* Sorry for the quality of this copy, but it’s been confirmed by the administration. Click the pic for a larger image and I’ll try to get a better version…
Murray is in Centralia, in southern Illinois. Click here for more info on the facility.
No Illinois health facility has more cases of COVID-19 than the Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee. Wednesday there were 50 residents and 19 staff members with confirmed cases for a total of 69 cases. The total number of cases in all of Kankakee County had reached 150, meaning the Shapiro Center makes up 46% of the cases. […]
The next biggest cluster of cases is 29 at the Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Ridge.
Because so many staff members are sick, all time off has been canceled. The state health department has staff dedicated to rumor control online to prevent misinformation on social media.
This is a nightmare.
…Adding… Press release…
Statement from IARF President & CEO Josh Evans: Confirmed Cases of Individuals with Developmental Disabilities in Community Residences and State Centers
“It is with deep sadness and concern that we continue to learn of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in group homes and state centers where individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities reside. With at least 47 known cases in group homes and five deaths – and with news of over a dozen residents of Murray Center - we grieve with families and guardians that are experiencing loss and we hope for a speedy recovery for those going through this horrible illness.”
“Services and supports for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities make effective use of social distancing impossible. Frontline staff are needed for activities of daily living, administering medications, and a myriad of supports to help individuals with disabilities have a meaningful day, yet be healthy and safe during this pandemic. Yet for many staff in IARF provider agencies and state-run centers, there isn’t access to critically needed personal protective equipment (PPEs), such as masks, disinfectant, thermometers, and robes. We simply cannot get PPE in the quantity we need it to protect residents and staff.”
“While we may never be able to quantify, the Association believes the Department of Human Services – specifically the Division of Developmental Disabilities, took quick action that has reduced the spread of the coronavirus and has saved lives. The community service array has received information, guidance, and resources it needs to protect the health and safety of residents and the staff that serve and support them. IARF is proud of the leadership exhibited by this Administration.”
“However, despite best preparations, the spread of the coronavirus will continue unless disability and behavioral health service providers and state centers have access to PPE to mitigate that spread. Consider this a call to anyone reading this – in government, outside of government, in supply chains, in our healthcare and social services safety net with any sort of surplus or reserve – we need PPE – we need it to protect our friends and loved ones with developmental disabilities, and the staff that support them – with families of their own. My team and I will do what we can to connect you with service providers in your communities. Please help.
* From today’s press conference, here’s IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike…
Using the information that we have, we can still track our rate of rise. And so with the decrease in the rate of rise, with it not looking exponential, with it looking more linear, that just means that there’s a slower rate of increase. So we are confident with our team of epidemiologists that that is what we’re seeing, thus far.
So we’re with guarded optimism, we’re hoping that we’re getting close to either the peak or the plateau. It’s not clear yet how long that would be. Again, it’s really hard to start making specific days like we’re X number of days from the peak. But we think we’re heading in that direction. And we will continue to follow the data and give you more as we get it.
A plateau would be horrible, so stay inside. And please wear a mask and gloves if you absolutely must venture forth. Keep washing your hands. Don’t let a little good news allow you to start coasting. The coming days are absolutely critical to starve this virus of its food (people).
One of the most important distinctions between linear and exponential functions is how (and how quickly) they increase or decrease. Linear functions increase proportionally; an increase in x has a corresponding additive increase in y. Exponential functions, however, increase exponentially; that is, an increase in x has a corresponding multiplicative increase in y.
If you talk to Dr Ezike, you’ll see that early on in the development of COVID-19 in Illinois, there was a coefficient that was like three and a half people were getting infected for every one person that you could detect. And it’s much lower now, and again, it’s not an exact science that number, but we are seeing a change in those numbers and it has directly to do with the orders that we put in place people staying at home. People washing their hands people doing the right thing people wearing masks. These all have an effect on the infection rate in the state
Folks I promised you honesty and transparency in every step of our COVID-19 response. So here it is. We have only just recently surpassed 6000 tests [per day], and we will not reach the 10,000 mark this week.
As always, please pardon all transcription typos.
* More…
Today I’m going to lay out exactly why that is, the work that’s been done to increase testing over the past 10 days and what we plan to do to get to our goal as quickly as possible.
10 days ago I presented a roadmap showing how we were going to get to our goal within 10 days. The path that I laid out for you had as its key element the addition of new laboratory automation machines to add a multi thousand unit daily increase to our state labs. To get this done we partnered with a major supplier of molecular testing equipment Thermo Fisher, which is a global provider of COVID-19 testing solutions to state and commercial laboratories. Thermo Fisher like many companies provides testing processes that are regulated by the FDA and are authorized under an emergency use authorization to provide COVID-19 testing to customers like the state of Illinois.
So we acquired five high volume RNA extractors from Thermo Fisher, each of which promise to run 200 tests per hour. And we distributed those five machines across our three state laboratories. Some quick math will tell you that these extractors could increase our testing output by thousands per day when running effectively. Over the past 10 days working alongside experts from Thermo Fisher. We are still not getting the level of output that we want to see from these machines.
More importantly, these tests are not producing valid results in a way that meets our exacting standards. I am as impatient as the rest of you are wanting to increase testing, but I will not sacrifice accuracy for the sake of speed. These tests, and the results they will provide are too important. We have to get this right.
* More…
We’re working around the clock alongside Thermo Fisher to accomplish our goal, but until these challenges are overcome these machines will not be part of our testing capacity here in Illinois. 10 days ago I said to you every day we aren’t hitting 10,000 tests or more is another day that we’re not able to get the answer is that help us get past the current crisis. So today I’m standing in front of you and saying we are not there yet.
* What about private labs?…
Folks, I want to be clear, with all of you that we are choosing the best path, but not necessarily the easiest path. If we wanted to choose an easy but less effective path. We could increase testing capacity through private labs used by the federal government. The problem is those labs take seven to 10 days to produce a result. People can end up on a ventilator before they ever get their testing result. That’s just not a timeline that I want to bet on. When we produce accurate test results at our own state labs or at local hospitals we get results within two days.
No matter how much is beyond our control the buck stops with me. And we are still not where we need to be on the testing front.
* Battle plan…
So here’s what we’re going to do. Instead of solely relying on federally sanctioned labs to save us, we’re charting our own path forward. I’m putting my faith in the scientists and technicians, the academics and innovators here in Illinois, to expand our test results. Our state is nationally and globally competitive in just about every category of research science and technology.
We’ve already relied upon those resources in our fight against COVID-19. Illinois was the first state in the nation to validate the original CDC COVID-19 test back in February. In the United States, only the CDC has been testing for COVID-19 longer than the state of Illinois and teams at universities and research laboratories statewide are already working toward treatments, preventions and cures. We’ve already led the way on state level testing innovation in the United States, and we’re going to do it again.
Our researchers are working in an expedited fashion to get this additional new testing up and running as soon as possible and distributing it to other institutions beyond our state labs that have our same type of equipment to continue increasing capacity statewide. To ensure a steady stream of supplies are in state universities and local laboratories are creating our own raw materials, instead of relying upon the global supply chain, which is frankly in disarray, our institutions are developing and distributing their own viral transport medium, known as VTM, and the necessary reagent locally. Hospitals and labs in Illinois that are running low on VTM will be able to access these resources through their local emergency management agency’s resource request systems.
We’re now running three shifts at one of our state labs, with the other two moving to match their capacity soon. And more than 96 locations across the state are now collecting specimens, this capacity has brought us the increase that we have already achieved. Today we surpassed 6000 tests in a 24 hour period.
We also need to talk about rapid tests, as I’ve told you I spoke directly with the President and the CEO of Abbott Labs, the night that they announced their portable five minute rapid test for COVID-19, and they expressed their genuine interest in taking care of their home state. And for that I am very grateful.
They dedicated the supplies to support more than 88,000 tests, a month or around 3000 tests, a day here in Illinois and we’ve seen the documentation as to where the distributions of those items are headed. Unfortunately, it is our understanding now that the federal government redirected most of these early tests to private systems without our state input about where the tests would make the most impact. That said, we believe this new test capacity will begin to show up in our numbers. As soon as these labs start to utilize their full capacity.
Our teams in our state labs also received 15 Abbott, Id now machines from the federal government, for which we’re very grateful. And those machines are being distributed to every state in the United States, 15 machines. This could be a huge help. But there’s a catch. The federal government included only 120 total tests. That’s eight tests per machine for all of Illinois. But I assure you that we will leave no stone unturned to get the tests that we need to run those machines at full bore.
I lay out these obstacles not to complain or to point fingers but to be fully transparent with all of you. As to the challenges that we face and how we are working to overcome them. It’s on us. I’m also hopeful that this transparency will shine a light on some of what’s taking place across the country and will encourage the White House to remove the obstacles that are blocking our path forward and to work together. Meanwhile, we are using every resource at the state level to increase testing and are continuing to make progress, though frankly not at the rate that I would like.
* Fundraising announcement…
Two weeks back we announced multimillion dollar Illinois COVID-19 response fund to support community organizations and local nonprofits around the state, working to support the residents who were hit hardest by COVID-19. This morning the fund announced its first round of grant distributions $5.5 million to 30 organizations that serve families across 96% of our state’s population by providing people with access to food, shelter health care help with their mortgage and utilities and focusing, especially on supporting vulnerable populations, like our children, our seniors those with disabilities, immigrants victims of domestic violence and others in some of these organizations serve more than 700,000 people. In just the last few weeks the fund has raised more than $28 million from nearly 2000 donors, and many more rounds of funding will be coming soon.
* Richard Neely, Adjutant General, Illinois National Guard…
Today I’m happy to announce that the Illinois Air National Guard will have two C-130 cargo aircraft from the 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria move 250 negative pressurized tents from Eugene Oregon to Chicago this evening. … This will be the first of three deliveries over the next few weeks as the Army Corps of Engineers in almost construction complete the build out the McCormick center
* On to questions for the governor. There is some discussion today that the CDC is considering changing its guidelines for self isolation, making it easier for those who have been exposed to return to work if they are asymptomatic. What is your take on that?…
This is an important development. First of all, it’s taken weeks and weeks for a determination to be made and the CDC is acknowledging it now, that if you’ve had COVID-19, there is a high likelihood that you are immune from getting it again. Unless it mutates or there’s some other development of it. COVID-19 once you’ve had it, you cannot get it again that’s the acknowledgement I think that the CDC is making here, so that’s good news, in many ways, at least for people who had COVID-19, and have recovered, that they are not under the same restrictions and guidelines that others who haven’t had it yet, are now.
What we don’t know and I need to read more about what the CDC may be saying about it, is whether someone who has had it can also somehow on their clothing or in other ways carry the virus with them. Right, so even if somebody is immune from it. Is there any way for them to carry the virus with them, I do not know the answer, and I can let Dr. Ezike answer if she does. But I can just tell you that we look very much at this research we’ve been looking at it for four weeks now, that this will help us going forward with the restarting of the economy. […]
So we’re going to look very much at how we would accomplish what they’re suggesting you know because it’s very hard to just look at somebody and know whether they’ve had the test, or they don’t haven’t had the test you can’t tell the difference with somebody. So how would we identify somebody who has had COVID-19 recovered rather not the test, but had COVID-19 and recovered, they would only be if they had a test and some showing that they’re immune.
* Mayor Lightfoot has stopped liquor sales after 9 pm. Could you imagine that statewide as well?…
I think that’s up to local mayors and local city governments and county governments to make the decision
* Why do you need pressurized tents for McCormick Place when it was not intended for very sick people?…
Well, the hope is not, but you want to be prepared and so the idea is to have an area for patients that, who come in their cars with COVID positive, but hopefully at a low level low acuity right and unfortunately some of them will increase the intensity of the seriousness of the effects of COVID-19.
* Dr Ezike on the exponential growth, you said seems to be slowing. Where does this suggest we are in terms of the peak, and also how can we be sure if we’re not testing the 10,000 per day?…
Using the information that we have, we can still track our rate of rise and so with the decrease in the rate of rise, with it not looking exponential, with it looking more linear, that just means that there’s a slower rate of increase and so we are confident with our team of epidemiologists that that is what we’re seeing, thus far. So we’re with guarded optimism we’re hoping that we’re getting close to either the peak or the plateau. It’s not clear yet how long that would be, again, it’s really hard to start making specific days like we’re X number of days from the peak but we think we’re heading in that direction. And we will continue to follow the data and give you more as we get it.
* For Dr. Ezike. Up until yesterday, IDPH, the data on the test was reported as number of people test it. Now, it’s number of tests. So which is it and why is there a change is it true that sometimes multiple tests are needed to get a result?…
so if you recall when we used to talk about the specimens tested we know that we used to take a nasal swab like we had an MP nasal pharyngeal swab and oropharyngeal swab so sometimes people had up to three different swabs from the same patient. We have now switched to doing single swabs. So I think there’s, depending on which data you’re looking at you have to correct for, there may be multiple swabs for an individual. And so I think that’s why the correction was the most part it is one specimen, for one test now because the guidance has changed.
Pritzker on the subject…
You know, a lot of the things that you were measuring a month ago are different now because the CDC has given different and new guidance for the FDA. And so, it used to be multiple swabs for a single person, almost three I think at the beginning, and now it’s really more like one to one
* For Dr. Ezike: Are Illinois hospitals still allowing family members to accompany a woman in labor and what are the guidelines?…
Yeah, so I’ve been following that and it’s not consistent it’s not a single rule for all hospitals. I know that in some hospitals, they are allowing the partner or the coach to be there for the actual labor, but not for any additional time again, understanding the situation we’re in. But knowing that people coming from the outside can bring you know the virus into the hospital. So I know that some hospitals were allowing just the one partner or coach to assist with the actual labor, but not outside of that. And there may have been some other place some other hospitals where that even one person wasn’t allowed so I know that there’s not consistency
* In Los Angeles, the mayor has ordered if you’re at a retail store wear masks. Is that a good idea?…
It is a good idea. It is a good idea when you go out and we haven’t ordered it but but as you’ve said I’ve every day, you know, I wear my own mask when I go outside. If I’m going to a store or any other place I would wear a mask. I would suggest that for everybody. I’ve seen a lot of people doing just that which is terrific.
* You’ve talked with about the wild west of securing PPE outside the government, but what is it like working with the feds is it organized and or do you feel like you’re getting the runaround?…
Sure, it’s a great question because you know when you say the feds when someone asked the question about working with the federal government, there are so many different parts of the federal government. You know when you’re talking to the Army Corps of Engineers. This is a highly organized, highly effective organization they deliver when they have promised things, they’ve delivered. It’s really quite amazing.
And it you know when you talk about kind of the more political branches right like the White House, it’s less the case, you’ve heard me say before. It is often difficult when people are promising things and then they don’t get delivered. And whose fault is it I mean if someone makes you a promise but it’s supposed to be delivered by somebody else were in the executive chain of command. Did that fall down? I don’t know. What I know is a promise was made, and then it wasn’t delivered. But I will tell you that every time I have interacted with people on the ground who come from the federal government, who are working hard, you know, for Illinois, I mean I’ve been really amazed at what they’re doing for us.
* Governor on the rate of infection growth…
Early on in the development of COVID-19 in Illinois, there was a coefficient that was like three and a half people were getting infected for every one person that you could detect. And it’s much lower now, and again, it’s not an exact science that number, but we are seeing a change in those numbers and it has directly to do with the orders that we put in place people staying at home. People washing their hands people doing the right thing people wearing masks. These all have an effect on the infection rate in the state.
* For Dr. Ezike: It seems likely that downstate Illinois will see cases peak sometime later than the Chicago area. To what extent are rural critical access hospitals prepared for the increased volume of cases they’re likely to see?…
So we know that there’s the population density of is, will affect the rate of spread. But we also know that they have a shortage of hospitals and beds there so we’re keeping a close eye on that as we look right now I think our hotspot is more Northern Illinois and regions seven through 11, but we’re keeping an eye on all the beds the ICU, the ventilators and the availability of those, and we potentially will have to do some moving of things but we are also looking at what the needs will be there and if we need to create some of these additional alternate care facilities in some other regions like we will be looking at that so we monitor all of these numbers through our m resource multiple times a day, and we’ll be keeping up with what’s going on in the southern region as well.
* Governor, how do you feel when you see shops and restaurants closed, maybe forever because of your decision?…
It’s devastating. It’s devastating for the people who have closed their businesses, it’s devastating for the people who worked at those businesses.
I hope that those shops will not close forever. I hope that the small business loans that we’re offering in the state of Illinois, the small business support that’s coming from the federal government will allow those businesses to survive to reopen when it’s time.
We’re doing our best I am lobbying, I mean every day I’m talking to federal officials federal elected officials to get them to do something in a stimulus fashion. There’s going to be another CARES act I’m told to expand support for small businesses as well as for individuals across the country. And so we want to do everything we can to help those people.
But if you want to know how it makes me feel, I know how hard it is to start a business, and to make it initially successful. Many small businesses get started, don’t go over, they don’t get very far. The ones that do survive by working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes to make it, and when they finally make it, I mean the idea that a virus is going to devastate your business not something anybody could ever have imagined. But here we are, and we’ve got to stop the spread of this virus we’ve got to save lives, so we can save livelihoods.
* Canada radically streamlined applying for unemployment insurance by choosing to detect for fraud and errors after processing the application. Folks are applying in three minutes and getting direct deposits in three days. Could Illinois do something like this?…
In fact, we have streamlined that we’ve taken away the obstacles. There had been a number of checks that somebody would have to go through before getting their unemployment insurance the card and. And we’ve actually reduced the numbers of those checks so that people could get approved much faster.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,529 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 82 additional deaths.
Boone County: 1 female 80s
Cook County: 1 male 30s, 4 males 40s, 2 females 50s, 8 males 50s, 2 females 60s, 7 males 60s, 12 females 70s, 7 males 70s, 4 females 80s, 10 males 80s, 2 females 90s, 2 males 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s,
Kane County: 1 male 60s
Lake County: 2 females 80s, 1 female 90s
Macon County: 1 male 80s
Madison County: 1 female 60s
McHenry County: 1 male 70s
St. Clair County: 1 male 70s
Tazewell County: 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 female 60s, 2 males 60s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 80s
Stark county is now reporting a case. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 15,078 cases, including 462 deaths, in 78 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.
The night before a funeral in February, a Chicago man shared a three-hour takeout meal with two family members of the deceased. The next day, at the service, he took part in a potluck dinner, hugging those in mourning. In the following days, he swung by a birthday party.
Throughout these simple, seemingly innocuous encounters, the man had mild symptoms of what authorities now know to be the novel coronavirus, and health officials believe he may have been a so-called super-spreader who unwittingly transmitted the infection to as many as 16 people, resulting in three deaths.
The account of community spread in an Illinois cluster is the product of an investigation conducted in February and March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Chicago Department of Public Health. It shows how easily the virus can be transmitted, even with limited contact—and provides a cautionary tale for Americans thinking of breaking social-distancing guidelines. […]
Super-spreaders—or patients who are extra contagious—have become a notable feature of the virus. Experts have pointed to cases like that of a lawyer in New Rochelle, New York who may have helped trigger an outbreak there, and a man in the United Kingdom who may have transmitted the virus to nearly a dozen people before realizing he was sick earlier this year.
This cluster comprised 16 cases of COVID-19 (seven confirmed and nine probable), with transmission mostly occurring between nonhousehold contacts at family gatherings. The median interval from last contact with a patient with confirmed or probable COVID-19 to first symptom onset was 4 days. Within 3 weeks after mild respiratory symptoms were noted in the index patient, 15 other persons were likely infected with SARS-CoV-2, including three who died. Patient A1.1, the index patient, was apparently able to transmit infection to 10 other persons, despite having no household contacts and experiencing only mild symptoms for which medical care was not sought.
As part of a state’s unemployment insurance system, work-share programs (also called “short-time compensation programs”) allow employers to temporarily reduce the hours of their workers during economic downturns as an alternative to laying them off altogether. For example, an employer might reduce the work hours of the entire workforce by 20 percent, from five days per week to four days per week, instead of laying off 20 percent of the workforce. Workers in the firms that participate in work-share programs receive partial unemployment insurance benefits to supplement the lost earnings from their reduced hours. By allowing full-time employees’ hours to be reduced in lieu of layoffs, work-share programs ensure businesses can retain skilled workers until economic conditions improve, enable workers to keep their jobs and collect reduced unemployment benefits, and reduce both unemployment rates and full unemployment insurance payments for states.
Sounds like a good idea. And 29 states and the District of Columbia have work-share programs, including Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
* Illinois actually has a work-share law on the books. From 2015…
It took a year to do it, but the Illinois Legislature unanimously passed a bill designed to prevent layoffs by providing partial compensation for employees who lose work hours.
Gov. Pat Quinn on Dec. 23 signed the “shared work benefits” bill, which was passed in April by the House and agreed to in November by the Senate.
While its passage drew support from the labor movement and the business community, the program was never fully implemented because the Illinois Department of Employment Security did not issue rules during the Rauner Administration.
Researchers estimate it could prevent up to 124,000 coronavirus layoffs in Illinois, not to mention saving the state’s unemployment insurance fund $1.1 billion.
“Under the $2-trillion dollar coronavirus relief package, the federal government is, with some stipulation, fully reimbursing states for their workshare program. So it is free money for the 29 states that currently have these 29 programs,” said Frank Manzo of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute. […]
A spokeswoman for the governor said Pritzker “would definitely look into” the “Work Share” program.
I am deeply concerned that our Governor and Democrats in Springfield are bungling our state response to COVID-19. The most important thing that we seem to be lacking is regular and accurate updates about the number of cases we are dealing with and this needs to be fixed now! pic.twitter.com/msg3iVydOR
Whether or not the administration is bungling its response is beside the point. If she wants regular updates about case numbers, then she should just click here.
IDPH updates testing, case numbers and deaths every day. You can see case and death results by county, race and gender. There’s even a Zip Code lookup for cases and a timeline graph that displays tests, cases and deaths.
(T)he spring session is set to adjourn May 31. If they decide to hold a June session, bills would require a three-fifths vote to pass rather than a simple majority.
While it’s all up in the air, lawmakers are planning for a possible June session.
“That makes the most sense at this moment,” Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said about a June session.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will self-isolate until the end of the day Friday, after a member of her security detail tested positive for COVID-19, she announced Wednesday morning.
Preckwinkle said she has no signs or symptoms of the coronavirus, and is moving into isolation only out of an abundance of caution.
To work, they must be worn tight. Within 20 minutes, the straps pinch your ears and the mask starts digging into your nose.
The masks need a tight seal to keep the coronavirus out. Doctors and nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital test their masks by reading aloud while saccharine is sprayed in their faces. If they taste sweetness through the mask, they’re dead — or they might be, if that mist were coronavirus droplets instead. Stubble on men can also throw off a mask’s fit.
Add goggles and gloves and hairnets and protective body coverings, then start treating a patient.
”It gets hot, it gets a little claustrophobic,” said Kimberly Lipetzky, a nurse at Mount Sinai. “I had a couple codes, doing CPR in full gear. Your goggles fog, and you’re trying to navigate this situation while of course performing at peak ability.”
”After an hour it starts getting really uncomfortable,” said nurse Adam Garrison. “It feels like the bridge of your nose is going to disintegrate.”
Section 1. The provisions of the Township Code, 60 ILCS 1/30-5(a) and 30-5(b), requiring that each township’s annual township meeting for calendar year 2020 be held on either April 14, 2020 or April 21, 2020 are suspended through the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations.
Section 2: During the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, section 10-35 of the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code, 225 ILCS 41/10-35, stating that no license of a funeral director and embalmer intern shall be renewed more than twice, is suspended. Licensees must meet all other requirements for renewal as set forth by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Section 3: During the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, sections 1-15 and 1-20 of the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code, 225 ILCS 41/1-15 and 225 ILCS 41/1-20, requiring that the transportation of deceased human remains to a cemetery, crematory or other place of final disposition shall be under the immediate direct supervision of a licensee, are suspended as they pertain to licensed funeral director interns. Licensed funeral director interns must meet all other requirements as set forth by the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code and its accompanying provisions at Title 68, Part 1250 of the Illinois Administrative Code, 68 IAC 1250.
Section 4: During the duration of and for sixty days following the termination of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, the definition of “child” under Section 2.01 of the Child Care Act of 1969, 225 ILCS 10/2.01, is suspended for the limited purpose of ensuring that persons in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services who are 18 years of age or older and are in a placement identified in the Child Care Act of 1969, are permitted to remain in their placement.
Section 5. During the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, the requirement in the Health Care Worker Background Check Act, 225 ILCS 46/33(e), and the accompanying regulations, that designated students, applicants, and employees must have their fingerprints collected electronically and transmitted to the Illinois Department of State Police within 10 working days is suspended, provided that the fingerprints are transmitted within 30 working days of enrollment in a CNA training program or the start of employment.
On our Coronavirus Data page, you’ll find a collection of graphs, charts and maps tracing the spread of the virus, tracking test results and plotting the impact on individual counties. Check back daily for updated totals.
1 more chief judge’s office employee diagnosed with COVID-19
15th employee contracts COVID-19 at Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s office
* OSF HealthCare announces plans to furlough some employees amid coronavirus crisis: “Every health system in the country is experiencing the same sorts of downturns in revenue that we are. … We’re all having to take measures to secure our financial stability during this time of crisis,” Allen said in a video posted by OSF.
* Non-essential businesses in Champaign-Urbana violating “stay at home” order: Non-essential businesses from small boutiques to big box stores are still offering curb-side pick up for customers even weeks after the “stay at home” order was issued. Roberts says, “If you’re going to have other people come in to do curbside then that is violating the governor’s executive order.”
* Sangamon County changes COVID-19 reporting method; launching public service campaign: The Christian County sheriff’s office also reported that a part-time worker for Consolidated Correctional Food Service tested positive for the coronavirus and was receiving medical care. The worker had no symptoms when they were last at work more than a week ago. The company is on contract to provide food services for the county jail. The statement said company employees have been limited to no contact with sheriff’s office personnel. Their work was mostly in the basement kitchen and food storage area of the sheriff’s office.
* Robservations: Furloughs, wage cuts hit Cumulus Media Chicago stations: Me-TV FM, the Weigel Broadcasting soft-rock oldies station at WRME 87.7-FM, will provide the soundtrack for Chicago’s weekly mass singalongs during the COVID-19 shutdown. At 7 p.m. this Saturday, listeners are invited to sing along from porches, balconies and backyards to “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers, who died last week at 81.
Wednesday, Apr 8, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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CHANGE Illinois is proud to work with these organizations, and many others, in the Illinois Redistricting Collaborative.These are just some of the dozens of groups that have endorsed the Fair Maps Amendment (SJRCA18/HJRCA 41):
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● League of Women Voters Illinois
● Mujeres Latinas en Accion
● NAACP Chicago – South Side Branch
● National Rainbow PUSH Coalition
● Workers Center for Racial Justice
The Illinois Redistricting Collaborative includes 33 organizations fighting for a fair and equitable redistricting process. Gerrymandering is voter suppression. It needs to stop.
Lawmakers can stand with Illinois voters and our diverse, statewide coalition by sponsoring HJRCA41 and SJRCA18 and by calling on leadership to allow votes. Together, we can bring equity to Illinois representation.
Presidents of Illinois’ public universities sent the following letter to the state’s congressional delegation Tuesday, seeking additional relief from increasing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dear Senator/Representative:
We write on behalf of Illinois’ public universities to ask for your continued support—and additional federal resources—as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With over 180,000 students, more than 48,000 employees and a collective economic impact of greater than $21 billion, our institutions have a crucial role to play in helping Illinois manage and recover from this grave challenge. Over the past several weeks, we have taken unprecedented steps to safeguard the health, well-being and education of our students while maintaining our commitments to our employees and to the communities we serve. These measures have taken a significant financial toll, including:
Refunds for room and board;
Costs of transitioning to online education and telework;
Expenses associated with mitigating and remediating the impact of COVID-19, including assisting relief and response efforts, cleaning our campuses, and safely ramping down research activities;
Lost revenues from cancelled programs and events, closed facilities and delayed grants.
We are grateful for the support Congress has provided to date, particularly the assistance for students, institutions and student loan borrowers included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted March 27. As Congress crafts further legislation responding to the crisis, however, additional relief is urgently needed.
In particular, while the CARES Act included roughly $14 billion for grants directly to institutions of higher education nationwide, that is roughly a quarter of the funding that the higher education community had requested. Collectively, our institutions stand to receive approximately $140 million in direct grants under the CARES Act, at least half of which will be passed on to students for emergency financial aid grants. These institutional funds are welcome, but they do not cover the expenses and revenue losses we have incurred to date, which we estimate at approximately $224 million, let alone the additional costs and losses we expect in the coming weeks and months. Accordingly, we support the request made by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities that Congress provide an additional $47 billion in emergency funding for students and institutions of higher education.
We also ask that Congress provide public institutions with the same assistance that private employers are receiving to pay for the expanded employee paid sick leave and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) benefits included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), enacted March 18. We estimate that our universities will expend approximately $195 million to comply with these new requirements. While private employers will receive refundable tax credits to offset the costs of these benefits, FFCRA excluded public employers from eligibility.
We thank you for all that you are doing during this challenging time, and appreciate you considering this urgent request for assistance.
Chicago’s forgotten army of 2,000 refuse collection workers are picking up 50 percent more garbage during the statewide, stay-at-home order — but without the masks distributed to other front-line workers, according to their union leader.
Steve Marcucci, vice-president of Laborers Local 1001, said his members are working harder than ever to keep the city clean and prevent the sheer volume of garbage from piling up in alleys, triggering an explosion in the city’s rat population. […]
“I’m not aware that the sanitation workers aren’t being equipped [with masks]. That’s something we’ll look into. … We’re going to make sure they’re protected,” the mayor said. […]
“Employees are permitted to use cloth face coverings while at work unless the use of such cloth face covering would pose a health or safety risk to the employee. The use of cloth face coverings by employees is voluntary,” [Streets and Sanitation spokesperson Christina Villarreal] wrote.
Cloth face coverings help prevent people from spraying other people with infected droplets. They’ll help, but that’s not really the issue here. The problem is the workers are handling a whole lot of refuse that could be infected.
The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.
Better masks could help, so it should at least be looked into. That cold bureaucratic response from Streets and San was uncalled for.
If you’re still going in to work, please tell the rest of us about your experiences in comments. Thanks.
* Another effort by elements of the far right to sow doubt…
That's incomplete and not often enough. We need to see it by region, which he clearly has but is withholding. He gets all the info every morning at 10am and there is no reason to hide it or present it selectively as he did today.
The second image in press release is ICU only. Why? Because that's where things are indeed tight (though fixable). He omitted broader regionalized hospitalization data because there is excess. He is playing games by selectively releasing partial data — and getting away with it.
Pritzker said regular beds can be converted to ICU-like bed with a little effort. If no regular bed shortage why is he demanding huge additional fed help for more regular beds? And why is he demanding PPE sufficient to cover all regular bed even though not needed?
Because, first thing you need is a negative pressure room. You can't just convert any room into an ICU for COVID patients. And then you need the equipment (including ventilators, heart and oxygen monitors) to fill it. It can be done, but it is not done with "a little effort"
Yes, I'm well aware of those stories. But, again, not every hospital bed can be converted to an ICU. And, who says they're not adding ICUs? You're jumping all over the place. Focus, Amanda, focus.
His whole point appears to be that some hospitals aren’t overwhelmed. OK, but nobody has ever once claimed otherwise. And he never did get back to me with an exact quote or a link to Pritzker’s alleged claim that hospital beds can be converted to ICUs “with a little effort.”
* From Pritzker’s press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh…
Wirepoints gets the privilege of being able to sleep at night without having to wonder if you did enough to save the people whose deaths you had to announce that day. And he gets to go to sleep without worrying what tomorrow’s body count will be and if in few weeks we will have enough space to treat everyone who depends on us. That must be very peaceful.
Clearly I struck a nerve today with our thin-skinned Governor. He singled me out in one of his low information pressers today for writing an article that demanded some measures of accountability.
How dare his subjects question anything.
This is what is so dangerous with these people. If you dare to question them, they will misrepresent you and accuse you of promoting policies that will “let people die.”
What a bunch of sick, dishonest and unaccountable group of people.
He didn’t single anyone out. He answered a reporter’s question that was specifically about Wilhour and didn’t so much as mention Wilhour’s name in response…
Reporter: How do you respond to Rep. Blaine Wilhour’s suggestion that the longer we’re quarantine that the more we delay herd immunity, which could ultimately lead to more people getting the virus?
Pritzker: Okay folks, let me just point out that Great Britain went by this theory that perhaps if we just let everybody get it then everybody will get hurt, we’ll have herd immunity faster, and everybody will be okay. Well guess what, if you let everybody have it all at once, which is what happens when you just let it go, you overwhelm your healthcare system and more people die. A lot of people can die. And so the suggestion that we should just let it happen so that the herd immunity occurs faster is an invitation for us to just let people die. And I won’t do that. I will not do that.
The Illinois comptroller’s office borrowed $105 million from various funds in March, in large part so it could make bigger-than-normal payments to hospitals as they brace for the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak later this month.
But Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is advising all state vendors that there will likely be payment delays in April, in part because the tax filing deadline for both state and federal taxes has been pushed back to July 15.
The inter-fund borrowing was noted last week in the state’s monthly revenue report from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. The comptroller’s office has authority to engage in such borrowing to meet short-term cash flow needs of the general revenue fund.
That report noted that total tax receipts in March, at $3.4 billion, was about what was expected, and 3.3 percent above the same month last year. But it also noted that the impact of the economic slowdown brought on by Gov. JB Pritzker’s stay-at-home order and closure of nonessential businesses had not yet shown up in the revenue numbers.
Some of that borrowed money was used to capture federal matches and contributed to a $145 million increase in federal revenue in March, according to COGFA.
* Excerpt from Mendoza’s statement issued last week…
State revenues, estimated at well over $1 billion, traditionally expected in the month of April due to increased seasonal income tax payment activity, will be delayed until at least July, given the extended tax payment deadlines announced by both the state and federal governments.
In addition to the deferred revenues from the filing extension, it has not yet been determined what additional negative fiscal impact reduced economic activity related to this pandemic will have on our state revenues going forward.
The most immediate priority today, and in the coming weeks, will be emergency funding for critical medical equipment and services necessary to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus on the front lines. While our immediate priority is to provide funding necessary to fight the pandemic and save lives, the core priorities of the IOC remain the same.
Healthcare, debt service, K-12 funding, state payrolls, and required pension payments will continue to be made, and the state’s most vulnerable citizens’ urgent needs will continue to be served.
As in past times of budgetary difficulties, the predictability and the timing of specific payments may be uncertain, but the provider and vendor community can be assured that, as in the past, all state payments will eventually be made, and all state commitments will be honored.
Given this reality, the IOC asks for understanding and patience as we address the impact from this pandemic, while continuing to manage an existing state bill backlog of over $7 billion.
In the U.S., an estimated 30 million people live with kidney disease, meaning one in three adults is at risk. In Illinois, some 30,000 people suffer from kidney disease.
The Illinois Kidney Care Alliance (IKCA) is proud to have Associates in Nephrology (AIN) as a member. Since 1971, AIN has tended to the needs of patients with kidney disease throughout the Chicagoland area. With more than 40 Nephrologists, AIN offers treatments for chronic kidney disease, assessments of kidney function, and dialysis.
The Illinois Kidney Care Alliance consists of community groups, advocates, health professionals, and businesses from across Illinois striving to educate the public about the challenges people with kidney disease experience every day. IKCA is here to tell their story. For more information, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and visit our website.
* The University of Washington IHME’s COVID-19 model has been updated again. Now, this is just one forecaster and one projection, but we’ve been watching it fluctuate and the news seems encouraging for Illinois.
Right up front I need to point out two errors in the IHME database. The IHME has yesterday’s Illinois death toll as 1. It was actually an all-time high of 73. IMHE also has cumulative deaths yesterday at 308. It was actually 380. Somebody entered the wrong death report yesterday and that may have thrown off the entire projection.
So, take these numbers with a grain of salt until they fix those errors.
The latest projection, dated today, has the projected death toll at 1,588, with a range between 1,011 to 2,790.
In March, the IMHE projected 2,453 deaths in Illinois. That was revised upward to 3,386 on April 2nd and then 3,629 on April 5th.
Illinois’ peak resources day has been moved up to April 11, five days earlier than its last projection.
Illinois is now projected to experience a peak of 91 COVID-19 deaths on April 12th. That’s way down from the last projected peak of 208 deaths per day by the same date. But, again, those input errors may have thrown everything off.
IMHE is now projecting no statewide shortage of ICU beds. It had originally projected a shortage of 204.
Keep in mind, though, that the statewide numbers will not reflect the reality at individual hospitals. Some may be overwhelmed while others have more than enough.
John Prine, who for five decades wrote rich, plain-spoken songs that chronicled the struggles and stories of everyday working people and changed the face of modern American roots music, died Tuesday at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was 73. The cause was complications related to COVID-19, his family confirmed to Rolling Stone.
Prine, who left behind an extraordinary body of folk-country classics, was hospitalized last month after the sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms, and was placed in intensive care for 13 days. Prine’s wife and manager, Fiona, announced on March 17th that she had tested positive for the virus after they had returned from a European tour.
Yeah I’m gonna smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long
I still say that Wordslinger was right and Prine’s name should be carved into the State Library building with all the other Illinois literary greats. We’ll get to that after this crisis ends.
With an assist from Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the state’s leading local-government group is seeking a delay of at least a month and maybe longer in granting public requests for public records under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
But the request, which has been kicked over to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, is getting push-back from the state’s largest press organization, which argues that the public’s need for transparency is at least as great as ever amid the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Cole specifically wants to lengthen the normal five-day FOIA response period—the period can be longer, under some circumstances—to “at least the number of business days corresponding to the remaining length” of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. The order now runs through April, so the delay would push into at least late May the period for governments to comply.
“The Office of the Attorney General does not have the authority to suspend the statutory requirements of the Freedom of Information Act,” [the AG’s office] said in a statement, “But, we understand that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed strains on public bodies and we have been examining what, if any, options we do have under the law to provide public bodies with guidance to help them comply with their obligations under FOIA.”
Even as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration is scrambling to find enough medical supplies to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic, it also is stockpiling body bags in preparation for a worst-case scenario.
In the past week, the state’s procurement team has issued three different solicitations to potential vendors to purchase body bags, also known as cadaver bags — seeking more than 12,000 in total.
That figure would far exceed most death projections for Illinois from COVID-19.
The latest model from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects 3,629 people will die in Illinois from the disease by August 4. The state’s death toll stood at 307 on Monday.
The institute, a global health research center, is projecting the range of deaths in Illinois could fall anywhere between 2,335 and 6,267. The researchers are projecting Illinois will experience a peak of 202 daily deaths on April 12.
I was told last week and again today that COVID-19 cadavers are being double-bagged. So if we hit the high end of the IHME projection, 12,000 bags would be needed. Pretty simple math.
* From IEMA…
As we would in any large scale emergency/disaster, the State evaluates any needs (personnel, equipment, supplies) that local jurisdictions may have to execute their response. All disasters start and end locally. If a local jurisdiction has extended its capability to respond to a disaster, the state’s role is to supply resources and/or assets to meet the needs of their communities.
Unfortunately, responding to fatalities is one of the many critical functions that the State is working collaboratively with local jurisdictions to ensure all parties in the State of Illinois are poised to respond quickly as the pandemic continues.
Distribution will never be precise during times like these. Some areas will get more than they’ll need, which is another way of justifying the large purchases.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,287 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 73 additional deaths.
Champaign County: 1 male 80s
Christian County: 1 female 80s
Cook County: 1 female 30s, 2 males 30s, 3 females 40s, 2 males 40s, 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 2 females 60s, 4 males 60s, 4 females 70s, 5 males 70s, 1 unknown, 8 females 80s, 5 males 80s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
Ford County: 1 male 80s
Kane County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Kankakee County: 1 female 60s
Lake County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
Madison County: 1 female 80s
McHenry County: 1 female 70s
Monroe County: 1 male 80s
Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
Will County: 1 female 50s, 2 females 60s, 1 male 60s, 3 females 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
Winnebago County: 2 males 80s
Coles, Lawrence, Richland, and Shelby counties are now reporting cases. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 13,549 cases, including 380 deaths, in 77 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.
I want to start today by informing you that this morning, a member of my governor’s office learned that they had tested positive for COVID-19.
This individual started to feel unwell. On Thursday, March 26, and immediately went home. That same day we sent everyone that works in the governor’s office home, and had a professional multi our deep cleaning done.
We had already earlier in March significantly reduced our in office staff and directed all those who could to work at home. These are the same instructions that I’ve asked offices across the state to follow. Back then, we also implemented temperature checks for anyone still coming into the Thompson center. Those temperature checks have continued.
Following the staffer’s exit from the office, we reduced in-office staff in the governor’s office even further to a critical few, asking all of those who are staying at home to self isolate as the medical professionals advised. We also put in place additional protocols about in office, and out of office behavior.
The individual who tested positive continues to isolate at home. And it has now been 12 days since that person left the office, and none of our remaining in office staff have demonstrated symptoms. I’m incredibly happy that this member of my team is doing so well.
This is an anxious time for everyone and it should be a cautionary tale that even among those who are most attentive and taking the most precautions, it is still possible to get the virus. If you leave home and interact with others. So let this just affirm what we already know. Nobody is immune.
Again, please pardon all transcription typos. Thanks.
* The governor then announced the daily death total…
Now I’ve said all along that this would get worse before it gets better. But speaking the truth in no way softens the blow when it does in fact get worse.
And it has been reported to me and I’m deeply saddened to say that in the last 24 hours we have had 73 fatalities in the battle against COVID-19, our largest single day increase to date.
There are so many tragedies here, the countless family members loved ones, friends and neighbors who grieve the indefinite delay of funerals and celebrations of life. The fact that this will not be the last day that we say goodbye to our fellow Illinoisans because of the terrible toll of COVID-19.
It’s okay to let yourself feel all the pain that there is to feel today. I too am grieving, but I want you to know that my grief is only fueling my efforts to fight this virus and win.
* Hospitalization…
Although all of the available data serves as an important part of the overall picture, we consider our hospitalization data a particularly significant indicator. If someone’s sick enough to need hospital care. They’re likely going to seek that care whether or not they have been tested.
According to data from April 6 yesterday, the number of known COVID patients and suspected COVID patients, as in persons under investigation and assumed to have COVID-19 for the purpose of medical treatment in our hospitals here in Illinois, that number totaled 3680.
* Context…
Since the earliest days of our COVID-19 response my administration has worked with our state’s network of more than 200 hospitals to increase capacity in our existing health systems. We now have nearly 28,000 total beds, approximately 2700 of which are ICU beds. As a reminder, those numbers don’t include the beds that we’re putting up at our alternate care facilities like Vibra, Metro South or McCormick Place.
* More…
Additionally, we’re seeing signs of a trend here in Illinois for the number of people in the hospital for non COVID reasons. Things like car accidents have dropped with fewer people on the roads since we implemented our stay at home order. This is a pattern that’s reflected in other states as well. As of yesterday, April 6, 43% of our total hospital beds are available and 35% of our ICU beds are available. As for our nearly 2700 ventilators in Illinois 57% are currently available, down from the 68% available on March 31, just one week ago.
So if you’re looking for a trend, here’s another one. On Tuesday, again just a week ago, COVID patients occupied about 35% of our total ICU beds and about 24% of our total ventilators. Today, a week later, COVID patients occupy 43% of our total ICU beds and 29% of our total ventilators, that’s an 8 and 5 percentage point jump, respectively, in just a week.
* Important point here…
I also want to stress that these are our collective numbers across the state. Not every hospital has even that availability and in fact there’s a fairly extraordinarily large range across the state depending upon where you live.
In the city of Chicago, the city’s Southwest suburbs and the city’s northeast suburbs average ICU Bed Availability in those hospitals is still below 25% with some hospitals in the area near max capacity.
But this isn’t just a Chicagoland issue. We’re closely watching other areas around the states places like Peoria at 42% of ICU beds available and dropping, and places like the Edwardsville region at just 33% available.
* More…
We’re also tracking ventilator availability specifically investigating the need to move ventilators not just within a region of the state but from region to region within the state as needed. For those of you who didn’t hear your region listed as one operating with a lower percentage of available beds. That is not a sign that COVID-19 isn’t a problem in your community, far from it. It might feel like a lifetime ago but it was just a couple of weeks back when the state of Illinois had just a few confirmed cases in just one county. In fact it was only last Tuesday when we had confirmed cases in just 54 counties. That’s an increase of 23 counties in seven days. We have to be operating as if COVID-19 is circulating, not just in every county but in every community. We need to maintain our course, and we need to keep working to flatten the curve.
* More on ventilators…
And finally, to round out our conversation about hospital capacity. I must talk about ventilators, the equipment known to make a real difference in the outcomes for COVID patients who are in critical condition. First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude. My genuine sincere gratitude to the people of California and to the governor of California Gavin Newsome who sent us 100 ventilators overnight for use by patients here in Illinois. […]
Once we are past our peak, Illinois will pay it forward. We will pay it forward in any way that we can including passing along these ventilators to the next hot spot in the nation, and any that we may be able to spare.
As you know, over time, we’ve also received 600 ventilators from the federal government, 300 of which were directed specifically to the city of Chicago by the White House. I’m grateful for all of those vents as well. We continue to scour the globe with our own state level procurement operation to secure the rest of the ventilators that we may need. While this market is just as competitive, if not more so than that for PPE we have so far placed orders for 3620 ventilators. The first batch of these deliveries will arrive in April, with the rest coming over the next several months
* From a press release…
* Prisons…
As of today over 60 individuals at the Department of Juvenile Justice have been released. That’s more than a 25% decrease in our overall juvenile population. And at the Department of Corrections during this pandemic we’ve now released over 1100 low risk prisoners who were incarcerated, either by direct action by my administration or under regular release programs.
* On to questions for the governor. The staff member that you said that tested positive did this individual have close contact with you or Dr. Ezike, were you tested, was the doctor tested?…
Pritzker: I was not tested. I did not have regular close contact with this person, this is somebody who worked in the office but not particularly close to my office and didn’t regularly enter my office so very little direct contact with this person.
IDPH Director Dr. Ezike said she had no contact with the person and she has not been tested.
* Just a question regarding the report of the state’s procurement of cadaver bags. If you could comment on that, is 12,000 the number that the state is seeking and is that a number that is within the models of something that could be?…
I don’t really want to comment on it. I mean we’re preparing and always we don’t know what the numbers will be in the end. And it’s hard to point at something that would tell you exactly what those numbers would be I mean obviously there are models out there but a lot of them, but we want to make sure that we’re prepared if we’re if we end up being over prepared in that way.
I’ve been told that the bodies likely have to be double-bagged.
* Is there any way to calculate how many deaths, or estimate how many deaths that have occurred since perhaps January that are unrecorded?…
I think that the DPH is actually going back in the records to to look at some of those but I don’t think that it’s clear yet. … We do have coroners and medical examiners who maybe might be doing post mortem tests to try to see if they can get at that information. So the numbers may increase for a number of people who may have expired who passed on. Before it was knowledge that it was related or that they had COVID at the time of death, requiring every everybody to be tested for COVID-19 eBay, if there wasn’t signs before they died.
* Do you want local law enforcement to enforce your stay at home order to the point of arresting citizens?…
Look, I have not encouraged that. That is up to local law enforcement and to local entities cities and counties. Some of them have are looking at passing ordinances, for example, and some of them have declared their own states of emergency.
There are situations like what I read about in Quincy where there were several parties to parties that I’m aware of that occurred. And look I think we’re asking people to do the right thing and most people, the vast majority of people are doing the right thing. But if people are encouraging others to get together in groups of more than 10 or to not socially distance, I mean, I think at some point, it is worthy of considering a real consequence.
* We’ve noticed police out there that they don’t seem to be pulling people over as there have been some directive from your office to state police to conduct traffic enforcement differently? We’ve seen vehicles parked out in the middle of expressways state police with their lights on, just there as a warning, trying to get people to slow down…
No, I have not given any directive like that.
* Do you have any regrets about anything you should have or shouldn’t have done or said during this crisis?…
Oh gosh. I think that’s always a hard question to ask somebody in public life are there more things you could have done or could have done something differently.
I suppose so I and I, every day, you know, I asked myself about each decision that I make is there is there another choice here or did I miss something. You know I can look back certainly and say, did I miss something that happened in the past, but look we took action we were, we were quick. I think to get on this subject when you know when it was clear that that that just asking people to not gather in groups of 50 or 250. I think originally we said 250 and 1000, 1000 being enforceable to fit that was, that seems like months ago now, right, but that’s really about four weeks ago and that’s back when you know there were very few cases that didn’t seem like enough so we went to closing. We went to limiting the numbers of people getting together to a smaller number and then closing bars and restaurants and then closing schools and then the stay at home order and so on. And yet there are more things that could be done but. So, you know, yeah I wish I knew about this in January when you know when the intelligence agencies seemed to know about it. and we could have begun building ventilators ourselves.
* To counteract COVID’s impact on minorities, you said the state is reopening hospitals and those communities, you’re saying that they will only serve black and brown patients, or are you reopening them for good. If not, how does it close the racial wealth gap?…
No, we are not limiting it to a certain race, that’s not the case. And people will be referred to those hospitals. I think the benefit for the most part will be that people don’t show up as a matter of first resort to any of these alternate care facilities. They are referred to those facilities, and if it is near where someone lives that will be a better place for them than some other location. And so it’s really just a reference to the idea that we’ll be able to serve more people and many of the people who will go to those facilities will be perhaps closer to where they live
* How do you respond to Rep. Blaine Wilhour’s suggestion that the longer we’re quarantine that the more we delay herd immunity, which could ultimately lead to more people getting the virus?…
Okay folks, let me just point out that Great Britain went by this theory that perhaps if we just let everybody get it then everybody will get hurt, we’ll have herd immunity faster, and everybody will be okay. Well guess what, if you let everybody have it all at once, which is what happens when you just let it go, you overwhelm your healthcare system and more people die. A lot of people can die. And so the suggestion that we should just let it happen so that the herd immunity occurs faster, is an invitation for us to just let people die. And I won’t do that. I will not do that.
* In terms of opening the state back up on May 1. If you extend the stay at home border would you consider opening up parts of Illinois, especially some counties that haven’t been severely affected by COVID-19?…
I mean look at where it’s 77 counties as of today, where there are cases, and it’s growing, and the number of cases is growing the number of deaths is growing now. And so it’s hard for me to see that, that just because you haven’t had a case in your county or in your community that you’re not going to see cases developing and growing, and we see hotspots correct. You know, that are happening all over the state, you know, look at you know areas like champagne and like Metro east. And, you know, we need to we need to get much further along here before we start talking about a regional or statewide stand down of these orders.
* President Trump said in a press conference last night, you were very happy about the White House at COVID-19 Task Force response to Illinois needs. The President cited a governor’s meeting with Vice President Pence on Monday morning and said, quote, there wasn’t a negative person on the call, even governor Pritzker from Illinois is happy. He suggested that on one hand you’re positive about the government’s work on the phone but telling the press, a different story could you respond to that…
Well, the President’s taking one snapshot when I was happy about on that call was the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers had done such a spectacular job working with our local tradesmen to build out McCormick Place, and I expressed my gratitude for the help of FEMA in a variety of circumstances. But I have been on many calls with the white house, with staff at the White House, with the Vice President, even with the President and I have expressed my displeasure on a number of those calls.
Look, I’m happy when they make promises, and then deliver upon those promises. I am unhappy when they do not deliver on promises, or when lies are spoken. And look, I’m gonna fight for the people of Illinois in every in all circumstances, but I’ll praise somebody when they do something right.
* Regarding IDOC furloughs, will any inmates regardless of crime be eligible for this for a low as medically vulnerable. Where will they go, when released and how, how will IDOC ensure they don’t spread COVID into their communities?…
Well everybody that’s released will have a medical review before they’re released that’s the first thing.
Second. No we’re not. This is not open to anybody and everybody that’s incarcerated in the state of Illinois.
We have reviewed files, continue to review files of those who are non violent offenders those who are posed the least risk to communities. And we have been working as expeditiously as possible to make those reviews, there are some limitations on our ability even for somebody who is at low risk, or at least low risk in their community to returning their community and committing a crime, because we are required to have a location for them to live at, and sometimes they don’t have someplace to go, but we’re trying to work through even that problem by working with local organizations, so we’ll continue to work at this and giving you kind of regular updates here about how we’re managing through with our corrections. And I think that our corrections staff and leadership are doing an excellent job.
* Worldometer has a new online tool you can use to compare Illinois to the rest of the country. Click here to see it.
The Illinois information is current as of yesterday.
New York has the highest number of COVID-19 cases per million residents at 7,077. The US total is 1,174. Illinois is at 956, ranking us 11th.
New York also has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths per million residents at 280. The US number is 37. Illinois’ is 24, right behind Indiana at 26. Illinois ranks 14th.
NY also ranks first in COVID-19 tests per million residents at 16,353. The US number is 6,099. Illinois is at 4,909 per million, which is way below the national number. Illinois ranks 32nd on that one. I will be submitting a question to the governor about that particular factoid today.
* What is your biggest criticism of Gov. Pritzker’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis so far? Make sure to explain. Also, let’s just stipulate right now that some of you are very upset about his criticism of the POTUS. Leave that aside, and that goes for both sides.
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
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Dr. Tom Pliura is seeking a temporary restraining order against Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde in connection with the drive-thru coronavirus testing he’s been trying to arrange in the local community.
A lawsuit was e-filed Monday afternoon in the federal district court in Urbana by Pliura doing business as CampusTown Urgent Care, the urgent care center he operates at 631 E. Green St., C.
The lawsuit seeks to prohibit Pryde — individually and in her capacity as the public health district’s administrator — from stopping Pliura’s plans to offer public COVID-19 testing.
Named as another plaintiff in the lawsuit is Steve McLaughlin, identified as a resident of the federal court district who, as of Monday afternoon, didn’t have any COVID-19 symptoms but wanted to know if he has been infected.
Dr. Pliura was telling people late last week that they had to at least claim they had symptoms before he could test them.
According to the injunction, Dr. Pliura claimed Pryde and others at CUPHD ‘undertook efforts to prevent Campustown from conducting its drive-through testing, including raising false, contrived and pretextual concerns with officials at the church’ and ‘made baseless accusations concerning the cost of the testing, vague assertions concerning whether unidentified “guidelines” would be followed and asserting that, “first of all, there is just no unfettered access to testing in this country”.’
Pryde said in an interview on April 2 that CDC guidelines state only those who are showing symptoms are supposed to get tested, and she wanted to make sure Dr. Pliura was following those guidelines.
“If people are doing it and they don’t have symptoms, and they’re just testing because they just want to test, and they don’t have any real reason to test… that’s taking resources that could be better used,” said Pryde on April 2.
While the Public Health District can’t shut down a testing site on its own, they can make suggests to anyone looking to provide testing. Dr. Pliura said in the injunction both the district and Pryde did just that after he attempted to make arrangements to hold drive-through testing at several other locations in Champaign-Urbana. According to the injunction, those ‘tentative agreements (were) rescinded after the owners/managers had communications within one or more Defendants who raised various “issues.”.’
On or about March 30, 2020, Campustown made arrangements to conduct drive- through/walk-up outdoor testing from the area outside its clinic at 631 E. Green Street, Champaign, IL. Those arrangements included expending great sums of money to buy test collection materials, hiring additional temporary staff, and creating a custom- designed patient registration computer system to allow for pre-registration of testing patients, thereby minimizing direct contact during the collection process. […]
Campustown has expended great sums of money to purchase testing supplies, to create necessary custom software programs to manage high-volume testing, and to advertise the availability of testing services. […]
Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Plaintiffs Campustown and Pliura have a liberty and property interest in performing their professional business services that cannot be deprived by Defendants without due process. […]
Defendants’ unauthorized and unjustified actions in blocking the testing will not only cause irreparable harm to Campustown’s and Pliura’s professional reputation and prospective business […]
Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits because, and shown above, Defendants have unconstitutionally infringed upon Plaintiffs’ rights, as described above and, with respect to Campustown and Pliura, Defendants have tortuously interfered with Plaintiffs’ prospective business relationship and have painted Plaintiffs in a false light, damaging their professional reputations.
Turns out China lied (shocking!) about the number of cases and deaths their people suffered from coronavirus.
But that’s not stopping Sean Casten from praising China’s response to the virus, including during yesterday’s telephone town hall.
That’s nothing new, however. Casten has been spewing Communist Party propaganda to bash the president since last week.
NRCC Comment: “It is disturbing that Sean Casten, a member of the United States Congress, continuously chooses to use Chinese Communist Party propaganda to attack the President of the United States.” -NRCC Spokeswoman Carly Atchison
For months, national Republicans hoping to wrest back control of the House this fall have targeted first-term Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), hitting him on his vote to impeach President Trump, his criticism of the U.S. drone killing of an Iranian general and his opposition to a federal ban on fentanyl.
This week, they opened a new front — accusing Casten of “spewing Communist Party propaganda to bash the president” over Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Casten’s sin, in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s view, was a pair of conference calls during which he told constituents that China had acted “quickly” and “to their credit … shut down the entire province that this was in, and they seem to largely have isolated the cases.” […]
In an interview, Casten defended his position that China, along with other Asian nations, including South Korea and Japan, which had dealt with a SARS virus outbreak in the early 2000s, had moved with more urgency to shut down schools and take proactive measures to contain the virus.
“A reasonable critic of China might say if they had moved more quickly it might have constrained it even more,” Casten said. “But leaving that aside, our own president was saying less than a month ago this was the same as the flu.”
* From the NRCC yesterday…
Americans are dying but that’s not stopping Sean Casten from continuing to spew Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
In case you missed it…
Dem Rep Spreads Chinese Propaganda While Blaming Coronavirus Deaths on Trump
Washington Free Beacon
Yuichiro Kakutani
April 5, 2020
https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/dem-rep-spreads-chinese-propaganda-while-blaming-coronavirus-deaths-on-trump/
An Illinois Democrat who accused President Donald Trump of killing Americans by lying to the public about the coronavirus also spread pro-China misinformation about the deadly disease during a townhall with constituents.
As COVID-19 spreads across the nation, Rep. Sean Casten (D., Ill.) has repeatedly attempted to blame Trump and Republicans for the death toll, accusing them of spreading fatal misinformation about the pandemic. Casten himself, however, has misinformed the public about China’s role in the pandemic. When one of his constituents asked about the early Chinese response to the outbreak at a March 21 electronic town hall, the congressman refused to talk about the regime’s coverup of the virus. Instead, he incorrectly said that China had successfully isolated the outbreak in Wuhan.
“China, to their credit, once they realize they had a problem, shut down the entire province that this was in and they seem to have largely isolated the cases in China,” Casten said. “We have missed that window in the United States.”
In reality, however, China has failed to isolate the cases in the province of Wuhan, the origin of the illness. The virus has spread to nearly every part of the country, killing thousands in distant provinces such as Guangdong and Zhejiang. And while China’s self-reported data indicate the worst has passed, reports of funeral homes overflowing with urns have led critics to believe that the regime is grossly underreporting the impact of the pandemic. One media report, for instance, estimates China’s coronavirus deaths are in the tens of thousands, as opposed to the officially reported count of 3,308.
An already heated campaign for Congress in the western suburbs has exploded in swarm of invective and bitter words, with Democratic incumbent Sean Casten and GOP challenger Jeanne Ives battling over how the COVID-19 epidemic is being handled.
Ives says Casten allies have accused her of being “a killer” and her campaign charged that he is “stoking anger, fear and division.” Meanwhile the Republican National Committee circulated copies of an article by a conservative Washington newspaper that accused Casten of “pushing Chinese propaganda.” […]
Casten said he also has been critical of the Chinese government. “I’m not saying for a second that they didn’t distort things.”
Once again, Sean Casten is peddling lies, this time about how he’s been critical of China’s handling of the deadly coronavirus.
But Casten has not been critical of China.
He’s been an asset for China’s Communist Party by helping spread their propaganda repeatedly.
Meanwhile Casten accuses the administration’s press briefings of killing Americans.
NRCC Comment: “It is staggering that Sean Casten continues to side with the Chinese Communist regime, which is responsible for the current global pandemic, and blames official United States press briefings for killing Americans.” - NRCC Spokeswoman Carly Atchison
Sec. 7. Emergency Powers of the Governor. In the event of a disaster […]
(1) To suspend the provisions of any regulatory statute prescribing procedures for conduct of State business, or the orders, rules and regulations of any State agency, if strict compliance with the provisions of any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder or delay necessary action, including emergency purchases, by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, in coping with the disaster.
The Department [of Corrections] may extend the limits of the place of confinement of a committed person under prescribed conditions, so that he may leave such place on a furlough. Whether or not such person is to be accompanied on furlough shall be determined by the chief administrative officer. The Department may make an appropriate charge for the necessary expenses of accompanying a person on furlough. Such furloughs may be granted for a period of time not to exceed 14 days, for any of the following purposes: […]
to obtain medical, psychiatric or psychological services when adequate services are not otherwise available;
THEREFORE, by the powers vested in me as the Governor of the State of Illinois, and pursuant to Sections 7(1), 7(2), 7(8), and 7(12) of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, 20 ILCS 3305, I hereby order the following, effective immediately and for the remainder of the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations:
Section 1. The following provisions of the Illinois Unified Code of Corrections, 730 ILCS 5/3-11-11 [sic], allowing for the furlough of IDOC inmates are hereby suspended as follows: (a) as set forth in Section (a), providing the allowable time period for furloughs, the phrase “for a period of time not to exceed 14 days”, is suspended and furlough periods shall be allowed for up to the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations as determined by the Director of IDOC; and (b) as set forth in Section (a)(2), the phrase “to obtain medical, psychiatric or psychological services when adequate services are not otherwise available” shall be suspended and furloughs for medical, psychiatric or psychological purposes shall be allowed at the Director’s discretion and consistent with the guidance of the IDOC Acting Medical Director.
Section 2. The IDOC shall file emergency rules as needed to effectuate the intent of this Executive Order. [Emphasis added.]
Pritzker’s action came as 62 inmates and 40 Corrections Department staffers had been confirmed to have COVID-19. Two inmates at Stateville Correctional Center have died of the disease.
Several lawsuits have been filled by representatives of prisoners contending the state has been slow to act in the face of the pandemic. The lawsuits noted as many as 13,000 prisoners could be eligible for release, including some convicted of nonviolent offenses, are elderly, at a higher risk of getting sick or have served most of their sentences.
The Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago was one of the organizations seeking to get some prison inmates released. Director Alan Mills called Pritzker’s move a positive one that will allow the Corrections Department to transfer thousands of prisoners to places where they can follow the governor’s orders to shelter in place and maintain social distancing.
Thousands? No.
* According to the governor’s office, this EO will apply to prisoners who are medically vulnerable, but that determination will be done on a case-by-case, one-by-one basis. For instance, if they’re in an infirmary, or they’re on cancer drugs, or some such.
But even that won’t automatically result in a release because risk assessments will still be conducted. So, inmates convicted of violent offenses with years remaining on their terms are not likely to be included. Most Stateville inmates would fall into that category, for example.
SECTION 8.1. CRIME VICTIMS’ RIGHTS.
(a) Crime victims, as defined by law, shall have the following rights: […]
The right to be notified of the conviction, the sentence, the imprisonment, and the release of the accused.
Finding those victims is a challenge in many cases.
* IDOC also has to make sure the inmates have an appropriate place to release them to. They need an address so they can be monitored. Homeless shelters are now full, so that option is out. The state is working with non-profits to find places to send people to, but that is not a simple task.
IDOC has already released 450 inmates during the crisis, the governor’s office says. This new EO won’t necessarily increase that pace, but it will allow the state to get around the 14-day statutory limit.
And, remember, IDOC still has to draft and publish emergency rules to implement this EO.
In Louisiana, about 70 percent of the people who have died are African-American, though only a third of the state’s population is black. In the county around Milwaukee, where 27 percent of residents are black, nearly twice as many African-American residents tested positive for the virus as white people. And in Chicago, where African-American residents make up a little less than a third of the population, more than half of those found to have the virus are black, and African-Americans make up 72 percent of those who have died of the virus.
Data on the race of those sickened by the virus has only been made public in a handful of places and is too limited to make sweeping conclusions. But racial disparities in cases and outcomes, researchers said, reflect what happens when a viral pandemic is layered on top of entrenched inequalities.
The data, researchers said, is partly explained by factors that could make black Americans more vulnerable in any outbreak: They are less likely to be insured, more likely to already have health conditions and more likely to be denied testing and treatment. There is also the highly infectious nature of the coronavirus in a society where black Americans disproportionately hold jobs that do not allow them to stay at home, the researchers said.
“If you walk outside and see who is actually still working,” said Elaine Nsoesie, of Boston University’s School of Public Health, “the data don’t seem surprising.”
If the type of jobs people have was a major factor, or the fact that they rely on public transit, you’d think the Latino rate would be much higher than it is. The state’s latest figures show 7.5 percent of all reported COVID-19 deaths are Latinos. But they’re 17.4 percent of the state’s population.
Indeed, some of the hardest hit communities on the South and West sides have struggled with unemployment and health care access for generations. As a result, residents have higher baseline rates of diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and high blood pressure — the chronic conditions that make the coronavirus even more deadly.
Even before the pandemic, these chronic conditions attributed to a life-expectancy gap in the city. On average, white Chicagoans live nine years longer than black residents, with half of the disparity due to chronic illnesses and smoking rates in black communities, public health officials said. […]
Six of the 10 ZIP codes with the most coronavirus-related deaths in Cook County are in Chicago, the data shows. Deaths were concentrated in majority-black, South Side neighborhoods including Auburn Gresham, South Chicago, South Shore and Chatham.
“This is not just about racial and ethnic disparity and the outcomes,” Lightfoot said. “The distribution of this disease tells the story about resources and inequality. A story about unequal health care access, job access and community investment. Dynamics we know all too well here in the city of Chicago and something all of us have been talking about and fighting against for years.”
Yes, these dynamics are quite well-known, which is why government at all levels and not just in Chicago and Cook County should’ve been far more proactive.
Mayor Lightfoot on Monday presented a city plan essentially aimed at getting the message out more forcefully in communities of color and monitoring cases early. There will be more outreach workers. There will be more well-being checks.
If those sound like pretty basic steps, they are. But then, everything about slowing the spread and beating back the coronavirus is basic. There is no magic cure, though President Trump has been talking up an untested drug, hydroxchloroquine. There is no vaccine.
For now, there is only this: social distancing. And so we once again urge everyone — and perhaps most especially African Americans — to practice social distancing as much as humanly possible.
Easier said than done if you have to work outside the home, but still true.
Coronavirus patients in areas that had high levels of air pollution before the pandemic are more likely to die from the infection than patients in cleaner parts of the country, according to a new nationwide study that offers the first clear link between long-term exposure to pollution and Covid-19 death rates.
In an analysis of 3,080 counties in the United States, researchers at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that higher levels of the tiny, dangerous particles in air known as PM 2.5 were associated with higher death rates from the disease. […]
The paper found that if Manhattan had lowered its average particulate matter level by just a single unit, or one microgram per cubic meter, over the past 20 years, the borough would most likely have seen 248 fewer Covid-19 deaths by this point in the outbreak. […]
The District of Columbia, for instance, is likely to have a higher death rate than the adjacent Montgomery County, Md. Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, should be worse than nearby Lake County, Ill. Fulton County, Ga., which includes Atlanta, is likely to suffer more deaths than the adjacent Douglas County.
To enforce social distancing and a stay-at-home order, Chicago police have dispersed groups more than 1,500 times in the last week and have issued 11 citations and made three arrests.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot cited those figures as she renewed her plea for people to stay home and avoid crowds as temperatures are expected to rise into the 70s on Tuesday.
“We’re going to keep stepping up our enforcement efforts,” Lightfoot said at a news conference Monday at Soldier Field. “I want to be clear: It’s not that people are going out, although we want people to really stay home. The issue is congregating and that’s what we can’t tolerate.
“Police have been very aggressive in issuing dispersal orders, citations where necessary, and luckily we’ve only had a small number of arrests,” she added. “But people have to understand, yes, it’s a beautiful day, the weather’s getting warmer, but we need people to continue to comply.”
* It’s a beautiful day today, so there’s some worry that enforcement will ramp up. The ACLU of Illinois hasn’t heard of any real enforcement problems yet, but the group decided to issue this today just in case…
As Illinois moves into its third week under a “stay at home” order issued by the Governor, police across Illinois are being reminded that their role is to build voluntary compliance with the order, not use it as an excuse to make mass arrests. The reminder comes in the form of an open call - issued today by the ACLU of Illinois - to law enforcement across the State of Illinois.
“All of our energies now must be targeted at reducing the spread of COVID-19 and acting in accordance with appropriate public health recommendations,” said Rachel Murphy, Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Illinois. “This public health approach must also consider changes to law enforcement practices, so that we protect both the police and the general public with whom they interact.”
The ACLU points to public health experts’ directions to prevent further spread by reducing the number of opportunities for exposure and educating the public on the importance of social distancing. The call makes clear that by reducing interactions with the public, limiting arrests and focusing enforcement of stay home orders on education and voluntary compliance, police across Illinois can make a valuable contribution to reducing the spread of COVID-19.
Specifically, police are encouraged to reduce stops and arrests by:
• Drastically limiting all contacts - including pedestrian stops and traffic stops - to situations where there is an imminent threat of bodily harm;
• Taking necessary precautions, including practicing social distancing and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), when they must make contact with a member of the public;
• Only taking individuals into custody as a last resort.
Regarding the enforcement of stay at home orders, the ACLU recommends that police take the following steps:
• Officers will promote compliance with public health orders through education and requests to disperse, not arrests or ticketing. If several attempts at education are not persuasive, officers will seek a cease and desist order before resorting to tickets or arrest.
• Officers will assume individuals walking or driving their cars alone or in small groups are engaging in an essential activity, such as exercise and caring for a pet or family member, and will not question, cite, or arrest those individuals.
• Officers will not set up checkpoints to enforce any public health ordinances, even in the case of extreme emergency.
• As a means to reduce arrests, officers must communicate with a supervisor and obtain approval before making an arrest under the order. Supervisors will first explore whether the officer has already used other means of achieving compliance.
• Officers will follow existing prohibitions on racial profiling.
If Illinois residents are concerned about the way in which their local police are enforcing stay home orders, they can reach out to the ACLU of Illinois at ACLUofIllinois@aclu-il.org.
An Ivy League professor recently published an article in the Federalist stating that the longer we quarantine the entire population – the more we delay herd immunity which could lead to more people succumbing to the virus in the long run. The author suggested that a more targeted approach to quarantining might be the better solution.
Is this a better approach? Maybe. Maybe not. But can we at least have the discussion?
* They had a vigorous discussion about herd immunity in England last month…
Britain’s chief scientific adviser stoked controversy on Friday when he said that about 40m people in the UK could need to catch the coronavirus to build up “herd immunity” and prevent the disease coming back in the future.
Defending Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision not to follow other European countries by closing schools and banning mass gatherings, Patrick Vallance said it was the government’s aim to “reduce the peak of the epidemic, pull it down and broaden it” while protecting the elderly and vulnerable.
But Sir Patrick told Sky News that experts estimated that about 60 per cent of the UK’s 66m population would have to contract coronavirus in order for society to build up immunity.
“Communities will become immune to it and that’s going to be an important part of controlling this longer term,” he said. “About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.”
Donald Trump has said that Boris Johnson’s abandoned plan for creating “herd immunity” to the coronavirus in the UK would have been “catastrophic” and caused “a lot of death.”
The president said that the UK government’s original coronavirus strategy plan, which involved allowing the virus to spread in order to achieve resistance to the virus in the population, would have caused millions of deaths if adopted in the US.
“If you remember, they were looking at that concept - I guess it’s a concept if you don’t mind death, a lot of death - but they were looking at that in the UK, remember,” Trump told a White House press briefing on Tuesday.
“And all of a sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that weren’t good, so they put themselves in a little bit of a problem.”
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, who was transferred to intensive care Monday night, has become a potent symbol of the dangers the coronavirus pandemic poses.
The fact Johnson has become so ill highlights that this disease can be deadly to even the young and healthy. It also highlights what’s so problematic about the policy his government initially pursued to combat the virus: herd immunity.
Johnson’s government was much slower to impose social distancing measures than many other European countries.
On April 8th, the Governor’s 30 day-emergency powers come to an end. It is time for the Governor to bring the Legislature to the table. Our constituents deserve input on potentially opening parts of the state less affected by the virus.
Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that red or white oscillating, rotating, or flashing emergency lights may be used on a vehicle operated by a qualified deputy fire chief or assistant fire chief (in addition to a fire chief).
Way to completely ignore context and cherry-pick one small section while ignoring the rest. Perhaps you should tell your readers to read the whole thing and then comment specifically to the content.
I am not arguing for herd immunity. I am advocating for a more targeted approach based on actual numbers. Lets look at taking into account who is the most at-risk and formulate policies to protect them, our most vulnerable.
If you read the article, what is is really calling for is full transparency on relevant data, benchmarks and safeguard ideas for reopening of the economy-based on the data, open consideration of regionalization-again , based on data. All very reasonable discussion points.
Furthermore, how about some considerations on the lasting effects this blanket shutdown will have on working people?
I just saw a report where the Indiana suicide hotline has had increases in call volume from 1000-25,000.
The Governor and the Mayor both pointed to disproportionate effects on the African American community.
The Mayor attributes it to factors such as: health care accessibility, jobs, and hunger.
These huge across the board shutdown policies are making all of these factors exponentially worse.
If you read the article, I am clearly not calling for a free-for-all. Stop marginalizing dissent from the group-think.
BTW, I am chief sponsor on more bills than you indicated.
Look it up. www.ilga.gov
“I’m the public face of this city and you know, I’m a person who [takes] personal hygiene very seriously and I felt like I needed to have a haircut,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “So I got a haircut.”
Part of the criticism came from the fact that the mayor had called on people not to go out and get their hair done in one of her “Stay Home, Save Lives” public service announcements.
“I think what really people want to talk about is, we’re talking about people dying here. We’re talking about significant health disparities. I think that’s what people care most about,” Lightfoot said.
In response to a follow-up question, she said, “The woman who cut my hair had a mask and gloves on so we are, I am practicing what I’m preaching.”
A reporter asked the mayor about one of her “stay home, save lives” public service announcements where Lightfoot admonishes an off-screen person by saying, “Getting your roots done is not essential.”
Asked about that, a visibly annoyed Lightfoot said, “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye.
The mayor grew somewhat impatient when asked again about her mixed message to men and women across the city who don’t like the way they look after weeks without a haircut.
“I’ll answer this again. I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media. And I’m out in the public eye. I take my personal hygiene very seriously. I felt like I needed to have a haircut. I’m not able to do that myself. So, I got a haircut. Want to talk more about that?” the mayor said.
Pool reporter Craig Wall of Channel 7 replied, “No. I think you answered the question. Thank you.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he doesn’t question the mayor’s decision. As for him, he said he hasn’t had a haircut since he issued his statewide “stay-at-home” order last month, which is now effective through April.
“I actually feel like I’m getting a little shaggy. I’m going to turn into a hippie at some point here–my hair grows pretty fast,” Pritzker said Monday during a question-and-answer period at his latest COVID-19 briefing.
Pritzker, who has a full shock of brown hair, joked he may need to learn how to use a Flowbee, a do-it-yourself haircutting system that relies on the use of a vacuum cleaner. The product was marketed on television commercials that were considered unintentionally funny back in the day.
He said he understands the hardships peope are enduring as barbers and stylists close their shops during the COVID-19 crisis.
I bought a Flowbee online to cut Oscar’s hair, but he’s deathly afraid of it, so now it’s in the garage (the Flowbee, not Oscar).
[White House officials] said the state has received 367,700 N-95 masks, 875,000 surgical masks and 300 ventilators, with an additional 172,200 N-95 masks and 150 ventilators given separately to Chicago. […]
While acknowledging the work of the Army Corps of Engineers to build additional hospital capacity in the state, Pritzker said Monday that supplies provided by the federal government will only last a handful of days because it’s going fast.
Pritzker said health care workers are expected to need up 1.5 million N-95 masks and 25 million gloves every 10 days to care for infected patients.
And that’s just across our hospitals and long term care facilities, with small set-asides for our law enforcement to make sure that they are fully covered, and our essential state workers. That’s also before you count the McCormick Place alternate facility, which we project could bring our surgical mask burn rate to over 2 million across that 10 day period, to just offer one more example.
…Adding… The comptroller is keeping track of federal supplies received by Illinois. These numbers are current as of yesterday…
Animal shelters across the Chicago area are facing tough financial times as some cease adoptions, call off fundraisers and plan to take on more pets from those who have lost jobs and can no longer care for them. At the same time, rescue groups have seen a surge in people stepping up to foster pets, and at least one has shifted its focus to its pet food pantry to help families and their pets amid the government-mandated shutdown during the coronavirus outbreak.
Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin has temporarily suspended all adoptions and is looking into ways to “allow adoptions on a limited basis.” In addition, all of its in-person programming has been called off. […]
The shelter currently has 200 dogs and cats in its care, many of which are in foster homes but still require veterinary care, medications, food and other supplies.
“COVID-19 has already begun to affect our ability to care for the homeless animals already in our care, let alone the animals who will come to us in need in the days and months ahead,” according to Anderson officials.
