* Not good, campers. Highest number of cases reported in almost two months. Lots more testing now, but that positivity rate continues to rise. Not good…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,624 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 20 additional confirmed deaths.
Boone County: 1 male 80s
Cook County: 1 male 30s, 2 male 40s, 4 females 50s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 100+
Douglas County: 1 male 80s
DuPage County: 2 males 60s
Kane County: 1 male 70s
Lake County: 2 males 70s, 1 male 80s
McHenry County: 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 166,925 cases, including 7,367 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 39,706 specimens for a total of 2,388,193. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 16 –July 22 is 3.4%. As of last night, 1,473 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 309 patients were in the ICU and 135 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The most concerning region is still the Metro East, which has a 6.9 percent positivity average and 6 days of a positivity increase.
We’re basically heading back to June numbers.
* WHOI…
Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell confirms to Heart of Illinois ABC that eight more inmates have been confirmed with COVID-19.
That brings the total to 30.
This comes less than 24 hours after he told us there were also 13 employees at the jail, currently isolating after either testing positive, potentially being exposed to someone who was positive, or still waiting for test results.
* Press release…
In a press conference this morning, union leaders representing thousands of faculty and staff at Illinois colleges and universities formally issued a joint statement calling on campus presidents to start the upcoming semester with online learning.
“The latest science should dictate and guide the reopening of our colleges and universities to protect the safety of our students, faculty, employees, their families, and communities,” said University Professionals of Illinois (UPI) President John Miller. “With so much still unknown about COVID-19, this is not the time to rush the reopening of our institutions.”
Considering the current uptick in cases across Illinois and the likelihood of a second wave in the months ahead, we must put science before politics and economics to ensure everyone’s safety, he added.
University Professionals of Illinois – which represents faculty and staff at seven of Illinois’ 12 public universities – is one of more than 40 unions and allied groups to sign on to a joint higher education statement demanding remote learning to start this fall.
* Expect more of this…
As cases of COVID-19 again begin to swell in Southern Illinois, some restaurants are saying it’s just too risky to stay open for dine-in service, while others find themselves closing after employees test positive.
Thai Taste was late to the dine-in reopening party. As Illinois moved into Phase 4 of its reopening plan in June, Tam Rachatanavin, owner of the popular Carbondale eatery, said he wanted to wait. He and his staff waited until July 13 to welcome guests back inside. It didn’t last long, though. The restaurant announced on Facebook on Monday that after about a week of dine-in service, it would go back to curbside and delivery only. […]
“It was the reasonable and responsible thing to do,” Rachatanavin said of canceling dine-in service. He said “we take a hit, we take a hit but I’d rather this than have a positive case and (have to close).”
* Sun-Times live blog…
Theater audience must be masked for duration of show at reopening playhouse
How does contact tracing work?
US signs contract with Pfizer for COVID-19 vaccine doses
Carlos Rosas, the friendly manager of popular fish shack Calumet Fisheries, has died of the coronavirus. He was 41.
Challenging times require all hands on deck
* Tribune live blog…
Worries about COVID-19 spreading through the vents send building owners in search of cleaner air
Elementary schools may be safer to reopen, doctors say
Virus resurgence sends jobless claims up for first time since March
Aurora schools to offer families choice of partial return to classes or full remote learning
Please, wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands and use actual common sense.
…Adding… Wise move…
The Illinois bar exam, which was to take place in person in September, has been canceled and will be replaced with a remote version in October “due to continuing public health concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Illinois Supreme Court announced Thursday.
The change comes after months of student advocacy and a letter earlier this week from nine Illinois law school deans to the court recommending a remote exam.
…Adding… From my brother Devin’s online outlet…
According to an email sent out to administration, faculty and staff this morning, Frankfort District #168 Superintendent Matt Donkin stated: “We are tracking COVID-19 cases and working through protocols and guidance so that we can respond properly. Staff that were in closet contact will remain isolated at this time.” The email further states that the Administrative Service Center is also closed until further notice.
- Quibbler - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 1:13 pm:
Shut down the bars, gyms, etc., now, convene the legislature ASAP and pass a massive relief package to preserve people’s livelihoods while they stay home. Go back to phase 3, or even 2. This is an existential crisis. The federal government is not going to help as long as Trump is in office.
- brickle - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 1:13 pm:
This rests at least partially on Pritzker for continuing to blatantly ignore the Phase 4 contact tracing requirements.
Reopening schools for in-person learning in 4-6 weeks will be an absolute disaster. Hopefully the unions hold strong.
- Dotnonymous - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 1:14 pm:
Minus any safe vaccine,return to shelter at home and mandatory masks remain the only sane options…today…Governor?…ready…set…?
- fs - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 1:20 pm:
Region 3 (Quincy/Springfield) has July 20 the same as July 19, 3.3%, but they count that as an increase. Something needs corrected.
- Dance Band on the Titanic - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 1:44 pm:
Region 7 (Kankakee and Will) is at 5.2% positivity and Region 10 (suburban Cook) is at 4.9%. Alarm bells should be starting to ring.
- Not a Billionaire - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 1:51 pm:
We listened to the whole UPI presentation and it will not lower your BP. The disruption from a few cases can be stunning. A single student with covid could shut all their classes and learn the teacher to close all of theirs for weeks.
They had everything well planned for online.
They only thing I would add would be an on campus orientations for freshman. That could be staged to make sure they are set up for online.
- Not a Billionaire - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 1:53 pm:
We have to shut the bars and indoor dining and can’t open the schools or we are going back to be bad place.
And have to enforce the masks.
- Glenn - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:05 pm:
I want to know what the protocol is for the inevitable COVID-19 positive student in an open school.
It can’t be “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Sequestering at home might kill Grandma or even Mom or Dad.
If a parents dies and the family has to move out of the district does the student get the boot from the school district too?
- To Her Right - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:08 pm:
Do these numbers include probable positives from contact tracers? How is that impacting percentages?
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:13 pm:
We made a choice not to enforce the mask mandate. That wouldn’t have stopped the influence of our bad-acting neighbor states, and we still would have had transmissions in bars and such, but we didn’t even try to enforce the broader mandate (a party boat here, a bar there, while on the CTA you see 1/3 or more of the people without masks or with partially removed masks - just to take an example). A small amount of enforcement might have kept the numbers at least a treading-water levels and prevented business-killing rollbacks. Can’t we at least try that now before we have to go all the way back to shelter in place?
- striketoo - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:25 pm:
Unfortunately, many Republicans just don’t understand that the economy simply cannot recover while the virus rages. Time to stringently enforce the mask mandate.
- Rural Stuff - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:26 pm:
Does UPI think a college president is going to go all online for the fall while the local k12s are still set to go face to face? Really?
- NSJ - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:27 pm:
Why are less people dying? Honest question. Just better treatments?
- DoinStuff - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:32 pm:
With case numbers trending upwards, and knowing what we know now in terms of how the virus is transmitted (close proximity, indoors, poor air quality/circulation), I cannot see any successful outcome with a return to classrooms in the next few weeks - might be better to delay further into the fall.
- Nagidam - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:35 pm:
===Why are less people dying? Honest question. Just better treatments?===
The short answer is yes. Flattening the curve gained time for the medical community to gain knowledge on treatments of a new virus. Second to that is roughly 40% of these new infections are of younger people. We know the data says younger people are less likely to have severe symptoms or die.
- pool boy - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:43 pm:
I have a relative that said they are not going to let COVID 19 dictate how they live. Unfortunately, there must be others out there that believe the same thing. When things were closed, they had no where to go. Now that is no longer the case and they are going wherever they want. Very sad.
- Keyrock - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 2:52 pm:
Lake County Democrat is correct. We need to enforce mask requirements to keep the infection rate down. There are too many people not wearing masks, because they think the reopening in Phase 4 equals “all clear.”
- Pundent - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 3:11 pm:
=Why are less people dying? Honest question. Just better treatments?=
Treatments partially. It also speaks to the benefit of widespread testing and contact tracing which results in more positive test results being detected earlier which in turn enables us to quarantine people. That’s something we couldn’t do in March-May. But we still have a long way to go. The objective of testing and tracing is to manage community transmission not entirely eliminate it. Masks would go a long way in helping that as well.
- the Patriot - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 3:43 pm:
==The latest science==
They need to stop saying science. It is not science when you have no idea what is going on. The science from March was wrong, thus not science.
I believe more people would tune in if they would admit there is no real science with this virus and that is what makes it very dangerous and very hard for to make long term plans.
- cermak_rd - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 3:54 pm:
Science does not mean never wrong. Newton was science until Einstein after all. And Copernicus before Kepler.
Science is simply making observations about matters in the real world, making theories about them, making theories, testing said theories and changing the theory to match the observations then testing and etc.
Virologists have a very good idea what is going on. Epidemiologists have introduced us all to the R value and why it matters from a public health perspective.
The novel corona is novel and so it is new and we are learning about it but that very learning is all about science. There are papers that have been peer reviewed and published about it. We have its genome. We can breed it in a lab for testing purposes. We have several vaccine candidates. All of that is due to science.
- ChicagoBars - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 4:00 pm:
“…pass a massive relief package to preserve people’s livelihoods”
With what money? There are no good decisions right now, only less bad ones as someone on Pritzker’s staff said months ago. But there’s definitely no secret pot o’ State gold to pay for that.
- Pundent - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 4:22 pm:
=It is not science when you have no idea what is going on.=
When given the choice between accepting science vs. believing the virus will one day disappear like a miracle, I’ll choose science. And actually the science has been pretty accurate here. What we’ve lacked is the will to follow what the science is telling us to do. You debunk it because it’s easier than taking responsibility. Other countries don’t seem to have that hang-up. But you conveniently forget that. Europe and Asia are returning to normal. No miracle needed.
- Jibba - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 4:51 pm:
===The science from March was wrong, thus not science.===
Wrong on both counts. Cermak schooled you on what science is, so let’s deal with recommendations for virus prevention in March. They advised to wash hands and socially distance, which is still good advice. They just failed to recommend masks early enough, but they started asking us to do it months ago. “Science” doesn’t seem to have gotten it too wrong.
- Nagidam - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 5:16 pm:
===The science from March was wrong, thus not science.===
Many have explained this but that is exactly what science is. You learn and adapt.
- Fixer - Thursday, Jul 23, 20 @ 5:38 pm:
The “patriot”, here is the definition of science since you don’t seem to know what it means. “The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.”