* A suburban trend might be developing…
Two more Chicago suburbs are joining the growing trend of requiring people to wear face masks in public during the coronavirus pandemic.
The city of Highland Park is requiring residents to wear face masks when engaging in certain essential activities, starting Monday.
Mayor Nancy Rotering issued the order Friday, joining Skokie, Glenview and Cicero in mandating face coverings. […]
The village of Wilmette has also moved to make wearing a mask a requirement, not just a recommendation.
* If you’re starting to worry a little bit about the food supply, you’re not alone…
A cluster of COVID-19 cases has forced an Illinois food processing plant to shut down for at least two weeks.
Health officials in Ogle County, just west of DeKalb, say there are about 24 cases linked to Hormel Foods in the town of Rochelle. Those cases have shown up in Ogle County and other surrounding counties.
* Washington Post…
The meat supply chain is especially vulnerable to the spread of the coronavirus since processing is increasingly done at a handful of massive plants. Another problem in the beef supply, according to Bormann, is something called carcass utilization — the use of the whole animal.
“The first problem is we don’t have enough people to process the animals, and number two is they can’t do carcass balance because restaurants are down,” he said. “What’s selling? Freaking hamburger.”
Restaurants typically use the expensive stuff — strips, ribs, tenderloins and sirloin, Bormann said, while retail takes the chucks and rounds and trims. With restaurants mostly shuttered, “all of a sudden 23 percent of the animal isn’t being bought because food service is gone,” he said.
Industry experts said that the shutdown of beef processing facilities could prompt another round of hoarding at the grocery stores, as with toilet paper and milk several weeks ago.
* Meat roundup…
* The US won’t run out of food during the coronavirus pandemic: “We admire the way that the system works,” Yossi Sheffi, a supply chain expert and the director of MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, told Vox. “The virus is still moving from state to state and it’s not uniform all over the country, so the demand patterns are changing all the time. But at the end of the day, we don’t see it as a real danger that we will run out of food.”
* As meat packing plants close for coronavirus, will prices spike and shelves go empty?: Experts say the loss of production has so far been offset by meat stocked up in cold storage, according to The Associated Press. Additionally, companies are sending meat previously intended for now-closed restaurants to grocery stores, the AP reported. But experts warn extended closures could change that because individual plants account for a large amount of production.
* The Food Chain’s Weakest Link: Slaughterhouses - A relatively small number of plants process much of the beef and pork in the United States, and some of them have closed because workers are getting sick.
* Spread of coronavirus closes North American meat plants: Aurora Packing Company closed a beef plant in Aurora, Illinois, said Brad Lyle, chief financial officer for U.S. commodity firm Kerns and Associates. A security officer at the plant said it was closed due to the pandemic. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
* Meat is still scarce in Kentucky stores. And it won’t be getting any better
* Missouri meat processing plant closes after employees test positive for COVID-19
* South Dakota Meat Plant Is Now Country’s Biggest Coronavirus Hot Spot
* Iowa officials urge Tyson Foods to shut down plant after employees test positive for COVID-19
* On to this fun read from RCP…
The governor was palling around with penguins when the White House officially lost patience.
But the dust-up had nothing to do with the flightless birds at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, making cute cameos in a public safety announcement with J.B. Pritzker. What upset the White House happened earlier, when Illinois’ Democratic chief executive went on CNN to say that he had “given up” on receiving assistance from the federal government; he also announced that his state was “doing what we need to do despite” the president.
This, a White House spokesman tells RealClearPolitics, is more than inaccurate.
“Whether through ignorance or incompetence or a propensity to politicize everything, Governor Pritzker is not being truthful with the people of Illinois when he says his state has not been provided resources from President Trump’s administration,” said deputy press secretary, Judd Deere. Trump doesn’t see red or blue, Deere insisted, asserting that the president has directed federal aid to “every state regardless of the political affiliation of the state’s governor.”
And in the Illinois situation, the White House provided receipts. Trump declared a national emergency on March 13. The state followed suit on March 24. Supplies followed.
Hilarious. But if you’re going to do a hit piece for the White House, at least try to get some facts straight.
Setting aside the childishly over-heated DC rhetoric (nobody has ever said the federal government has supplied no resources, for crying out loud), the governor issued a state disaster proclamation on March 9th. A simple Google search would’ve found that, but why verify anything when the White House hands you “receipts.”
And the link in the RCP article to “the state followed suit on March 24″ line actually leads to a White House press release entitled “President Donald J. Trump Approves Illinois Disaster Declaration.” So, the RCP reporter either deliberately misled his readers or was too incompetent to know that what really happened was the president approved the state’s declaration 15 days after it was declared here.
* Back to the piece…
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased hospital capacity in the Chicago by more than 4,000 beds. The Defense Logistics Agency sent a decontamination system to the Windy City. As of last week, according to the White House, Rear Adm. John Polowczyk of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had airlifted 1.1 million N95 facemasks, 4.3 million surgical masks, 1.9 million surgical gowns, and 65 million surgical gloves to Chicago.
The Corps of Engineers has done a remarkable job at McCormick Place to create 3,000, not 4,000, beds. But maybe when the RCP reporter wrote “the Chicago” he meant the Chicago area. But these are overflow beds for low-acuity patients. McCormick Place is not a hospital.
Also, as has been said time and time again, the number of delivered federal supplies is a small fraction of what the state has requested. I don’t doubt that the state has over-requested. But it’s still important context.
…Adding… Pritzker’s deputy comms director…
* Anyway, on to selected headlines from the Tribune’s top-notch live blog, which is written by honest journalists…
Wisconsin teen files suit, saying she was threatened with jail over COVID-19 Instagram posts
Groups to give away free masks and gloves in South Shore
Gov. J.B. Pritzker shut down Illinois schools for the rest of the academic year.
State officials reported 1,842 new known infections — a new single-day high in coronavirus cases.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced $68,000 in fines for the demolition of a coal power plant’s smokestack in Little Village that sent massive dust clouds into the working-class community amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Inside Roseland hospital’s battle against COVID-19 in one of Chicago’s hardest hit areas: “We are outgunned, outmanned, underfunded”
A third Chicago police officer died from complications stemming from COVID-19.
* From the Sun-Times live blog, also written and compiled by hard-working, honest journalists…
Downstate Illinois counties spared by COVID-19 — so far — are still ailing
Durbin: Democrats should hold virtual convention, not gather in Milwaukee
Parents ponder holding kids back a grade after coronavirus school closings
Chicago’s federal high-rise jail sees surge in coronavirus cases
Illinois voter turnout not among the casualties of COVID-19
FitzGerald’s takes weekly ‘Stay-At-Home Concert Series’ to the streets
Thank you, Chicago, for the light show that helped me through a tough time
* Roundup of other stories written by capable reporters…
* How DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry jails are avoiding an outbreak: Sheriffs are thwarting an outbreak — for now — with strict screening and cleaning protocols, they say. All four suburban departments have also worked with local police to issue citations rather than make arrests, and they have released as many inmates charged or convicted of nonviolent crimes as possible.
* Litchfield oncology facility quarantined after five staff members and two patients tested positive for COVID-19
* ER visits down, health officials warn some taking serious risks in fear of COVID-19: Two people died in Christian County in recent weeks after refusing to go the hospital despite the advice of emergency 911 responders, Christian County Coroner Amy Winans said.
* The Mask Mover: Today on the show, we take you into one high pressure deal where the difference between life and death comes down to a locked room filled with computer servers, [Illinois] bureaucrats willing to bend the rules, and a guy… who knows a guy.
* No Plan In Sight: Test Troubles Cloud Trump Recovery Effort: Trump on Thursday released a plan to ease business restriction that hinges on a downward trajectory of positive tests. But more than a month after he declared, “Anybody who wants a test, can get a test,” the reality has been much different. People report being unable to get tested. Labs and public officials say critical supply shortages are making it impossible to increase testing to the levels experts say is necessary to keep the virus in check. … Trump’s plan envisions setting up “sentinel surveillance sites” that would screen people without symptoms in locations that serve older people or minority populations. Experts say testing would have to increase as much as threefold to be effective.
* New Covid-19 crisis hits ICUs as more patients need dialysis: “They are not dying because they can’t get enough oxygen. They are actually dying because of other complications and it is predominately due to blood clots.”
* Some small businesses get federal aid, others wait
* One third of participants in Massachusetts study tested positive for antibodies linked to coronavirus
* ‘I feel bad for the kids’: School closure means likely end to IHSA spring sports
* Lightfoot Hits Hilco With $68,000 in Fines After ‘Botched’ Demolition
* 5 Rockford-area mayors request authority to reopen businesses: “Earlier this week, I reached out to Gov. Pritzker about safely and responsibly opening more local small businesses, which have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Protecting the health of our residents remains the top priority, but we need to ensure that small non-essential businesses are treated fairly,” McNamara said in a statement. “Now is the time to follow science and medicine. What we have been doing is working. Now is not the time to reverse course. A plan to open all businesses on a single day – or to allow a hodgepodge system where each city makes its own rules — is not responsible when we know it will be right in the middle of our surge.”
