chicagotribune--2020-12-12--As Washington Park showcases official Christmas tree, community leaders reflect on neighborhood’s re

As Washington Park showcases official Christmas tree, community leaders reflect on neighborhood’s recent progress: ‘Start changing the little things’

“ How would you feel if your whole worldview was neglection and negativity ?
” said Ernesto Gonzalez , marketing @ @ @ @ @ Hood My City .
“ You ’ d be traumatized if in Lincoln Park , @ @ @ @ @ 3-inch glass to order your coffee .
… It ’ s not what living is @ @ @ @ @ start changing the little things , bit by bit the youth will see it and @ @ @ @ @ in a positive way .
”

Harold Cain stood on the fringes of a slender sweep of grass in Washington Park, counting the minutes until the 30-foot Christmas tree in front of him would gleam with the hundreds of icicle lights woven around its branches.
At 63 years old, the lifelong resident of the Washington Park neighborhood had never been to a tree-lighting ceremony, he said. He was not aware of any taking place nearby — until this year. Last Sunday evening, Cain was among at least a hundred people who flocked to a road median on East Garfield Boulevard and South King Drive to celebrate the neighborhood’s first tree-lighting ceremony in recent memory.
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“It would have played a big part on a lot of people, because Christmas only comes once a year,” Cain said in reference to not having a neighborhood Christmas tree while growing up. “This here? This will make up for some of it.”
Attendees gather during a tree-lighting ceremony in the Washington Park neighborhood on Dec. 6, 2020, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
The ceremony was hosted to shine a bright spot in a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic and social upheaval throughout the country, but it also represented the evolution of a neighborhood that has banded together through ups and downs, resident and Washington Park Chamber of Commerce CEO Donna Hampton-Smith said.
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She described the tree as a love letter to children of the South Side after decades of government disinvestment led to overgrown vacant lots and storefronts buttressed by bulletproof glass. Her neighbors deserved the same level of holiday cheer as downtown, where Millennium Park has had a tree-lighting ceremony for over a century, she said.
“When children see Christmas trees and Christmas decorations in their community, they feel that they matter,” Hampton-Smith, said. “They begin to feel that they are treated equally and there’s no discrimination. There’s no separation.”
Last year, Hampton-Smith spearheaded planting a smaller tree in the same location, but it was mysteriously mowed down before the lighting ceremony could begin. Nevertheless, she wasn’t fazed, and her organization mobilized to erect a tree nearly four times as tall this year.
Neighborhood change, block-by-block
Four years ago, residents in the community of Washington Park wondered whether they were on the brink of an economic revival. Then-President Barack Obama was mulling where on the South Side to deliver his upcoming library and museum, and the historic but wanting Washington Park was a top contender.
Some residents argued their neighborhood and its swaths of empty land had potential beyond just being the physical site of the nation’s first Black president’s legacy — it would be an engine to rejuvenate a South Side community that was part of the story of Chicago’s Black Belt, where a wave of Black people migrated from the South to start anew in the 20th century.
But it was not meant to be. Obama announced later in 2016 that the center would be in Jackson Park near Woodlawn, and residents such as Hampton-Smith were crestfallen. Just years ago, the area had been passed over as a potential site for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“I was upset, to be honest, and I was upset because we worked so hard,” Hampton-Smith said about the presidential center location. “We got the word out … so it was definitely a switcheroo.”
Hampton-Smith still believes the center’s proximity will lead to an influx of businesses and residents in Washington Park, but she will be working to ensure the Obama Foundation keeps “a pulse on the community” when it comes to promoting jobs.
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Donna Hampton-Smith, president of the Washington Park Chamber of Commerce, speaks with attendees during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Washington Park on Dec. 6, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
With or without high-profile prospects such as a presidential center or the Olympics, Washington Park residents are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to beautifying their neighborhood, they say. And it starts small.
The playground on Washington Park resident Mary Sillah’s block on East 58th Street and South Indiana Avenue was chained up because of safety issues, she said. It was a structure her three children had dashed around when they were young, but over the years the grass had grown wild, threatened to overtake the structure. Gang signs and slogans were spray-painted on the sidewalk leading up to a purple slide brimming with leaves and dirt.
But in the spring Sillah helped resurrect the Washington Park Neighborhood Watch Group, which she now co-chairs. After the organization collaborated with the chamber of commerce to receive a grant from the South East Chicago Commission, volunteers spruced up the lot in September, offering families a spot to safely gather after being cooped up for months during the pandemic.
The group of about 60 other residents also plans community events such as a Halloween candy giveaway. It attends community policing meetings and organizes regular walks together to report disrepair to the city.
“When you speak of government, I think governments think in terms of numbers and statistics, dollars. How much money is being spent,” Sillah said. “When you speak of community, it’s more personal. You get to know your neighbors. You have concern for your neighbors. … We can’t replace community involvement.”
‘Start changing the little things’
Across the South Side, residents are leading similar projects to fight government disinvestment with a hyperlocal focus. The community group My Block My Hood My City mobilized in 2018 to string up twinkling Christmas lights along the houses and gates of South King Drive, sparking a tradition that this year stretches between 35th and 115th streets.
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“How would you feel if your whole worldview was neglection and negativity?” said Ernesto Gonzalez, marketing manager of My Block My Hood My City. “You’d be traumatized if in Lincoln Park, you had to scream over 3-inch glass to order your coffee. … It’s not what living is about. But if you start changing the little things, bit by bit the youth will see it and they will adapt to it in a positive way.”
Siblings Johnathan Williams, 14, from left, Javarius Williams, 15, Jordan Crowder, 1, and Jaelen Williams, 12, look at lights and decorations during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Washington Park on Dec. 6, 2020. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Young children huddled near the front of the crowd during Sunday’s tree-lighting ceremony, most of them quietly absorbing their surroundings as adults chanted, “Three, two, one,” before turning on the switch. Golden light splashed their faces, and there was a split-second pause before cheers and singing ripped through the air.
Standing a few feet from the base of the tree, 1-year-old Jordan Crowder craned his neck back as far as it would go to see how high the red and silver baubles reached.
“I feel good that they decorated the area,” his brother, 14-year-old Johnathan Williams said. “We need more holiday decorations, and we need more love like downtown.”
ayin@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-12--Gov. Pritzker put on defensive by COVID-19 outbreak  that tore through LaSalle VA home with terrifyi

Gov. Pritzker put on defensive by COVID-19 outbreak  that tore through LaSalle VA home with terrifying speed

In response to an internal question about whether family members were asking about anything else , Mehlbrech wrote : “ @ @ @ @ @ but always they seem to border on a ‘ how did this happen ?
!
@ @ @ @ @ I have done my best to explain that one small mistake can mean you get @ @ @ @ @ just spreads so quickly before you even know it ’ s there .
Now they @ @ @ @ @ we have a plan to continue even if we are very low on staff .
@

As a young man in the Army Air Forces during World War II, Jerome Liesse flew around the globe, delivering supplies to far-flung U.S. troops, his granddaughter said.
Because of the coronavirus, Liesse, 95 and no longer capable of getting around on his own, spent much of this year confined to his room at a state-run veterans home in LaSalle, a few miles from Starved Rock State Park.
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Like other long-term care facilities across the state, the LaSalle Veterans’ Home shut down indoor, in-person visits in an effort to keep the deadly virus outside its walls. Liesse was only able to see Evelan, his wife of more than 40 years, twice during those eight months — once separated by plexiglass — and held her hand just one time, in August after she had a stroke, granddaughter Jill Funfsinn said.
“He was just so scared of getting it,” said Funfsinn, a Chicago nurse who visited him several times.
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For months, the state was largely successful in its efforts to keep Liesse and the other veterans in its care at LaSalle safe. Through late October, only one resident and five staff members at the home tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs. All six recovered.
Jill Funfsinn holds a photo of her grandfather, Jerome Liesse, a World War II Army Air Forces veteran, on Dec. 8, 2020. Liesse was one of veterans who died in an coronavirus outbreak at the state-run veterans home in LaSalle. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)
But beginning Oct. 31, as the coronavirus pandemic was surging once again across the state, including in LaSalle County, an outbreak tore through the home with terrifying speed, infecting more than 200 residents and staff members and killing at least 33 veterans, including Liesse.
The fallout has been equally swift. Initial federal and state inspections identified myriad problems at the home, including lax use of personal protective equipment and poor social distancing. State legislators have set hearings, and an investigation by a state inspector general has been launched.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who in his 2018 campaign for governor was highly critical of his Republican predecessor Bruce Rauner’s handling of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at another state veterans home, is now on the defensive over his own VA home crisis.
“The governor owns this. This is his job,” said state Rep. Jim Durkin of Western Springs, the Illinois House Republican leader. “It’s the state’s job to provide for the care of the men and women who live and also work within that facility.”
Pritzker’s response accelerated Dec. 7, when he fired the home’s administrator. But the outbreak raged on, with the 33rd fatality announced on Thursday. Three staff members and 38 of 93 veterans, more than 40% of the facility’s population, were testing positive for COVID-19 as of late in the week of Dec. 6.
Asked Friday if he bore any moral responsibility for deaths at LaSalle, the governor said, “I bear the responsibility of leadership of the state and that means that everything that happens across state government, to some degree or another, lands on my shoulders.”
“These things can happen,” he added. “And I think most importantly, the question is: At the time that people become aware on site of what’s happening, what are their reactions? How do they care for people there and make sure that they’re safe? And then what do we learn from that, very importantly, to carry on elsewhere to make sure that we’re keeping all of our veterans safe?”
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Internal emails show growing concern
The first sign of the outbreak among residents appeared on Halloween, when a LaSalle veteran sent to a hospital for another ailment was found to be positive for COVID-19.
All residents were then screened for symptoms of COVID-19, and some were found to be newly symptomatic. Results from a round of routine surveillance tests conducted days earlier returned, with positive results for two staff members and 22 residents, according to a report issued by federal and state infection-control specialists.
That triggered campuswide testing, which showed eight positive staff members and 48 positive residents. By Nov. 9, three of the LaSalle veterans who tested positive for COVID-19 had died.
Internal emails among state Department of Veterans’ Affairs officials and the LaSalle home’s then-administrator reveal a growing sense of concern over the outbreak’s severity. The emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, were heavily redacted by the state.
On Nov. 9, Angela Mehlbrech, who was the LaSalle VA home’s administrator, referred to the number of staff members who had become infected in an email to the state agency’s chief of staff and spokeswoman. Mehlbrech wrote that “the main theme of questions from family right now is, how are we continuing to take care of our residents when we have lost so many staff members?”
In response to an internal question about whether family members were asking about anything else, Mehlbrech wrote: “Not that I am hearing but always they seem to border on a ‘how did this happen?!’ kind of question. I have done my best to explain that one small mistake can mean you get the virus and then it just spreads so quickly before you even know it’s there. Now they seem to want assurance that we have a plan to continue even if we are very low on staff.”
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On Nov. 10, the day before Pritzker appeared at a Veterans Day event — and as agency officials were preparing for questions from reporters about the outbreak — Mehlbrech wrote an email to the agency’s spokeswoman Bridget Dooley and chief of staff Tony Kolbeck that said, “For tomorrow … unfortunately the number of deaths might be higher by morning.”
Early on Veterans Day, Mehlbrech emailed Dooley under the subject line “press today” and sought to draw attention to the lack of known coronavirus cases connected to the home before the outbreak.
“I would really like people to remember that we kept the virus out of here for 8 months and only when our community numbers skyrocketed did we have an outbreak,” Mehlbrech wrote.
Federal VA visit finds numerous lapses
A report following a Nov. 13 visit by an infection control manager with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs identified a number of lapses that could have contributed to the virus entering the home and spreading. Those included lax social distancing among staff members and dispensers throughout the facility containing an alcohol-free hand sanitizer with a main ingredient that isn’t considered an effective agent against the highly contagious virus.
In multiple instances, the report urged staff members to avoid social gatherings outside of work, and to stagger their breaks and to avoid smoking together either inside or outside of personal vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs declined through a spokeswoman a request for an interview with Infection Control Manager Amelia Bumsted, who authored the site visit report. A LaSalle County Health Department spokeswoman said the department would not release findings of contact tracing efforts related to home employees who tested positive.
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Flags fly at the Illinois Veterans’ Home in LaSalle on Dec. 3, 2020. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
According to the federal VA report, staff members in full protective gear including gloves, gowns and bootees were observed walking through administrative areas, while three staffers were seen in the facility’s kitchen with their masks around their chins, eating less than 6 feet from one another. Some staff members were seen wearing gloves and touching patients and multiple surfaces without changing the gloves or washing their hands.
The site visit report also flagged ventilation concerns in the facility and noted that doors were left open with COVID-positive patients inside, which staff members said was due to the need to observe patients at risk for falls.
No one was stationed at the staff entrance at the time of the site visit to perform temperature monitoring, the report stated.
A follow-up site visit was conducted on Nov. 17 by an Illinois Department of Public Health infection control coordinator, who noted in a report “opportunities for transmission among some staff may have occurred due to reported laxity of masking and social distancing while off duty and also during break periods while on duty. Increased monitoring has been initiated.”
By then, 74 of the 103 residents of the facility at that time had tested positive for COVID-19, according to the IDPH report.
A federal VA representative has been “on the ground at LaSalle” following up on pandemic concerns and protocols, and the Illinois National Guard has been called in to help the staff with screening, testing and data tracking, Pritzker said last week. The National Guard is expected on Monday at veterans homes in Manteno and in Quincy — where 22 staff members and 32 of 293 residents have tested positive.
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‘Worst-case scenario’ becomes reality
Pritzker initially declined to say if anything specific led to Mehlbrech’s firing on Dec. 7. He later said it was “an accumulation of things” that were “just unacceptable,” such as the use of hand sanitizer lacking virus-killing alcohol at the facility.
“The worst-case scenario that I have tried every day to prevent is now our reality in LaSalle,” Pritzker said. “What I know is that our job right now is to make sure we do everything to protect the people who are at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home. We’ve been trying to do that all along.”
In making the Legionnaires’ outbreak at the Quincy VA home a core issue of his campaign for governor, Pritzker blasted Rauner for “fatal mismanagement.”
The two outbreaks have both parallels and differences, but the deaths of any veterans in state care becomes a powerful political issue where nuance and explanation quickly give way to criticism and attack.
Pritzker has sought to differentiate the two situations, in part by noting that Legionnaires’ disease is spread through the mist of contaminated water sources, while coronavirus is passed through the air by those who are infected. Legionnaires’ is “extraordinarily preventable,” Pritzker said Friday.
The initial 2015 outbreak at Quincy killed a dozen veterans, and subsequent annual outbreaks through 2018 led to at least two additional deaths and dozens more patients, family and staff members being sickened. Ultimately, the post-Civil War-era home’s water supply system was to blame, and the state is constructing a virtually new Quincy home.
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While Legionnaires’ disease is relatively rare, the deaths at LaSalle fall into the larger picture of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has grown so widespread despite governmental mitigation efforts that many people know someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, may have been hospitalized or even died.
But there’s another significant difference between Quincy and LaSalle. The Quincy issue surfaced long after the initial 2015 outbreak in reports by WBEZ-FM and drew attention because of the Rauner administration’s attempts to contain information about it.
“I think that some of the big anger in the Quincy issue was the Rauner administration didn’t want people to know and they didn’t want people to realize that they had made a mistake,” said state Sen. Tom Cullerton of Villa Park, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Unlike Quincy, LaSalle is happening in real time, Cullerton said, and the questions are about “people trying to solve the problems whereas with Quincy it was everybody just hiding the whole thing.”
Differences from Quincy VA outbreak
One parallel between Quincy and LaSalle is the insistence by the Rauner and Pritzker administrations that they responded quickly to outbreaks.
Rauner, who dodged the question three years ago when he was asked if he bore moral responsibility for the deaths at Quincy, said his administration had “done everything” that national experts including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recommended from the beginning of the outbreak to dealing with subsequent annual outbreaks.
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Symbolizing the political concerns, Rauner briefly moved into the Quincy home during his reelection campaign and invited Ivan Jackson, a resident, as a guest to his State of the State address. But Jackson later was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ and died in May 2018.
An auditor general’s investigation found public health and Veterans’ Affairs officials in Rauner’s administration sought to downplay the potential seriousness of the Quincy outbreak in 2015 to residents, their families and staff.
An email to Quincy staff by veterans home officials on the outbreak’s fifth day assured they would not be put at risk if there was “an issue with Legionella” and urged them to “not panic and do not discuss this with residents” to prevent them from getting “worried and upset.”
In addition, then-state Public Health Director Nirav Shah waited to call in the CDC, the audit said. By the time the agency arrived on-site in Quincy, the outbreak was in its 12th day and had killed seven people and caused 37 others to become ill. Even then, some changes recommended by the CDC were not implemented. With Quincy becoming a major liability to Rauner’s reelection, his director of veterans’ affairs, Erica Jeffries, stepped down in April 2018.
A criminal investigation into Quincy was launched under then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat. On Monday, a spokeswoman for Madigan’s successor, Democrat Kwame Raoul, said the investigation was closed after determining there was not a sufficient basis to bring criminal charges.
Like Rauner, Pritzker has insisted his administration was on top of the LaSalle outbreak from the start. He said the state has tried to do “everything to protect the people” at the home and that “since the moment we found out there was an outbreak, there’s been a lot of effort that’s been made to evaluate the problems at the home and to mitigate those problems.”
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Pritzker’s decision to make personnel changes quickly, firing Mehlbrech and placing the LaSalle director of nursing on paid administrative leave pending the results of the investigation, reflected a proactive move by the administration.
Cullerton said state laws passed as a result of the Quincy outbreaks have led to more transparency in letting veterans home residents, their families and staff members know more quickly about disease outbreaks.
“I think the governor knows this looks bad. I think (Veterans’ Affairs Director Linda) Chapa LaVia knows this looks bad,” Cullerton said. “But I also know from the multiple conversations I’ve had, she’s trying to figure out the best way she can to stop it and make sure it doesn’t happen in the other homes as well.”
On Tuesday, in what could become a test of the Pritzker administration’s transparency, Cullerton and ranking Republican on the veterans’ committee, Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, sent letters requesting all documents mentioning COVID-19 and the LaSalle home involving Pritzker and top administration staff as well as Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike and Chapa LaVia. The House Veterans’ Affairs committee is scheduled to hold its first hearing on the issue next week.
While the administration didn’t make Chapa LaVia available for this story, she testified at a recent Senate hearing that she did not directly notify Pritzker of the outbreak despite the known potential for deaths among the elderly in congregate settings. She said he was informed through his staff.
At that hearing, Chapa LaVia said it was “no coincidence” that COVID-19 cases in the home began to rise as they did so, dramatically, in the surrounding community.
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“For eight months, the dedicated staff and administration at the LaSalle home rose above the abysmal infection rates of most of our long-term care facilities across the state,” she said.
In the week ending Oct. 4, LaSalle County had 109 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents. By the beginning of November, the rate was up to 390 cases per 100,000 residents, and it peaked at 961 cases during the week ending Nov. 15.
But LaSalle County was far from alone in seeing such a surge during the fall. In Kankakee County, home to a state-run veterans home in Manteno, there were 95 cases per 100,000 residents in the week ending Oct. 4. The rate peaked at 1,369 cases per 100,000 residents during the week ending Nov. 15.
From Aug. 21 through Thursday, 18 residents and 33 employees at the Manteno home had tested positive for the coronavirus, and two veterans had died.
The story was similar in Adams County, where the Quincy home is located. The county surged from 192 cases per 100,000 residents in the week ending Oct. 4 to 1,225 cases during the week ending Nov. 22. Despite the ongoing outbreak at Quincy, there had yet to be any fatalities as of Thursday.
State Sen. Sue Rezin, a Morris Republican whose district includes the LaSalle home, takes issue with how long it took for an infection control visit.
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“The administration waited 12 days, which, when you have a massive, rapid spread of a deadly disease within a very vulnerable population, the Department of Public Health should have sent a team out immediately to assess the situation and correct any deficiencies.”
She said she has continued to receive calls from LaSalle Veterans’ Home employees who said the facility lacked the basic quality control measures to ensure that the residents and employees were working and living “in a safe, protective environment,” she said.
“I’ve heard from the administration that the changes have been made to make sure that the proper procedures are in place now, from this point forward, to protect the veterans,” Rezin said. “I’m not convinced. I still hear from people that work in the home, and I have serious concerns about, to this day, breaches that are happening in protocol.”
Schimpf, the top Republican on the Senate veterans committee, said those issues point to the likely explanation for the LaSalle outbreak — a safety protocol breakdown.
“The thing that we will never know is if IDPH had sent a team out there as soon as they knew about the outbreak … would the changes that they made, would those have saved any lives?” Schimpf asked.
‘Sad, scared, without human touch’
For Jill Funfsinn and others whose family members have died while in the state’s care, the answers to those questions are important because they could help prevent future deaths at LaSalle and other veterans homes. But at this point, it would do little to ease the pain of their loss.
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Funfsinn has questions of her own.
Staff members at the home often spent time with her grandfather in his room, she said, playing cards or helping him do puzzles. After his death, she’s been left wondering if that’s how he came into contact with the virus.
“He lived his last days depressed, sad, scared, without human touch, not being able to see and hold his wife ... for what?” Funfsinn wrote to Pritzker in an email she sent via the Department of Public Health. “If the staff there were not going to be diligent in protecting these heroes, which also includes protecting themselves, what was all of this for?”
Funfsinn’s last visit with her grandfather through his window was Nov. 11. Three days later, his family learned he’d tested positive for the virus.
By then he was unresponsive, but Funfsinn was able to see her grandfather and touch him one last time during a Nov. 16 compassionate care visit, a privilege extended to residents who’ve tested positive for the virus. She left about 10 p.m. He died less than three hours later.
“Even though he was 95 and lived a full life, he just didn’t deserve to go in the way he did,” Funfsinn said. “He was at their mercy, and he trusted them to protect him. He didn’t have a choice.”
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chicagotribune--2020-12-12--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened Dec. 11 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

The state collects the figures each Friday from a database that local health departments add to throughout the week , @ @ @ @ @ documented the fall surge as it ’ s begun ripping through facilities housing Illinois ’ @ @ @ @ @ has tied outbreaks in the facilities to the virus ’ s spread in surrounding communities @ @ @ @ @ become infected and not show symptoms , yet still spread the virus in facilities where @ @ @ @ @ to quickly catch all those infections .

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CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago-area hospitals are gearing up to deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines to their employees during the first few days of next week, pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Rush University Medical Center may start giving vaccines to its workers as early as Monday, depending on when the vaccine is approved and arrives. University of Chicago Medicine may start giving vaccines to workers Wednesday. Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has hospitals in Naperville and Elmhurst, is tentatively expecting to begin vaccinating its workers Tuesday.
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As hospitals get ready for a vaccination campaign, Illinois health officials on Friday announced 9,420 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 190 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 832,951 and the statewide death toll to 14,050 since the start of the pandemic.
The numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could create COVID-19 superspreader events. Officials have said the state is entering the period during which a possible post-Thanksgiving surge could begin to show up.
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Meanwhile, the U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.
Here’s what FDA approval could mean for Chicago and the rest of Illinois.
Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
(Updated) 9:23 p.m.: FDA authorizes emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine in bid to end pandemic
The U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.
Shots for health workers and nursing home residents are expected to begin in the coming days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of what promises to be a strongly protective vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech.
Read more here.—Associated Press
4:30 p.m.: ‘I’ll be the first in line’ for vaccine, Indiana doctor says as medical workers feel COVID-19′s toll
Loss of smell, taste, fever, chills. Sounds like COVID-19, maybe.
These are symptoms Dr. Scott Samlan said are described by 30 to 40 patients a day.
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But only a fraction of those will test positive for the virus, he said. Seeing so many patients has helped him predict who is sick and which cases appear most severe.
”We’re getting pretty good, like, yeah, you have COVID,” said Samlan, 44, chief executive officer at NW Indiana 24/7 ER&Hospital, which is near Cabela’s in Hammond.
People are catching the virus from their friends and family.”
They go to have a beer or cup of coffee with a friend, and that’s where they’re getting it, because they think they know these friends,” he said. “Because they think their circle is insular, but it’s not.”
As Community Hospital in Munster should get its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines for medical workers within days, Samlan said he’s eager to get inoculated.
”I’ll be the first in line,” he said.
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—Meredith Colias-Pete, Post-Tribune
3:37 p.m.: Another grim week for nursing homes, other long-term care facilities
COVID-19 continued to tear through long-term care facilities in the past week at a pace that remained among the worst of the pandemic.
The latest figures, released Friday by the state Department of Public Health, count 420 deaths from the virus among residents at nursing homes, in assisted living and at other long-term care facilities. That was fewer than the week before, which saw 480 deaths and became the deadliest week yet for these institutions. But this week’s toll still ranks among the worst weeks of either the spring or the fall surge.
The state also recorded 4,489 new infections among residents. That’s the second-highest weekly number of the pandemic, just shy of the record of 4,536 new infections set last week.
The state collects the figures each Friday from a database that local health departments add to throughout the week, and those weekly figures have documented the fall surge as it’s begun ripping through facilities housing Illinois’ most vulnerable populations. Research has tied outbreaks in the facilities to the virus’s spread in surrounding communities. Workers and others can become infected and not show symptoms, yet still spread the virus in facilities where ramped-up testing is still unable to quickly catch all those infections.
A Tribune analysis last week showed that, as with Illinois’ overall second surge, the rates of new cases and deaths were highest in areas outside of the greater Chicago area, when adjusted for population size.
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Many of the new outbreaks have gotten little individual attention from the state, but an outbreak at the state-run veterans home in LaSalle has resulted in the state firing the director and placing the nursing administrator on leave. As of Friday the virus had infected 209 veterans and staffers, and killed 33.
—Joe Mahr
3 p.m.: Art Institute, Brookfield Zoo announce staff furloughs amid new round of pandemic closings
The Art Institute and Brookfield Zoo both announced this week that they will be furloughing scores more workers in the new year as the institutions reckon with a second wave of pandemic-caused shutdowns.
The Art Institute on Friday said it will put 109 staffers from across departments on furlough beginning in the new year while the higher-paid employees who remain on full-time duty take pay cuts.
Meanwhile, earlier this week Brookfield Zoo said it will furlough 40 workers beginning in January as the zoo shuts down for a couple of months.
Read more here. —Steve Johnson
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2:24 p.m.: White House threatens FDA chief’s job if Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is not granted emergency authorization by end of the day
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Friday pressed Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn to grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day or face possible firing, two administration officials said.
The vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech won a critical endorsement Thursday from an FDA panel of outside advisers, and signoff from the agency — which is expected within days — is the next step needed to get the shots to the public.
The FDA is not required to follow the guidance of its advisory committees, but often does.
Meadows spoke to Hahn by telephone on Friday, according to a senior administration official who was familiar with the conversation but was not authorized to discuss private conversations.
Read more here. —Associated Press
2:22 p.m.: Walgreens to hire 25,000 as part of plan to start giving COVID-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and staff before Christmas
Walgreens expects to receive its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 21 and plans to inoculate nursing home residents and workers at more than 30,000 longterm care facilities nationwide.
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Deerfield-based Walgreens plans to hire about 25,000 workers across the U.S., including up to 9,000 pharmacists and other health care workers, to administer the vaccine, once approved, to longterm care facilities through a partnership with pharmacy service provider PharMerica, the companies said during a panel discussion Friday on the vaccine rollout.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
2:12 p.m.: Chicago-area hospitals get ready for vaccine
Chicago-area hospitals are gearing up to deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines to their employees during the first few days of next week, pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Rush University Medical Center may start giving vaccines to its workers as early as Monday, depending on when the vaccine is approved and arrives. University of Chicago Medicine may start giving vaccines to workers Wednesday. Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has hospitals in Naperville and Elmhurst, is tentatively expecting to begin vaccinating its workers Tuesday.
University of Chicago thinks it might get about 1,950 doses and Edward Elmhurst says it may get 3,900 vaccines as part of the first shipment. Rush expects about 1,950 doses.
Rush has already set up 10 vaccination bays in its Brennan Pavilion and hopes, after a soft launch, to vaccinate about 1,000 workers a day, assuming each vaccination takes about five to seven minutes and vaccinations run from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., said Lisa Weichman Harries, Rush director of operations for employee and corporate health services.
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Rush will prioritize workers who are exposed to patients with COVID-19 or participate in procedures that generate aerosols. Rush employees will be notified over MyChart and email about when they may sign up for appointments.
Many hospitals are already asking workers to register for vaccine appointments.
At University of Chicago Medicine, employees have been asked to create MyChart accounts, where they will receive notifications when it’s their turn for the shots, at which point they can schedule appointments.
University of Chicago Medicine is vaccinating workers in three waves with the first priority going to those who work within six feet of patients, including nurses, doctors, food delivery workers and custodians. The second wave will be for workers who don’t provide patient care but work in spaces where patients are present, and the third wave will be for employees who don’t work in facilities where patients are present.
Employees who identify as belonging to high-risk groups — such as those with Type II diabetes, serious heart conditions and cancer — will get priority within each wave. They don’t have to prove they are at high-risk. University of Chicago Medicine will take their word for it.
The system expects to receive enough vaccines to vaccinate all interested employees by February.
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Advocate Aurora Health, which has 10 hospitals in Illinois, expects to be able to vaccinate all its interested frontline workers in the next four to six weeks, said Dr. Robert Citronberg, executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention, during a news conference Thursday.
The system is prioritizing people who work in its ICUs, COVID-19 units and emergency rooms.
At Edward-Elmhurst, interested employees are registering to receive appointments.
Though many hospitals require employees to get flu shots each year, most will not likely require workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, largely because it will be approved under an emergency use authorization, rather than a regular, full FDA approval.
”While it’s been studied for a few months, we don’t have enough data about any long term effects about it, and we think as a system a more prudent approach is to encourage the vaccine among our team members,” Citronberg said. “We are very optimistic that the vast majority of our team members will take the vaccine over the next few months.”
—Lisa Schencker
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2:10 p.m.: Congress averts government shutdown, buys more time for COVID-19 relief talks
Congress sent a temporary government-wide funding bill to President Donald Trump on Friday that would avert a federal shutdown at midnight and buy time for on-again, off-again talks on COVID-19 aid.
The bill sets a new deadline of midnight next Friday. The short-term measure passed the Senate by a unanimous voice vote without much drama and sent senators home for the weekend without a clear picture of what awaits next week. The House passed the bill Wednesday. Trump was expected to sign it before midnight.
The talks are stalled but there is universal agreement that Congress won’t adjourn for the year without passing a long-delayed round of pandemic relief. An emerging $900 billion aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers hit a rough patch after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., swung against the effort. Still, negotiations are ongoing and the pressure remains intense.
Read more here. —Associated Press
1:30 p.m.: United Airlines gears up to help distribute vaccine
Even as passenger numbers have plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic, United Airlines’ 55,000-square-foot cargo facility just south of the terminals at O’Hare International Airport has kept humming with planes unloading containers carrying anything from mail and packages to pharmaceuticals and PPE.
Now United is gearing up for an influx of even more critical cargo: the COVID-19 vaccine. The kickoff to the vaccination campaign moved a step closer this week as a U.S. government advisory panel endorsed use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, and Chicago officials prepare for the rollout, including an initial shipment of 23,000 doses.
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Getting millions of doses to people in the U.S. alone will require a massive logistical effort with an extra challenge: vaccines that must be kept far more frigid than typical cargo. United is just one of several airlines and shipping companies gearing up for a push.
Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
1:18 p.m.: Chicago’s Dean Richards returns to work after a bout with COVID-19: ‘This virus is sneaky.
Dean Richards, the longtime WGN-Channel 9 and WGN 720-AM personality, is to return to the airwaves Sunday morning after recovering from the COVID-19 virus.
Richards, whose illness was first reported by the media columnist Robert Feder, said he felt fortunate that his relatively mild symptoms had not been more serious.
”I thought I was being super-careful,” he told the Tribune Friday. “All I can say to people is, if you think that too ... be even more careful. This virus is sneaky.”
Richards, 66, said he plans to broadcast his Sunday morning WGN radio show from home.
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Dating back to the days of the late Roy Leonard, the show long has been a locus for arts and entertainment coverage. On Sunday’s show, Richards said, he plans to talk to Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan about their new Irish movie, “Wild Mountain Thyme,” a new adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s play “Outside Mullingar.”
Read more here. —Chris Jones
12:11 p.m.: 9,420 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 190 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Friday announced 9,420 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 190 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 832,951 and the statewide death toll to 14,050 since the start of the pandemic. Officials also reported 104,448 new tests in the last 24 hours.
The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 9.4% for the period ending Thursday.
—Chicago Tribune staff
12:08 p.m.: Some COVID-19 vaccines are nearly ready for use. Others are still being tested. Here are some of the local volunteers taking part in vaccine trials.
David Daly was a little bit nervous earlier this month as the syringe pricked his upper arm, the first injection he received as a volunteer in a local COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.
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The 43-year-old actuary from southwest suburban Lockport knows there is always some risk involved in helping test the safety and efficacy of any new drug.
“But I think it is a pretty acceptable risk,” he said after his appointment at Rush University Medical Center, where he’s taking part in a study for a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. “I’ve been impressed that even though it’s moved quickly, I think they’re still taking safety very seriously. They’re not shortcutting scientific protocols for the vaccine.”
Daly is among the roughly half-million Americans who have signed up to participate in various vaccine trials as scientists race to produce safe and effective immunizations to the coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 13,000 in Illinois and 1.5 million worldwide.
Read more here. —Angie Leventis Lourgos
11:40 a.m.: Illinois State University cancels spring break over COVID-19 concerns
Illinois State University students won’t be getting a spring break next year after all because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
A couple of months after saying that the students at the campus in Normal would have be getting a break in the spring 2021 semester, ISU President Larry Dietz sent out a letter informing students and faculty about the change in plans.
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As with other schools that have modified or canceled breaks, Dietz said in a message that the decision was made “at the urging of state officials” out of concern that students traveling home and then coming back could cause the virus to spread on campus and in the community.
Read more here. —Associated Press
10:07 a.m.: Hines VA hospital among 37 VA hospitals to receive initial vaccine doses
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday announced that Hines VA Hospital in Maywood would be among 37 VA sites across the country to receive initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The west suburban hospital was the only VA hospital in Illinois to make the list.
An FDA advisory committee on Thursday recommended that the agency approve Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use. The FDA is expected to issue a decision within days.
Hines was selected because it has the capacity to vaccinate large numbers of people and store the vaccine at the extremely cold temperatures necessary for Pfizer’s product, the hospital said in a press release.
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When the vaccine is approved, Hines will start immunizing health care workers and veterans in its long-term care facilities, the release said. Eventually the hospital hopes to receive enough vaccine for all veterans who want it.
—Madeline Buckley
5 a.m.: New hospital data shows wide disparities in available beds; search for any Illinois hospital below
Amid pandemic fears of overrun hospitals, federal regulators have released figures that show how full each hospital is — including with COVID-19 patients — and how many beds each has to spare.
The figures, which cover a seven day period from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, show wide disparities across the Chicago area and the state.
Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn averaged nearly 182 patients a day with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, the highest number in the state. Seven other hospitals averaged more than 100 daily COVID-19 patients, including six in the greater Chicago area and one in Peoria.
One key metric is the capacity in intensive care units, because forecasters fear ICUs would be the first to fill up in a surge. During the week reflected in the new data, the state Department of Public Health showed the overall percentage of open ICU beds in Illinois hovered between 18% to 24%. The state has set a threshold of concern of 20%.
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But the individual-level federal data shows how much ICU capacity varies from hospital to hospital. More than a dozen had less than 10% of their ICU beds left, according to the new data. Three hospitals reported that every staffed ICU bed that week was occupied with a patient: Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, Mt. Sinai in Chicago and Memorial in downstate Belleville.
New numbers come out each Monday, to cover the preceding Friday-to-Thursday period.
You can look up any Illinois hospital here. —Joe Mahr
5 a.m.: ‘This feeling is needed.’ Virtual Santas go all out to make Christmas special for kids during the pandemic.
This year, getting in the holiday spirit requires a dash of hope, a little bit of magic and a zoom account. Just ask Santa.
“(Kids) know COVID-19 is bad, they know to wear their masks and be careful and maybe they won’t see their cousins this Christmas,” said Andre Russell, aka Dreezy Claus. “But when they talk to me they are just having a ball.”
Veteran Santa Clauses and rookie St. Nicks alike are shifting the gears on their sleighs and pivoting to virtual visits with customized backgrounds and classic props while officials plead with people to stay home during the pandemic.
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Read more here. —Jessica Villagomez
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chicagotribune--2020-12-12--Family cancels pilgrimage after third brother dies of coronavirus: ‘We just pray that we get the str

Family cancels pilgrimage after third brother dies of coronavirus: ‘We just pray that we get the strength to keep going day by day’

“ We definitely stand strong with our faith and knowing that God has a plan for us , ” she @ @ @ @ @ pray that we get the strength to keep going day by day .
”

The Rev. Manuel Padilla, left, and the Rev. Esequiel Sanchez carry the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe after it was removed from the the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Dec. 11, 2020. Religious leaders have urged devotees to avoid pilgrimages to the site. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Tragedy has once again struck the family who started the pilgrimage from Chicago to Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Des Plaines.
In September, 63-year-old Ricardo Alanis, founder of the first and largest yearly pilgrimage from Chicago to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, died of COVID-19.
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Two months after Ricardo Alanis died, one of his brothers died from COVID-19 in Mexico. And on Friday, a third brother, Jose Alanis, died of COVID-19 complications at Amita Health St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, according to a family member.
The Alanis’ family initially planned to make the 15-mile journey from Our Lady of Lourdes Church to the shrine, 1170 N. River Rd. in Des Plaines. But the family decided to postpone the pilgrimage with the most recent family death, said Maria Guadalupe Alanis, 34, Ricardo Alanis’ daughter.
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“We definitely stand strong with our faith and knowing that God has a plan for us,” she said. “We just pray that we get the strength to keep going day by day.”
In 2000, Ricardo Alanis led a few dozen people on the first pilgrimage from Chicago to Des Plaines, starting a tradition that would grow into thousands of people making the annual trip to pay homage to a Mexican icon of Catholicism.
The Alanis family will be celebrating Mass on Dec. 12 and make the pilgrimage at a later date to honor the three brothers.
jaanderson@chicagotribune.com


chicagotribune--2020-12-13--Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 8,737 new COVID-19 cases and 127 additional fatalities reported Sat

Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 8,737 new COVID-19 cases and 127 additional fatalities reported Saturday as vaccine set to begin arriving in states next week

The U.S. has recorded more than 16 million cases of COVID-19 , by far the most of any country in @ @ @ @ @ data kept by Johns Hopkins University , and also leads the world in deaths related @ @ @ @ @ than 297,600 , including a record 3,309 recorded on Friday .
The coronavirus has caused @ @ @ @ @ deaths .

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 115 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 848,904 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 14,291 since the start of the pandemic.
The first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States headed Sunday from Michigan to distribution centers across the country.
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Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.
Chicago-area hospitals are gearing up to give the first COVID-19 vaccination shots to their employees as soon as early this week now that emergency use authorization has been granted by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.
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Rush University Medical Center could begin administering the vaccine to its workers as soon as Monday, depending on when the vaccine arrives, hospital officials said. University of Chicago Medicine might start inoculating employees Wednesday. Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has hospitals in west suburban Naperville and Elmhurst, is tentatively expecting to begin vaccinating its workers Tuesday.
And Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood was selected as one of roughly three dozen veterans health administration sites across the country to receive initial doses, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday.
[ Doctors to answer reader questions about COVID-19 vaccinations Dec. 14 and 16 on Facebook Live ]
The numbers come two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday that health officials worried could create COVID-19 superspreader events. Officials have said the state is entering the period during which a possible post-Thanksgiving surge could begin to show up.
Meanwhile, here’s what the FDA approval of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine could mean for Chicago and the rest of Illinois.
Here’s what’s happening this weekend with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
Sunday
White House, other top officials to get early vaccine access
Senior U.S. government officials, including some White House officials who work in close proximity to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, will be offered coronavirus vaccines as soon as this week, while its public distribution is limited to front-line health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
Doses of the newly approved vaccine from Pfizer will be made available to those who work in close quarters with the nation’s top leaders, two people familiar with the matter confirmed. They said the move was meant to prevent more COVID-19 spread in the White House, which has already suffered from several outbreaks of the virus that infected Trump and other top officials, and other critical facilities.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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As coronavirus vaccine distribution begins, prepare to carry another thing in your pocket: A COVID-19 credential to show you’ve been inoculated
Among all the tools that health agencies have developed over the years to fight epidemics, at least one has remained a constant for more than a century: paper vaccination certificates.
In the 1880s, in response to smallpox outbreaks, some public schools began requiring students and teachers to show vaccination cards. In the 1960s, amid yellow fever epidemics, the World Health Organization introduced an international travel document, known informally as the yellow card. Even now, travelers from certain regions are required to show a version of the card at airports.
Read more here. —The New York Times
7,216 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, 115 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Sunday announced 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 115 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 848,904 and the statewide confirmed death toll to 14,291 since the start of the pandemic.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Downtown Naperville’s Features Bar and Grill unveils rail cars for winter dining
Features Bar and Grill unveiled its own take on unique winter seating and dining Thursday when it began stationing dining cars — actual rail cars refurbished to seat customers — outside its Chicago Avenue location.
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The project is a joint effort by the restaurant, Naperville Public Works, the Downtown Naperville Alliance, the Naperville Development Partnership, and private contractors.
Read more here —Rafael Guerrero, Naperville Sun
COVID-19 testing sites continue to pop up around south suburbs
As the promised rollout of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus nears, testing centers remain busy this holiday season following a recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
While usually focused on treating children’s ailments, Alzein Pediatrics’ staff in recent weeks were getting questions from children’s parents and grandparents about where they could go for COVID-19 testing.
“We had a lot of patients looking for places to get tested out of concern about being around their children or grandchildren,” said Marie Armstrong, clinical manager for the practice, which has offices in Evergreen Park and Oak Lawn.
Read more here —Mike Nolan, Daily Southtown
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Trucks with first COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the US roll out of Pfizer manufacturing plant in Michigan
The first trucks carrying a COVID-19 vaccine for widespread use in the United States pulled out of a Michigan manufacturing facility Sunday, with the shots that are critical to stopping the nation’s coronavirus outbreak destined to reach states a day later.
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in American history at a critical juncture of the pandemic that has killed 1.6 million and sickened 71 million worldwide.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Saturday
COVID-19 vaccine will start arriving in states Monday, officials say, as US surpasses 16 million total confirmed cases
The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.
Initially, about 3 million doses were expected to be shipped nationwide. It was unclear exactly who would receive the first shots, though health care workers and nursing home residents were the priority. Perna said health authorities would decide.
The announcement Saturday kicks off a massive logistical operation involving the federal and state governments, private companies and health care workers to quickly distribute limited vaccine supplies throughout the U.S. It offers hope in a country grappling with surging COVID-19 infections and deaths, which are overwhelming hospitals and raising fears that things will only get worse as people gather over the holidays.
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The U.S. has recorded more than 16 million cases of COVID-19, by far the most of any country in the world, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University, and also leads the world in deaths related to the coronavirus at more than 297,600, including a record 3,309 recorded on Friday. The coronavirus has caused more than 1.6 million global deaths.
Read more here. —Associated Press
Charley Pride, country music’s first Black star, dies at 86 of COVID-19 complications
Charley Pride, one of country music’s first Black superstar whose rich baritone on such hits as “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” helped sell millions of records and made him the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, has died. He was 86.
Pride died Saturday in Dallas of complications from Covid-19, according to Jeremy Westby of the public relations firm 2911 Media.
“I’m so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. It’s even worse to know that he passed away from COVID-19. What a horrible, horrible virus. Charley, we will always love you,” Dolly Parton tweeted.
Read more here. —Associated Press
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127 new deaths, 8,737 new cases of COVID-19 reported
Illinois health officials announced Saturday 8,737 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-10 and 127 new fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 841,688 and the statewide death toll to 14,177 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The figures come a day after officials announced Chicago-area hospitals were getting ready to deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines to their employees during the first few days of next week.
The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end the outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.
—Rosemary Sobol
Pritzker put on defensive by COVID-19 outbreak that tore through LaSalle VA home with terrifying speed
Beginning Oct. 31, as the coronavirus pandemic was surging once again across the state, including in LaSalle County, an outbreak tore through the home with terrifying speed, infecting more than 200 residents and staff members and killing at least 33 veterans, including Jerome Liesse.
The fallout has been equally swift. Initial inspections by federal and state inspections identified myriad problems at the home, including lax use of personal protective equipment and poor social distancing. State legislators have set hearings, and an investigation by a state inspector general has been launched.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who in his 2018 campaign for governor was highly critical of his Republican predecessor Bruce Rauner’s handling of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at another state veterans home, is now on the defensive over his own VA home crisis.
“The governor owns this. This is his job,” said state Rep. Jim Durkin of Western Springs, the Illinois House Republican leader. “It’s the state’s job to provide for the care of the men and women who live and also work within that facility.”
Read more here. —Rick Pearson and Dan Petrella
Friday
‘We just pray that we get the strength to keep going day by day.’ Family cancels pilgrimage after third brother dies of coronavirus
Tragedy has once again struck the family who started the pilgrimage from Chicago to Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Des Plaines.
In September, 63-year-old Ricardo Alanis, founder of the first and largest yearly pilgrimage from Chicago to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, died of COVID-19.
Two months after Ricardo Alanis died, one of his brothers died from COVID-19 in Mexico. And on Friday, a third brother, Jose Alanis, died of COVID-19 complications at Amita Health St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, according to a family member.
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Read more here. —Javonte Anderson
Local hospitals ready to give first COVID-19 vaccines to employees as soon as next week
Chicago-area hospitals are gearing up to give the first COVID-19 vaccination shots to their employees as soon as early next week now that emergency use authorization has been granted by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration.
Rush University Medical Center could begin administering the vaccine to its workers as soon as Monday, depending on when the vaccine arrives, hospital officials said. University of Chicago Medicine might start inoculating employees Wednesday. Edward-Elmhurst Health, which has hospitals in west suburban Naperville and Elmhurst, is tentatively expecting to begin vaccinating its workers Tuesday.
And Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood was selected as one of roughly three dozen veterans health administration sites across the country to receive initial doses, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday. The west suburban hospital was the only VA hospital in Illinois to make the list, in part because it has the capacity to store the vaccine at extremely cold temperatures, the hospital said in a news release.
Read more here. —Madeline Buckley, Lisa Schencker and Angie Leventis Lourgos
Walgreens to hire 25,000 as part of plan to start giving COVID-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and staff before Christmas
Walgreens expects to receive its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 21 and plans to inoculate nursing home residents and workers at more than 30,000 longterm care facilities nationwide.
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Deerfield-based Walgreens plans to hire about 25,000 workers across the U.S., including up to 9,000 pharmacists and other health care workers, to administer the vaccine, once approved, to longterm care facilities through a partnership with pharmacy service provider PharMerica, the companies said during a panel discussion Friday on the vaccine rollout.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
Pandemic puppies, holiday tamales and binge-watching TV from a cardboard ‘yacht’: How 39 Chicagoans made it through 2020
Few would deny that 2020 has been difficult for a host of reasons, from the quarter-million lives lost due to the coronavirus pandemic to the continuing fight against racial injustice.
How did people make it through this year? We asked Illinois residents to tell us what they did to get through 2020. Some adopted dogs, some volunteered in their neighborhoods and others discovered a new hobby. Here’s what they had to say.
Read more here. —Hannah Herrera Greenspan
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chicagotribune--2020-12-13--COVID-19 vaccine will start arriving in states Monday, officials say, as US surpasses 16 million tot

COVID-19 vaccine will start arriving in states Monday, officials say, as US surpasses 16 million total confirmed cases

MATTHEW PERRONE, MIKE STOBBE and MARK SCOLFORO

We have lifted the paywall on this story. To support essential reporting, please consider becoming a subscriber .
WASHINGTON — The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday, after the government gave the final go-ahead to the shots needed to end an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans.
Trucks will roll out Sunday morning as shipping companies UPS and FedEx begin delivering Pfizer’s vaccine to nearly 150 distribution centers across the states, said Army Gen. Gustave Perna of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s vaccine development program. An additional 425 sites will get shipments Tuesday, and the remaining 66 on Wednesday.
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Initially, about 3 million doses were expected to be shipped nationwide. It was unclear exactly who would receive the first shots, though health care workers and nursing home residents were the priority. Perna said health authorities would decide.
A similar number of shots will be held back for those recipients’ second dose, which is needed for full protection from COVID-19.
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The announcement Saturday kicks off a massive logistical operation involving the federal and state governments, private companies and health care workers to quickly distribute limited vaccine supplies throughout the U.S. It offers hope in a country grappling with surging COVID-19 infections and deaths, which are overwhelming hospitals and raising fears that things will only get worse as people gather over the holidays.
The U.S. has recorded more than 16 million cases of COVID-19, by far the most of any country in the world, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University, and also leads the world in deaths related to the coronavirus at more than 297,600, including a record 3,309 recorded on Friday. The coronavirus has caused more than 1.6 million global deaths.
Perna, the Army general, compared the vaccine distribution effort to D-Day, the U.S.-led military offensive that turned the tide in World War II.
“D-Day was the beginning of the end and that’s where we are today,” Perna said a news conference. But he added that it would take months of work and “diligence, courage and strength to eventually achieve victory.”
MaineHealth, a network of 12 hospitals based in Portland, plans to provide an expected first delivery of nearly 2,000 vaccines to doctors, nurses and others facing risk as they treat COVID-19 patients, said Dr. Dora Mills, chief health improvement officer.
“It’s almost hard for me to talk about without tearing up,” Mills said Saturday. “This vaccine gives us some glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.”
The first shipments will leave Pfizer’s manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by truck and then be flown to regional hubs around the country. Medical distributor McKesson and pharmacy chains, including CVS and Rite-Aid, also are involved in the initial rollout and vaccinations at nursing homes and assisted living centers.
In a key distribution challenge, the vaccine, co-developed with BioNTech, must be stored and shipped at ultra-low temperatures — about 94 degrees below zero. Pfizer has developed shipping containers that use dry ice, and GPS-enabled sensors will allow the company to track each shipment and ensure it stays cold.
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Distribution sites are mainly large hospitals and other facilities able to meet those ultra-cold storage requirements. Within three weeks, vaccines should be delivered to all vaccination sites identified by states, such as local pharmacies, Perna said.
The vaccine was timed to arrive Monday so health workers could receive the shots and begin giving them, Perna said.
Workers at Mount Sinai Hospital System in New York did a dry run this week to prepare for their shipment. In a clean room, pharmacists practiced making separate doses of a training vaccine and ensuring the freezer was kept at temperatures colder than in Antarctica.
“Not a lot of people have vaccinated for a large pandemic like this,” said Susan Mashni, vice president of pharmacy at Mount Sinai. “So we want to make certain that we get it right. There’s a lot of different moving pieces and parts.”
At a meeting where an expert panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines unanimously endorsed the Pfizer shot, some said local health officials were struggling to ensure the vaccine is distributed fairly and to those most in need and to ease people’s concerns about getting the shot.
A Pfizer manufacturing plant in Portage, Mich., on Dec. 11, 2020. The U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans. (Paul Sancya/AP)
But “the funding necessary for state and local health departments to carry out this program has been put in the deep freeze,” said Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, a Seattle physician representing the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
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The Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the vaccine late Friday. It capped an unprecedented global race to speed vaccines through testing and review, chopping years off the normal development process.
The FDA found the vaccine highly protective with no major safety issues. U.S. regulators worked for months to emphasize the rigor and independence of their review, but President Donald Trump’s administration pressured the agency until the final announcement. A top White House official even threatened to remove FDA chief Stephen Hahn if a ruling didn’t come before Saturday.
Concerns that a shot was rushed out could undermine vaccination efforts in a country with deeply ingrained skepticism about vaccines.
“Science and data guided the FDA’s decision,” Hahn said Saturday. “We worked quickly because of the urgency of this pandemic, not because of any other external pressure.”
While the vaccine was determined to be safe, regulators in the U.K. are investigating several severe allergic reactions. The FDA’s instructions tell providers not give it to those with a known history of severe allergic reactions to any of its ingredients.
The FDA’s vaccine director, Dr. Peter Marks, said the agency will carefully track any reports of allergic reactions in the U.S.
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Next week, the FDA will review a vaccine from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health that appears about as protective as Pfizer’s shot. On Friday, the Trump administration said it had purchased 100 million more doses of that vaccine on top of 100 million it previously ordered.
The announcement came after revelations that the White House opted not to lock in an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine for delivery in the second quarter of 2021. The Trump administration contends the current orders plus those in the pipeline will be enough to accommodate any American who wants to be vaccinated by the end of the second quarter of 2021.
Stobbe reported from New York, and Scolforo from Harrisburg, Pa. Associated Press Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard in Alexandria, Virginia, video journalist Marshall Ritzel and Health Writer Candice Choi in New York contributed to this story.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.


chicagotribune--2020-12-14--Coronavirus in Illinois updates:  7,216 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, 115 additional de

Coronavirus in Illinois updates:  7,216 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, 115 additional deaths reported; trucks carrying vaccine start rolling nationwide

Doses of the newly approved vaccine from Pfizer will be made available to those who work in close quarters with @ @ @ @ @ leaders , two people familiar with the matter confirmed .
They said the move was @ @ @ @ @ spread in the White House , which has already suffered from several outbreaks of the @ @ @ @ @ other top officials , and other critical facilities .
Read more here .
— Associated @


chicagotribune--2020-12-13--Bail denied for Evanston man charged in killing of 15-year-old, allegedly during weed deal on NW Sid

Bail denied for Evanston man charged in killing of 15-year-old, allegedly during weed deal on NW Side

Investigators later served search warrants on Gunn ’ s Snapchat account and phone , finding photos of Gunn posing with @ @ @ @ @ extended magazine prosecutors believe to be the murder weapon .
Two days after the slaying @ @ @ @ @ recovered from another incident and ballistics tests showed there was a high probability that it @ @ @ @ @ ’ s shooting death , Rudolfo said .
Records from Gunn ’ s phone also @ @ @ @ @ time of the homicide coincides in the minivan .

Bail was denied Sunday for a 21-year-old reputed gang member who prosecutors said was captured on surveillance video shooting a 15-year-old Amundsen High School student dead during what was supposed to be a drug deal.
Eric C. Gunn faces a first-degree murder charge in the March 16 shooting death of Esteban Luvianos. The teen’s death came at a time of skyrocketing gun violence in the North Side Lincoln police district, which didn’t have a single homicide the prior year.
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Eric C. Gunn, 21, of Evanston. (Chicago Police Department)
During a bail hearing broadcast on YouTube, authorities linked Gunn to the slaying in an alley behind the 2000 block of West Farragut Avenue through a combination of surveillance video, phone records tracking him to the scene and a videotaped statement from an unidentified eyewitness who allegedly told authorities she drove Gunn and his brother to the scene of the slaying.
The witness was located through her father’s Chrysler minivan. She told authorities Gunn directed her to the alley behind Farragut on the day of the shooting, and once they passed the victim in the alley, Gunn got out of the vehicle, Assistant State’s Attorney Meredith Rudolfo told the court.
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Within seconds, according to Rudolfo, the witness said she heard a gunshot and Gunn quickly got into the minivan, telling her to “go go go!”
The witness did not say she saw the shooting, but prosecutors said a motion-activated camera in the alley captured the victim retreating as Gunn took a bag from him, Rudolfo said. Gunn raised his right arm and shot the victim in the head, she added.
Luvianos suffered a single gunshot to the face and was found dead a short distance from his home and high school, authorities said. His death was ruled a homicide.
Investigators later served search warrants on Gunn’s Snapchat account and phone, finding photos of Gunn posing with a chrome handgun with an extended magazine prosecutors believe to be the murder weapon. Two days after the slaying, a similar weapon was recovered from another incident, and ballistics tests showed there was a high probability that it was connected to the teen’s shooting death, Rudolfo said.
Judge David R. Navarro approved the prosecution’s request denying bail to Gunn, the father of a 3-year-old child who was shot in the leg a month after the homicide, according to his court-appointed attorney, Courtney Smallwood.
The judge also barred Gunn, who prosecutors said was a member of the Spanish Gangster Disciples gang, from contacting any witnesses.
He is scheduled to return to court on Monday.


chicagotribune--2020-12-13--Opponents of Michael Madigan’s reelection as Illinois House speaker harden opposition

“ This kind of pressure will only increase in the coming weeks , and , left to fester , cause @ @ @ @ @ serve our constituents best .
There is so much on the line .
The time @ @ @ @ @ are high , ” the letter said .
“ This letter isn ’ t meant @ @ @ @ @ your decision , rather it is an invitation to come together as a family and @ @ @ @ @ ’ re better than they assume .
”

in this file photo, Speaker Michael Madigan on the House floor before Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers his first budget address to a joint session of the Illinois House and Senate at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)
A group of 19 House Democrats hardened their opposition against veteran Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s reelection to the post, issuing a letter to colleagues saying the Democratic caucus needs to “come together” on an alternative to lead them in January.
But the “Dear Colleagues” letter issued Saturday by the Madigan dissidents stopped short of recommending a replacement when the new House is inaugurated Jan. 13 with an anticipated 73 Democratic members.
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Madigan, the nation’s longest-serving statehouse leader, has been implicated in a federal investigation in which Commonwealth Edison agreed to pay a $200 million fine and cooperate with prosecutors for its involvement in a near decadelong bribery scheme to influence Madigan by offering contracts and jobs to his close allies.
Madigan has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has denied knowledge of the scheme. His closest ally in the private sector, former lobbyist and legislator Michael McClain of Quincy, has pleaded not guilty to charges associated with the investigation.
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Madigan, who has been serving as speaker since 1983 with the exception of two years in the mid-1990s when Republicans gained a majority, needs 60 votes to retain the House gavel. But the 19 defections leave him six votes shy of what is necessary.
“While we may have come to this place in different ways and for different reasons, we are unified in our belief that our caucus needs new leadership and that we will be voting for a new speaker in the 102nd General Assembly,” said the letter signed by the 19 Madigan opponents.
“It is critical we come together as a caucus to address the enormous challenges facing our state, including addressing systemic racism and the dual public health and economic crises caused by the pandemic — and we must restore the public trust,” said the letter, which was first disclosed on the Capitol Fax website.
The group’s letter came a day after another “Dear Colleague” letter, marked “confidential,” sent by Madigan supporters in the caucus to the 19 dissidents that sought unity in light of the many problems facing the state and to prevent Republican attempts to sow division.
“This kind of pressure will only increase in the coming weeks, and, left to fester, cause damage to our mission to serve our constituents best. There is so much on the line. The time is short. The stakes are high,” the letter said. “This letter isn’t meant to persuade you to question your decision, rather it is an invitation to come together as a family and show our opposition that we’re better than they assume.”
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Rep. Jonathan Carroll of Northbrook, one of the 19, said the group was “prepared to dig in our heels” in its opposition to Madigan’s reelection.
“The message we wanted to send is that we are of differing backgrounds, differing political perspectives, but the one thing that we are unified on is that we will not be supporting Mike Madigan for the 102nd General Assembly. These are 19 ‘no’ votes and we’re pretty comfortable with where our position is,” Carroll said.
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Carroll said that it has been frustrating that the full caucus of the 73 House Democrats has not been held, either in person or virtually due to the pandemic, and suggested it is an effort by Madigan to buy time to try to persuade the dissidents to come back into the fold.
“The speaker falls into that category of being a great tactician who is sitting there right now looking to say, ‘What can I do to stall this process?’” Carroll said. “My guess is time buys him the ability to potentially flip certain members and I think the statement we put out is pretty much, ‘You can have all the time you want. We’re not flipping.’”
State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego is the only announced public challenger to Madigan for speaker among Democrats but has not demonstrated any public support for her bid. Carroll said, “I think we can all assume that there’ll be other candidates as we get closer to that deadline” of Inauguration Day. The chamber cannot do business until it elects a speaker.
The letters came after the House Black Caucus last week affirmed its support for Madigan’s reelection following a virtual “candidate forum” featuring Madigan and Kifowit. All but one member of the 22-member caucus, state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford, is backing Madigan.
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chicagotribune--2020-12-13--COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital da

COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on cases, positivity rate and hospital data in your area

Among the metrics ( see below ) tracked under guidelines set by Gov .
J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of @ @ @ @ @ , the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses , and the capacity of hospitals @ @ @ @ @ state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics @

Note: With Chicago and Illinois moving into phase 5, the Tribune is no longer updating this data. If the state moves back into bridge phase, the Tribune we reassess. Daily metrics on COVID-19, like cases, deaths and hospitalizations, can be found here. And Daily metrics on the vaccination effort can be found here. More on where the coronavirus stands nationally and around the world can be found here.
To assess how different parts of Illinois are handling the COVID-19 pandemic, officials look at the state through the 11 regions of Emergency Medical Services. The city of Chicago is one region, for example, and the rest of Cook County is another.
Among the metrics (see below) tracked under guidelines set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker are the percentage of coronavirus tests that return positive, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19-like illnesses, and the capacity of hospitals to take in new patients.The state will decide how much or how little to restrict activities based on these metrics. (Cases, deaths and tests data is as of Dec. 31).
• Check out the Tribune’s coronavirus coverage.
• Remembering the lives of those in Illinois who died from coronavirus.
• Other Chicago, suburbs and Illinois COVID-19 metrics.
• See how the governor’s plan to manage the regions works.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
Created by the Chicago Tribune dataviz team. On Twitter @chitribgraphics


chicagotribune--2020-12-13--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-12-13--Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 115 new deaths, 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases and 63,648

Daily Illinois coronavirus graphs: 115 new deaths, 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases and 63,648 new test results

Illinois announced 7,216 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 Sunday for a total of 848,904 .
The state also @ @ @ @ @ a total of 14,291 and 63,648 new test results for a total of 11.78 million @

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


chicagotribune--2020-12-13--‘There’s a lot of history here’: Three-generation effort at Mount Greenwood Cemetery marks veterans’

‘There’s a lot of history here’: Three-generation effort at Mount Greenwood Cemetery marks veterans’ graves going back to Civil War

“ We go to official state military rosters and we work with pension files , ” Bailey said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ useful because a veteran may have served in more than one regiment .
Sometimes those @ @ @ @ @ names as well , which helps us identify people .
It can be tough to @ @ @ @ @ like John Smith .
”

Paula Everett, president of the Mt Greenwood Cemetery Association, stands in front of a monument dedicated to Civil War veteran Capt. James Brockway of Company C., 29th U.S. Colored Infantry. The monument is one of many Civil War grave monuments and markers designating the graves of Civil War veterans at Mount Greenwood Cemetery. (Susan DeGrane / Daily Southtown)
Last October, workers at Mount Greenwood Cemetery installed four new markers for Civil War veterans whose graves went unmarked for more than 100 years.
Scattered throughout the 79-acre expanse of elaborate gravestones and tall oaks, the four markers represent an effort at the cemetery to mark the graves of war veterans that spans three generations.
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“There’s a lot of history here,” said Paula Everett, president of the cemetery established in 1879 on the north side of 111th Street, between Western and Kedzie. “It’s like an open air museum. The travesties of the City (of Chicago) are here — the Eastland Disaster, the Spanish Flu, the Iroquois Theatre fire.”
And don’t forget the wars.
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Everett, a resident of Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood, became involved directly when her father, Paul T. Klenk Jr., a past president of the cemetery, died in 1992. She had worked as an assistant buyer for Marshall Fields, then started her family. As a mother with small children, she came on part-time. Her mother, Joan Klenk, also held ownership in the cemetery.
In the 1940s, Everett’s grandfather, Paul Klenk, an attorney, bought a significant portion of stock in the Mt. Greenwood Cemetery Association after handling the legal aspects of relocating graves to make way for construction of the Eisenhower Expressway.
The elder Klenk served three terms as mayor of Blue Island and two terms as assistant attorney general for the State of Illinois. A World War I veteran, he also organized Blue Island Post No. 5 of the American Legion.
Everett’s father, Paul T. Klenk, Jr. came into managing the cemetery after serving as a 2nd lieutenant and bombardier in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Much like her father and grandfather, Everett carried on the cemetery’s efforts to honor veterans.
In 2007, the cemetery launched Operation Remembrance, an initiative to officially mark unmarked graves of U.S. Military Veterans. That year, Everett and Kim Demas were recognized for these efforts by Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who presented them with a Hometown Heroes Award.
Unmarked for more than 100 years, Andrew Pinney’s grave shows a recently installed grave marker at Mount Greenwood Cemetery representing his service for the Union in the Civil War. (Susan DeGrane)
Much of the cemetery’s remembrance effort has focused on obtaining markers for Civil War veterans who fought for the Union, according to David Bailey, a researcher for and past president of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
“Paula has done a superb job of making sure Civil War vets were recognized,” he said. “In all she must have marked 90 or more graves, and I’ve helped her identify about a third of those.” Everett estimates she’s been involved in the marking of 100.
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Bailey said Everett reached out to him for help in 2013. He responded by researching and substantiating military records crucial to the application process for obtaining free markers from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
All veterans receiving free markers must have been honorably discharged, have no grave marker, or need a replacement marker.
“We go to official state military rosters and we work with pension files,” Bailey said. “Pension files can be especially useful because a veteran may have served in more than one regiment. Sometimes those files will list widows’ names as well, which helps us identify people. It can be tough to find veterans with common names like John Smith.”
For nearly 40 years, Bailey has helped verify records for Union troop members buried in southern Cook County, DuPage, Kane, Will and Kendall counties.
Last October, thanks to Everett and Bailey, Mount Greenwood Cemetery installed four new grave markers for Civil War veterans whose graves went unmarked for more than 100 years.
“Of course, many men died in the fighting and their families brought their bodies back home, but many survived and moved to the Chicago area looking for work,” Bailey said.
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That scenario applied to three of the four Civil War veterans whose graves were recently marked.
George W. Cone, who was born in Utica, New York, became a tailor in Chicago, according to a document included with the application for his marker. He served as a captain for Company A of the 146th New York Infantry and was discharged in 1862. He died in Chicago in 1900 at 63.
Paula Everett, president of the Mt. Greenwood Cemetery Association, stands next to a cannon monument located in the plot of the Grand Army of the Republic. (Susan DeGrane / Daily Southtown)
Coleman H. Watts, born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, would have been all of 16 years old when he entered the war in November 1861. He rose to first lieutenant in Company B, 3rd Pennsylvania Calvary, then transferred to Company L, 5th Pennsylvania Calvary. He was discharged May 28, 1865 and died in Chicago in 1896 at 51.
Andrew Pinney hailed from England and served from 1863 to 1865 as a private. He was transferred among various companies and divisions of the New York Infantry. He died in Chicago on April 12, 1909 at 61.
Nelson A. Richart from Ohio served with the Illinois Infantry from 1862 to 1865, as a private and sergeant. He was promoted to lieutenant but mustered out just three days later, July 13, 1865. He died in Chicago on Dec. 12, 1904, at 63.
Cone and Pinney rest near one another in the oldest section near the southeastern edge of the grounds.
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Further north, members of the Grand Army of the Republic (the Union Army) occupy a large plot.
The GAR plot also contains graves of related family members and houses a cannon monument installed in 2013.
Everett worked with Bailey and the General Philip H. Sheridan Camp No. 2 Chicago of the SUVCW to stage the dedication. The monument replaced a Civil War cannon that mysteriously disappeared from the plot in the 1980s, Everett said.
In all, the cemetery serves as final resting place for about 350 Civil War veterans, she said.
Beyond bolstering Mount Greenwood’s legacy of military markers, Everett supplied photos for a book called “Mt. Greenwood Cemetery,” which she co-authored with Margaret M. Kapustiak, a local historian.
The 2014 Arcadia Publishing photo book mentions plenty of local heroes, including fallen first responders and Civil War veterans like Captain James Brockway of Company C., 29th U.S. Colored Infantry.
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Brockway’s monument of white bronze stands at least 20 feet tall and dwarfs just about all others in the cemetery.
Mount Greenwood Cemetery isn’t the only local outdoor repository of history. Several old cemeteries converge nearby because the sandy soil of an ancient beach ridge made it easier to bury bodies, Everett said. Also, nearby rail lines allowed for convenient delivery of bodies, a practice that ended with the rise of automobiles.
To date, Mount Greenwood Cemetery remains about 20% unoccupied, but that could soon change.
“We’ve seen more activity lately,” said Everett who recently buried her 100-year-old mother, Joan, in the Klenk family plot. “As to whether this all relates to COVID-19 or not, we can’t be sure because we no longer receive information from Cook County about cause of death.”
Cause of death information can still be obtained through direct requests to Cook County. It also is retained by funeral homes.
Time will tell how this latest chapter in history will be recorded.
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Susan DeGrane is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.


chicagotribune--2020-12-12--Aurora man charged with first-degree murder

An Aurora man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder following the death of an Aurora woman Wednesday @ @

An Aurora man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder following the death of an Aurora woman Wednesday morning.
Getzuri Arellano, 21, of the 1100 block of Indian Avenue, is accused of strangling to death Natalie Jimenez, 20, of Aurora.
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Getzuri Arellano. (Kane States Attorneys Office / HANDOUT)
Kane County prosecutors allege that early Wednesday morning, Arellano and Jimenez were arguing. Prosecutors accuse Arellano of strangling Jimenez, causing her death.
Arellano appeared Saturday in Kane County bond court. His bail was set at $3 million.
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His next court appearance is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 18 at the Kane County Judicial Center.
The Aurora Police Department conducted the investigation.