chicagotribune--2020-05-06--The high-rise office you left in March may not resemble the one you’re going back to. Here’s what wo

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

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Map: Chicago’s ghost bikes

Map: Chicago’s ghost bikes

They lean quietly , ashen monochrome standing out among stickered newspaper boxes and rusting metal .
Flowers , dead or @ @ @ @ @ ' spokes .
Weather-beaten notes and photographs remain — signs the structure is not abandoned @ @ @ @ @ behind .
These `` ghost bikes , '' old bicycles stripped of extraneous parts and @ @ @ @ @ near the site of fatal cycling crashes .
They serve as memorials to the deceased @ @ @ @ @ statement for cyclist rights in areas where bikers share close quarters with faster , heavier @ @ @ @ @ , and despised by others , ghost bikes have become a fixture of streetscapes in @ @ @ @ @ .
Note : No single entity governs the installation of all ghost bikes , and @ @ @ @ @ those who dislike the practice .
As such , this map is a best possible @ @ @ @ @ and previously installed , but it may not be comprehensive .
If you know of @ @ @ @ @ up-to-date information about one on this map , please email the reporter below .

They lean quietly, ashen monochrome standing out among stickered newspaper boxes and rusting metal. Flowers, dead or dying, dot the wheels' spokes. Weather-beaten notes and photographs remain — signs the structure is not abandoned so much as purposefully left behind.
These "ghost bikes," old bicycles stripped of extraneous parts and painted white, are chained near the site of fatal cycling crashes. They serve as memorials to the deceased, but also as a statement for cyclist rights in areas where bikers share close quarters with faster, heavier automobiles. Sacred to some, and despised by others, ghost bikes have become a fixture of streetscapes in Chicago and around the world.
Note: No single entity governs the installation of all ghost bikes, and they are sometimes removed by those who dislike the practice. As such, this map is a best possible accounting of bikes both currently and previously installed, but it may not be comprehensive. If you know of additional bikes, or have up-to-date information about one on this map, please email the reporter below.
Sources: Tribune reporting, ghostbikes.org, Chicago Sun-Times, thechainklink.org, bedno.com.
--
charjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Charliemagne


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 2,974 deaths, 68,232 confirmed cases, 361,260 tests, 23% ICU beds, 65

Tracking Illinois coronavirus: 2,974 deaths, 68,232 confirmed cases, 361,260 tests, 23% ICU beds, 65% ventilators open

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

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


chicagotribune--2020-05-06--Mask sewing project among Chicago refugee groups leads to new career goal: ‘This is my job’

Just weeks ago , Muyumba , 48 , had never made a face mask , but now she ’ s @ @ @ @ @ 20 minutes , five minutes for cutting and the rest spent sewing .
Her husband @ @ @ @ @ .
Muyumba , a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who spent time in @ @ @ @ @ the Sewing Studio group put together by RefugeeOne , which has made 1,000 masks to @ @ @ @ @ groups .

Sandra Muyumba makes cloth masks in her West Rogers Park apartment in Chicago on April 28, 2020. Muyumba, a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo is among RefugeeOne’s Sewing Studio group which has made 1,000 masks to be donated to community groups. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
From her dining room table in the city’s West Rogers Park neighborhood, Sandra Muyumba some nights doesn’t even want to sleep because of how focused she’s become on making face masks.
Just weeks ago, Muyumba, 48, had never made a face mask, but now she’s gotten the technique down to 20 minutes, five minutes for cutting and the rest spent sewing. Her husband helps her iron the masks. Muyumba, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who spent time in Namibia, is part of the Sewing Studio group put together by RefugeeOne, which has made 1,000 masks to be donated to various community groups.
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“I’m starting a bit late, not early in the morning because I need to do the house chores,” Muyumba said by phone about her routine. “I cook, then I cannot stand up to do anything. I have to sit and do my work.”
RefugeeOne, a resettlement agency based in Chicago, got a grant from a local church to undertake the project, said Jims Porter, a spokesman for the organization. They’ve delivered masks to groups such as Selfhelp Home and other local organizations, Porter said. Annie Kaufman, manager of the Sewing Studio, said last week they expected to finish the project by that week, although the studio was also working on other projects related to masks.
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Sandra Muyumba with some of the cloth masks she has made in her West Rogers Park apartment. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The group’s effort comes as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s modified stay-at-home order went into effect Friday, requiring anyone older than 2 years old to wear a face mask or covering while inside stores. The order didn’t specify if runners or those walking for exercise will have to wear one but states that individuals will be required to wear a mask “in a public place where they can’t maintain a 6-foot social distance."
Other organizations that work with refugees have also started making masks. Rebecca Hamlin Green, social enterprise coordinator for Catholic Charities, said their existing Loom program, which helps refugee women sell handmade products, has pivoted to making masks. Those masks are being distributed to seniors in Catholic Charities programs.
Daily life for refugees has been upended during the pandemic. Some are working on the front lines while others are navigating unemployment. Advocates say while refugees are often seen as the most protected group of immigrants, they are more at risk of receiving fewer resources than they have in the past.
At RefugeeOne’s Sewing Studio, the women had the option of getting paid $1 per mask, although some opted to not get paid. Porter said the money was not meant to be a full-time living wage but a reward for doing the classwork, which could translate into a new job skill.
“Even before the stay-at-home order, this income was a huge boost for our sewers,” Kaufman said.
Some of the studio’s participants had never worked before joining the Sewing Studio, Porter said. It helps them gain independence by learning a skill and doing things such as riding the CTA when the group met in person. Now, RefugeeOne workers deliver materials to the women and pick up the masks.
“It’s very empowering,” Porter said about the studio. “It’s a really good picture of how resettlement should work.”
For Muyumba, the opportunity came just after the factory she worked at temporarily shuttered because of concerns surrounding COVID-19. She saw a news segment about people making masks for others and was intrigued. She had done some tailoring work before she came to the U.S. and figured she could easily learn how to make a mask.
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Muyumba learned about the project because she and her family were already in contact with RefugeeOne as the agency tried to help the family navigate unemployment. RefugeeOne gave her a sewing machine to make the masks.
While the work has helped her pass the time at home, it has also made her think about shifting her career goals after the pandemic.
“This is my job,” she said. “I need to continue, maybe I can get the opportunity to get a job in the fabric (industry). I’m very interested in doing it.”
emalagon@chicagotribune.com