranges of office upgrades, ranging from automatically opening doors and hand-sanitizing stations to heftier projects like new air circulation systems.
“We’ve gotten more of a response than I expected,” CEO Tony Iannessa said. “A lot of clients are thinking about this and taking it very seriously.”
Advertisement
For office tenants, short-term changes can buy time to assess the long-term implications of COVID-19.
“Nobody knows what the future of the office looks like,” Iannessa said.
The pandemic threatens to reverse some office trends that have emerged in recent years, such as bench-style seating with workers in close proximity; the popularity of co-working spaces; and wide-open layouts with few private offices or barriers.
Time will tell whether the new realities might slow the migration of tenants to downtown Chicago from the suburbs, or the proliferation of high-end amenities open to all workers in an office tower.
“The tenant lounge, who’s going to that?" said Savills broker Joe Learner, who represents office tenants. "The fitness center, who’s going to that? All these amenities that were big attracters to those buildings, and that cost a lot of capital to create, those spaces are now challenged.”
Stay-at-home orders also are creating new habits. Workplace experts believe recent months have served as a trial run toward more people working from home.
Advertisement
“I think every company is certainly evaluating now, how does remote working fit into the overall business plan?” said Osburn at Perkins and Will. “It’s not really a one-size-fits-all. Some people come in for collaboration and some come in to focus because they can’t focus at home.
“Every client is thinking about it, and even the ones who thought they had it figured out are rethinking it.”
Work-from-home policies could create more demand for unassigned seating, or “hoteling,” while reducing overall demand for office space.
“We’re trying not to knee-jerk react,” said GlenStar’s Klein. “I don’t think there will be extremes where everybody moves to the suburbs or everyone goes to private offices. Changes will be incremental. In the end, people want to be together.”
An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Zebra Technologies’ contact tracing tool. It is a software application, not a new device, and would be used primarily in distribution centers, warehouses, postal and manufacturing environments.
Chicago Tribune’s Lauren Zumbach contributed.
Advertisement
rori@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @Ryan_Ori


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Daywatch: Opening plan devastates restaurants, mystery illness has potential virus link and what to

Daywatch: Opening plan devastates restaurants, mystery illness has potential virus link and what to know about the ‘plandemic’ conspiracy

When Illinois restaurants were ordered shuttered by Gov .
Pritzker in mid-March , restaurant owners , chefs and workers braced @ @ @ @ @ income .
When the order was extended through April , and then May , the @ @ @ @ @ But Pritzker ’ s five-phase plan , announced Tuesday , set the earliest-possible day for @ @ @ @ @ and that date is by no means definite .

Want Daywatch delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. | Get the top Tribune stories of the day on your smart speaker | Here’s how to get the most out of your Tribune subscription | Got something to say? Join the conversation on our Facebook page
Good morning, Chicago. Here’s the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
Advertisement
Illinois officials on Thursday announced 2,641 new known cases of COVID-19 and an additional 138 deaths, bringing statewide totals to 70,873 known cases and 3,111 deaths
In the U.S., nearly 1.3 million cases have been reported and nearly 76,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University on Friday
Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 3.8 million people and killed over a quarter-million, by Johns Hopkins’ count
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during his daily press briefing regarding the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, May 3, 2020, at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker expressed confidence Thursday in measures the state has taken to overcome the roadblocks residents have faced in filing for unemployment with a state agency that processed more than a million jobless claims over a two-month period.
Reopening Illinois: Everything you need to know about getting back to normal at gyms, the office, restaurants and more
Rey Guzman hangs a sign at the Emporium bar in the West Loop on Sunday, March 15, 2020 soon after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced all bars and restaurants would close to dine-in customers beginning Monday. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
When Illinois restaurants were ordered shuttered by Gov. Pritzker in mid-March, restaurant owners, chefs and workers braced for several weeks of zero income. When the order was extended through April, and then May, the industry pointed to June. But Pritzker’s five-phase plan, announced Tuesday, set the earliest-possible day for reopening at June 26, and that date is by no means definite.
Advertisement
Grubhub isn’t cheating restaurants, it’s breaking even on orders, CEO says
University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital has seen at least three patients who likely had the illness potentially linked to COVID-19, according to Dr. Julia Rosebush, an assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Comer. All three children, however, are now “doing fine,” Rosebush said. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
At least half a dozen children in Illinois have been hospitalized with an illness potentially linked to COVID-19 that has also been reported in New York and Europe. Though much is still unknown about the sickness, symptoms can include a rash, fever, red eyes, swollen hands and feet, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Shikha Jain of the Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team adjusts the mask of her son Krish as she watches her three children, Anika Kumar, 5, and 2-year-old twins Bodhi and Krish on Monday, May 4, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
In between telehealth appointments with patients, preschool Zoom calls, daily household tasks and, in one case, childbirth, a group of doctors — mostly moms, all with young children — are making sure the public and policymakers have the latest advice for fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Judy Mikovits outside the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease, in Reno, Nevada, in 2011. (David Calvert / AP)
As confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Illinois and across the country, a litany of hoaxes and conspiracy theories about the new virus have surged on social media sites. The latest is a viral video called “Plandemic,” a 25-minute clip propagating the wild claims of long-ago discredited researcher Judy Mikovits, whose rise and fall was chronicled in a Chicago Tribune investigation a decade ago.


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Parolee who allegedly pulled identity switch to walk out of Cook County Jail joins roll of creative

Parolee who allegedly pulled identity switch to walk out of Cook County Jail joins roll of creative escapes

In that case , a juvenile court judge ordered Scott taken into custody , and he began to attack three @ @ @ @ @ were trying to take him into lockup , authorities said .
When a court clerk @ @ @ @ @ pushed her in the chest several times .
All four went to the hospital , @ @ @ @ @ .

Jahquez Scott approached Quintin Henderson in a dingy jailhouse receiving tunnel, authorities said, and made a proposition.
Within days, Scott was a fugitive with multiple warrants hanging over his head and the FBI offering $2,000 for tips on his location — which was no longer inside the Cook County Jail. Henderson was still behind bars, but accused of abetting a bizarre escape as the Cook County sheriff’s office launched an investigation to find out how, exactly, Scott had slipped from custody.
Advertisement
Scott became the latest escapee to draw attention in a long and colorful history of Chicago jailbreaks, but authorities warned that the 21-year-old parolee should be considered armed and dangerous.
His chance encounter with Henderson came after both men went through bond court Saturday — with very different outcomes.
Advertisement
Already on parole, Scott was set to say behind bars. He was hit with a gun case over the weekend, records show, and in addition was held without bail for violating bond on a separate pending drug charge.
Authorities are searching for Jahquez Scott, who escaped from the Cook County Jail on May 2, 2020. (Cook County sheriff)
Henderson, on the other hand, was about to walk, having been released on his own recognizance on his own drug charge. All he needed to do was step up, sign the paperwork and go free.
Surveillance cameras caught the pair interacting in a receiving tunnel on Saturday after their bond hearings. Scott made Henderson an offer, authorities allege: Scott would give Henderson $1,000, at some later date, in exchange for swapping identities so Scott could be “released” instead.
And Henderson went for it, prosecutors said. They even exchanged hoodies.
So when a jail guard called out Henderson’s name, the parolee stepped forward, identifying himself as Henderson, while the real Henderson stayed put, prosecutors said.
A mask — now a common sight as the facility fights the coronavirus — covered the distinctive tattoos on both sides of Scott’s face. It likely aided his mistaken-identity scheme, perhaps along with the long-held thought that no partner in such a trick would volunteer to stay behind in Cook County Jail.
Scott allegedly used the real Henderson’s inmate number and signed release documents as him, and after retrieving the real Henderson’s personal property, walked freely through secure doors along with the rest of the inmates being released that day.
Not the first vanishing act
Scott’s alleged unauthorized exit is perhaps the sneakiest escape in recent memory, but the jail is no stranger to bizarre getaways.
Advertisement
In 2006, a detainee who had been working on a loading dock hid in a truck full of dirty laundry to slip through the gates of a maximum-security wing.
That same year, a correctional officer helped six detainees escape — letting one of them borrow his uniform and keys, then handcuffing himself in a cell to make it look like he had been overpowered. An inmate wearing the uniform tricked another correctional officer into opening a door.
Joseph "Jose" Banks and his cellmate escaped the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the Loop in 2012 using a rope of sheets stitched with floss. (Jos M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
A surveillance video shows a man police believe may be escaped prisoner Randy Rencher robbing the First American Bank, 50 E. Adams St., in 2005, shortly after he fled Cook County Jail. (First American Bank)
The men were able to find a small gap in barbed wire where a fence met a building and scramble out onto 26th Street and into the Little Village neighborhood. All were found within about 24 hours, and the correctional officer, Darin Gaiter, was convicted on six counts of official misconduct in 2010 and sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison.
The year before, inmate Randy Rencher escaped by donning a guard’s uniform while on a work detail and spent four months on the run — during which he allegedly robbed as many as five banks in three states.
His escape was the first at the facility in a decade. He managed to avoid arrest for months, but eventually seemed to give up, telling authorities they could find him at a bar in Cleveland. The FBI nabbed him as he sat drinking a Long Island iced tea.
And lest Chicago’s federal officials should laugh, they have not been immune to theatrical escapes.
Advertisement
In 2012, two federal convicts made a daring escape from the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown. In an almost cartoonish move, they made a rope out of bedsheets and climbed out a window of the federal facility. It was only the second successful jailbreak there in the past three decades.
Unique status update?
As for Scott, the identity ruse got him outside, but things soon began to fall apart when the real Henderson finally approached a jail guard, claiming that he’d fallen asleep and wondering when his name and number would be called, prosecutors said in court this week.
Authorities quickly realized what occurred and sought an emergency arrest warrant for Scott. He is facing a warrant for escape and another for violating his bond on this weekend’s gun case, and will be held without bail if captured.
Scott evidently may have spent his first few days on the lam posting to Facebook — including a meme that said, “Congratulations! Your prayer has been answered. Receive it!”
Another post reads as an instruction and a taunt: “Don’t Let NOBODY Know How You About To Come, Just Come With EXTRA Pressure‼”
The 21-year-old has a felony conviction on his record dating from 2017, when he pleaded to four counts of aggravated battery.
Advertisement
In that case, a juvenile court judge ordered Scott taken into custody, and he began to attack three sheriff’s deputies who were trying to take him into lockup, authorities said. When a court clerk tried to assist, Scott pushed her in the chest several times. All four went to the hospital, and were treated and released.
He was sentenced to two years of probation, records show — but soon violated that probation and was sent to prison instead. Then late last year, he picked up a charge for allegedly dealing heroin, and over the weekend picked up the additional gun charge.
That brought him back to Cook County court, and to his encounter with Henderson.
Henderson was charged with aiding the escape and went before Judge Mary Marubio on Tuesday. Not only did he help a defendant wrongly get out of jail, the judge said, he helped a violent felon who was convicted of battering peace officers.
“The nature of the offense isn’t just aiding and abetting. It’s who you aided and abetted — a violent person, and a dangerous person on parole — and that’s weighing heavily against you,” Marubio said, ordering Henderson held on $25,000 bail, as well as a no-bond hold for violation of bail bond on his original drug case.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the FBI announced a $2,000 reward for tips about Scott’s whereabouts. He “should be considered armed and dangerous,” according to an FBI flyer offering money for information leading to his arrest
Advertisement
Scott has gone silent on Facebook, but someone on his page Thursday posted a link to a news story about the FBI’s reward.
The message carried a warning not to snitch on “lil bro” and “try to back door him” — a warning to protect the man who got into trouble by walking out the front door.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Mysterious illness potentially related to COVID-19 has surfaced in some Illinois children, doctors s

Mysterious illness potentially related to COVID-19 has surfaced in some Illinois children, doctors say

In the U.S. and elsewhere , most of the children who have become sick with the syndrome tested positive for @ @ @ @ @ likely had COVID-19 earlier , anywhere from two to four weeks before they became ill @ @ @ @ @ of the children who developed the new illness had no previous health conditions , he @ @

At least half a dozen children in Illinois have been hospitalized with an illness potentially linked to COVID-19 that has also been reported in New York and Europe.
Though much is still unknown about the sickness, symptoms can include a rash, fever, red eyes, swollen hands and feet, vomiting and abdominal pain. It’s an inflammatory illness, meaning the body’s immune system “starts to rev up and attack normal tissue,” said Dr. Frank Belmonte, chief medical officer at Advocate Children’s Hospital.
Advertisement
Children with the illness can develop shock, which occurs when blood pressure dips and organs in the body don’t function properly. It can also cause inflammation of the heart muscle or swelling of the coronary arteries, which are the blood vessels that feed the heart.
In the U.S. and elsewhere, most of the children who have become sick with the syndrome tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, meaning they likely had COVID-19 earlier, anywhere from two to four weeks before they became ill, Belmonte said. Many of the children who developed the new illness had no previous health conditions, he said.
Advertisement
Advocate Children’s Hospital, which has campuses in Oak Lawn and Park Ridge, has had one case of the illness so far, plus two more children who are showing signs of it, Belmonte said. The child with the confirmed case needed a ventilator and is in intensive care, though Belmonte said the child is “doing remarkably well.”
[ Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here's the latest on COVID-19 ]
University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital has seen at least three patients who likely had the illness potentially linked to COVID-19, according to Dr. Julia Rosebush, an assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Comer. All three children, however, are now “doing fine,” Rosebush said. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital has seen at least three patients who likely had the illness, according to Dr. Julia Rosebush, an assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Comer. At least one of those children needed intensive care, but not a ventilator. All three children, however, are now “doing fine,” Rosebush said, and one has been discharged.
Lurie Children’s Hospital said it had not seen any cases as of Thursday. The Illinois Department of Public Health was not immediately able to provide information about how many more cases there might be in Illinois.
[ Chicago doctors — mostly moms — join together to advise officials and the public. ‘We can’t not say something.’ ]
The illness has been reported in children as young as 2 and as old as their teens. So far, one death from the illness has been reported, a 14-year-old boy in the U.K., according to an article published Thursday in the journal The Lancet.
Belmonte said the new illness is “probably still a very rare thing, but the kids can get sick enough that it’s good for us to be aware of it.”
Doctors are still learning about the illness as they see more patients, Belmonte said. He expects Chicago-area hospitals will continue to see more cases in coming weeks.
“We know so little about this now, that we’re trying to figure this out as we go along,” he said.
[ As the coronavirus spreads, the Tribune is tracking Illinois cases here ]
The New York State Department of Health reported 64 suspected cases of the illness in that state as of Tuesday, calling it a “pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome."
Advertisement
Doctors have noted that the illness can have many similarities to Kawasaki disease, also an inflammatory disorder that can lead to eye redness, swollen hands and feet, and fevers. It’s unknown what causes Kawasaki.
But the new illness seems to be different in some ways. Kawasaki mostly affects children up to age 5, and the new illness often seems to be hitting older children as well, said Dr. Anne Rowley, an attending physician in the division of infectious disease at Lurie. The illnesses also seem to differ in how they affect the heart.
And children with the new illness seem to be having a more elevated inflammatory response and getting sicker than kids with Kawasaki do, Rosebush said.
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
Still, doctors are treating children with the new illness in much the same way as they treat patients with Kawasaki. They are administering infusions of immunoglobulins, which are antibodies collected from donated blood, and they can also treat the children with steroids, among other things.
Belmonte advises parents whose children may be experiencing symptoms to call their pediatricians, who can decide what kind of care might be warranted.
Though fevers, rashes and stomachaches are common in children and can have many causes, Belmonte said that “if there’s concern, it’s better to err on the side of caution." Parents may also seek emergency care if they’re very concerned with their children’s overall well-being, Rosebush said.
Advertisement
lschencker@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Gov. J.B. Pritzker says upgrades should speed things up at state agency overwhelmed by unemployment

Gov. J.B. Pritzker says upgrades should speed things up at state agency overwhelmed by unemployment claims amid pandemic shutdown

“ We hired outside contractors , they built an entirely new system .
… That system has a much higher @ @ @ @ @ that IDES has for unemployment , and so I believe that it will be able @ @ @ @ @ that come in under the PUA system , ” Pritzker said during his daily news @ @

Gov. J.B. Pritzker expressed confidence Thursday in measures the state has taken to overcome the roadblocks residents have faced in filing for unemployment with a state agency that processed more than a million jobless claims over a two-month period.
The deluge of claims resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to let up anytime soon, as the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, on Monday starts dealing with paperwork from independent contractors and the self-employed under the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
Advertisement
Among the improvements made to deal with the onslaught is a new website Pritzker said is designed to process more than 140,000 claims hourly.
“We hired outside contractors, they built an entirely new system. … That system has a much higher capability than the existing systems that IDES has for unemployment, and so I believe that it will be able to handle the unemployment claims that come in under the PUA system,” Pritzker said during his daily news briefing.
Advertisement
Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during his daily press briefing regarding the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, May 3, 2020, at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker acknowledged that “thousands of people” have encountered difficulty using the state’s online system to file for unemployment benefits — and then they’ve struggled to get through to an agent using the phone system.
Pritzker called IDES “an often overlooked agency, which has been fundamentally defunded over many years.” The department has 500 fewer employees than it did a decade ago, and its computer systems, built after the Great Recession, were implemented with “the idea that nothing could ever be worse” than that economic crisis, Pritzker said.
In response to the crush of claims filed in Illinois over the past few months, the state has updated phone systems and increased the number of phone lines, overhauled its web platform and launched a new call center. There will be 100 new agents by Monday, and another 100 will be added in the future, Pritzker said.
Web page load times have been reduced and a “chat bot” built in partnership with Google AI answered more than 3 million inquiries during its first two weeks of existence, Pritzker said.
During the first four months of 2020 the state has paid out more than $2 billion in unemployment claims, which is $500 million more that was paid out in all of 2019, according to the governor.
Those applying under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program are eligible to receive up to 39 weeks of benefits, backdated to their first week of unemployment.
The federal government requires that those workers first apply for regular unemployment insurance and be denied before they can be eligible for benefits under the new program. Workers who believe they are eligible for benefits from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program can take that step of applying for regular unemployment benefits before Monday.
IDES on Thursday released data showing it processed 74,476 new initial unemployment claims for the week that ended May 2. The department processed 1,006,925 initial claims during the period between March 1 and May 2, compared with 78,100 initial claims during the same period in 2019.
Advertisement
Illinois Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd Maisch said in a statement Thursday that the chamber supports Pritzker’s efforts to create a plan to reopen the state’s economy but that the newest jobless numbers report “reaffirms the inadequacy" of the governor’s plan.
“Increasingly, citizens in Illinois are going to feel like they’re being held hostage by epidemiologists,” Maisch said in an interview. “The state needs to be able to do two things at once, balancing the public health crisis and the economic one."
A pedestrian passes the closed Chicago Workforce Center on 18th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood on May 1, 2020. A sign on the window stated that Illinois Department of Employment Security offices are closed to the public until further notice in order to protect people through social distancing. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
If “essential” businesses are able to operate with safety precautions, he said, “why shouldn’t any workplace that adheres to the same safety measures be able to reopen?”
Pritzker earlier this week unveiled his five-phase regional plan to reopen the state’s economy, which was quickly panned by Republican lawmakers and some business groups.
While Republican legislative leaders have called for a return to Springfield, it remains unclear when lawmakers will reconvene, as both the Illinois House and Senate again canceled scheduled session days next week.
State officials on Thursday announced 2,641 new known cases of COVID-19, pushing the statewide known case total to 70,873 since the beginning of the pandemic. The additional 138 deaths reported Thursday pushed the statewide death toll past 3,000. There have now been 3,111 coronavirus-related deaths statewide.
Advertisement
Pritzker’s appearance Thursday was his 60th consecutive day of holding coronavirus press briefings. Beginning this weekend, he will no longer hold in-person briefings on weekends, but will release medical statistics on Saturdays and Sundays.
With Mother’s Day approaching, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike urged people at Thursday’s briefing to continue taking measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
“We are still fighting this invisible enemy and we must continue to take measures to reduce its spread,” Ezike said. “Please, let’s honor our elderly mothers and our grandmothers this Mother’s Day by keeping them safe. To do that, please stay at home, please wear your face coverings, please wash your hands frequently.”
Chicago Tribune reporter Dan Petrella contributed.
jmunks@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-09--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: State exceeds 20,000 daily tests for COVID-19 for the first time

A couple weeks after the coronavirus lockdown began , a petition appeared on change.org , calling on the Poetry Foundation @ @ @ @ @ million emergency fund to support the poetry community .
The authors of the petition , @ @ @ @ @ publishing house , reasoned the sum would amount to about 2 % of the well-endowed @ @ @ @ @ The Poetry Foundation doused the idea a few weeks later , issuing a brief statement @ @ @ @ @ has contributed $ 25,000 to the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund , it would not @ @ @ @ @ The Chicago-based organization said it has a mandate to support its own headquarters and operations @ @ @ @ @ valued at $ 257 million in 2018 .
Signers of the petition say it must @ @ @ @ @ writers right now .
Read more here .
—Jen Day

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
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)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot set tougher benchmarks for the rate of coronavirus infections in Chicago before easing stay-at-home rules than Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker did in his statewide strategy, as part of her five-phase reopening plan she outlined on Friday.
Lightfoot’s plan layers additional standards for rates of infection and testing capacity on top of the state rules the governor unveiled earlier this week. As with Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan, Lightfoot’s framework sets a high bar for returning to normalcy.
Advertisement
Shortly after Lightfoot laid out her plan, Pritzker announced that Illinois had passed another milestone in testing, for the first time conducting more than 20,000 screenings in a single day. Expanded testing is a cornerstone of Pritzker’s plan for reopening the state, but a study released this week suggests Illinois is still a long way from doing enough to safely relax the governor’s stay-at-home order.
The state also reported 2,887 new known cases of COVID-19, along with 130 more fatalities. That brings the total count of known cases to 73,760 and the death toll to 3,241 statewide since the start of the outbreak.
Advertisement
[ How will Illinois reopen? Three charts breaking down Pritzker’s plan ]
[ COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood ]
[ As the coronavirus spreads, the Tribune is tracking Illinois cases here ]
Here’s a recap of what happened May 8 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:36 p.m.: Glassdoor lays off 300 workers due to COVID-19, including some in Chicago office
California-based job and recruiting site Glassdoor laid off 300 employees Thursday, or 30% of its workforce, due to COVID-19 business declines. The layoffs affected an undisclosed number of employees in Glassdoor’s three-year-old Chicago office.
Launched in 2008, Glassdoor quickly grew into one of the largest job sites in the world. In 2017, Glassdoor opened a new office in Chicago’s Fulton Market district that housed 300 workers as of last summer, making it the company’s second-largest office outside its headquarters in the San Francisco Bay area. Read more here. —Robert Channick
7:33 p.m.: Coronavirus-related deaths at long-term care facilities up nearly 500 from last week and now make up 48% of state total
The number of coronavirus-related deaths tied to long-term care facilities jumped by nearly 500 in the past week — a grim sign of just how much the virus has torn through vulnerable populations across Illinois.
The state Department of Public Health released its weekly tally Friday that showed the number of deaths of residents and workers tied to long-term care facilities has now reached at least 1,553 — compared with 1,082 reported a week ago.
At least 270 facilities have reported at least one death, with the highest figures at Meadowbrook Manor of Bolingbrook, with 26 deaths. Symphony of Joliet has 24 deaths, followed by Elevate Care North (23), Center Home for Hispanic Elderly (22), and Glenview Terrace, Bria of Geneva and Windsor Park Manor (21).
As of Friday, deaths tied to long-term care facilities made up 48% of all deaths tallied statewide. Read more here. —Joe Mahr
7 p.m.: Whether CPS schools reopen in the fall remains unknown, but summer school will be virtual
Chicago Public Schools will continue remote learning for students taking classes over the summer, but district leaders have not yet determined what the fall will look like.
Advertisement
The announcement about summer school came Friday in a letter to families, also informing them that CPS is planning a way for students and staff to safely retrieve items they left behind when the school shutdown began in March.
Fall remains less certain, though Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke Friday of her goal to reopen schools in some fashion after Labor Day. Read more here. —Hannah Leone
6:45 p.m.: Illinois surpasses 20,000 COVID-19 tests for the first time, but research suggests many more needed to safely reopen
Illinois has passed another milestone in testing for the new coronavirus, for the first time conducting more than 20,000 screenings in a single day, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.
Expanded testing is a cornerstone of Pritzker’s five-phase plan for reopening the state, but a study released this week suggests Illinois is still a long way from doing enough to safely relax the governor’s stay-at-home order. And Pritzker himself has said the state needs to test even more than the study from Harvard University suggests.
“Testing is fundamental to our ability to reopen the economy while controlling the spread of the virus,” the governor at his daily news briefing. “That’s what it takes to keep the public safe.
"The progress we’ve made on testing over the last two months — building a statewide testing program from scratch, to around 15,000 to 20,000 tests per day — is tremendous. Even if we’re one of the best states in the nation on testing, we know it’s not enough to be where we need to be on a longer time frame.”
Advertisement
In March, Pritzker set a goal of conducting 10,000 tests per day, a benchmark it took nearly a month to achieve as Illinois, like other states, struggled with supply shortages and other roadblocks. The state finally surpassed that goal on April 24 and since has been averaging about 15,000 daily screenings. Read more here. —Dan Petrella
5:57 p.m.: More rigorous study of hydroxychloroquine is getting underway with help of Cook County health researchers
Despite all the experimentation and debate surrounding the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients, no one really knows if the drug is effective, useless or harmful.
That’s because of a lack of completed, carefully controlled trials evaluating how patients who have the disease fared on the drug. Now, researchers at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System are joining a host of medical institutions around the country seeking to answer the question.
“A lot of doctors used the drug in the absence of randomized, controlled trials because they didn’t have anything to give patients,” said Dr. Sybil Hosek, the system’s research director and lead investigator of the county’s trial arm. "And so now we’re really pulling away from that and saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, we just can’t answer this question truthfully until we do a rigorous trial,’ and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Specifically, the health system is looking to enroll about 100 patients who were recently diagnosed with COVID-19 but are not sick enough to need hospital care. Equal numbers would be enrolled at five other medical institutions, with the tab for the work being covered by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Some patients will be given hydroxychloroquine, others will receive the same drug along with the antibiotic azithromycin and the rest will be given vitamin-filled placebos. All will receive the type of doses already approved for treating malaria and autoimmune disorders like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Advertisement
When the results are tabulated in a couple of months, the researchers will then evaluate whether hydroxychloroquine, whether alone or in combination with the antibiotic, helps to prevent severe illness and keeps patients out of the hospital.
The study is among nearly 200 being conducted around the country to determine if the drug actually works as a COVID-19 treatment, Hosek said. Other studies will test its efficacy in severely ill patients or examine whether it helps prevent the disease when taken by health care workers or close contacts of sick people, she said. Read more here. —Hal Dardick
5:38 p.m.: Lack of ankle monitors keeps defendants behind bars: ‘He’s just kind of stuck there’
After overcoming what felt like a thousand hurdles, Candina Crane’s son Christopher was finally scheduled for release from Cook County Jail on an ankle monitor this week.
“Tuesday night he was supposed to come out, Wednesday night he was supposed to come out,” Crane told the Tribune on Friday. “Then Thursday morning, we found out.”
Christopher, 22, would be staying in jail. The Cook County sheriff’s office ran out of equipment for their electronic home-monitoring program this week, the office confirmed.
“He’s just kind of stuck there,” Crane said of her son.
Advertisement
A massive push to reduce the jail’s population amid the coronavirus crisis had the intended effect: The number of detainees behind bars is at historic lows. But many of those released were assigned to home monitoring instead — pushing an already-stressed supply of monitors past its breaking point this week, the sheriff’s office said.
Those placed on home monitoring now may remain in jail instead, “a result that threatens to undo the successes we have achieved in slowing the spread of the virus,” the office noted in a statement Thursday.
Supplies were being replenished bit by bit. By Friday afternoon, the office had received 12 new monitors from their vendors and had collected 22 previously used ones, according to the office. They are expecting a shipment of 50 “alternative devices” soon. In addition, about 26 defendants will have their electronic monitoring orders returned to court for review by a judge. Read more here. —Megan Crepeau
3:19 p.m.: Possible staggered start times, social distancing ushers in store for Chicago’s lakefront when it reopens, Lightfoot says
Mayor Lori Lightfoot raised the possibility Friday of assigning different times of the day for joggers, walkers and bikers to use Chicago’s lakefront and other popular outdoor areas that are now closed due to overcrowding during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lightfoot refused to set a timetable for when she might reopen lakefront parks, the 606 elevated trail, and the downtown Riverwalk, which she closed in late March after residents flouted social distancing rules to pack into them on a warm weekend afternoon.
“A lot of that is going to be guided by the science, and I have to be confident that we can open up those larger venues, the lakefront, the 606, interior trails in a way that still allows us to maintain social distancing,” Lightfoot said at a news conference to announce her five-phase framework for benchmarks that need to be met for reopening different parts of the city.
Advertisement
The mayor repeatedly has said she doesn’t want to backslide as the city tries to move forward from the stay-at-home order, a stance she reiterated.
“When I made the hard decision — but I think appropriate decision — to close down the lakefront, it’s because we talked, we talked, we talked, and people ignored it. Now the weather’s even nicer, the lakefront is beautiful, it’s an incredible attraction, we can’t reopen it up and go back to where we were,” she said. Read more here. —John Byrne
2:50 p.m.: State exceeds 20,000 daily tests for first time
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday that the state tested more than 20,000 specimens for the new coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, exceeding that threshold for the first time.
The number is double the daily testing goal of 10,000 that Pritzker set in March. The state first exceeded that goal two weeks ago.
In all, 20,671 specimens were tested in the previous 24 hour for a total of 399,714, officials said.
The state also announced 2,887 new known cases of COVID-19, along with 130 more fatalities. That brings the total count of known cases to 73,760 and the death toll to 3,241 statewide since the start of the outbreak.
Advertisement
According to a recent analysis conducted by Harvard University and the STAT online medical publication, Illinois would have to conduct more than 64,000 tests every day before it can further relax its stay-at-home order.
By that measure, Illinois falls far short. Illinois has averaged 15,829 tests a day for the five days ending Tuesday. That, according to the Harvard analysis, is about 48,000 fewer than needed.Illinois is not alone, the analysis found. Dozens of states are falling well short of what’s needed, with estimates based on the number of detected cases so far and the population of each state. New York, for example, is conducting about 22,000 tests a day but should be doing nearly 113,000.
Pritzker acknowledged Thursday that the state still needs to conduct many more tests per day before it will be safe to fully reopen the economy.
“Every state in the country, let’s be clear, is trying to ramp up testing,” Pritzker said when asked about the Harvard study at his daily press briefing. “We’re doing it better than most; indeed, we’re No. 2 among the top 10 most populous states in the nation.” However, he added, “We’re all trying to get to a sense of adequacy. I don’t think 64,000 is adequate for the state of Illinois I think we’re going to need many more tests than that.
“We want people to be safe when they go to work; we want to be people to be safe when they go to school. We want people to be safe in all their activities, and they want to know that others have been tested around them so that nobody is without an opportunity to get a test.”
Illinois and other states have been navigating a worldwide shortage of testing supplies and a lack of coordination on the federal level, Pritzker said, adding that he’s grateful that the Washington is now sending more testing swabs to Illinois.
Advertisement
The governor said the first shipment of materials from the federal government, originally scheduled to arrive in the first week of May, has been pushed back to Sunday. —Dan Petrella and Hal Dardick
2:33 p.m.: 2,887 new COVID-19 cases and 130 additional deaths
Officials announced 2,887 new known cases of COVID-19 in Illinois for a statewide total of 73,760. There were 130 additional deaths, pushing the death toll to at least 3,241.
2 p.m.: Elmhurst bagpiper plays at sunset every evening to lift spirits during COVID-19 shutdown
Talk to the Costellos about Brian’s bagpipe playing, and they will tell you what day it is.
“Day 51,” Brian Costello said Wednesday from his Elmhurst home, referring to how long he has been playing the bagpipes in his yard each evening during the coronavirus shutdown.
Neighbors and strangers gather, a safe distance apart, to listen.
“It gives you a little bit of joy,” said Christine Falkenberg, who walks over from her house to better hear the music.
Advertisement
Other people line up on the Illinois Prairie Path, which borders Costello’s backyard. Read more here. —Kimberly Fornek
1:41 p.m.: Pritzker’s reopening plan gives fitness clubs a first step: outdoor classes and personal training. But will people feel safe getting off their Pelotons and sweating next to strangers?
For nearly eight weeks, Lakeshore Sport & Fitness has been overhauling its two Chicago clubs, spending more than $200,000 on new cleaning equipment and making other changes to meet new standards for hygiene and personal space, even as members’ dues stopped flowing.
But like other fitness club operators, Lakeshore managing partner Peter Goldman still has little sense of when he’ll be able to roll out the changes, even after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a five-phase plan to reopen the state’s economy.
That’s a problem for gyms that have seen little if any revenue while forced to shut their doors to slow the spread of COVID-19. When they can reopen, it’s uncertain how eager people who have spent weeks avoiding physical contact with others will be to start working out with a bunch of sweaty strangers — especially if they’ve bought home workout equipment while cut off from their favorite studio. Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
1:30 p.m.: Lightfoot lays out five-phase plan for reopening Chicago
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is setting tougher benchmarks for the rate of coronavirus infections in Chicago before easing stay-at-home rules than Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker did in his statewide strategy, as part of her five-phase reopening plan she outlined on Friday.
Lightfoot’s plan layers additional standards for rates of infection and testing capacity on top of the state rules the governor unveiled earlier this week.
Advertisement
As with Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan, Lightfoot’s framework sets a high bar for returning to normalcy.
Chicago is currently in what the city calls phase two of its recovery, a period Lightfoot’s plan dubs “stay-at-home.”
Before moving into phase three, labeled “cautiously reopen,” the city would need to see a decline in the COVID-19 case rate over 14 days and a declining rate of new cases, stable or declining rates of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths, fewer than 1,800 coronavirus patients in hospital beds, fewer than 600 coronavirus patients in ICU beds, and fewer than 450 coronavirus patients on ventilators, Lightfoot said.
The city also would need to be able to test 135,000 residents per month, with positive rates decreasing below 15% of those tested in the community and at least 14 days of declining rates of new cases, on average. Positive rates of below 30% would be needed in “congregate” settings such as nursing homes, shelters and jails, according to the Lightfoot plan.
Those standards are stricter than what Pritzker laid out earlier this week for his statewide plan. The governor called for positive rates at or below 20% and an increase in the positive rate of no more than 10 percentage points over 14 days. Read more here. —Gregory Pratt, John Byrne and Dan Petrella
1:13 p.m.: Virtual hugs, curbside brunch pickup, drive-up photo booths — Mother’s Day will look different amid coronavirus pandemic
On Mother’s Day, Ruanda Mejia will receive a simple but priceless gift: a reunion with her 6-year-old son Gabriel after spending a month in COVID-19 quarantine.
Advertisement
Mejia, a nurse who works for Sinai Health System, started showing signs of the disease in early April despite taking extensive precautions to avoid it. Her sister Jennifer took in Gabriel as Mejia hunkered down alone in the bedroom of her Berwyn home to fight off dry coughs, fevers and body aches.
Since then, she has interacted with Gabriel only through FaceTime calls, for which her son would dress up as Spiderman, Batman or Aquaman. Though Gabriel is finally coming home, Mejia said she will try to maintain social distancing to minimize the chances of reinfection. Read more here. —John Keilman, Jessica Villagomez and Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas
1:04 p.m.: Coronavirus pandemic causes Via ride-share service to temporarily shut down in Chicago
Via, the smallest of the city’s three ride-share providers after Uber and Lyft, has temporarily suspended its Chicago operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Via, a New York City-based company that came to Chicago in 2015, specializes in multipassenger rides. The company’s mobile app connects passengers who are headed the same way, and customers may have to walk a block or two before and after the ride.
Ride-share services nationwide have seen sales drop due to the pandemic, which also has caused falling public transit and vehicle traffic numbers because of people working from home or losing their jobs.
Both Uber and Lyft suspended shared rides in March.
Advertisement
Via’s range included the entire city plus Evanston, Norwood and Harwood Heights. It accounted for less than 1% of total ride-share sales for the Chicago metro area in June of last year, according to Second Measure, an analytics platform. Read more here. —Mary Wisniewski
12:49 p.m.: Oak Parker stages Zoom plays as COVID-19 benefits, casting them with millennial Hollywood
Its a common enough idea at the moment: Well-intended theater project in Oak Park responds to the pandemic by doing fundraiser readings of plays in YouTube livestreams, with viewers invited to donate. Any money raised goes in part to the West Side’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
Unremarkable, that is, until you get to the play’s casts: Florence Pugh, Oscar-nominated for “Little Women.” Brandon Flynn of Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why.” Margaret Qualley, Willa Fitzgerald, Justice Smith. All young Hollywood actors. The organizer, director and casting agent of this endeavor, titled Acting for a Cause, is Brando Crawford, himself just 24. Read more here. —Doug George
12:46 p.m.: Local Muslim community to break fast during Ramadan with virtual iftar Saturday
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA will host a virtual iftar open house at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Known for its open houses during Ramadan, the Muslim community’s “Virtual Reflections on the Power of Prayer During the Pandemic” event will be one of dozens across the nation. It will feature faith-based speakers, a video about the group’s 100 years in America, narrated by community member Mahershala Ali, and appearances by local elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Sean Casten and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick, according to Iftekhar Ahmad, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Chicago’s director of public affairs.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re not able to do an in-person open house, but we still want to come together with friendship, prayer and support during these times,” Ahmad said. “Even though we’re physically separated, we just feel that unity is still very critical in this time.”
Advertisement
The Zoom meeting ID is 565 001 0410; the password is 786786. —Darcel Rockett
12:31 p.m.: CSO cancels remainder of 2020 season
The remainder of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season has been canceled due to the coronavirus.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which manages the institution, announced on Friday that all concerts have been canceled through June 27.
“These cancellations follow this week’s announcement by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker of a multi-phase plan that will significantly impact when concert presentations can resume,” the CSOA said in a statement. Read more here. —Howard Reich
12:06 p.m.: ‘It’s one thing to survive the infection, but what’s next?’ Some COVID-19 patients need rehab to walk, talk and problem solve
In front of enormous windows overlooking Lake Michigan, Gordon Quinn sat at a small white table at a rehabilitation hospital facing speech language pathologist Kate Webler.
Only Webler’s eyes were visible from behind a mask, face shield and goggles. She asked Quinn to place a white plastic straw in his mouth, then suggested he sing “Happy Birthday” through it — an exercise meant to help him stretch and relax his vocal cords.
Advertisement
Instead, Quinn began singing the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Webler laughed and urged him on.
It was a moment of levity in an otherwise difficult six-week-long journey for Quinn, a renowned Chicago documentary filmmaker — known for movies such as “Hoop Dreams” — who came down with COVID-19 in March. Quinn, 77, spent about a month at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, including nearly two weeks on a ventilator. He was so sick, at one point, that he told his doctors he’d rather obtain a do-not-resuscitate order than be placed on a ventilator again.
By mid-April, he was well enough to leave the hospital, but he still couldn’t walk very far on his own. He couldn’t control his fingers well enough to type the pass code into his cellphone. He had trouble swallowing and speaking. So, instead of going home, he went to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a rehabilitation hospital in Chicago. Read more here. —Lisa Schencker
12:05 p.m.: US unemployment hits 14.7%, highest rate since Great Depression
The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record. The figures are stark evidence of the damage the coronavirus has done to a now-shattered economy.
The losses reflect what has become a severe recession caused by sudden business shutdowns in nearly every industry. Almost all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month.
The Illinois jobless rate for April has not been released yet. However, the state’s unemployment rate was 4.6% in March, a month in which the national jobless rate was 4.4%. Read more here. —Associated Press
Advertisement
11:54 a.m.: Smaller Illinois businesses are landing loans in round two of the federal PPP, but doubts remain about reopening
When Kyla Herbes was shut out of the first round of the federal Paycheck Protection Program, she was frustrated that larger businesses received millions of dollars in forgivable loans, while House of Hipsters, her vintage home décor shop in Barrington, got nothing.
Like many small business owners, the second round has been a different story for Herbes, whose $10,000 PPP loan application through BMO Harris rose to the top of the pile and was approved Tuesday.
Herbes is "breathing a sigh of relief” that she will have money to pay her landlord, but with new state guidelines offering no clear target date for reopening amid a global health crisis, the government relief may not last long.“
Even though I have $10,000 coming to me, it’s gone already,” said Herbes, 45. “It’s gone, and my business is still closed.”
Launched in April, the federal paycheck program offers businesses with fewer than 500 employees forgivable loans of up to $10 million to cover eight weeks of payroll. The Small Business Administration approved more than 1.6 million loans, worth $349 billion, in less than two weeks before the first round of funding ran out.
Many smaller businesses were initially shut out, as banks allegedly prioritized larger clients ahead of mom-and-pop stores. That led to a number of class action lawsuits and pushback from lawmakers and small business advocates, pressuring some “larger” small businesses like Ruth’s Chris, Shake Shack and Chicago-based Potbelly to give back their loans.
Advertisement
The $310 billion second round of PPP has been more inclusive, with banks and the SBA pushing out more loans to smaller businesses. The average loan size through Thursday is about $74,000, versus $206,000 in round one. Read more here. —Robert Channick
10:54 a.m.: Two local churches challenge governor’s coronavirus rules, arguing for right to worship
Two Chicago-area churches have launched a new legal challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s strategy to contain the spread of coronavirus, saying the recently announced Restore Illinois plan violates their right to worship while practicing accepted social distancing guidelines.
A federal lawsuit filed late Thursday by the Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church on Chicago’s Northwest Side and Logos Baptist Ministries of Niles seeks a temporary restraining order allowing services to continue without “threat of criminal sanctions” by the government.
The churches vowed to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines, including reduced seating to keep worshipers more than six feet apart, advising attendees to wear masks or gloves and avoid physical contact, and keeping “doors propped open or held open by ushers to prevent the need for congregants to touch doors while entering and exiting the church or sanctuary.” Read more here. —Jason Meisner
9:36 a.m.: Chicago’s Poetry Foundation is sitting on millions — a petition asks it to do more in response to the pandemic
A couple weeks after the coronavirus lockdown began, a petition appeared on change.org, calling on the Poetry Foundation to establish a $5 million emergency fund to support the poetry community. The authors of the petition, the founders of a small publishing house, reasoned the sum would amount to about 2% of the well-endowed Foundation’s assets. The Poetry Foundation doused the idea a few weeks later, issuing a brief statement noting that while it already has contributed $25,000 to the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, it would not be making new commitments. The Chicago-based organization said it has a mandate to support its own headquarters and operations. But that endowment was valued at $257 million in 2018. Signers of the petition say it must do more for poets and writers right now. Read more here. —Jen Day
9:29 a.m.: Mayor’s office closes Cook County Forest Preserve golf courses within city limits for the remainder of May
The vast majority of Americans can return to their favorite local golf course. That includes Illinois residents — except those who want to play in Chicago.
Advertisement
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office has ordered the closing of the three Cook County Forest Preserve courses within city limits — Indian Boundary, Billy Caldwell and Edgebrook.
A visit to the ForestPreserveGolf.com website yields an interesting mix: The eight courses outside the city limits, such as River Oaks and Joe Louis, are taking tee times.
But a click on the other three yields the message: “Temporarily closed — Per City of Chicago Department of Health we are closed for the remainder of May. Please check our website, social media and email for re-opening information.”
Earlier this week, the city also ordered the closing of Harborside International Golf Center, the upscale, 36-hole, 400-acre facility along the Bishop Ford Freeway with views of the skyline. All 160 golfers who expected to play Thursday were issued refunds. Read more here. —Teddy Greenstein
9 a.m.: Numerous Kane and Kendall nursing homes that failed to follow infection control rules now have COVID-19 cases
Federal inspectors entered an Aurora nursing home in July and found a resident standing in his doorway with red, itchy dots on his arms, federal inspection records show.
A staff member told the inspectors at least seven other residents had rashes at the home, Symphony of Orchard Valley. Another staff member told the inspectors one of the residents had just tested positive for scabies, the records show.
Advertisement
“The facility failed to track, investigate, and take steps to control potential communicable disease outbreaks,” inspectors wrote in their report. “The facility also failed to exclude an employee from direct resident contact after disclosing she was suffering from an itchy rash.”
The nursing home is one of two dozen in Kane and Kendall counties that have been cited by federal inspectors since 2017 for failing to follow infection control measures. Twelve of those are now reporting cases of COVID-19. Read more here. —Sarah Freishtat
6:50 a.m.: Lightfoot to announce guidelines for reopening Chicago during pandemic
After delaying her announcement by a day, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and public health officials will release a “reopening framework” for Chicago Friday.
On Thursday, Lightfoot said the city can’t reopen without a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases, “which we have not seen yet at all.” Though the city has seen progress in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases, the mayor said challenges remain.
Lightfoot said her proposed guidelines for the city are separate from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s, but added that she understands people’s anxiety and businesses’ concern. Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
6:40 a.m.: Reopening Illinois: Everything you need to know about getting back to normal at gyms, the office, restaurants and more
As Chicago’s mayor prepares to release her own guidelines for reopening the city, Gov. J.B. Pritzer announced his plan earlier this week. How will it affect our daily lives? As summer nears, Chicagoans are desperate to get out and about — to have a summer picnic with family, to get back to work, to get a haircut. Here’s how and when you might be able to do those things.
Advertisement
6:30 a.m.: Devices for electronic monitoring run out in Cook County amid efforts to drastically reduce jail population
The Cook County sheriff’s office has run out of electronic monitoring devices for defendants placed on home confinement. The concerted efforts to reduce jail population amid the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have led to skyrocketing demand for the equipment, as judges ordered more defendants out of cells and on to ankle bracelets. Read more here. —Megan Crepeau
Breaking coronavirus news Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
May 7
Here are five things that happened Thursday that you need to know:
May 6
Here are five things that happened Wednesday that you need to know:
May 5
Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know:
May 4
Here are five things that happened Monday that you need to know:


chicagotribune--2020-05-09--Glassdoor lays off 300 workers due to COVID-19, including some in Chicago office

“ Words can not describe how sad I am that we find ourselves in this position , ” Glassdoor CEO @ @ @ @ @ memo sent Thursday to employees .
“ It truly breaks my heart to say goodbye @ @ @ @ @ of people for reasons that are outside of their control .
”

California-based job and recruiting site Glassdoor laid off 300 employees Thursday, or 30% of its workforce, due to COVID-19 business declines.
The layoffs affected 194 employees in Glassdoor’s 3-year-old Chicago office, according to required notice the company filed with the state last week.
Advertisement
“Words cannot describe how sad I am that we find ourselves in this position,” Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong said in a memo sent Thursday to employees. “It truly breaks my heart to say goodbye to such a talented group of people for reasons that are outside of their control.”
Sutherland-Wong, who joined Glassdoor in 2015 and became CEO in January, cited the “unprecedented” health crisis for double-digit percentage declines in site traffic and direct sales, as employers “dramatically reduced" their recruiting.
Advertisement
Glassdoor already had paused hiring, cut program costs and reduced executive salaries, with Sutherland-Wong taking a 50% reduction in total cash compensation for 2020.
“Unfortunately, all of this was not enough,” Sutherland-Wong wrote in the memo.
The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires businesses with 75 or more employees to provide the state with 60 days advance notice of pending plant closures or mass layoffs.
Glassdoor filed notice with the state last week about the 194 planned permanent layoffs, Illinois Department of Commerce spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said in an email Tuesday.
“We have already initiated outreach to affected workers,” Huffman said. “Our rapid response teams continue to work with employers across the state who have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis with a goal of developing a plan to meet the needs of all workers who have been laid off or furloughed so that they can rejoin the Illinois workforce.”
Launched in 2008, Glassdoor quickly grew into one of the largest job sites in the world. In 2017, Glassdoor opened an office in Chicago’s Fulton Market district that housed 300 workers as of last summer, making it the company’s second-largest office outside its headquarters in the San Francisco Bay area.
Glassdoor spokesman Tyler Murphy said Monday that Chicago is still the company’s second-largest office, but declined to say how many employees remain after the layoffs.
The company announced plans last summer to double its Chicago footprint by leasing space in a new Fulton Market office building and adding up to 500 employees over the next few years.
Advertisement
“We have no real estate updates to share at this time," Murphy said. “We continue to maintain an office in Chicago.”
Employees affected by the layoffs will get a minimum of three months’ pay, health care costs covered through the end of the year and the ability to keep their Glassdoor laptop “to help with (their) job search," Sutherland-Wong said in the memo.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-09--FAA proposes $1.3 million fine against city of Chicago over alleged violations including falsified t

FAA proposes $1.3 million fine against city of Chicago over alleged violations including falsified training logs

A captain at Midway Airport also was assigned to a vehicle for two shifts when she hadn ’ t completed @ @ @ @ @ accessed the airfield during nine shifts without proper escort or being appropriately badged , the @ @ @

A special airport firefighting vehicle sometimes called a crash tender is used to extinguish flames from an American Airlines plane on a runway at O'Hare International Airport in 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The Federal Aviation Administration proposed fining Chicago’s Department of Aviation $1,291,621 over allegations that city employees violated aircraft rescue and firefighting regulations, including by falsifying training logs.
City aviation officials have 30 days to respond to the agency, according to an FAA news release.
Advertisement
Between April and August 2019, three firefighters at O’Hare International Airport were assigned to a turret vehicle for 18 shifts when they had not completed the required training, the FAA alleged.
One of the firefighters falsified training log entries to make it look like he had completed the training, the FAA alleged.
Advertisement
A captain at Midway Airport also was assigned to a vehicle for two shifts when she hadn’t completed the required training and also accessed the airfield during nine shifts without proper escort or being appropriately badged, the FAA said.
The FAA also claims the city didn’t ensure that the Fire Department maintain required training records.
The Fire Department referred questions to Aviation, which released a statement saying it is in receipt of the FAA’s findings and evaluating its options.
"Upon learning of these serious allegations, CDA immediately began working with the FAA and CFD to initiate a series of actions, including leadership changes and the retraining of ARFF personnel to ensure all firefighters have the proper training and certifications to operate at the airports,” the department said. “Additionally, CFD training methods and recordkeeping practices have been overhauled to ensure those qualifications are tracked properly. This was all completed in 2019.”
gpratt@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-09--Coronavirus-related deaths at long-term care facilities up nearly 500 from last week and now make up

Coronavirus-related deaths at long-term care facilities up nearly 500 from last week and now make up 48% of state total

The state cautions the list may be inaccurate , with data that ’ s preliminary or awaiting updates .
For @ @ @ @ @ , the state ’ s online list counts more cases than noted in a court @ @ @ @ @ the Cicero home .
City View ’ s attorneys gave that facility ’ s tally @ @ @ @ @ staff testing positive , for a total of 199 .
Another 30 people there had @ @ @

The number of coronavirus-related deaths tied to long-term care facilities jumped by nearly 500 in the past week — a grim sign of just how much the virus has torn through vulnerable populations across Illinois.
The state Department of Public Health released its weekly tally Friday that showed the number of deaths of residents and workers tied to long-term care facilities has now reached at least 1,553 — compared with 1,082 reported a week ago.
Advertisement
At least 270 facilities have reported at least one death, with the highest figures at Meadowbrook Manor of Bolingbrook, with 26 deaths. Symphony of Joliet has 24 deaths, followed by Elevate Care North (23), Center Home for Hispanic Elderly (22), and Glenview Terrace, Bria of Geneva and Windsor Park Manor (21).
When asked about Meadowbrook Manor on Friday night, Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar, who was reached by phone, called the nursing home a “great institution.''
Advertisement
”I don’t understand why all of this is happening,''said Claar. "I have spoken with them and they are following all the procedures.''
As of Friday, deaths tied to long-term care facilities made up 48% of all deaths tallied statewide.
With increased testing, the number of positive cases has skyrocketed, too, to 11,569 — roughly 4,000 more than a week before reported at congregate care facilities.
Woodbridge Nursing Pavilion, with 183 confirmed cases, is shown May 6, 2020, in Chicago's Logan Square. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
Leading the way, with 265 confirmed cases among residents and staff, is the Elisabeth Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest, a sprawling state-run facility for adults with developmental disabilities.
Following the center are the City View Multi-Care Center (262), Woodbridge Nursing Pavilion (183), Meadowbrook Manor of Bolingbrook (173) and Symphony of Morgan Park (169), according to the state’s online list.
The state cautions the list may be inaccurate, with data that’s preliminary or awaiting updates. For example, for City View, the state’s online list counts more cases than noted in a court hearing held hours earlier involving the Cicero home. City View’s attorneys gave that facility’s tally as 167 residents and 32 staff testing positive, for a total of 199. Another 30 people there had inconclusive tests.
Chicago Tribune reporter Javonte Anderson contributed to this report.


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Mayor Lori Lightfoot lays out ‘five-star’ plan for reopening Chicago following coronavirus pandemic

Mayor Lori Lightfoot lays out ‘five-star’ plan for reopening Chicago following coronavirus pandemic disruptions

“ Obviously , the governor ’ s plan is one that covers the entirety of the state , but there @ @ @ @ @ differences between , you know , Chicago and Cairo , from us to Peoria , @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ So I think the beauty of the governor ’ s plan is @ @ @ @ @ local specific data to dig down into particulars on how we ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ , based upon the data that ’ s different here than it is in other @ @ @ @ @ ”

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)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot laid out a “five-star” plan for reopening Chicago Friday, a multiphase approach that offers no timetable but sets tougher benchmarks to meet before easing stay-at-home rules than Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker set in his statewide strategy.
Lightfoot’s plan layers additional standards for rates of infection and testing capacity on top of the state rules the governor unveiled earlier this week. As with Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan, Lightfoot’s framework sets a high bar for returning to normalcy.
Advertisement
Lightfoot can’t set looser standards than the statewide ones laid out by the governor, but she can tailor them to the city. Her plan is “specifically designed for Chicago’s residents and businesses, and encompassing a clear, data-driven five-phase process," she said.
“Obviously, the governor’s plan is one that covers the entirety of the state, but there’s a lot of differences between, you know, Chicago and Cairo, from us to Peoria, and Champaign-Urbana,” she said. “So I think the beauty of the governor’s plan is it allows us to use local specific data to dig down into particulars on how we’re going to protect the city of Chicago, based upon the data that’s different here than it is in other parts of the state.”
Advertisement
[ How will Illinois reopen? Three charts breaking down Pritzker’s plan ]
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, with Dr. Allison Arwady, talks on May 8, 2020, at City Hall about the plan to reopen the city. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
The Chicago blueprint also lets the mayor set her own course politically rather than turning over the keys to the virus response to Pritzker, and perhaps gives her leeway to work with restaurants and other businesses to plot a separate route to emerge from the economic disaster that’s hitting the city and state. It’s not yet time for that, though, Lightfoot said Friday.
“We’ve begun to flatten the curve of Chicago’s COVID-19 cases,” she said. "However, as I said before, we must never confuse promising gains with outright success. We are not at the point where we can begin reopening our city yet. The light at the end of the tunnel is absolutely there, but it’s still just a glimmer, and we still have a long way to go before we can safely return to the way things were before.”
Chicago is currently in what the city calls phase two of its recovery, a period Lightfoot’s plan dubs “stay-at-home.”
[ Reopening Illinois: Everything you need to know about getting back to normal at gyms, the office, restaurants and more ]
Before moving into phase three, labeled “cautiously reopen,” the city would need to see a decline in the COVID-19 case rate over 14 days and a declining rate of new cases, stable or declining rates of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths, fewer than 1,800 coronavirus patients in hospital beds, fewer than 600 coronavirus patients in ICU beds, and fewer than 450 coronavirus patients on ventilators, Lightfoot said.
The city also would need to be able to test 135,000 residents per month, with positive rates decreasing below 15% of those tested in the community and at least 14 days of declining rates of new cases, on average. Positive rates of below 30% would be needed in “congregate” settings such as nursing homes, shelters and jails, according to the Lightfoot plan.
Those standards are stricter than what Pritzker laid out earlier this week for his statewide plan. The governor called for positive rates at or below 20% and an increase in the positive rate of no more than 10 percentage points over 14 days.
That could further aggravate restive Chicagoans, local business owners and elected officials as warm weather arrives and residents in other parts of the state potentially start to meet easier requirements and enjoy more freedom to move about and gather in public places.
[ Lightfoot: Possible staggered start times, social distancing ushers in store for Chicago’s lakefront when it reopens ]
On Friday, Pritzker said Lightfoot’s plan is “a good one for Chicago,” though he said he hadn’t seen the final version in detail.
Advertisement
While his plan requires hospital admissions for COVID-19-like symptoms to be stable for 28 days, among other criteria, before a region can advance to the next phase, he doesn’t see that conflicting with the 14-day timetables in the mayor’s plan.
“It is likely that because they have some more stringent parts of their plan that when you put all of the pieces together, from a timing perspective, it will fit, I think, nicely into the framework that we put forward,” Pritzker said. “And I think other local governments should be considering doing the same thing.”
The governor said he considered requiring a decrease in cases before a region could reopen but opted for requiring stable positivity rates and hospital admissions.
“For those who think that we ought to be opening more quickly, I would say that our plan makes it more likely that one could open at the end of May than some other plans,” he said.
While she wants a framework appropriate to the denser urban setting in Chicago compared with the rest of the state, Lightfoot risks a backlash if the city struggles to clear her higher hurdles.
For example, in order to meet the approximately 135,000-per-month test standard, the city would need to test about 4,500 people per day. According to city records, an average of 2,966 people were tested for the virus each day in Chicago over the week ending Thursday. More tests could also mean higher rates of positive results.
Advertisement
Under phase three, select businesses, nonprofits and city entities would open “with demonstrated, appropriate protections for workers and customers," though nonbusiness social gatherings would be limited to fewer than 10 people.
Face coverings would still be required, Lightfoot said.
The mayor’s plan doesn’t estimate the earliest Chicago could change phases. Under Pritzker’s plan, the earliest a region can move from the second phase to a third “recovery" phase is May 29.
Lightfoot said she wouldn’t give dates for when reopening might be possible because the decision needs to be made by data and any date would be “completely arbitrary.”
The mayor also refused to set a timetable for restoring access to the lakefront, a significant piece of Chicago’s civic psyche that she closed in late March along with The 606 elevated trail and the downtown Riverwalk after residents packed into them on a warm afternoon.
“A lot of that is going to be guided by the science, and I have to be confident that we can open up those larger venues, the lakefront, The 606, interior trails in a way that still allows us to maintain social distancing,” Lightfoot said.
Advertisement
But she said she’s open to outside-the-box ideas like assigning different times of the day for joggers, walkers and bikers to use the trails or hiring social distancing ushers to patrol and order crowds to break it up.
Lightfoot said she would release standards for moving to phase four, labeled “gradually resume,” and phase five, “protect,” over the coming weeks. Details such as the sequencing of reopening businesses and public services are still being determined and will take factors such as transportation and child care into consideration.
Before transitioning between phases, Lightfoot said the city will evaluate whether the disease’s spread is slowing across the city and surrounding counties. Transitions between phases also will depend on whether the city has testing and contact-tracing capacity to track the disease and limit spread and whether the health care system can handle a potential future surge.
The city also will evaluate whether there are enough “support systems” in place for vulnerable residents, Lightfoot said.
One item to watch is how the city and state address restaurant reopenings in coming weeks. Pritzker’s rules for reopening have been criticized by Illinois Restaurant Association head Sam Toia as too strict, while Lightfoot has included Toia on a coronavirus recovery task force.
On Friday, Toia appeared with Lightfoot at her news conference and praised her for taking “a thoughtful approach to reopening our economy.”
Advertisement
The mayor left the door open for restaurants to reopen sooner than late June but said such decisions would need to be based on strong science. She did say no restaurateur wants to be at risk or endanger customers but there are potentially “innovative ways” they could reopen.
In recent days, Lightfoot has cautioned against ending the state’s stay-at-home order prematurely or loosening restrictions. She has said doing so might lead to a spike in cases, pointing to examples in Japan, Singapore and Germany.
Repeatedly in the past two months, Lightfoot has likened the fight against the virus to the comeback from the Great Chicago Fire.
On Friday, she described her reopening plan as a five-star endeavor, and floated the idea of symbolically elevating the pandemic response to a status alongside the fire that would also provide tattoo parlors across the city with an economic boost in their recovery: “I want nothing less than for our efforts over the coming months to truly warrant a fifth star on our flag.”
Chicago Tribune’s Joe Mahr and Hal Dardick contributed.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
Advertisement
jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
dpetrella@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-05-08--Despite Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s ‘goal,’ it’s still unknown if CPS will reopen in the fall — but summe

Despite Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s ‘goal,’ it’s still unknown if CPS will reopen in the fall — but summer school will be remote

“ It is important to the health and well being of our children , ” Lightfoot said .
“ And @ @ @ @ @ doing remote learning , but better yet to be right in close proximity to your @ @ @ @ @ re not going to do that if we don ’ t have the data tells @ @ @ @ @ ’ re not going to do it if we can ’ t keep the entirety @ @ @ @ @ . ''

Chicago Public Schools will continue remote learning for students taking classes over the summer, but district leaders have not yet determined what the fall will look like.
The announcement about summer school came Friday in a letter to families, also informing them that CPS is planning a way for students and staff to safely retrieve items they left behind when the school shutdown began in March.
Advertisement
“In alignment with guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education, we are planning to hold summer school virtually,” states the letter from CEO Janice Jackson and Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade, alluding to more information that will come out in upcoming weeks.
“We know that our parents, students, partners, and staff are all wondering the same thing right now — what will school look like for CPS in the fall?” states the letter.
Advertisement
“At this point, there are many options on the table, and due to the evolving nature of the public health emergency, no decisions have been made yet for the fall. While we hope that schools will open on time and at full capacity, we are establishing a variety of contingency plans to ensure families are supported and student learning can continue in the fall."
Despite Mayor Lightfoot's stated goal of reopening schools -- such as Lane Tech College Prep, shown here -- in the fall, it's not clear yet if that will happen. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
This week, the state superintendent of schools, Carmen Ayala, discussed some of the possibilities, which could vary among districts in different parts of the state.
“We may see the start of school in a remote fashion, we may see a combination where some children are allowed to come to school on certain days or we take the upper grades and we are able to spread them out in a school building with social distancing norms, or we may be able to come back full force,” Ayala said in a Facebook Live conversation with State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch.
Acknowledging the range of scenarios, CPS leaders said they’re preparing for “whatever course of action our local and state leaders and health officials determine is safe and responsive to the needs of our students, staff, and families," and planning for a “robust” school year.
In a call with reporters Friday, Chicago Teachers Union leaders said they needed to be directly involved in the decision-making process for reopening schools and drew attention to inequities that continue to exist, including lack of internet for some students during remote learning.
Referring to earlier comments by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to the Chicago Sun-Times that her goal is to reopen schools in the fall, CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates suggested the mayor focus on making broadband a public utility “instead of giving half-baked ideas about reopening.”
“We need a plan if we return in the fall and we need a plan if we don’t return in the fall," Davis Gates said.
In a press conference Friday announcing her “five-star" plan to reopen Chicago, Lightfoot said the teachers union is “constantly consulted” by CPS.
Advertisement
“What I articulated today was a goal to get our kids physically back in school,” Lightfoot said. “Of course, it’s going to be guided by the science, it’s going to be based upon feedback from the entire school community, which of course includes the teachers.”
The structure of school is important for more than just learning, she said.
“It is important to the health and well being of our children,” Lightfoot said. “And yes, we have been doing remote learning, but better yet to be right in close proximity to your teachers. Now we’re not going to do that if we don’t have the data tells us something else. We’re not going to do it if we can’t keep the entirety of the school community safe."
On the call with reporters, Sharkey said he’d been “flabbergasted” to hear of possible plans to reopen schools in the fall, which had not been communicated to CTU by the mayor’s office or CPS.
“I’d think she’d want to actually talk to the people who are going to be going into those buildings and doing the work before she’d make an announcement like that,” he said of Lightfoot. “... Kids need their teachers, but they also need to be healthy and safe.”
In response to the mayor’s remarks, Sharkey issued a statement saying Lightfoot was not truly consulting the union about reopening schools.
Advertisement
“CPS and the mayor have unilaterally issued unworkable work rules on special education and tried to force school clerks back into school buildings without guaranteeing access to PPE, hand sanitizer or clean facilities,” Sharkey said. “CPS has also failed to provide reasonable guidance to support English language learners or bargain with us on a host of critical questions and needs for our schools and students. The mayor is, in fact, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to be even less transparent than her predecessor.”
Chicago’s educators deeply want to get back to the classrooms with their students, but they need to be equal partners in creating plans to responsibly return, he said.
“We know intimately what is necessary to make this possible, yet we’ve been continuously locked out of this process, and left to try to deal with CPS’ ill-conceived and under-resourced remote learning scheme,” Sharkey said. “We get that this is challenging, but it’s time for the mayor to set aside her irrational hostility to our union’s equity-driven mission to advance racial and social justice, and work collaboratively with us.”
hleone@chicagotribune.com