In February, we were among the first states to bring our own state laboratories online, providing us with critical early capacity. At the time we were able to run around 50 tests per day. Today we could do nearly 2000 tests per day from all sources with our state labs now running 600 tests per day in all three locations, Chicago, Springfield, and Carbondale. A lot of work has gone into building up our testing capacity and there’s still a lot more work to be done. On Sunday and Monday we began drive through testing at for state and federal facilities. The Illinois National Guard opened our first entirely state-run drive-through testing facility in northwest Chicago. The Harwood heights community based testing site. This site is designed especially to collect specimens from our healthcare workers and first responders and at current capacity. They can collect 250 specimens per day. Senior members of the US Department of Health and Human Services were out to survey that site this last weekend and they called our setup a national model that they hope to replicate in other states. […]
Over the last few days federal HHS has also set up sites in Bolingbroke North Lake and Joliet with private partners Walgreens and Walmart. These sites can run close to 100 tests per day as is and up to 250 each with expanded staffing here in Illinois. Our residents also have access to four commercial labs and 15 hospital labs that in total average about 1500 tests per day on top of our state lab output. That’s of course on top of the 600 per day that we run at our state labs. IDPH is working with some hospitals to stand up their own new labs, providing positive specimens to hospitals for validation, so they can come online faster. As we speak labs at places like North Shore hospital and Southern Illinois University are expanding their capacity with additional equipment and supplies, with an expected additional capacity of 2805 daily tests in two weeks. That will bring our in state testing to more than 4300 per day.
Now, even with this rapid expansion, we still need 10s of thousands more tests to get an accurate picture of our state, that’s within our reach. Though standing up additional hospital lab sites will be required and mobile testing sites will be required across the state. And we’re doing that with a continued consistent delivery of necessary supplies such as reagent and viral transport media we can get this job done.
Of course, nationally and here in Illinois, we are beyond the moment where testing alone can be our primary weapon against this virus. We can’t just test, we have to treat. It’s true that the vast majority of people will recover from COVID 19 on their own without hospitalization, and without a specific therapy.
One aspect of that is our healthcare workforce, those on the frontlines fighting COVID 19 every day. And I’m very proud to say that since my call to action this weekend for those qualified to join the fight. We have had hundreds of nurses and doctors and other health care workers reach out to us and let us know that they are interested in helping the application went live yesterday and in just 24 hours, we’ve already received 180 applications from individuals ready and willing to rejoin the healthcare workforce.
…Adding… From a press release…
Hospitals across the state are meeting the current need, and the state is building additional capacity to treat patients that may need care in the future.
As of March 23, data reported to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) showed 12,588 non-ICU beds, 1,106 ICU beds and 1,595 ventilators available in hospitals across the state. The current capacity of the state’s health care system as of is shown in the table below.
* Impact of stay at home order…
I want to take a moment now to provide you with a fuller picture of what we could be dealing with in the near future. As I’ve said, You deserve honesty and transparency on the gravity of our situation, and the reasoning behind the aggressive measures, like the stay at home order that I’ve put in place in our worst case scenario projections. That is without the stay at home order, in one week we would need over 2500 more non ICU beds and 800 ICU beds, than we have in existence in the entire state today. Further still in two weeks, we would need over 28,000, additional non ICU beds and over 9400 additional ICU beds. That’s untenable.
Again, I’m using Otter for transcription, so expect typos.
* Triage tents and closed hospitals…
IEMA has deployed 49 triage tents, 40 outside of Cook County to set up triage units outside of hospitals to safely and efficiently evaluate potential COVID 19 patients. In total, 66 of our over 200 hospitals statewide have set up triage tents with IEMA, or on their own. IEMA is currently working with 26 additional hospitals to set up triage centers, and my team and I will make sure that each and every one of those hospitals, has what they need to get a triage center going. […]
IDPH, IEMA, the Illinois National Guard and the US Army Corps of Engineers are in the process of investigating closed hospitals that could temporarily reopen to support our COVID 19 response. In a worst case scenario surge the state would turn existing hospitals into almost entirely COVID 19 response hospitals, moving non COVID patients to other hospitals including these re-outfitted locations.
* Ventilators…
The number one difference between a standard bed, and a COVID equipped bed is a ventilator. Right now in Illinois we have about 2200 ventilators all across the state of which 1600 are currently available. I n the worst case scenario projections that I discussed earlier, we would need over 4100 more ventilators to outfit our ICU beds within two weeks. Again, that’s a projection based on no protective interventions. My team and I are pursuing every option to increase our state’s supply of ventilators including working with scientists and experts in Illinois and beyond to pursue innovative new equipment options.
* White House…
Yesterday I spoke with President Trump to walk him through Illinois’ immediate needs, millions of N 95 masks, and hundreds of ventilators just in the near term. President Trump promised assistance and yesterday afternoon. The White House notified us that we will be receiving 300 more ventilators and 300,095 masks from FEMA in the coming days. On that call I also urged the president to invoke the defense production act. I know I sound like a broken record, but if I have to stand here every single day until I’m blue in the face and advocate that the federal government fully utilize this act, then I will.
This is the reality, there is a finite supply of critical resources available around the world right now. There is an enormous supply of governors and countries trying to get those resources. We need the full might of the federal government to obtain and allocate things like ventilators and PPE. I know there are businesses out there right now working on turning production toward these critical needs and I’ve been vocal about how grateful I am to the manufacturing community for the most part, which is stepping up to try and help, but there is no way that these companies can ramp up fast enough to get us everything that we need in the time that we need it
* Reopen the country?…
Finally, there has been some talk over the last 24 hours by some about who this nation might be willing to sacrifice to COBID 19, for the sake of our economic interests. Well, in case there’s any doubt in your minds, I’m not willing to sacrifice anyone.
There is no life in this state that is more or less precious than any other no person more or less worthy of saving. I want grandparents around to help raise their grandchildren. I want people to spend years after this is over, celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries and healthy retirements. I want Illinois to continue to be enriched by its young and old residents alike. Our economic strength comes from our diversity in this state, and the hard won experiences of our citizens without that we are nothing with it. There is nothing that we cannot overcome.
* It’s now the IDPH director’s turn…
In terms of the data that we’ve collected, 54% of our confirmed cases are white, 33% are black, 5% are categorized as Asian, we have 11% of Latino or Hispanic ethnicity.
In terms of severity of illness, our data shows that 16% of COVID cases have resulted in hospitalization, 4% have resulted in ICU admission. Of the lives lost, we see that 92% of those lives lost are in those older than 60.
* The National Guard’s Adjutant General again tried to counter rumors…
The National Guard has been the subject of recent rumors that we were performing some type of policing action to enforce a quarantine. Well let me repeat again today that the Illinois National Guard is not bringing weapons, and not enforcing quarantines. What we are doing is bringing approximately 115 personnel of the medical profession, as the governor spoke of earlier, to support things like drive through testing.
He continued by outlining the rest of the things the Guard is doing. It’s a lot.
* Now on to questions for the governor. First responders, healthcare workers are exhausted. Any potential to help relieve them?…
Healthcare workers are being overworked there’s no doubt about it. They’re doing heroic amazing work every day. And they do deserve a break as best we can give them. They’re so dedicated, they’re dedicated in non-crisis times I must say, and now they’re working, you know even harder. So as you know we expanded the eligibility to work in the healthcare field to people who had recently retired, we can give them back their licenses. Nearly immediately and those who may have left the profession for some other profession, we need them back we’re encouraging them to come back and we’ve seen hundreds already talking to us about coming back filling out forms and so on.
And so in that way we’re trying to fill up the need for more health care workers so we can alleviate some of the work on the front lines. We’re also, at the edges at the borders of the state, we’re allowing people who may work as healthcare workers in other states but may live in Illinois, or they may live on the other side of the border, and may be willing to work in Illinois, we want to make sure they get licensed in Illinois and so reciprocity, for those folks. We want to be able to move healthcare workers to where they’re most needed so we’re doing our best to try to alleviate the congestion let’s say that that is weighing upon the healthcare industry the healthcare workforce today and we’ll keep looking for ways to do that.
* Asked about President Trump’s stated desire to get the economy going again by April…
My concern with the President’s remarks is I don’t think he’s listening to the science. I think that he is, you know, operating, he’s looking at the stock market, which I know he’s essentially judges himself by, and making decisions in that way. Look, I understand that. What’s happening now is very, very difficult for families all across this nation.
Everybody is suffering financially from this and some more than others, and so this is something that weighs on all of us. And I think about how we can support people across the state of Illinois. We’ve done many things like expanding unemployment benefits and providing meals for kids and making sure that we’re looking at shelter for those who are homeless. There’s a, there’s an awful lot and of course we stopped evictions in the state and we stopped, we put a moratorium on on shut offs of utilities and so on, we’re doing many other things like that to protect people from the economic downturn that seems to be upon us.
But I think the President is not taking into account the true damage that this will do to our country. If we see truly millions of people die, and that’s what I think would happen that’s what the scientists and the doctors tell us what will happen. And you heard me say a little bit earlier, if you don’t have these restrictions on the damage that would be done that the lives that would be lost the overriding of our healthcare system would lead to real devastation so I’m very very concerned about what the President is saying.
* Will he be extending the stay at home order beyond April 7…
Again, I’m trying to follow the science here and I am concerned that we may have to extend that deadline.
You know we have to start to see some movement in the numbers in the right direction or at least a shaping of the curve that looks like we’re hitting you know a good spot in that curve.
* Budget adjustments?…
Well that is an excellent question I mean there’s no doubt that any estimates that were made even two months ago would be, you know, not useful. At this point I don’t think anybody expected where we would be today.
So we are working with our budget experts, with our Office of Management budget, with my deputy governor for budget and economy and our entire team to try to figure out what direction, what’s the steepness of the downturn in revenues and of course there are expenditures that we’re needing to make to save people’s lives to protect people across the state. We’re going to do what we need to do there’s no question about that. But yes, of course behind that we’ve got to look at our budget situation and do whatever we need to do to address it and then you know we’ve got to also consult with the General Assembly on what we will do for next year’s budget.
* Would he spend part of his own personal fortune to acquire PPE…
Well I’ve reached out to an awful lot of people in the business community that I know, to help them, to get them to help us acquire PPE from around the world. Many of them have offered their resources. I, of course, have been charitable as you know over the years and intend to be in this situation as well. And so we’ll be doing, I’m gonna be doing everything that I can. I’m certainly working more morning noon and night and I’ll put my resources to bear on it too.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 250 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including four deaths; a Chicago resident in his 50s, two Cook County residents both in their 60s, and a DuPage County resident in her 90s.
Grundy County is now reporting a case. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,535 cases in 32 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to 99 years. Cases by county can be found on the IDPH website, as well as a list of local health departments who will have the most up-to-date information.
Even as private labs have been cleared by government regulators to process tens of thousands of additional tests in the last two weeks, experts warn that the nation is still falling well short of enough testing capacity to keep ahead of the highly contagious virus. And it can often take a week just to get results back.
Trump last week rated his administration’s response to the crisis as a perfect 10. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the CDC’s system wasn’t designed to test for and track a widespread outbreak, which he characterized as “a failing.”
In interviews with the AP, two federal health officials with direct knowledge of the situation said CDC experts don’t know why many of the agency’s test kits failed to reliably detect the virus. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about what went wrong.
J. Stephen Morrison, a health policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, called the testing issues a “debacle,” contributing to what he described as a confused and delayed federal response to the crisis.
It took six days to get test results back for US Sen. Rand Paul. And he may have passed the virus to who knows how many people during that time period.
* And it was even longer for this Illinoisan. From the Park Ridge-Niles School District…
District 64 has received notice from a parent at Roosevelt Elementary School that they tested positively for COVID-19 by health care providers on Saturday, March 21. This parent was reported to have demonstrated symptoms in early March, was tested on March 11, and just received the results this past Saturday. This parent has been hospitalized and is receiving care.
At the peak, medical workers identified 909 new cases in a single day, Feb. 29, and the country of 50 million people appeared on the verge of being overwhelmed. But less than a week later, the number of new cases halved. Within four days, it halved again — and again the next day.
On Sunday, South Korea reported only 64 new cases, the fewest in nearly a month, even as infections in other countries continue to soar by the thousands daily, devastating health care systems and economies. Italy records several hundred deaths daily; South Korea has not had more than eight in a day. […]
South Korea is one of only two countries with large outbreaks, alongside China, to flatten the curve of new infections. And it has done so without China’s draconian restrictions on speech and movement, or economically damaging lockdowns like those in Europe and the United States.
As global deaths from the virus surge past 15,000, officials and experts worldwide are scrutinizing South Korea for lessons. And those lessons, while hardly easy, appear relatively straightforward and affordable: swift action, widespread testing and contact tracing, and critical support from citizens.
Residential congregate living with clusters (2 or more) of possible* or confirmed COVID-19 cases in a vulnerable population
Persons (may include residents or staff) who are part of a cluster of 2 or more possible or confirmed cases in a residential congregate setting that serves more vulnerable populations such as an assisted living facility, group home, homeless shelter, or correctional settings.
OR
Hospitalized patients with unexplained pneumonia
Be sure to expeditiously test patients from a residential congregate setting that serves vulnerable populations such as an assisted living facility, group home, homeless shelter, or correctional settings.
*Possible COVID-19 case: A possible case of COVID-19 is defined as a person with COVID-19-like illness for whom testing was not performed.
COVID-19-like Illness is described as new onset of subjective or measured (≥100.4°F or 38.0°C) fever OR cough OR shortness of breath OR sore throat that cannot be attributed to an underlying or previously recognized condition.
Patients who do not meet any of the above criteria for COVID-19 testing by IDPH laboratories should be managed as clinically indicated and providers may determine to proceed with testing at a commercial or hospital laboratory.
That is, if they can find any tests from those labs.
Following Ohio’s 11th-hour move [to postpone its presidential primary], Pritzker responded to criticism from Chicago’s city election board over why he did not act to postpone in-person voting in Illinois.
At an Election Day news conference, Pritzker said the city’s board had asked him a week before “to do something that is unquestionably not within my legal authority.”
“They wanted me unilaterally to cancel in-person voting on March 17, convert Illinois to an all-vote-by-mail state, and extend vote by mail to May 12,” Pritzker continued. “They could not even begin to explain the legal basis for their request.”
It’s impossible to say what would have happened had Pritzker’s administration forced a delay like Ohio’s, so calling it “unquestionable” is a bit of an exaggeration. But experts told us the governor’s on firm legal footing to claim he cannot — on his own — interfere with the democratic process. […]
Experts told us Pritzker’s administration may have been able to try something similar, potentially forcing the Illinois General Assembly to sort out a new date, as Ohio’s is now doing. But the experts warned that doing so could have set a troubling precedent for future elections.
“You can say that even though the motivations here (in Ohio’s case) were completely pure and even though the decision here was completely reasonable, this is a dynamic that is not particularly healthy to have a situation where a person who is elected himself is deciding not to hold elections,” said Nadav Shoked, a local government expert at Northwestern University’s law school. […]
When we asked his office why the governor’s administration had not tried to close polls like Ohio’s did, spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh responded in an email that “breaking the law and then hoping the Supreme Court agrees with you isn’t how this administration prefers governing.” […]
“The Election Code is silent on the issue of canceling or postponing an election,” spokesman Matt Dietrich told us in an email. “It would require the General Assembly amending the Election Code to give us (or some other official or entity) such authority.”
Dietrich said the same goes for mandating election authorities send mail-in ballots to voters.
Experts said it stands to reason that state lawmakers must take action in order to alter how elections are conducted.
“Who represents the people of the state? It’s the state legislature,” said Jaime Dominguez, an urban politics expert at Northwestern University. “Voters are indirectly involved through their representative in the legislature.” […]
Pritzker said it was “unquestionably” not within his “legal authority” to postpone Illinois’ primary election by changing the date or shifting the election to vote-by-mail.
While there are too many hypotheticals to be certain Pritzker’s administration could not have delayed the election in any way, experts told us the governor spoke correctly in describing the limits of his powers under state law.
We rate his claim Mostly True.
“Mostly True” is defined as “The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.”
He said it was not within his legal authority. That checked out with everyone Politifact consulted. But then Politifact moved the goalpost to a hypothetical unilateral constitutional revision by a governor and rated it “mostly true.”
Many of the early votes cast in Champaign County for the primary election may have been counted the night before Election Day, in violation of state law.
The first summary report of election returns — posted shortly after the polls closed Tuesday by Democratic Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons — appears to have been created at 10:19 p.m. Monday, according to the timestamp on the report.
State law mandates that early ballots can’t be counted until after the polls close on Election Day, and they are to be counted in the presence of both political parties, according to Republican county Recorder Mark Shelden, who once served as clerk.
“I cannot emphasize enough how out of line this is,” Shelden said. “Literally, in the dark of night, they’re counting votes with no Republicans present and uploading them into the system.”
On the evening of Monday, March 16th the tabulators used to record and secure ballots at 10 early voting sites around the county were closed. A Democratic and Republican judge executed this process, jointly handled the ballots, and both signed off on the corresponding written results. The results are housed on a military-grade encrypted thumb drive and on a printed report from the tabulator, those and the ballots themselves are securely transported back to the Election Services Building, again, with Democratic and Republican judges together. These materials are received and checked by Democratic and Republican staff people, together, then secured in a locked box.
This process was in place before I became Clerk and remains the most secure option for recording early voting ballots while opening the same locations for Election Day.
“What he’s saying is ‘We generated results and the judges handled them,’ which is a no-no, and not the procedure he inherited,” Hulten said.
In addition to the fact that it’s the law, Hulten said, observing the statute on timing of generating results matters “because voters who haven’t yet voted could be discouraged by the early release of results,” he said. “It’s important because candidates who know results prior to the close of polls can potentially use that information to their advantage.” […]
“Mr. Ammons’ Facebook post indicates that his election judges printed and returned tabulator tapes with results to him on Monday evening, before the close of voting on Tuesday night,” Hulten said. “The screen capture of the results shown to me indicate that his office read the USB memory sticks and generated aggregated results reports, also on Monday evening, before the close of voting on Tuesday night.”
In his instructions to election judges about closing early voting for the November 2018 election, Hulten said there isn’t a mention of judges printing, signing or returning a results tape when closing, “because under our procedures, no results tape was generated.”
*** UPDATE *** Ammons was harshly rebuked this week by the Illinois State Board of Elections…
The Illinois General Assembly on Monday began its second week of shutdown due to the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, and officials said it is still uncertain when, or under what circumstances, the session will resume. […]
“For now, we continue to weigh legislative and procedural priorities so that when we return to session we can be effective and efficient while also protecting public health and safety,” Harmon’s spokesman, John Patterson, said in an email. […]
[Danny Chun, a spokesman for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association] said one of the options he has heard discussed would be to call the General Assembly back into session for a single day – possibly even half a day – just to pass a budget and a few other essential bills.
Patterson did not confirm or deny such a plan, saying in an email, “lots of options are being explored and discussed.”
While tens of thousands of Illinoisans have applied for unemployment benefits in recent weeks as the effects of the Coronavirus ripple through the state’s economy, a large chunk of workers will be left behind unless the federal government acts.
Workers who are considered independent contractors — like ride-hailing drivers and food couriers — are not eligible for unemployment benefits, since they firms that pay them do not paying into the state’s fund for unemployed workers through payroll taxes.
Eighteen percent of Illinois’ workforce are part of the so-called gig economy, according to ADP Research Institute, which published its newest report on the gig economy last month. Illinois is tied for third place among states with the largest segments of work carried out by gig workers, according to the report.
These workers – sometimes called “1099 workers” after the tax form they file – also include freelancers, hairstylists, estheticians, nannies and substitute teachers.
Illinois education officials have applied for a federal waiver to cancel all standardized testing in the state and suspend school ratings and assessments.
The request comes days after U.S. Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos said the Dept. of Education would approve any state applications for waivers as coronavirus-related closures upend school years across the country.
The Illinois State Board of Education said that, if its application is approved, any school that was identified last year as struggling and in need of extra support would continue to receive that support next year.
* The Sun-Times is now running a COVID-19 blog. Some headlines…
Lightfoot, suburban mayors raise red flags about releasing jail detainees over COVID-19
How to apply for unemployment benefits if you are out of work during Illinois’ COVID-19 shutdown
US, Europe account for 85% of new COVID-19 infections, deaths
Rebates on CTA passes, subsidies for Pace and Divvy rides offered to help residents cope with coronavirus crisis
The shuttered MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, could begin receiving quarantined coronavirus patients as early as this Thursday after the City of Chicago struck an agreement with the current operators to reopen the hospital.
MetroSouth stopped receiving patients in September 2019. Last week, Quorum Health announced that it had completed a sale of the hospital property to Lockwood Development Partners, a real estate development company with offices in Chicago. The rapid rise of coronavirus cases in Illinois, which as of Monday numbered 1,285 and 12 deaths, prompted some legislators to call for MetroSouth to be reopened to treat COVID-19 patients.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (Illinois 1st District) and state Rep. Bob Rita (28th District) asked Gov. JB Pritizker to take steps to immediately get the Blue Island facility back in operation. The equipment in the former MetroSouth emergency room was transferred to Lockwood, according to a news release from the City of Blue Island.
The reopened facility will provide 200 additional beds for the isolation and quarantine of people who have been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. The city also plans to rent 2,000 rooms in downtown Chicago for people who’ve tested positive or been exposed to someone with the virus.
The Blue Island Police Department has reported back to work as of 6 a.m. today, following a temporary closure of the department on March 22, 2020. The closure was in response to an employee who tested positive for COVID-19. The department has been thoroughly cleaned and personnel not in direct contact with the affected employee have returned to work.
Tuesday, Mar 24, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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The credit union industry has adapted to the needs of its members and staff through numerous times of national crisis – and the current COVID-19 crisis is no different. Credit unions across Illinois are acting swiftly to accommodate the unique needs of their members while also putting preventative measures in place to help curb the spread of COVID-19. When the federal government made recommendations to limit crowds, credit unions like Community Plus Federal Credit Union quickly acted to cancel their annual meeting and shift it to a digital format. When recommendations were released to encourage social distancing, many credit unions like Alliant Credit Union, shifted to drive-up only service, while still offering unique solutions and individual appointments to serve the needs of their members.
The transition to life at home has proven to be a challenge for many Illinoisans, but credit unions have showed up in force to help alleviate financial worries during this trying time. Additionally, credit unions are communicating digitally with their members to ensure that members are up-to-date on the credit union response to COVID-19. Access Credit Union, among more than twenty others state-wide, have enacted immediate improvements to their email communication efforts to make important information immediately accessible to members. Multiple credit unions across the state continue to utilize social media to keep members informed and stay connected. The credit union industry will continue to honor the “People Helping People” philosophy as we navigate these unchartered waters together. Rest assured that even in these trying times, your credit union remains a trusted partner in ensuring your financial well-being. To ensure the security of your funds, all state and federally chartered credit unions maintain deposit insurance covering at least $250,000 per depositor, per account category – even in uncertain economic times. To learn more about the credit union difference, and to find a credit union near you, please visit asmarterchoice.org today.
Go right through that door and ask Chuck Schumer what he’s demanding in secret behind closed doors. Oh, and don’t forget all of their cities, and all their states. Dick Durbin represents one of the most bankrupt states in America and the most bankrupt city, Chicago, in America behind those closed doors. They are demanding straight cash bailouts for states and cities that have been fiscally irresponsible for years.
And they come down here and accuse us of bailouts? We are willing to help those cities and states. They are overwhelmed by this pandemic. Yet we simply say they have to repay the money on the back end. That’s not what the Democrats are asking for behind those closed doors over there. They want straight cash payments.
Despite all this, everybody keeps saying they’re close to an agreement on a stimulus bill. We’ll see.
…Adding… Heh…
Enjoying @SenTomCotton of Arkansas, a state that gets back $1.61 in Federal benefits for every $1 in Federal taxes his residents pay, hypocritically complaining about "bailouts". Rank hypocrisy in action. IL btw? Breaks even on Fed tax benefits.https://t.co/tLUhLTVeFphttps://t.co/icgiYrO2SJ
With schools, day care centers and preschools around Illinois shut down as part of statewide efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, calls to the Department of Children and Family Services’ abuse and neglect hotline have dropped dramatically over the past week.
But child welfare experts and others don’t believe this decline reflects a decrease in abuse; on the contrary, many fear that children are now at a greater risk of being hurt as families, many facing additional stress over work and health issues, hunker down in isolation.
Because children aren’t in school or child care, the teachers, social workers and counselors most likely to spot signs of abuse and who are required by state law to report those allegations, can’t.
“Unfortunately, we know there aren’t changes in the number of children being abused or neglected,” DCFS spokesman Jassen Strokosch said.
During the week of March 9, before Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to close all schools, DCFS received 6,672 reports of abuse and neglect via the statewide hotline — 91% by phone and 9% through an online reporting system.
Pritzker’s school shutdown order went into effect the following Tuesday, March 17, and as parents began to lose their jobs or were ordered to work from home, the number of hotline reports plummeted by 45% to 3,675 that week, the DCFS figures show. […]
Research shows that the risk of child abuse rises in times of economic stress, said Char Rivette, executive director of the nonprofit Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center. And reports of abuse and neglect typically drop during the summer when children are at home or when other events keep children away from school, such as the Chicago Public Schools teachers’ strike late last year, Rivette said. But the unprecedented nature of the current crisis has left workers particularly uneasy. […]
DCFS’ Strokosch said the agency needs family members and neighbors now more than ever to report their suspicions to the hotline.
“Do not assume that someone else will report it,” he said. “You might be the only person seeing it.”
Ventilators are mechanical breathing machines that are the crucial lifesaving tool when a patient’s lungs fill with fluid, making it very difficult for the lungs to oxygenate blood. In one of the first large-scale studies of the characteristics of the coronavirus in Wuhan, 5 percent of patients required the intensive care unit and 2.3 percent required a ventilator. Now imagine 2.3 percent of the perhaps millions of Americans who are expected to become infected with Covid-19 over the next three months. There simply will not be enough of these machines, especially in major cities. (Hospitals in the country have some 160,000 total; New York has 6,000 at most.)
* Today…
We had projected a need for 110K hospital beds at the apex of this virus.
The rate of infection is INCREASING and the curve has increased.
New projections show we may need 140K beds.
NYS is doing everything we can on every level to slow the spread.
“The truth is that I was on the phone yesterday talking to companies and here’s what I ran into: in one case we’re competing for ventilators with FEMA and the federal government. So Illinois is bidding for ventilators against the federal government. In another case, we were bidding against foreign countries and other states,” Pritzker told Savannah Guthrie.
“And so what’s happening too, not just on ventilators but on all the PPE that we need, prices are being ratcheted up and we’re competing against each other on what should be a national crisis where we should be coming together and the federal government should be leading, helping us,” he continued.
The White House yesterday promised to send Illinois 300 ventilators. That’s just not gonna be enough.
* Also, this claim by the mayor is undoubtedly true at this very moment. I do not think it will be true once cases start to spike…
Lightfoot also said the city is OK right now with hospitals, bed counts and ventilators.
“So far, we’re fine,” Lightfoot said.
It’s not gonna stay that way if we don’t successfully flatten the curve.
The General Assembly has the exclusive power to raise revenue by law except as limited or otherwise provided in this Constitution. The power of taxation shall not be surrendered, suspended, or contracted away. [Emphasis added.]
At a time when almost everything in our daily lives has become unexpectedly complicated, Illinois should not keep its income tax deadline set at April 15 now that the federal government has moved back its deadline by 90 days.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that the federal government will move the tax deadline to July 15 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That puts the ball in Illinois’ court to find a way to do the same.
Editorials
We urge the state to move quickly to resolve this. It’s clearly doable.
Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have already changed their deadlines to conform with the federal date. Even before the federal government acted, Maryland had moved its deadline for some business filings to June 1, and California had bumped its tax day back to June 15.
On Sunday, Pritzker said his administration is “working hard to figure out how” to push back the filing date but also needs to figure out how to deal with the changes in its cash flow. Other states, he pointed out, are in the same fix.
* I’ve chided Gov. Pritzker twice for the tone he’s used with President Trump. It’s not that I felt the governor was being counter-productive. It’s that two of our last three governors would regularly fly into public rages and I hated that. I also believed, and still do, that he needed to continue being Gov. Chillax during these frightening times. The facts are obviously on his side, so I wanted him to stick to the facts.
There are those, including within the Pritzker administration, who believe that President Trump respects those who challenge him. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but the POTUS did say this last night…
“J.B. Pritzker called me today. We’re going to be helping them out in Illinois.” - Donald Trump @wandtvnews
After a string of national TV appearances in which Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker criticized President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic — and a couple of Twitter tirades — the White House on Monday has vowed to send Illinois 300 ventilators and 250,000 masks.
According to the governor’s office, that assurance came from a White House aide on Monday afternoon after Pritzker and Trump spoke directly on the phone at about noon. It also came some 24 hours after Pritzker complained “the only way to get the president of the United States to pay attention is to go on national television and make noise about it.”
Cook County Republican Chairman Sean Morrison lashed out Monday at Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot, accusing them of putting politics before constituents with their “volley of combative and sarcastic tweets” aimed at President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
“Finger-pointing and name calling by Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot solves absolutely nothing except for trying to score some cheap political points,” Morrison said in a statement. “We need steady, effective and focused leadership and they’re not providing it.”
* Gov. Pritzker began by going over what I told you late yesterday about the lack of PPE supplies from the federal government. But he also announced that the private sector was coming through. His conclusion…
Illinois is acquiring PPE to compensate for what we haven’t received in our federal requests. But we are doing so while running up against obstacles that should not exist. I have medical professionals and first responders begging for things that they need to keep them safe, but so does Governor Cuomo in New York, so does Governor Dewine in Ohio, so does Governor Inslee in Washington State.
We’re all doing everything that we can to do our jobs, which is to protect our residents and to make sure our health care workers have what they need. We need the federal government to use the defense production act, to help the states get what we need. It’s the federal government’s job to make sure that a nurse being properly equipped in Illinois doesn’t come at the cost of a doctor being ready for work in California.
It’s the federal government’s job to make sure that we have a cohesive, prepared, robust national response. It’s the federal government’s job to make sure that cash-strapped states are not paying more than they should have to for supplies. That we are not watching prices go up by the hour, because we’re competing against one another, yet for the common good.
I’m an Illinoisan and I’m the Governor of Illinois. And I’m going to do everything that I can to protect our residents and get us through this crisis. I said I’d fight like hell for you. And I’m doing that every minute of every hour of every day. One way or another. We need these supplies, and I have a whole team of people whose singular focus right now is working the phones across the world to get as much PPE as possible shipped to Illinois. They’re the force behind the 2.5 million N95 masks, 1 million disposable surgical masks, 11,000 gloves and 10,000 personal protection kits that I just announced.
And again, I’m an Illinoisan, but I’m also an American. And so long as I know that there’s action that the White House can take things like aggressively wielding the defense production Act, or actually buying and distributing the supplies that they say they’re going to buy and distribute. I’ll do everything in my power to make that clear on behalf of the people of this state, and the more than 300 million Americans who don’t call Illinois home. Because that’s the very baseline of what we all deserve.
* Press release…
In another effort to build supply to protect those on the frontlines, battling this pandemic, Gov. Pritzker announced today that the state has executed contracts to purchase 2.5 million N95 masks, 1 million disposable surgical masks, 11,000 gloves and 10,000 personal protection kits.
While medical facilities across the state do have their own stocks of PPE and uses their own vendors to source additional PPE, the administration’s procurement effort aims to supplement their existing supply during this period of heightened need.
* Mark Denzler with the IMA was able to find 171,000 MREs and 350,000 N95 masks…
Thank you Governor Pritzker for your calm and steadfast leadership during this pandemic. I’d also like to thank the brave men and women who are on the front lines every single day, including women and men in manufacturing, Illinois is facing extraordinary times the rival, some of the greatest challenges in our history. Well the headlines are grim and the task is daunting. Illinois manufacturers once again stand ready to answer the call conquer obstacles and lead the way forward.
Over the last few weeks, the Illinois Manufacturers Association has been inundated with offers from companies across Illinois. Some manufacturers are ramping up production of current products, while others are repurposing their facilities to meet the need. Liquor manufacturers are making sanitizer, clothing manufacturers are making masks and grounds plastic injection molding companies are making parts for testing kits. This new essential equipment task force will help these companies collaborate, break down regulatory barriers in Washington DC or Springfield, provide medical standards and testing and help review the validity and safety of these products. Importantly, these products will remain in Illinois, to help our families and our neighbors.
* On to questions. Pritzker was asked about the crush of people trying to file for unemployment insurance and couldn’t get through…
First of all this is just an unprecedented number of people that are seeking Unemployment Claims during this time period. I don’t think we’ve ever seen this before even in periods during the 2008-2009 crisis. Having said that, we found over the weekend and over the last you know couple days of the week that the systems that we had that were supporting the online applications wasn’t robust enough to take all of the applications that were coming in at one time. And so we’re porting that system entirely over to a much more expansive foundational software system and server. So we won’t have any of those problems going forward. So we’ve taken care of, I think the online problem.
The phone line problem is another issue. We had to take non essential staff and push them up to the front lines to answer phones to make sure we answered any questions we would like anybody who needs to apply for unemployment though, to go to the website it really will be. It’s now a, you know, as I say it’s on a new platform, we’ll be able to take many more at the same time, we want to fulfill on people’s need during this crisis and we’re going to.
* How do you balance protecting the public health, while protecting civil liberties…
So to be clear, we’re trying to protect people’s health and safety. That’s our number one job here. There’s no attempt here to limit peoples’ civil liberties. People can go outside, they can do an awful lot of the same things that they were doing before was simply asked that non-essential businesses closed during this time period, and that people make a special effort to stay home.
* He was asked about supplies…
I was on the phone trying to get ventilators. I talked to two CEOs yesterday afternoon, speaking to them about acquiring ventilators from that we need to build up as many ventilators as we can. I should also point out that earlier today, I reached out to the President of the United States, he returned my call a little [later in the] afternoon and I spoke with him directly about our need for N95 masks and for ventilators. And as you know, it’s very important that we acquire as many of these as we can. I have called for him to invoke the national defense production act and actually utilize it because I know he’s invoked it but not utilized it in any industry. And when I call these ventilator manufacturers and I gave this example to them. In one case, they told me I was competing with FEMA to acquire ventilators, so I’m competing against the federal government to get ventilators for the state of Illinois, and the federal government is not distributing ventilators to the state of Illinois so I’m literally working against, you know, a competitor.
I just want to give you the second example if you don’t mind, I called another manufacturer of ventilators, and he pointed out to me that well I would be competing with countries other than the United States, so as I put an order in I better put in as big an order as possible in order to put myself higher on the list of priority to get ventilators from that manufacturer. Now, here I’m competing with my own federal government, I’m competing with countries outside the United States to get things that we need to, to keep our people safe and healthy.
The President was very responsive, frankly. He didn’t so much like the idea of invoking the defense production act, but he did say, you know what do you need. Let me see if I can get that for you and I, you know, gave him some numbers I told him what we had ordered from the government already. And he said let me work on that. And so I really thought it seems like he’s being very responsive to what I asked for and I hope that we’ll be able to receive those items in relatively short order.
* The governor was asked about rumors that the National Guard was armed. He deferred to his Adjutant General…
It’s great to actually get that out in front of the media today, dispel any rumors that the National Guard has any weapons. We’re not doing any police action, we’re not, you know, doing any kind of work at all like that.
What we are doing is supporting testing within the Rosemont area this week where we just stood up a new testing facility. We have 100 personnel that are taking care of testing now these are professional doctors or nurses or medical professionals that are supported by logistics folks. They’re there to manage that line and to help our neighbors, our community, folks in our community to get through and be tested. Today they started out with the first responders, they started testing them early this morning to get them through and make sure that they’re good to go on their test. And then they’re opening more and more up to the public as we go forward. They’re also supporting as the governor talked about PPE that personal protective equipment. They’re also supporting accounting for that distribution, as we get more and more of that coming in as governor talked about the large orders coming in. They will be helping warehouse sad they’ll package that up, they’ll ship that out, along with one way Department of Transportation, in conjunction with Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois State Police will be moving that distributed around the state to different drop areas. We’re also doing hospital assessments, we’re going in with our specialized engineering team that we have out of our civil engineering team out of their national guard. And they’re going around the state assessing hospitals that had been closed down previously that maybe provide additional capacity so they’re actually looking at the heating, the plumbing, electrical throughout those facilities and identifying which ones are easy to quickly turn on if we need that additional capacity and which are not. We’re also providing support with operations planning and management so when the governor talks about the professionalism that’s brought out by the National Guard, these are these are your citizen soldiers your, your soldiers that work for the Army and your Air Force SOC personnel that work for the Air Force, that are trained in many different skill sets. And unlike a flood where a lot of times we’re doing a lot of security and management and supporting flood operations. This time they’re bringing out some really key healing needed specialties such as medical and logistics and transportation. That’s what your National Guard brings, unique capabilities and capacity, when the state runs out of capacity, because we have so many people working. They come forward and they provide that extra lift. So you’ll see trucks around the Chicagoland area, you’ll see when we show up in camouflage we tend to draw a crowd.
But we’re not bringing weapons, we’re not bringing anything like that we’re bringing our professional skills to help out.
* What is the Illinois hospital bed capacity and how close to reaching it are we right now and what is the state’s ICU bed capacity and how close are we to reaching…
We’re going to be talking about that tomorrow. We’re right now we’re in you know decent shape across the state
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 236 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including three deaths in Cook County; two men in their 80s and a man in his 90s.
Monroe is now also reporting a case. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,285 cases in 31 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to 99 years. Cases by county can be found on the IDPH website, as well as a list of local health departments who will have the most up-to-date information.
* If this virus gets into a prison or a jail, it can spread very fast…
Rikers had 8 confirmed cases Friday, 38 Saturday, now 60.
Emergency is accelerating while NYC officials sit on their hands & De Blasio shrugs off space issue. Only 23 ppl released from Rikers so far. FAR FAR FAR FAR smaller jails around nation have released dozens more. https://t.co/fWE2b5frul
A number of Cook County Jail detainees — including “serial stowaway” Marilyn Hartman — have been quietly ordered released this week to help relieve jail crowding amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The hearings to formally release the detainees began this week, unannounced and separate from the two duty courtrooms that remain open to hear emergency matters during a widespread court shutdown.
* Press release…
Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart continues to address the threat of COVID- 19 by implementing comprehensive precautionary measures across the Sheriff’s Office to ensure the health and safety of staff, detainees and the public.
Sheriff Dart previously activated the office’s 24/7 Critical Incident Command Center, which has been tracking COVID-19 related concerns in the Sheriff’s Office. To date, there have been few concerns, and no known cases of COVID-19 at the Cook County Department of Corrections. Incident Command is also communicating with public health and law enforcement agencies about ways to help prevent the spread of the virus. Through these communications, our staff have also been kept updated on ways to protect themselves.
A correctional officer at the Cook County Jail has tested positive for coronavirus, the sheriff’s office announced Sunday.
The officer most recently worked in the jail’s Residential Treatment Unit, the wing for inmates who need medical or mental health attention, and Cermak Hospital, the on-site medical center, Cook County Sheriff’s spokesman Matt Walberg said. The officer is now in isolation at home.
The sheriff’s office has contacted employees who may have had contact with the officer and advised a “small number of staff” to self-quarantine for 14 days, though none have shown symptoms, the sheriff’s office said.
In an attempt to speed the release of detainees from the Cook County Jail amid coronavirus concerns, more judges will take the bench this week in Chicago’s main criminal courthouse to formally release people who are not believed to pose a safety risk.
Prosecutors, sheriffs and the Public Defender’s office already have been working together to agree on which jail detainees could safely be released, and have brought about 100 of those cases before a judge for review.
Seventeen non-violent, petty offenders have been released over the last few days from the Macon County Jail as corrections staff attempt to limit the risk of contagion from the coronavirus.
No cases of the virus have shown up in prisoners so far and Sheriff Tony Brown said he was being careful to strike a balance between public health concerns and public safety. […]
All over the country, sheriffs are taking a look at their jail populations and assessing risks. Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell hasn’t gone as far as any prisoner releases yet but, quoted in the State Journal-Register on Sunday, he said 20 non-violent offenders had already been identified as candidates for potential early release.
Sangamon’s inmate population was the same as Macon County’s — 262 — but trending down from a recent high of 330.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration is still considering releasing Illinois prisoners and youth at juvenile detention centers as the Coronavirus continues to spread throughout Illinois. […]
Groups like the John Howard Association, the Uptown People’s Law Center and the Children and Family Justice Center at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law are pushing for some incarcerated adults and youth to be sent home to prevent the rapid spread of Covid-19 should it enter either an adult or youth prison facility. […]
The Department of Juvenile Justice has seen a decrease in population over the last several years, but currently houses approximately 225 youth in five facilities statewide. The largest of those facilities — in Harrisburg and St. Charles — house approximately 80 incarcerated youth.
A coalition of nearly 30 organizations on Friday published an open letter to Pritzker asking for the careful release of some incarcerated youth from the Department of Juvenile Justice, pointing out that the facilities “do not and cannot maintain standards similar to congregate healthcare facilities.”
*** UPDATE *** It’s happening…
Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced that two detainees have tested positive for COVID-19.
The detainees tested positive on Monday, March 23, and are currently being held in isolation cells at Cermak Health Services, where they have been housed since exhibiting flu-like symptoms on March 20.
One of the detainees, age 42, has been in custody since late December 2019 after he was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 D-bond on charges of Aggravated DUI. He was housed in the Residential Treatment Unit at the time he became symptomatic.
The second detainee, age 18, has been in custody since mid-February 2020 after he was ordered held without bail on charges of Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm. He was housed in Division VI at the time he became symptomatic.
…Adding… Press release…
Following a hearing before Cook County Judge Leroy K. Martin earlier today, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx released the following statement regarding the urgent situation at the Cook County Jail and emergency bail hearings to expedite release of detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the interest of both public health and safety during the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) has been working around the clock with the Cook County Sheriff and Public Defender to ensure any individuals who are not a threat to public safety are released from Cook County Jail. This weekend alone, prosecutors reviewed more than 1,200 cases. We will continue this process and agree to appropriate releases for the duration of this pandemic, to limit the number of people in our jail and reduce the number of people needlessly coming to court while recognizing there are both public health and safety risks that some detainees may pose. The only way to carry this out responsibly is to address these risks on an individual, case-by-case basis and per the Court’s order this morning, we will do so with increased capacity and continued urgency,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
In light of COVID-19, last week the CCSAO stopped prosecuting low level, non-violent narcotics offenses to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by limiting the number of people coming to court. In addition, the Illinois State Police will not be providing chemical testing during the pandemic.
* It just boggles my mind that United States Senators were still having large lunch meetings as late as Friday and that the Senate’s pool was still open yesterday…
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus, his office announced Sunday afternoon, bringing the pandemic into Congress’s upper chamber for the first time. […]
Reports from congressional insiders indicate a fair amount of worry among Paul’s colleagues about their possible exposure. Paul was at the Senate Republican lunch meeting on Friday and he was reportedly swimming in the Senate gym’s pool on Sunday morning.
1) Act like you’re a carrier;
2) Remember, you’re the virus’ food;
3) Practice social distancing;
4) Don’t be a Covidiot.
Gov. JB PRITZKER has gotten generally good marks for updating people about the COVID-19 crisis.
Now think of one person whose deep thoughts on crisis management you wouldn’t give a plugged nickel to hear? Let’s stipulate a person not currently holding elected office.
If you thought former Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH, congratulations. We think alike.
Blagojevich offered his opinion on how to handle the coronavirus crisis in a letter in the Chicago Tribune. Now as multiple people have reminded us, testimony at his trial showed Blago hid in a bathroom to avoid dealing with complex issues, so maybe his insights are a bit clouded.
The Tribune is losing its mind.
* WIND radio host…
Elmhurst Cigar House will be this center of resistance against home confinement & We do have a unique way Of "Social distancing", if you say something pro socialist or stupid you get thrown out on your ear. We do not accept link cards but when you get Gov cheese check come over
Kane County sheriff’s deputies spent Monday morning at Northwest Baptist Academy in Elgin, planning to ask parents to keep their children home from what was believed to be the last open school in the state, but school officials decided to move to e-learning before the start of the school day.
Undersheriff Patrick Gengler said his office had been in talks “all weekend starting Friday” with the school, which is part of the larger Northwest Bible Baptist Church community.
A man has been charged with aggravated battery to a police officer after yelling “corona” and coughing in a Chicago cop’s face, according to police.
Chicago police officers responding to a car accident in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Sunday saw Anthony Ponzi, 21, of Wilmette in a “highly agitated” state, slurring his speech and foaming at the mouth, according to an arrest report.
When an officer tried to check Ponzi’s eyes for signs of impairment, Ponzi yelled “Corona, OK” and coughed directly on the officer’s face —so close that the officer “immediately felt particles of saliva/breath,” according to the arrest report.
Chicago Police were called to a River West bar after neighbors say it was flouting the state’s mandatory shutdown of in-person service at bars as coronavirus continued to spread.
At about 9 p.m. Tuesday, officers were called to Richard’s Bar, 491 N. Milwaukee Ave., for a report of an ordinance violation, according to a law enforcement source. That was less than 24 hours after the Gov. JB Pritzker ordered all bars and restaurants closed for at least two weeks beginning Monday night.
Chicago police broke up at least two house parties Saturday night as dozens of people there defied orders to stay at home and keep away from large groups during the coronavirus pandemic.
* But this goesway beyond all that. Way. From the ADL…
As the coronavirus continues to spread globally, ADL’s Center on Extremism is tracking extremists’ use of the virus to advance their racist, conspiratorial agendas.
Such bigoted beliefs and conspiracies include ideas such as:
Jews are using coronavirus to profit and expand global influence
Chinese eating habits are responsible for the spread of coronavirus
American diversity and immigration are contributing to the spread of coronavirus
Humans made coronavirus as a bioweapon or to make money selling vaccines
Governments are using coronavirus to implement martial law and confiscate guns
Some online extremists are even calling on those with symptoms to “weaponize” the virus and target “nonwhite” communities.
We are also following media reports of racist incidents targeting the Asian American and Jewish communities, in part based on these hateful beliefs.
Given this new reality, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote a joint USA Today op-ed on the need to confront rising hate during this crisis.
The federal Food and Drug Administration sent a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp this week urging Georgia to allow a controversial sterilization plant in Cobb County to reopen amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Sterigenics, near Smyrna, has been shuttered since summer. It is one of a handful of facilities permitted to use the carcinogenic gas ethylene oxide to sterilize single-use medical devices.
The letter, which was obtained and published by the Cook County Record in Illinois, cites the current shortage of “personal protective equipment” (PPE) such as gowns, respirators, masks, and gloves as a compelling reason to allow the plant to resume operations.
“Due to the recent challenges with the closure of some commercial sterilizers, such as the Sterigenics facility located in Cobb County, the supply of critical PPE during the COVID-19 outbreak has been further limited,” it reads. “FDA is asking for your assistance in helping to increase the supply of PPE to help protect against COVID-19 by working with Sterigenics to allow for the appropriate sterilization of PPE.”
Amid a sustained threat of continued legal and regulatory action from the state, activists and trial lawyers, Sterigenics opted not to attempt to reopen the Willowbrook facility, despite reaching a deal with the Illinois Attorney General’s office that should have allowed it to do so, subject to emissions controls and other requirements even more strict than those set in Illinois’ new EtO law.
At the same time, a sterilization facility operated by medical device maker Medline in suburban Waukegan also remained offline, after Medline voluntarily pulled the plug on the sterilization facility late last year to meet new EtO emissions standards set by a new Illinois state law in 2019, in response to concerns over Sterigenics’ alleged actions.
In a statement, the FDA declined to answer whether it had sent a similar request to the state of Illinois concerning its shuttered EtO plants.
However, the agency said: “In the face of this rapidly evolving National Public Health Emergency, there is increased need for certain essential medical devices that require sterilization. We understand that sterile PPE are rapidly falling in short supply. Therefore, the FDA is seeking assistance from state and local governments as well as from facilities to increase the supply of PPE needed for healthcare personnel to protect against COVID-19.”
I asked the governor’s office if the FDA has made a similar request of Illinois and was told it has not heard from the agency about this.
* I was told by spokesperson Eleni Demertzis that this statement from Leader Durkin “is directed at anyone making partisan attacks during this crisis”…
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) released the following statement on recent partisan attacks regarding the coronavirus pandemic:
“Fighting for our state through this pandemic is neither a Republican nor Democrat issue. We share a common enemy and share the same goal of working together to eradicate Covid-19. As in all emergencies, time spent on blame or fault provides little or no merit nor solutions. Despite the challenges, the time is now and we must be vigilant and united to defeat this virus.”
In light of the coronavirus crisis shutting down the economy and wreaking havoc on the small business community, the Illinois Opportunity Project stands with the Illinois Business Alliance in calling on Gov. Pritzker and the General Assembly to remove the graduated income tax from the ballot in November.
The country is in uncertain times and experts are still unsure of a timeline when life can go back to normal. Small businesses have been forced to shut down, lay off employees, and fear they won’t be able to survive this downturn. The federal government is doing everything in their power to keep the small business community from collapsing. The last thing they need is higher operating costs come November if the graduated income tax passes.
Gov. Pritzker has stated that we shouldn’t bring politics into these trying times when people’s lives are at risk, but it is important to protect the health of our state and to protect our small businesses and their employees.
Before the outbreak, small business owners gave Illinois an “F” for friendliness. They have been forced to withstand two record breaking income tax hikes since 2011, a minimum wage hike, and are now bracing for another hit come November if the graduated income tax passes.
Illinois Policy projected that the graduated income tax would cost 56,000 jobs and $14 billion in forgone economic activity. Illinois cannot afford more job losses, revenue, or people.
Small businesses employ two thirds of Illinois’ workforce and for too long the political class in Springfield has taken them for granted. The graduated income tax was a bad idea from the start, but due to the current circumstances, the results could be catastrophic. Gov. Pritzker and the legislature must do right by the state’s biggest job creators and remove the graduated income tax from the ballot permanently.
* I asked Quentin Fulks at Vote Yes for Fairness for a response…
The Fair Tax is fundamentally about fairness and ensuring we have a tax system that works for all Illinoisans, which will be especially important as we work to help those who are hurt the most by the coronavirus crisis.
In such an uncertain and challenging time for our state and our country, it’s disappointing that opponents of the Fair Tax are trying to use it to score cheap political points. Like so many Illinoisans, we’re focused on doing everything we can to combat this virus and save lives
The virus that causes COVID-19 remains for several hours to days on surfaces and in aerosols, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found.
The study suggests that people may acquire the coronavirus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. Scientists discovered the virus is detectable for up to three hours in aerosols, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.
“This virus is quite transmissible through relatively casual contact, making this pathogen very hard to contain,” said James Lloyd-Smith, a co-author of the study and a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. “If you’re touching items that someone else has recently handled, be aware they could be contaminated and wash your hands.”
The study attempted to mimic the virus being deposited onto everyday surfaces in a household or hospital setting by an infected person through coughing or touching objects, for example. The scientists then investigated how long the virus remained infectious on these surfaces.
* This is good advice…
Remember to disinfect everything before you bring it in the house. If possible, leave non perishables outside for 2-3 days before bringing it indoors. https://t.co/L42XcsWQyd
A friend of mine sprays all packages, etc. with bleach. Or, have packages delivered to your garage. If you don’t have a garage, have them placed in your car trunk and leave them there a while.
The viability of the virus on clothing depends on the type of fabric. For example, germs are easier to wipe clean off leather or vinyl because they aren’t as porous as fabric. Practice routine washing of your clothes on the hot water setting because it will help kill the virus. Use the same process for the dryer. If you’ve been in a crowded area like public transit and could not practice social distancing, it’s a good idea to wash your clothes when you get home or at least put them in a laundry basket until you can wash them.
Roseland Community Hospital has operated at about 90% of capacity each day since nearby MetroSouth Medical Center closed last year.
And that’s before the coronavirus outbreak hit.
So Roseland, a so-called safety net hospital that serves predominantly low-income families on the city’s far South Side, is now bracing for a wave of patients to come through its doors.
“I think even a single hospitalized COVID-19 patient causes an overburden for us because it brings staffing issues and concern of the virus transferring to other people,” said Dr. Terrill Applewhite, chairman of the Roseland’s COVID-19 task force. “Even though we are facing this crisis, we are still dealing with everyday ailments.”
In that sense, Roseland is not alone. And it’s not just bed space about which hospitals are concerned.
Illinois hospitals used to have a lot of excess bed capacity, but that started changing about five years ago as hospitals began closing. Anyway, go read the whole thing.
Those hospitals in small-town America that have survived rely heavily on moneymakers such as elective surgeries, physical therapy and lab tests to make their razor-thin margins work. But, according to the Chicago-based Chartis Center for Rural Health, almost half of them still operate in the red.
So the added financial hit from the coronavirus outbreak could be the final straw for many rural hospitals — exposing the complicated business dynamics at play within the United States’ critical public health infrastructure.
“This virus, and what it is causing for these hospitals, is the perfect storm that will close these hospitals at a time this country critically needs them,” says Robin Rau, CEO of Miller County Hospital in southwestern Georgia. “This is going to be the death blow to them.”
While the virus is mild for the vast majority of people, the concern is so many people in Illinois are getting it that “even the small number of people who have trouble recovering is more than our health care system may be able to handle,” Pritkzer said Saturday.
That’s proven deadly in other locations: Italy’s health care system was overloaded by the sheer volume of cases there and doctors and hospitals haven’t had the resources to care for people who could otherwise be saved. That’s led to a surge of deaths there — 5,476 as of Sunday.
Days after it began to ramp up drive-thru testing for patients who may be infected with the novel coronavirus, the Advocate Aurora Health hospital system announced Friday that it has suspended that program because of a national shortage of test kits and processing materials.
Advocate said in a news release that state health officials and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association were seeking “to conserve tests for those in critical need.”
“It’s an ongoing issue for all our hospitals in Illinois and across the country,” said Danny Chun, spokesman for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association. “There are very limited supplies of testing kits, nasal swabs and reagents — chemicals used to test the specimens — in large part due to the very small rollout of test kits by the federal government.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday mandated that all hospitals in the state increase the number of beds in their facilities by at least 50 percent as part of a multipronged effort to ensure that an anticipated surge in COVID-19 cases won’t overwhelm the medical system.
Cuomo, during his daily coronavirus briefing, encouraged hospitals across the state to aim for a 100 percent increase. The governor has repeatedly cited statistics showing that the state currently has about 53,000 beds, but projections show there might be a need for as many as 110,000 within a few weeks.
* I’m loving the Illinois National Guard’s Twitter content…
The latest false rumor is that the Illinois National Guard is shutting down highways within or out of the state. This is completely false. The Illinois National Guard is only supporting COVID-19 medical missions or missions to increase the capacity of the medical community.
“There have been a lot of rumors circulating around that are completely inaccurate,” he said. “Rumors that there’s going to be martial law that’s going to be imposed, that we’ve called out the guard or the military somehow to impose their will upon the state of Illinois. Those are all false. I want people to take a deep breath.”
Pritzker said that while the rumors are largely spread on social media, there’s also “an effort by the Chinese government and the Russian government to feed into that paranoia that people have about what’s going on.”
Rumors that Decatur police are looking to pull drivers over to see if they are making non-essential journeys are just that — rumors, according to the city’s police chief.
Stories have circulated of drivers being pulled over and fined for contravening newly-imposed state-wide measures to limit non-essential travel in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
“No, absolutely not, we’re not doing that,” said Police Chief Jim Getz. “We’re not doing it and we don’t have time to do that anyway.” […]
Getz said his officers are following guidelines laid down by Pritzker’s office and the Illinois State Police. Officers will not be “proactively” stopping drivers at random, he said, but they may question them about the nature of their trip if they’ve been pulled over for something else, like a traffic infraction or if somebody has made a specific complaint about a person’s behavior.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources wants to clarify what the Governor meant by the executive order to stay at home. According to the office of J.B. Pritzker, as long as our sportsmen and women are fishing or hunting at a site which is currently open and they have the appropriate licenses and permits, they may continue to hunt and fish during the stay at home order. They were also made aware of a rumor that the upcoming hunting season is being closed, and wanted to let the public know that is completely false.
While coronavirus developments unfold by the minute and consume the attention of elected officials, legislation is piling up in Springfield with no easy answer on how to address it. Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered Illinois residents to shelter in place starting Saturday, and the legislature’s spring session has been indefinitely sidetracked.
House and Senate leaders canceled a session for the last full week of March and are working to postpone deadlines for bills that normally would be moving through committees. It’s possible lawmakers will work into the summer — eventually — if the pandemic is under control by then. But what about now?
First of all, Pritzker didn’t issue a “shelter in place” order. As I’ve already explained, that’s for things like hurricanes. Do better.
Still unresolved for taxpayers: property tax relief, which Pritzker and other Democrats promised as part of their push for a graduated income tax. One was not supposed to happen without the other. To get votes to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot and move the state from a flat income tax to a graduated one, supporters of a graduated tax promised property tax relief. And they set up a big task force to study the issue. […]
Springfield lawmakers face numerous issues with deadlines approaching and the clock ticking. No one suggests they return to the Capitol until the pandemic has eased. And it’s possible that emergency health-related matters will have to be addressed. But other policy issues, too, demand attention. Relief for property taxpayers is one of them.
* Rep. Jonathan Carroll (D-Northbrook) sponsored the task for legislation and cc’d me on his response to the Tribune…
I read the editorial about property taxes in the 3/23/2020 issue of your paper.
Right now, the health and safety of everyone in Illinois is our top priority. Period end of story. There’s nothing else that’s more important.
We are well-aware of the challenges property owners face in Illinois. That’s why several bills have been introduced including my future legislation offering a real comprehensive consolidation package.
However, the best thing we can do is let our Governor focus on keeping the people of Illinois safe and giving our doctors and others on the front-line the opportunity to stay ahead of this pandemic.
All of us in the legislature have an agenda that’s been put on hold during these unprecedented times. Don’t you think we wish things were different? Don’t you think we want to legislate?
When all is said and done, and none of us know how this is going to end, we will pick up the pieces and get back to work.
I hope all of you are taking the recommended precautions and keeping your families and communities safe.
“We know now, just the fact of community spread says that at least 1%, at the very least 1% of our population is carrying this virus in Ohio today.”
That was Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton speaking on March 12, when Ohio had only five confirmed COVID-19 cases. One percent of Ohio’s population would be about 117,000 cases. “Community spread” means the virus was transmitted by someone from inside the community, not someone who brought it in from outside.
”Whenever you know of two people that have it due to community spread, then you can assume that 1% of your population has it,” explained Acton’s press secretary, who cited a 2017 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, according to the Cleveland ABC TV affiliate.
Illinois has about 12.7 million people, so 1% of that would be 127,000. As of March 20, Illinois was reporting 585 known COVID-19 cases, with five deaths.
”Basically, our people don’t refute their numbers,” said Gov. J. B. Pritzker’s press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh via email.
Whew.
”If the trajectory of cases we’ve seen in Illinois this past week continues,” Abudayyeh said, “a week from now we could see approximately 3,400 more total cases than we have now.” That was on March 19.
”If the assumption is made that 20% of these cases are severe,” Abudayyeh continued, “approximately 650 new cases could need hospitalizations. Again, this assumes the trajectory will continue as it has this past week.”
Gov. Pritzker said last week that his administration had been looking to other states and countries to see what Illinois should emulate and what Illinois should avoid doing. He singled out Italy, saying he’s trying to make sure “we don’t end up in the situation that Italy is in.” Italy’s total number of deaths (3,405) surpassed China’s yesterday. China’s population is just under 1.4 billion. Italy’s is a little over 60 million. So, yeah, don’t do what Italy did.
On March 8, Italy sealed off much of its northern half. The next day, the entire country was put on lockdown. On the 8th, Italy had 7,375 confirmed cases and 366 deaths. By the 9th, when the entire country went into lockdown, the country had 9,172 confirmed cases and 463 deaths.
Italy’s median age is 10 years higher than the Illinois median of 37.4, and that is very likely driving up that country’s death rate since it hits the oldest the hardest. China’s median age is about a year older than Illinois’.
But it’s impossible to compare confirmed Illinois cases and Italy’s because, as of March 20, Illinois had tested just 4,286 people, compared to Italy’s 206,886. Italy’s first confirmed case was on January 31, seven days after Illinois’ first confirmation.
The governor can’t do a whole lot about the testing situation because the federal government has so thoroughly botched its handling of this pandemic. But the state is making some progress. Pritzker told reporters last Thursday that as of Wednesday, Illinois was able to conduct more than 1,000 tests.
“And in just a few days,” he said, the state “will be increasing that to more than 2,000 tests per day.” But even at that rate, it would take 18 more days to catch up to where Italy was at that time, adjusting for population size. (Italy has five times as many people as Illinois.)
The governor is cautiously aggressive. He wasn’t the very first governor to close bars and restaurants and cancel parades, but he was among the first, for instance.
You can almost see Pritzker’s thinking play out if you pay attention to what he says. He telegraphs his actions, which, frankly, is a good thing. He broadly hints that he will do something, which gets everyday people debating the topic among themselves. He does not suddenly announce anything out of the blue. Slamming people with surprises before most are ready could erode confidence. Just look at the mess in D.C.
When it comes right down to it, we have to assume that Ohio is right and this is basically everywhere. We should start behaving like we are already carriers. We shouldn’t have had to wait for a government order to stay at home if we could.
And so, I believe the governor was right to order most Illinoisans to stay home as much as possible for at least 16 days, the third governor to do so.
The only way to defeat this virus is to take away its food; and we’re the food.
* I thought the governor’s tone during a CNN interview yesterday was unfortunate, so I wrote about it…
Stick to indisputable facts, which are mostly on your side. Presenting cold hard facts is more than enough to make your case that the White House continues to fall far short.
He toned it way down during his afternoon press conference and stayed on an even keel during an appearance this morning on The Today Show…
Illinois now has more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus, and this weekend, the state began enforcing a strict stay-at-home order. Watch @GovPritzker's full interview with @savannahguthrie about that, the federal government's response and more. pic.twitter.com/UwqsLQXnFc
Yesterday the Governor was asked about extending the state’s tax filing deadline. To help Illinois residents/employers struggling, and to protect the public’s health, we are encouraging the governor to extend the state deadline just as the Federal government did.
You know there are challenges for the state of just cash flow, right? I mean obviously we receive a lot of those revenues typically in April and they’re planned for spending related to those revenues that come in in April. So we’re trying to figure out whether there’s federal borrowing or federal help that will come down the pike that will help. I think there are a lot of states will have this kind of cash flow issue. If they extend their deadlines to July, I think is when the federal government did, but we are working on it. We think that’s an important thing for us to evaluate and then do something about
The bottom line is Illinois can’t just print money like the federal government. Without some help from the feds, delaying tax day or cutting sales taxes by 25 percent (as Rep. David McSweeney wants to do) would be fiscally dangerous.
By the way, my “favorite” reporter question yesterday was the one about how the state intends to spend money in the rainy day fund. I literally laughed out loud at that one.
* One result of this crisis is that some government rules are being set aside because it turns out they’re not all that practical or urgent in these trying times. For instance, the FAA stopped prohibiting large hand sanitizer containers in airline carry-on luggage last week.
Along those lines, I’ve never quite understood why the REAL ID program was so all-fired necessary…
Federal law mandates that as of Oct. 1, people who want to fly domestically must have a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, which involves a tighter screening process.
But given that all driver’s-license facilities are closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, it appears thousands of people won’t be able to make that deadline. […]
The nation’s governors are on it, seeking an extension of the deadline by a year or more as the infectious respiratory disease disrupts daily life across the U.S. […]
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, a Deerfield Democrat who pushed to extend the tax filing deadline, said postponing REAL ID is a no-brainer.
“I think there will be a lot of deadlines that need to be evaluated and REAL ID is one of them,” Schneider said.
Thoughts on other stuff that should be delayed, modified or abandoned?
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard predicted the U.S. unemployment rate may hit 30% in the second quarter because of shutdowns to combat the coronavirus, with an unprecedented 50% drop in gross domestic product.
Bullard called for a powerful fiscal response to replace the $2.5 trillion in lost income that quarter to ensure a strong eventual U.S. recovery, adding the Fed would be poised to do more to ensure markets function during a period of high volatility.
“Everything is on the table” for the Fed as far as additional lending programs, Bullard said in a telephone interview Sunday from St. Louis. “There is more that we can do if necessary” with existing emergency authority. “There is probably much more in the months ahead depending on where Congress wants to go.”
During a severe viral outbreak, state governments are likely to be squeezed financially from separate directions: increased Medicaid payments, new costs associated with virus containment, and falling state tax revenue. Projecting the budget impact of declining taxes is a straightforward exercise. In 2018, state governments collected about $1 trillion in total taxes.13 The $480 billion in general sales taxes and gross receipt taxes collected by state governments is of particular importance.
Reduced purchases of some goods and services during a severe outbreak (e.g., meals out and hotel stays) would mean lower tax revenue. A 30 percent decline in this revenue source for six months would create a $72 billion budget shortfall. A $72 billion state fiscal support program from the federal government would cover this sales tax shortfall.
In addition to the federal-to-state fiscal support I describe here, there would likely be other reasons related to COVID-19 for the federal government to aid state and local governments, such as medical costs and virus containment. Financing these costs in the form of additional grants to states could be considered in a separate Congressional act.
Nearly all states face balanced budget requirements for ongoing expenses. Failure to support states fiscally would put these governments in the difficult position of either raising taxes or cutting back on expenditures. Burdening citizens with additional taxes during a virus outbreak would be ill-advised. And, generally speaking, if state government expenditures made sense from a cost-benefit perspective before a viral outbreak, that cost-benefit calculation would likely hold during the outbreak. Thus, it might also be ill-advised to cut back on that spending just to satisfy a balanced budget requirement.
That was almost a week ago, so it could be worse now.
* I told you over the weekend that legislators are submitting questions to the governor and his office is responding to them in writing every day. Here’s one from the latest Q&A…
Childcare
Q: A healthcare provider is looking to set up a temporary daycare location for their healthcare workers. Can they get any reimbursement for this from the State?
A: Per the Governor’s Executive Order 10, all child care programs are closed; however, home day care programs can care for up 6 children. Where possible, children should be kept at home. The Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development, in partnership with IDHS and IDCFS, has established a structure and system for child care providers to apply for an “emergency child care license” to provide care for essential workers. Please refer to the following link for additional resources: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/OECD/Pages/For-Communities.aspx.
Liquor
Q: What will happen to liquor licenses that expire soon?
A: Due to the hardships on liquor license holders as a result of the COVID-19 virus outbreak, all licenses expiring on March 31, 2020, April 30, 2020, and May 31, 2020, are extended until July 31, 2020. […]
Housing
Q: Is there consideration for reimbursing local housing agencies for making arrangements out of current homeless prevention funds? Are there other plans for assisting with homelessness / those seeking shelter in places where shelters are no longer taking new clients?
A: Through local continuums of care, DHS is making $6 million available for isolation housing for those who are experiencing homelessness. Homeless service providers will also receive a 5% increase in funding. Visit the Department of Human Services for more information.
Also in that new guidance is a clarification on auto dealers. I told you yesterday that the governor’s office said auto dealer sales were not deemed an “essential” service. But this is from the new Q&A…
Q: Are car dealerships essential services?
A: Car dealerships may stay open for repair and parts. Car dealerships may also remain open by appointment for individuals who need to purchase a car for essential travel. Showrooms should be closed. For further guidance, please call DCEO’s helpline 1-800-252-2923 or CEO.support@illinois.gov.
* Here are the Q&As I’ve been able to collect thanks to a generous legislator…
…Adding… The Illinois House Republicans have put together a website to answer your questions. Click here. Also, click here for a good Tribune explainer.
The State of Illinois requested personal protection equipment (PPE) from the strategic national stockpile (SNS) managed by the federal government.
State of Illinois request:
• N95s - 600,000
• Surgical masks - 900,000
• Gloves - 400,000
• Gowns - 24,000
• Goggles - 4,000
• Face shields - 120,000
• Respirators - 4,000
• The following was requested for continuity of government (public safety workers):
o N95s: 600,000
o Gloves: 1.2M
o Goggles: 20,000
MARCH 12:
The State of Illinois received a shipment of PPE from the SNS containing:
According to IDPH an additional SNS shipment will begin arriving today. The amount of this shipment is expected to be the same as the shipment we received on March 12.
* I put the numbers together for you…
• Respirators requested - 4,000
• Respirators received - 0
• Goggles requested - 67,500
• Goggles received - 0
• Hand Sanitizer requested - 85,000 bottles
• Hand Sanitizer received - 0
* Press release from Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island)…
URGENT PUBLIC NOTICE: Early this morning, I was contacted by the Governor’s office regarding policing and public safety in Blue Island. I have since learned that Mayor Domingo Vargas made a unilateral decision at 1 a.m. Sunday (today) to suspend all police department activities. At no point did the Mayor’s office contact my office, any member of the City Council or any other local leaders in making this rash decision.
In response to this action by the Mayor, my office has made contact and arrangements with both the Cook County Sheriff and Illinois State Police to ensure that Blue Island residents have police patrolling our community. While this is not a long- term solution, please be assured that there are County and State police available should residents need their help. Residents should still call 911 if an emergency. I am also in frequent communication with the City Council and am calling on our alderman to convene an emergency meeting to address community policing during this crisis.
Our first responders are heroes because they remain on the frontlines during this crisis. In the event that a first responder falls ill with COVID-19 or any other illness, there are state-mandated protocols in place to protect both the employee and any others coming in contact with that person. These protocols are in place to ensure that we can protect both individual officers while not threatening the safety of the general public. Based on current information, these vital protocols were not followed by Mayor Vargas when making his decision.
I am in frequent communication with both local leaders and the Governor’s office and will be providing daily updates as we work through this difficult time. We are also asking that anyone who is in possession of safety masks, gloves or other equipment consider donating those items to the Blue Island police and fire departments as we are facing a national shortage on protective items for first responders. Residents are invited to call my office at 708-396-2822 or email robertbobrita@aol.com with questions or concerns.
Together, as a community, we will get through this.
* I asked the governor’s office for a response. From Jordan Abudayyeh…
The Governor’s Office urges local governments to act responsibly as we overcome the challenges COVID-19 brings us. Police officers are essential employees who do valuable work to protect and serve. The health and safety of all Illinoisans are the Governor’s top priority and the administration is working with ISP to inform local governments on proper protocols. The Governor would urge leaders in Blue Island to follow guidance from the CDC and IDPH.
* Sen. Michael Hastings…
“Our first responders are doing a phenomenal job in the south suburbs responding to COVID-19 calls. I’ve been on daily calls with them regarding planning and potential issues moving forward. Unfortunately, we are already seeing the effect when our law enforcement officials are exposed to this virus. We’ve had exposure at four of our local police and fire departments already.
On a positive note, whether it’s getting PPE or prioritizing testing for first responders, Governor Pritzker has been overwhelmingly understanding and helpful to our requests.
Similar to my experience in Iraq, bad things will occur in this battle. We’re going to have to be one team, one fight regardless of who you are or where you live.
Blue Island Mayor Domingo Vargas made the decision Sunday. Vargas told NBC 5 a police department employee tested positive for COVID-19 last week, and although the person hadn’t been at work for at least a week prior to the positive test, officials are looking into whether the individual was in contact with other city or department employees.
Today marks the 14th of these daily briefings, two full weeks. So I want to start by saying how appreciative I am to the many members of the media, and to the public who tune in to these press conferences every single day, and help us to get the word out to the broader population of Illinois.
This also feels like an appropriate time to offer an apology to the woman who called my office this week angry that I’ve been interrupting the Bold and the Beautiful, and wanting to know that I too look forward to the days when we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.
All kidding aside, getting accurate information disseminated and squashing irresponsible rumors is so critically important, as we waged the battle against COVID-19. So thank you to our residents, for sharing the information that I share, every day with your friends and your neighbors your family, and your social media networks. Thank you again to the reporters and the press who are continuing to do this work in such a difficult time.
* He went on to speak about President Trump…
One final thing. I refuse to spend more time on this than it deserves. So I want to quickly address Donald Trump’s tweet today before you asked me.
One of the things that’s been most heartening here in Illinois is the degree to which Republicans from all over our state have reached out to me to ask how they can help. Even people who have had profound political disagreements with me in the past have been among the first to call or text me asking what they could do to help Illinois in her hour of need.
When it comes to volunteerism and charity and stepping up in a crisis, Illinoisans of all political stripes are doing their part.
Now, I’m a pretty even-keeled guy. But even I’m finding it hard to contain my anger with Donald Trump’s response to this national crisis. I have doctors and nurses and first responders begging for masks, equipment and more tests. And I have a floor full of staff who are working day and night to hunt down the supplies that our healthcare workers and our first responders need, and the supplies we know they’re going to need.
We’re doing that because Donald Trump promised to deliver for all the states weeks ago. And so far has done very little.
So apparently the only way to get the President of the United States to pay attention is to go on national television and make noise about it, which I won’t stop doing until we get what we need. I said I would fight for the state and I will with every breath that I have and I meant it.
I said that the other day, that this is a time for serious people, not the carnival barkers that are tweeting from the cheap seats. All I can say is, get to work, or get out of the way.
This will be updated. And please pardon all typos because I’m using Otter for fast transcription.
* On to questions for the governor from the media. Will Illinois be extending the tax filing deadline..
I want you to know that we’re working hard to figure out how we can do that. You know there are challenges for the state of just cash flow right. I mean obviously we receive a lot of those revenues typically in April and they’re planned for spending related to those revenues that come in in April. So we’re trying to figure out whether there’s federal borrowing or federal help that will come down the pike that will help. I think there are a lot of states will have this kind of cash flow issue. If they extend their deadlines to July, I think is when the federal government did, but we are working on it . We think that’s an important thing for us to evaluate and then do something about
* Concerns about the health of older healthcare workers coming back to the profession, as Pritzker asked yesterday…
For those who are older, we certainly want people to take extra care. We wouldn’t want anybody who deems themselves to be at risk or falls into a high risk category to come into the healthcare profession and be exposed to COVID 19.
There are ways for healthcare professionals, even who are older, to participate and help us, and not be as exposed to COVID 19. In other words, there are a number of people who will be in hospitals or in health care centers that don’t have COVID 19 that simply are people who are heart attack victims or have some other condition that that need hospitalization. We’re trying to separate those people out from people who have covered 19, and make sure that we are serving both needs, but not spreading the virus. So, there will be and are places where one can work that are lower risk than just going into a hospital emergency room or serving COVID19 patients.
* We’re hearing a number of employers are giving essential employees documents akin to an affidavit for proving that they are indeed essential or law enforcement requiring this…
No, but let me be clear. You do not need to have papers or a permission from your employer, when nobody’s being stopped on the streets. And unless they are in fact seem to be directly violating the stay at home order in which case, a police officer or somebody else may just ask you please go home or are you in fact going to your job or going somewhere that is essential. Just to encourage people to do the right thing. So there’s no stopping people and asking for papers that’s going on.
* How will you measure how effective the stay home order is…
…One of the things that the doctors have said, the researchers have said is that after about eight or 10 days after the stay at home order’s put in place, we may begin to see the increase in the number of cases reported start to diminish their acceleration. Let’s say, instead of being exponential, maybe they’ll be growing at only a geometric level.
And remember these numbers will grow even after we may have slowed this significantly. They will grow because of more testing being available. We’ll be able to test more and more people know exactly who has it. But we may begin to see and this is up to the statistician and the modelers, we may begin to see it, a bending of this curve, you know, even after less than two weeks and so that’s why we wanted to put this in place for long enough to be able to see what effect we’re having. And we’ll watch it very closely. I mean I want very much as everybody else does, to begin to go back to normal as soon as possible. But let me tell you what the most important thing is that needs to happen. And it’s something that’s a little out of all of our control. But it is in the hands of the tremendous researchers that are here in in Illinois in Chicago, many of them in Champaign, and also all across the United States and the world. And that’s they’re researching treatments and therapies, and they’re getting closer.
There are two or three that have been in trials even now, one of which seems more effective than others but we won’t really know until we get the full results of those tests but the truth is that we’re going to rely upon them to help us with treatments. Once we get treatments I think all of us will feel a little bit of relief that we know that we can save lives. We know that we may be able to, you know, bend this curve, even more. And then of course finally getting a vaccine to protect people entirely from it will be the most important thing we can do
* How much money are we taking out of the state’s rainy day fund to help medical facilities and testing centers…
So I think many of you know that the state for many years didn’t have much of a rainy day fund. And I want to say that we’ve worked hard. So far I’ve been in office now 15 months and we’ve worked hard to look at ways that we could build up that rainy day fund.
Well now as you can imagine in this crisis, there’s no way to build up that fund it’s a very very small fund in the state of Illinois.
Having said that, all the states in the United States need help from the federal government. That’s why you’ve seen in some of these stimulus packages for example support for unemployment benefits, unemployment insurance. As one example but we’re all going to need help with our state budgets because revenues are declining in every state as we have had to slow things down to keep people at home. But also we’ve seen an increase in expenditures because we have social services that we want to make sure we’re providing for people who may be suffering economically, financially from this virus, so we have a lot of needs I would say that we can’t meet with a rainy day fund in our state. And so we’re going to do everything that we can to meet those needs no matter what
* Is there some where people can call to denounce if their place of employment is open and they don’t think it should be…
I would encourage people to call the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. We have a hotline where people can find out if their business does in fact meet the requirements of an essential business operation in the executive order.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 296 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including an infant. IDPH also announced three deaths. The deaths included a Cook County man in his 80s, a Chicago man in his 80s, and a McLean County woman in her 70s. Jo Daviess, Livingston, Rock Island, and Stephenson counties are now also reporting cases. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,049 cases in 30 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to 99 years.
Health officials are still learning about this new virus and information and guidance is rapidly evolving. At this time, it is still unknown if a pregnant woman with COVID-19 can pass the virus to her fetus or baby during pregnancy or delivery. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no infants born to mothers with COVID-19 have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. In these cases, which are a small number, the virus was not found in samples of amniotic fluid or breastmilk.
* Today’s graph…
…Adding… Illinois is up to 8,374 completed tests. Positive movement, but not nearly enough.
* The Illinois National Guard is on rumor patrol at its Twitter page…
The latest rumor is that the Illinois National Guard have set up checkpoints in Chicago or the Chicagoland area. This is absolutely false! Here's the truth: Our 45-Airmen medical team has moved up to the Chicagoland area where they are setting up a mobile COVID-19 testing site.
Importantly, Section 12(e) of the order provides that “Gas stations and auto-supply, auto-repair, and related facilities and bicycle shops and related facilities” are essential businesses that can remain open. In other words, motor vehicle dealerships, both the parts and service department and the related sales department are essential to the health and welfare of Illinois residents and may remain open
* A legislator asked the governor’s office about this topic…
Q: Car dealers appear to think they are essential services? Perhaps being open for service calls but new sales? Where can they receive more guidance?
A: Only auto-repair is considered an essential operation.
*** UPDATE *** Last night’s Q&A updated the position…
Q: Are car dealerships essential services?
A: Car dealerships may stay open for repair and parts. Car dealerships may also remain open by appointment for individuals who need to purchase a car for essential travel. Showrooms should be closed. For further guidance, please call DCEO’s helpline 1-800-252-2923 or CEO.support@illinois.gov.
* Legislators are submitting questions to the governor and his office is responding to them all at once every day. I have asked to be put onto that list so I can post them here. A helpful legislator forwarded a few to me today. That auto dealer guidance was in yesterday’s email…
* Remember the other day when Liz Uihlein sent an email to legislators complaining about the media overblowing COVID-19 and asked them “at what point do we go back to our normal lives?”
And in the Midwest, Uline, a major distributor of packaging materials and industrial supplies, kept its work force going through the week, despite complaints from employees, including those crowded into its call centers, working side-by-side in cubicles.
“Nothing’s really changed,” one employee said. “It’s just nerve-racking.”
Employees received an email Thursday from the Uihlein Family, owners of the $5.8 billion company and big donors to Republican causes, thanking them for their efforts and saying that the “White House called upon us twice with huge orders” this week.
The same day, a manager at one Uline call center sent a note to employees.
“If you, or family members, are under the weather with cold/allergies — or anything aside from Covid-19,” it read, “please do NOT tell your peers about the symptoms & your assumptions. By doing so, you are causing unnecessary panic in the office.”
* The President of the United States has clearly decided to allow governors to take the frontline lead on the COVID-19 battle. His Department of Homeland Security and the CDC have issued several bits of “guidance” to the states, but not orders.
That has resulted in a patchwork-quilt response across the country. Our restaurants and taverns were closed on March 15th, but Wisconsin’s weren’t closed until two days later. Missouri’s governor has still not ordered them closed. That state hasn’t shut down much of anything, although individual school districts and municipalities are making closing decisions themselves.
“These orders that the governors have led on, you know, I led with canceling gatherings of a certain size in our state and then we closed schools,” Pritzker said. “We moved on now to a stay-at home order. These should’ve been done nationally, they haven’t been.”
“Governor of Illinois, and a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN & Concast (MSDNC), shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings,” he tweeted. “We are there to back you up should you fail, and always will be!”
Pritzker tweeted back, “You wasted precious months when you could’ve taken action to protect Americans & Illinoisans. You should be leading a national response instead of throwing tantrums from the back seat. Where were the tests when we needed them? Where’s the PPE? Get off Twitter & do your job.”
* There is zero doubt that the White House has bungled its response from Jump St. and continues to do so. I mean, for crying out loud some supplies are so tight that the CDC issued this horrifying guidance the other day…
In settings where facemasks are not available, HCP [healthcare personnel] might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort.
So, do we really want that very same White House taking a policy and action lead?
* Plus, Pritzker himself has regularly allowed local institutions to get out in front of him. Some public and private Illinois schools (including the Chicago Archdiocese) shut themselves down before Pritzker acted.
And to this very day, universities are all devising their own individual response policies. The following is the governor’s office response to a legislator’s question…
Q: How are State university employees to interpret whether they are essential or not? Any direction?
A: State University are still internally discussing that process and are encouraged to use discretion as each institution is unique.
Each state is also unique in its own way as well. So it stands to reason that the governor should heed his own advice.
* Governor, if you’re going on national TV again, stop patting yourself on the back and picking fights with the president. Stick to indisputable facts, which are mostly on your side. Presenting cold hard facts is more than enough to make your case that the White House continues to fall far short.
I’ve called you “Gov. Chillax” in the past. When you appear boastful and rattled these days, that rattles me. And if I’m rattled, imagine the message you’re sending to everyone else. /rant
