Everyone has their own priorities
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz…
With an assist from Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the state’s leading local-government group is seeking a delay of at least a month and maybe longer in granting public requests for public records under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
But the request, which has been kicked over to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, is getting push-back from the state’s largest press organization, which argues that the public’s need for transparency is at least as great as ever amid the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Cole specifically wants to lengthen the normal five-day FOIA response period—the period can be longer, under some circumstances—to “at least the number of business days corresponding to the remaining length” of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. The order now runs through April, so the delay would push into at least late May the period for governments to comply.
And here’s the answer…
“The Office of the Attorney General does not have the authority to suspend the statutory requirements of the Freedom of Information Act,” [the AG’s office] said in a statement, “But, we understand that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed strains on public bodies and we have been examining what, if any, options we do have under the law to provide public bodies with guidance to help them comply with their obligations under FOIA.”
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There’s a simple explanation for this
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mark Brown…
Even as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration is scrambling to find enough medical supplies to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic, it also is stockpiling body bags in preparation for a worst-case scenario.
In the past week, the state’s procurement team has issued three different solicitations to potential vendors to purchase body bags, also known as cadaver bags — seeking more than 12,000 in total.
That figure would far exceed most death projections for Illinois from COVID-19.
The latest model from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects 3,629 people will die in Illinois from the disease by August 4. The state’s death toll stood at 307 on Monday.
The institute, a global health research center, is projecting the range of deaths in Illinois could fall anywhere between 2,335 and 6,267. The researchers are projecting Illinois will experience a peak of 202 daily deaths on April 12.
I was told last week and again today that COVID-19 cadavers are being double-bagged. So if we hit the high end of the IHME projection, 12,000 bags would be needed. Pretty simple math.
* From IEMA…
As we would in any large scale emergency/disaster, the State evaluates any needs (personnel, equipment, supplies) that local jurisdictions may have to execute their response. All disasters start and end locally. If a local jurisdiction has extended its capability to respond to a disaster, the state’s role is to supply resources and/or assets to meet the needs of their communities.
Unfortunately, responding to fatalities is one of the many critical functions that the State is working collaboratively with local jurisdictions to ensure all parties in the State of Illinois are poised to respond quickly as the pandemic continues.
Distribution will never be precise during times like these. Some areas will get more than they’ll need, which is another way of justifying the large purchases.
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1,287 new cases, 73 additional deaths
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,287 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 73 additional deaths.
Champaign County: 1 male 80s
Christian County: 1 female 80s
Cook County: 1 female 30s, 2 males 30s, 3 females 40s, 2 males 40s, 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 2 females 60s, 4 males 60s, 4 females 70s, 5 males 70s, 1 unknown, 8 females 80s, 5 males 80s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
Ford County: 1 male 80s
Kane County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Kankakee County: 1 female 60s
Lake County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
Madison County: 1 female 80s
McHenry County: 1 female 70s
Monroe County: 1 male 80s
Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
Will County: 1 female 50s, 2 females 60s, 1 male 60s, 3 females 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
Winnebago County: 2 males 80s
Coles, Lawrence, Richland, and Shelby counties are now reporting cases. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 13,549 cases, including 380 deaths, in 77 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.
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* Gov. Pritzker today…
I want to start today by informing you that this morning, a member of my governor’s office learned that they had tested positive for COVID-19.
This individual started to feel unwell. On Thursday, March 26, and immediately went home. That same day we sent everyone that works in the governor’s office home, and had a professional multi our deep cleaning done.
We had already earlier in March significantly reduced our in office staff and directed all those who could to work at home. These are the same instructions that I’ve asked offices across the state to follow. Back then, we also implemented temperature checks for anyone still coming into the Thompson center. Those temperature checks have continued.
Following the staffer’s exit from the office, we reduced in-office staff in the governor’s office even further to a critical few, asking all of those who are staying at home to self isolate as the medical professionals advised. We also put in place additional protocols about in office, and out of office behavior.
The individual who tested positive continues to isolate at home. And it has now been 12 days since that person left the office, and none of our remaining in office staff have demonstrated symptoms. I’m incredibly happy that this member of my team is doing so well.
This is an anxious time for everyone and it should be a cautionary tale that even among those who are most attentive and taking the most precautions, it is still possible to get the virus. If you leave home and interact with others. So let this just affirm what we already know. Nobody is immune.
Again, please pardon all transcription typos. Thanks.
* The governor then announced the daily death total…
Now I’ve said all along that this would get worse before it gets better. But speaking the truth in no way softens the blow when it does in fact get worse.
And it has been reported to me and I’m deeply saddened to say that in the last 24 hours we have had 73 fatalities in the battle against COVID-19, our largest single day increase to date.
There are so many tragedies here, the countless family members loved ones, friends and neighbors who grieve the indefinite delay of funerals and celebrations of life. The fact that this will not be the last day that we say goodbye to our fellow Illinoisans because of the terrible toll of COVID-19.
It’s okay to let yourself feel all the pain that there is to feel today. I too am grieving, but I want you to know that my grief is only fueling my efforts to fight this virus and win.
* Hospitalization…
Although all of the available data serves as an important part of the overall picture, we consider our hospitalization data a particularly significant indicator. If someone’s sick enough to need hospital care. They’re likely going to seek that care whether or not they have been tested.
According to data from April 6 yesterday, the number of known COVID patients and suspected COVID patients, as in persons under investigation and assumed to have COVID-19 for the purpose of medical treatment in our hospitals here in Illinois, that number totaled 3680.
* Context…
Since the earliest days of our COVID-19 response my administration has worked with our state’s network of more than 200 hospitals to increase capacity in our existing health systems. We now have nearly 28,000 total beds, approximately 2700 of which are ICU beds. As a reminder, those numbers don’t include the beds that we’re putting up at our alternate care facilities like Vibra, Metro South or McCormick Place.
* More…
Additionally, we’re seeing signs of a trend here in Illinois for the number of people in the hospital for non COVID reasons. Things like car accidents have dropped with fewer people on the roads since we implemented our stay at home order. This is a pattern that’s reflected in other states as well. As of yesterday, April 6, 43% of our total hospital beds are available and 35% of our ICU beds are available. As for our nearly 2700 ventilators in Illinois 57% are currently available, down from the 68% available on March 31, just one week ago.
So if you’re looking for a trend, here’s another one. On Tuesday, again just a week ago, COVID patients occupied about 35% of our total ICU beds and about 24% of our total ventilators. Today, a week later, COVID patients occupy 43% of our total ICU beds and 29% of our total ventilators, that’s an 8 and 5 percentage point jump, respectively, in just a week.
* Important point here…
I also want to stress that these are our collective numbers across the state. Not every hospital has even that availability and in fact there’s a fairly extraordinarily large range across the state depending upon where you live.
In the city of Chicago, the city’s Southwest suburbs and the city’s northeast suburbs average ICU Bed Availability in those hospitals is still below 25% with some hospitals in the area near max capacity.
But this isn’t just a Chicagoland issue. We’re closely watching other areas around the states places like Peoria at 42% of ICU beds available and dropping, and places like the Edwardsville region at just 33% available.
* More…
We’re also tracking ventilator availability specifically investigating the need to move ventilators not just within a region of the state but from region to region within the state as needed. For those of you who didn’t hear your region listed as one operating with a lower percentage of available beds. That is not a sign that COVID-19 isn’t a problem in your community, far from it. It might feel like a lifetime ago but it was just a couple of weeks back when the state of Illinois had just a few confirmed cases in just one county. In fact it was only last Tuesday when we had confirmed cases in just 54 counties. That’s an increase of 23 counties in seven days. We have to be operating as if COVID-19 is circulating, not just in every county but in every community. We need to maintain our course, and we need to keep working to flatten the curve.
* More on ventilators…
And finally, to round out our conversation about hospital capacity. I must talk about ventilators, the equipment known to make a real difference in the outcomes for COVID patients who are in critical condition. First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude. My genuine sincere gratitude to the people of California and to the governor of California Gavin Newsome who sent us 100 ventilators overnight for use by patients here in Illinois. […]
Once we are past our peak, Illinois will pay it forward. We will pay it forward in any way that we can including passing along these ventilators to the next hot spot in the nation, and any that we may be able to spare.
As you know, over time, we’ve also received 600 ventilators from the federal government, 300 of which were directed specifically to the city of Chicago by the White House. I’m grateful for all of those vents as well. We continue to scour the globe with our own state level procurement operation to secure the rest of the ventilators that we may need. While this market is just as competitive, if not more so than that for PPE we have so far placed orders for 3620 ventilators. The first batch of these deliveries will arrive in April, with the rest coming over the next several months
* From a press release…
* Prisons…
As of today over 60 individuals at the Department of Juvenile Justice have been released. That’s more than a 25% decrease in our overall juvenile population. And at the Department of Corrections during this pandemic we’ve now released over 1100 low risk prisoners who were incarcerated, either by direct action by my administration or under regular release programs.
* On to questions for the governor. The staff member that you said that tested positive did this individual have close contact with you or Dr. Ezike, were you tested, was the doctor tested?…
Pritzker: I was not tested. I did not have regular close contact with this person, this is somebody who worked in the office but not particularly close to my office and didn’t regularly enter my office so very little direct contact with this person.
IDPH Director Dr. Ezike said she had no contact with the person and she has not been tested.
* Just a question regarding the report of the state’s procurement of cadaver bags. If you could comment on that, is 12,000 the number that the state is seeking and is that a number that is within the models of something that could be?…
I don’t really want to comment on it. I mean we’re preparing and always we don’t know what the numbers will be in the end. And it’s hard to point at something that would tell you exactly what those numbers would be I mean obviously there are models out there but a lot of them, but we want to make sure that we’re prepared if we’re if we end up being over prepared in that way.
I’ve been told that the bodies likely have to be double-bagged.
* Is there any way to calculate how many deaths, or estimate how many deaths that have occurred since perhaps January that are unrecorded?…
I think that the DPH is actually going back in the records to to look at some of those but I don’t think that it’s clear yet. … We do have coroners and medical examiners who maybe might be doing post mortem tests to try to see if they can get at that information. So the numbers may increase for a number of people who may have expired who passed on. Before it was knowledge that it was related or that they had COVID at the time of death, requiring every everybody to be tested for COVID-19 eBay, if there wasn’t signs before they died.
* Do you want local law enforcement to enforce your stay at home order to the point of arresting citizens?…
Look, I have not encouraged that. That is up to local law enforcement and to local entities cities and counties. Some of them have are looking at passing ordinances, for example, and some of them have declared their own states of emergency.
There are situations like what I read about in Quincy where there were several parties to parties that I’m aware of that occurred. And look I think we’re asking people to do the right thing and most people, the vast majority of people are doing the right thing. But if people are encouraging others to get together in groups of more than 10 or to not socially distance, I mean, I think at some point, it is worthy of considering a real consequence.
* We’ve noticed police out there that they don’t seem to be pulling people over as there have been some directive from your office to state police to conduct traffic enforcement differently? We’ve seen vehicles parked out in the middle of expressways state police with their lights on, just there as a warning, trying to get people to slow down…
No, I have not given any directive like that.
* Do you have any regrets about anything you should have or shouldn’t have done or said during this crisis?…
Oh gosh. I think that’s always a hard question to ask somebody in public life are there more things you could have done or could have done something differently.
I suppose so I and I, every day, you know, I asked myself about each decision that I make is there is there another choice here or did I miss something. You know I can look back certainly and say, did I miss something that happened in the past, but look we took action we were, we were quick. I think to get on this subject when you know when it was clear that that that just asking people to not gather in groups of 50 or 250. I think originally we said 250 and 1000, 1000 being enforceable to fit that was, that seems like months ago now, right, but that’s really about four weeks ago and that’s back when you know there were very few cases that didn’t seem like enough so we went to closing. We went to limiting the numbers of people getting together to a smaller number and then closing bars and restaurants and then closing schools and then the stay at home order and so on. And yet there are more things that could be done but. So, you know, yeah I wish I knew about this in January when you know when the intelligence agencies seemed to know about it. and we could have begun building ventilators ourselves.
* To counteract COVID’s impact on minorities, you said the state is reopening hospitals and those communities, you’re saying that they will only serve black and brown patients, or are you reopening them for good. If not, how does it close the racial wealth gap?…
No, we are not limiting it to a certain race, that’s not the case. And people will be referred to those hospitals. I think the benefit for the most part will be that people don’t show up as a matter of first resort to any of these alternate care facilities. They are referred to those facilities, and if it is near where someone lives that will be a better place for them than some other location. And so it’s really just a reference to the idea that we’ll be able to serve more people and many of the people who will go to those facilities will be perhaps closer to where they live
* How do you respond to Rep. Blaine Wilhour’s suggestion that the longer we’re quarantine that the more we delay herd immunity, which could ultimately lead to more people getting the virus?…
Okay folks, let me just point out that Great Britain went by this theory that perhaps if we just let everybody get it then everybody will get hurt, we’ll have herd immunity faster, and everybody will be okay. Well guess what, if you let everybody have it all at once, which is what happens when you just let it go, you overwhelm your healthcare system and more people die. A lot of people can die. And so the suggestion that we should just let it happen so that the herd immunity occurs faster, is an invitation for us to just let people die. And I won’t do that. I will not do that.
* In terms of opening the state back up on May 1. If you extend the stay at home border would you consider opening up parts of Illinois, especially some counties that haven’t been severely affected by COVID-19?…
I mean look at where it’s 77 counties as of today, where there are cases, and it’s growing, and the number of cases is growing the number of deaths is growing now. And so it’s hard for me to see that, that just because you haven’t had a case in your county or in your community that you’re not going to see cases developing and growing, and we see hotspots correct. You know, that are happening all over the state, you know, look at you know areas like champagne and like Metro east. And, you know, we need to we need to get much further along here before we start talking about a regional or statewide stand down of these orders.
* President Trump said in a press conference last night, you were very happy about the White House at COVID-19 Task Force response to Illinois needs. The President cited a governor’s meeting with Vice President Pence on Monday morning and said, quote, there wasn’t a negative person on the call, even governor Pritzker from Illinois is happy. He suggested that on one hand you’re positive about the government’s work on the phone but telling the press, a different story could you respond to that…
Well, the President’s taking one snapshot when I was happy about on that call was the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers had done such a spectacular job working with our local tradesmen to build out McCormick Place, and I expressed my gratitude for the help of FEMA in a variety of circumstances. But I have been on many calls with the white house, with staff at the White House, with the Vice President, even with the President and I have expressed my displeasure on a number of those calls.
Look, I’m happy when they make promises, and then deliver upon those promises. I am unhappy when they do not deliver on promises, or when lies are spoken. And look, I’m gonna fight for the people of Illinois in every in all circumstances, but I’ll praise somebody when they do something right.
* Regarding IDOC furloughs, will any inmates regardless of crime be eligible for this for a low as medically vulnerable. Where will they go, when released and how, how will IDOC ensure they don’t spread COVID into their communities?…
Well everybody that’s released will have a medical review before they’re released that’s the first thing.
Second. No we’re not. This is not open to anybody and everybody that’s incarcerated in the state of Illinois.
We have reviewed files, continue to review files of those who are non violent offenders those who are posed the least risk to communities. And we have been working as expeditiously as possible to make those reviews, there are some limitations on our ability even for somebody who is at low risk, or at least low risk in their community to returning their community and committing a crime, because we are required to have a location for them to live at, and sometimes they don’t have someplace to go, but we’re trying to work through even that problem by working with local organizations, so we’ll continue to work at this and giving you kind of regular updates here about how we’re managing through with our corrections. And I think that our corrections staff and leadership are doing an excellent job.
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Where does Illinois rank in comparison?
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Worldometer has a new online tool you can use to compare Illinois to the rest of the country. Click here to see it.
The Illinois information is current as of yesterday.
New York has the highest number of COVID-19 cases per million residents at 7,077. The US total is 1,174. Illinois is at 956, ranking us 11th.
New York also has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths per million residents at 280. The US number is 37. Illinois’ is 24, right behind Indiana at 26. Illinois ranks 14th.
NY also ranks first in COVID-19 tests per million residents at 16,353. The US number is 6,099. Illinois is at 4,909 per million, which is way below the national number. Illinois ranks 32nd on that one. I will be submitting a question to the governor about that particular factoid today.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* What is your biggest criticism of Gov. Pritzker’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis so far? Make sure to explain. Also, let’s just stipulate right now that some of you are very upset about his criticism of the POTUS. Leave that aside, and that goes for both sides.
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Dr. Pliura goes to court
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* News-Gazette…
Dr. Tom Pliura is seeking a temporary restraining order against Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde in connection with the drive-thru coronavirus testing he’s been trying to arrange in the local community.
A lawsuit was e-filed Monday afternoon in the federal district court in Urbana by Pliura doing business as CampusTown Urgent Care, the urgent care center he operates at 631 E. Green St., C.
The lawsuit seeks to prohibit Pryde — individually and in her capacity as the public health district’s administrator — from stopping Pliura’s plans to offer public COVID-19 testing.
“You can’t stop someone from doing something that’s legal,” Pliura said. […]
Named as another plaintiff in the lawsuit is Steve McLaughlin, identified as a resident of the federal court district who, as of Monday afternoon, didn’t have any COVID-19 symptoms but wanted to know if he has been infected.
Dr. Pliura was telling people late last week that they had to at least claim they had symptoms before he could test them.
* WCIA TV…
According to the injunction, Dr. Pliura claimed Pryde and others at CUPHD ‘undertook efforts to prevent Campustown from conducting its drive-through testing, including raising false, contrived and pretextual concerns with officials at the church’ and ‘made baseless accusations concerning the cost of the testing, vague assertions concerning whether unidentified “guidelines” would be followed and asserting that, “first of all, there is just no unfettered access to testing in this country”.’
Pryde said in an interview on April 2 that CDC guidelines state only those who are showing symptoms are supposed to get tested, and she wanted to make sure Dr. Pliura was following those guidelines.
“If people are doing it and they don’t have symptoms, and they’re just testing because they just want to test, and they don’t have any real reason to test… that’s taking resources that could be better used,” said Pryde on April 2.
While the Public Health District can’t shut down a testing site on its own, they can make suggests to anyone looking to provide testing. Dr. Pliura said in the injunction both the district and Pryde did just that after he attempted to make arrangements to hold drive-through testing at several other locations in Champaign-Urbana. According to the injunction, those ‘tentative agreements (were) rescinded after the owners/managers had communications within one or more Defendants who raised various “issues.”.’
* Also from the filing…
On or about March 30, 2020, Campustown made arrangements to conduct drive- through/walk-up outdoor testing from the area outside its clinic at 631 E. Green Street, Champaign, IL. Those arrangements included expending great sums of money to buy test collection materials, hiring additional temporary staff, and creating a custom- designed patient registration computer system to allow for pre-registration of testing patients, thereby minimizing direct contact during the collection process. […]
Campustown has expended great sums of money to purchase testing supplies, to create necessary custom software programs to manage high-volume testing, and to advertise the availability of testing services. […]
Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Plaintiffs Campustown and Pliura have a liberty and property interest in performing their professional business services that cannot be deprived by Defendants without due process. […]
Defendants’ unauthorized and unjustified actions in blocking the testing will not only cause irreparable harm to Campustown’s and Pliura’s professional reputation and prospective business […]
Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits because, and shown above, Defendants have unconstitutionally infringed upon Plaintiffs’ rights, as described above and, with respect to Campustown and Pliura, Defendants have tortuously interfered with Plaintiffs’ prospective business relationship and have painted Plaintiffs in a false light, damaging their professional reputations.
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* From the NRCC on April 1…
Casten sides with Chinese Communist Party
Turns out China lied (shocking!) about the number of cases and deaths their people suffered from coronavirus.
But that’s not stopping Sean Casten from praising China’s response to the virus, including during yesterday’s telephone town hall.
That’s nothing new, however. Casten has been spewing Communist Party propaganda to bash the president since last week.
NRCC Comment: “It is disturbing that Sean Casten, a member of the United States Congress, continuously chooses to use Chinese Communist Party propaganda to attack the President of the United States.” -NRCC Spokeswoman Carly Atchison
* Washington Post on April 3…
For months, national Republicans hoping to wrest back control of the House this fall have targeted first-term Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), hitting him on his vote to impeach President Trump, his criticism of the U.S. drone killing of an Iranian general and his opposition to a federal ban on fentanyl.
This week, they opened a new front — accusing Casten of “spewing Communist Party propaganda to bash the president” over Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Casten’s sin, in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s view, was a pair of conference calls during which he told constituents that China had acted “quickly” and “to their credit … shut down the entire province that this was in, and they seem to largely have isolated the cases.” […]
In an interview, Casten defended his position that China, along with other Asian nations, including South Korea and Japan, which had dealt with a SARS virus outbreak in the early 2000s, had moved with more urgency to shut down schools and take proactive measures to contain the virus.
“A reasonable critic of China might say if they had moved more quickly it might have constrained it even more,” Casten said. “But leaving that aside, our own president was saying less than a month ago this was the same as the flu.”
* From the NRCC yesterday…
Americans are dying but that’s not stopping Sean Casten from continuing to spew Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
In case you missed it…
Dem Rep Spreads Chinese Propaganda While Blaming Coronavirus Deaths on Trump
Washington Free Beacon
Yuichiro Kakutani
April 5, 2020
https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/dem-rep-spreads-chinese-propaganda-while-blaming-coronavirus-deaths-on-trump/
* The story…
An Illinois Democrat who accused President Donald Trump of killing Americans by lying to the public about the coronavirus also spread pro-China misinformation about the deadly disease during a townhall with constituents.
As COVID-19 spreads across the nation, Rep. Sean Casten (D., Ill.) has repeatedly attempted to blame Trump and Republicans for the death toll, accusing them of spreading fatal misinformation about the pandemic. Casten himself, however, has misinformed the public about China’s role in the pandemic. When one of his constituents asked about the early Chinese response to the outbreak at a March 21 electronic town hall, the congressman refused to talk about the regime’s coverup of the virus. Instead, he incorrectly said that China had successfully isolated the outbreak in Wuhan.
“China, to their credit, once they realize they had a problem, shut down the entire province that this was in and they seem to have largely isolated the cases in China,” Casten said. “We have missed that window in the United States.”
In reality, however, China has failed to isolate the cases in the province of Wuhan, the origin of the illness. The virus has spread to nearly every part of the country, killing thousands in distant provinces such as Guangdong and Zhejiang. And while China’s self-reported data indicate the worst has passed, reports of funeral homes overflowing with urns have led critics to believe that the regime is grossly underreporting the impact of the pandemic. One media report, for instance, estimates China’s coronavirus deaths are in the tens of thousands, as opposed to the officially reported count of 3,308.
* Greg Hinz took notice and posted this yesterday…
An already heated campaign for Congress in the western suburbs has exploded in swarm of invective and bitter words, with Democratic incumbent Sean Casten and GOP challenger Jeanne Ives battling over how the COVID-19 epidemic is being handled.
Ives says Casten allies have accused her of being “a killer” and her campaign charged that he is “stoking anger, fear and division.” Meanwhile the Republican National Committee circulated copies of an article by a conservative Washington newspaper that accused Casten of “pushing Chinese propaganda.” […]
Casten said he also has been critical of the Chinese government. “I’m not saying for a second that they didn’t distort things.”
* The NRCC reacted to the Hinz story by sending out an email today with the subject line: Casten keeps siding with Chinese Communist regime…
Hi –
Once again, Sean Casten is peddling lies, this time about how he’s been critical of China’s handling of the deadly coronavirus.
But Casten has not been critical of China.
He’s been an asset for China’s Communist Party by helping spread their propaganda repeatedly.
Meanwhile Casten accuses the administration’s press briefings of killing Americans.
NRCC Comment: “It is staggering that Sean Casten continues to side with the Chinese Communist regime, which is responsible for the current global pandemic, and blames official United States press briefings for killing Americans.” - NRCC Spokeswoman Carly Atchison
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What’s up with this new EO?
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* 20 ILCS 3305/7…
Sec. 7. Emergency Powers of the Governor. In the event of a disaster […]
(1) To suspend the provisions of any regulatory statute prescribing procedures for conduct of State business, or the orders, rules and regulations of any State agency, if strict compliance with the provisions of any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder or delay necessary action, including emergency purchases, by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, in coping with the disaster.
* 730 ILCS 5/3-11-1…
Furloughs.
The Department [of Corrections] may extend the limits of the place of confinement of a committed person under prescribed conditions, so that he may leave such place on a furlough. Whether or not such person is to be accompanied on furlough shall be determined by the chief administrative officer. The Department may make an appropriate charge for the necessary expenses of accompanying a person on furlough. Such furloughs may be granted for a period of time not to exceed 14 days, for any of the following purposes: […]
to obtain medical, psychiatric or psychological services when adequate services are not otherwise available;
* Executive Order 2020-21 issued yesterday…
THEREFORE, by the powers vested in me as the Governor of the State of Illinois, and pursuant to Sections 7(1), 7(2), 7(8), and 7(12) of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, 20 ILCS 3305, I hereby order the following, effective immediately and for the remainder of the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations:
Section 1. The following provisions of the Illinois Unified Code of Corrections, 730 ILCS 5/3-11-11 [sic], allowing for the furlough of IDOC inmates are hereby suspended as follows: (a) as set forth in Section (a), providing the allowable time period for furloughs, the phrase “for a period of time not to exceed 14 days”, is suspended and furlough periods shall be allowed for up to the duration of the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations as determined by the Director of IDOC; and (b) as set forth in Section (a)(2), the phrase “to obtain medical, psychiatric or psychological services when adequate services are not otherwise available” shall be suspended and furloughs for medical, psychiatric or psychological purposes shall be allowed at the Director’s discretion and consistent with the guidance of the IDOC Acting Medical Director.
Section 2. The IDOC shall file emergency rules as needed to effectuate the intent of this Executive Order. [Emphasis added.]
* Sun-Times…
Pritzker’s action came as 62 inmates and 40 Corrections Department staffers had been confirmed to have COVID-19. Two inmates at Stateville Correctional Center have died of the disease.
Several lawsuits have been filled by representatives of prisoners contending the state has been slow to act in the face of the pandemic. The lawsuits noted as many as 13,000 prisoners could be eligible for release, including some convicted of nonviolent offenses, are elderly, at a higher risk of getting sick or have served most of their sentences.
The Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago was one of the organizations seeking to get some prison inmates released. Director Alan Mills called Pritzker’s move a positive one that will allow the Corrections Department to transfer thousands of prisoners to places where they can follow the governor’s orders to shelter in place and maintain social distancing.
Thousands? No.
* According to the governor’s office, this EO will apply to prisoners who are medically vulnerable, but that determination will be done on a case-by-case, one-by-one basis. For instance, if they’re in an infirmary, or they’re on cancer drugs, or some such.
But even that won’t automatically result in a release because risk assessments will still be conducted. So, inmates convicted of violent offenses with years remaining on their terms are not likely to be included. Most Stateville inmates would fall into that category, for example.
* From the Illinois Constitution…
SECTION 8.1. CRIME VICTIMS’ RIGHTS.
(a) Crime victims, as defined by law, shall have the following rights: […]
The right to be notified of the conviction, the sentence, the imprisonment, and the release of the accused.
Finding those victims is a challenge in many cases.
* IDOC also has to make sure the inmates have an appropriate place to release them to. They need an address so they can be monitored. Homeless shelters are now full, so that option is out. The state is working with non-profits to find places to send people to, but that is not a simple task.
IDOC has already released 450 inmates during the crisis, the governor’s office says. This new EO won’t necessarily increase that pace, but it will allow the state to get around the 14-day statutory limit.
And, remember, IDOC still has to draft and publish emergency rules to implement this EO.
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* NY Times…
In Louisiana, about 70 percent of the people who have died are African-American, though only a third of the state’s population is black. In the county around Milwaukee, where 27 percent of residents are black, nearly twice as many African-American residents tested positive for the virus as white people. And in Chicago, where African-American residents make up a little less than a third of the population, more than half of those found to have the virus are black, and African-Americans make up 72 percent of those who have died of the virus.
Data on the race of those sickened by the virus has only been made public in a handful of places and is too limited to make sweeping conclusions. But racial disparities in cases and outcomes, researchers said, reflect what happens when a viral pandemic is layered on top of entrenched inequalities.
The data, researchers said, is partly explained by factors that could make black Americans more vulnerable in any outbreak: They are less likely to be insured, more likely to already have health conditions and more likely to be denied testing and treatment. There is also the highly infectious nature of the coronavirus in a society where black Americans disproportionately hold jobs that do not allow them to stay at home, the researchers said.
“If you walk outside and see who is actually still working,” said Elaine Nsoesie, of Boston University’s School of Public Health, “the data don’t seem surprising.”
If the type of jobs people have was a major factor, or the fact that they rely on public transit, you’d think the Latino rate would be much higher than it is. The state’s latest figures show 7.5 percent of all reported COVID-19 deaths are Latinos. But they’re 17.4 percent of the state’s population.
* Sun-Times…
Among all Chicagoans who have died from the virus, 97% suffered from underlying health problems, city data show.
* Tribune…
Indeed, some of the hardest hit communities on the South and West sides have struggled with unemployment and health care access for generations. As a result, residents have higher baseline rates of diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and high blood pressure — the chronic conditions that make the coronavirus even more deadly.
Even before the pandemic, these chronic conditions attributed to a life-expectancy gap in the city. On average, white Chicagoans live nine years longer than black residents, with half of the disparity due to chronic illnesses and smoking rates in black communities, public health officials said. […]
Six of the 10 ZIP codes with the most coronavirus-related deaths in Cook County are in Chicago, the data shows. Deaths were concentrated in majority-black, South Side neighborhoods including Auburn Gresham, South Chicago, South Shore and Chatham.
“This is not just about racial and ethnic disparity and the outcomes,” Lightfoot said. “The distribution of this disease tells the story about resources and inequality. A story about unequal health care access, job access and community investment. Dynamics we know all too well here in the city of Chicago and something all of us have been talking about and fighting against for years.”
Yes, these dynamics are quite well-known, which is why government at all levels and not just in Chicago and Cook County should’ve been far more proactive.
Ugh.
* Sun-Times editorial…
What’s to be done?
Mayor Lightfoot on Monday presented a city plan essentially aimed at getting the message out more forcefully in communities of color and monitoring cases early. There will be more outreach workers. There will be more well-being checks.
If those sound like pretty basic steps, they are. But then, everything about slowing the spread and beating back the coronavirus is basic. There is no magic cure, though President Trump has been talking up an untested drug, hydroxchloroquine. There is no vaccine.
For now, there is only this: social distancing. And so we once again urge everyone — and perhaps most especially African Americans — to practice social distancing as much as humanly possible.
Easier said than done if you have to work outside the home, but still true.
*** UPDATE *** With a hat tip to a commenter…
Coronavirus patients in areas that had high levels of air pollution before the pandemic are more likely to die from the infection than patients in cleaner parts of the country, according to a new nationwide study that offers the first clear link between long-term exposure to pollution and Covid-19 death rates.
In an analysis of 3,080 counties in the United States, researchers at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that higher levels of the tiny, dangerous particles in air known as PM 2.5 were associated with higher death rates from the disease. […]
The paper found that if Manhattan had lowered its average particulate matter level by just a single unit, or one microgram per cubic meter, over the past 20 years, the borough would most likely have seen 248 fewer Covid-19 deaths by this point in the outbreak. […]
The District of Columbia, for instance, is likely to have a higher death rate than the adjacent Montgomery County, Md. Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, should be worse than nearby Lake County, Ill. Fulton County, Ga., which includes Atlanta, is likely to suffer more deaths than the adjacent Douglas County.
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ACLU urges police restraint
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gregory Pratt at the Tribune…
To enforce social distancing and a stay-at-home order, Chicago police have dispersed groups more than 1,500 times in the last week and have issued 11 citations and made three arrests.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot cited those figures as she renewed her plea for people to stay home and avoid crowds as temperatures are expected to rise into the 70s on Tuesday.
“We’re going to keep stepping up our enforcement efforts,” Lightfoot said at a news conference Monday at Soldier Field. “I want to be clear: It’s not that people are going out, although we want people to really stay home. The issue is congregating and that’s what we can’t tolerate.
“Police have been very aggressive in issuing dispersal orders, citations where necessary, and luckily we’ve only had a small number of arrests,” she added. “But people have to understand, yes, it’s a beautiful day, the weather’s getting warmer, but we need people to continue to comply.”
* It’s a beautiful day today, so there’s some worry that enforcement will ramp up. The ACLU of Illinois hasn’t heard of any real enforcement problems yet, but the group decided to issue this today just in case…
As Illinois moves into its third week under a “stay at home” order issued by the Governor, police across Illinois are being reminded that their role is to build voluntary compliance with the order, not use it as an excuse to make mass arrests. The reminder comes in the form of an open call - issued today by the ACLU of Illinois - to law enforcement across the State of Illinois.
“All of our energies now must be targeted at reducing the spread of COVID-19 and acting in accordance with appropriate public health recommendations,” said Rachel Murphy, Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Illinois. “This public health approach must also consider changes to law enforcement practices, so that we protect both the police and the general public with whom they interact.”
The ACLU points to public health experts’ directions to prevent further spread by reducing the number of opportunities for exposure and educating the public on the importance of social distancing. The call makes clear that by reducing interactions with the public, limiting arrests and focusing enforcement of stay home orders on education and voluntary compliance, police across Illinois can make a valuable contribution to reducing the spread of COVID-19.
Specifically, police are encouraged to reduce stops and arrests by:
• Drastically limiting all contacts - including pedestrian stops and traffic stops - to situations where there is an imminent threat of bodily harm;
• Taking necessary precautions, including practicing social distancing and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), when they must make contact with a member of the public;
• Only taking individuals into custody as a last resort.
Regarding the enforcement of stay at home orders, the ACLU recommends that police take the following steps:
• Officers will promote compliance with public health orders through education and requests to disperse, not arrests or ticketing. If several attempts at education are not persuasive, officers will seek a cease and desist order before resorting to tickets or arrest.
• Officers will assume individuals walking or driving their cars alone or in small groups are engaging in an essential activity, such as exercise and caring for a pet or family member, and will not question, cite, or arrest those individuals.
• Officers will not set up checkpoints to enforce any public health ordinances, even in the case of extreme emergency.
• As a means to reduce arrests, officers must communicate with a supervisor and obtain approval before making an arrest under the order. Supervisors will first explore whether the officer has already used other means of achieving compliance.
• Officers will follow existing prohibitions on racial profiling.
If Illinois residents are concerned about the way in which their local police are enforcing stay home orders, they can reach out to the ACLU of Illinois at ACLUofIllinois@aclu-il.org.
Thoughts?
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* Rep. Blaine Wilhour writing in the Illinois Review…
An Ivy League professor recently published an article in the Federalist stating that the longer we quarantine the entire population – the more we delay herd immunity which could lead to more people succumbing to the virus in the long run. The author suggested that a more targeted approach to quarantining might be the better solution.
Is this a better approach? Maybe. Maybe not. But can we at least have the discussion?
* They had a vigorous discussion about herd immunity in England last month…
Britain’s chief scientific adviser stoked controversy on Friday when he said that about 40m people in the UK could need to catch the coronavirus to build up “herd immunity” and prevent the disease coming back in the future.
Defending Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision not to follow other European countries by closing schools and banning mass gatherings, Patrick Vallance said it was the government’s aim to “reduce the peak of the epidemic, pull it down and broaden it” while protecting the elderly and vulnerable.
But Sir Patrick told Sky News that experts estimated that about 60 per cent of the UK’s 66m population would have to contract coronavirus in order for society to build up immunity.
“Communities will become immune to it and that’s going to be an important part of controlling this longer term,” he said. “About 60 per cent is the sort of figure you need to get herd immunity.”
* But that idea didn’t last very long…
Donald Trump has said that Boris Johnson’s abandoned plan for creating “herd immunity” to the coronavirus in the UK would have been “catastrophic” and caused “a lot of death.”
The president said that the UK government’s original coronavirus strategy plan, which involved allowing the virus to spread in order to achieve resistance to the virus in the population, would have caused millions of deaths if adopted in the US.
“If you remember, they were looking at that concept - I guess it’s a concept if you don’t mind death, a lot of death - but they were looking at that in the UK, remember,” Trump told a White House press briefing on Tuesday.
“And all of a sudden they went hard the other way because they started seeing things that weren’t good, so they put themselves in a little bit of a problem.”
* And then…
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, who was transferred to intensive care Monday night, has become a potent symbol of the dangers the coronavirus pandemic poses.
The fact Johnson has become so ill highlights that this disease can be deadly to even the young and healthy. It also highlights what’s so problematic about the policy his government initially pursued to combat the virus: herd immunity.
Johnson’s government was much slower to impose social distancing measures than many other European countries.
* Back to Rep. Wilhour…
On April 8th, the Governor’s 30 day-emergency powers come to an end. It is time for the Governor to bring the Legislature to the table. Our constituents deserve input on potentially opening parts of the state less affected by the virus.
Just one of the bills Rep. Wilhour sponsored in this GA has become law…
Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that red or white oscillating, rotating, or flashing emergency lights may be used on a vehicle operated by a qualified deputy fire chief or assistant fire chief (in addition to a fire chief).
And only one other bill he’s introduced has attracted co-sponsors from beyond a tight-knit group of far-right legislators.
…Adding… From Rep. Wilhour…
Way to completely ignore context and cherry-pick one small section while ignoring the rest. Perhaps you should tell your readers to read the whole thing and then comment specifically to the content.
I am not arguing for herd immunity. I am advocating for a more targeted approach based on actual numbers. Lets look at taking into account who is the most at-risk and formulate policies to protect them, our most vulnerable.
If you read the article, what is is really calling for is full transparency on relevant data, benchmarks and safeguard ideas for reopening of the economy-based on the data, open consideration of regionalization-again , based on data. All very reasonable discussion points.
Furthermore, how about some considerations on the lasting effects this blanket shutdown will have on working people?
I just saw a report where the Indiana suicide hotline has had increases in call volume from 1000-25,000.
The Governor and the Mayor both pointed to disproportionate effects on the African American community.
The Mayor attributes it to factors such as: health care accessibility, jobs, and hunger.
These huge across the board shutdown policies are making all of these factors exponentially worse.
If you read the article, I am clearly not calling for a free-for-all. Stop marginalizing dissent from the group-think.
BTW, I am chief sponsor on more bills than you indicated.
Look it up. www.ilga.gov
I did look it up.
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To Flowbee or not to Flowbee
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WGN TV…
Photos surfaced over the weekend showing the mayor after she got a haircut amid the state’s stay-at-home orders.
A woman posted photos on Facebook Sunday saying she “had the pleasure of giving Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot a hair trim.”
In the photos, the mayor is standing next to the woman and they are not standing six feet apart — plus, neither one was wearing a mask.[…]
Beauty and hair salons are among the many businesses closed to the public amid the statewide orders.
* Fox 32…
“I’m the public face of this city and you know, I’m a person who [takes] personal hygiene very seriously and I felt like I needed to have a haircut,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “So I got a haircut.”
Part of the criticism came from the fact that the mayor had called on people not to go out and get their hair done in one of her “Stay Home, Save Lives” public service announcements.
* Tribune…
“I think what really people want to talk about is, we’re talking about people dying here. We’re talking about significant health disparities. I think that’s what people care most about,” Lightfoot said.
In response to a follow-up question, she said, “The woman who cut my hair had a mask and gloves on so we are, I am practicing what I’m preaching.”
A reporter asked the mayor about one of her “stay home, save lives” public service announcements where Lightfoot admonishes an off-screen person by saying, “Getting your roots done is not essential.”
Asked about that, a visibly annoyed Lightfoot said, “I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media and I’m out in the public eye.
* Sun-Times…
The mayor grew somewhat impatient when asked again about her mixed message to men and women across the city who don’t like the way they look after weeks without a haircut.
“I’ll answer this again. I’m the public face of this city. I’m on national media. And I’m out in the public eye. I take my personal hygiene very seriously. I felt like I needed to have a haircut. I’m not able to do that myself. So, I got a haircut. Want to talk more about that?” the mayor said.
Pool reporter Craig Wall of Channel 7 replied, “No. I think you answered the question. Thank you.”
* WBBM Radio…
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he doesn’t question the mayor’s decision. As for him, he said he hasn’t had a haircut since he issued his statewide “stay-at-home” order last month, which is now effective through April.
“I actually feel like I’m getting a little shaggy. I’m going to turn into a hippie at some point here–my hair grows pretty fast,” Pritzker said Monday during a question-and-answer period at his latest COVID-19 briefing.
Pritzker, who has a full shock of brown hair, joked he may need to learn how to use a Flowbee, a do-it-yourself haircutting system that relies on the use of a vacuum cleaner. The product was marketed on television commercials that were considered unintentionally funny back in the day.
He said he understands the hardships peope are enduring as barbers and stylists close their shops during the COVID-19 crisis.
I bought a Flowbee online to cut Oscar’s hair, but he’s deathly afraid of it, so now it’s in the garage (the Flowbee, not Oscar).
How’s your hair looking these days?
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The numbers behind the bickering
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WGN…
[White House officials] said the state has received 367,700 N-95 masks, 875,000 surgical masks and 300 ventilators, with an additional 172,200 N-95 masks and 150 ventilators given separately to Chicago. […]
While acknowledging the work of the Army Corps of Engineers to build additional hospital capacity in the state, Pritzker said Monday that supplies provided by the federal government will only last a handful of days because it’s going fast.
Pritzker said health care workers are expected to need up 1.5 million N-95 masks and 25 million gloves every 10 days to care for infected patients.
* Fox 32…
The federal government has sent the state 367,000 N95 masks, whereas Pritzker and his team have secured more than 9 million.
* From the governor’s briefing yesterday…
And that’s just across our hospitals and long term care facilities, with small set-asides for our law enforcement to make sure that they are fully covered, and our essential state workers. That’s also before you count the McCormick Place alternate facility, which we project could bring our surgical mask burn rate to over 2 million across that 10 day period, to just offer one more example.
…Adding… The comptroller is keeping track of federal supplies received by Illinois. These numbers are current as of yesterday…
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Good news, bad news
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A few weeks ago, some animal lovers were worried that people would be dumping their pets at shelters. The opposite appears to be happening…
More pets are being adopted during the coronavirus outbreak, and a Chicago shelter is out of dogs for the first time ever.
Chicago Animal Care and Control Adoptable Pets shared the news on their Facebook page on Sunday.
“CACC has no dogs currently available for adoption,” the message read. “We’ve never typed those words before.”
* But not all is well…
Animal shelters across the Chicago area are facing tough financial times as some cease adoptions, call off fundraisers and plan to take on more pets from those who have lost jobs and can no longer care for them. At the same time, rescue groups have seen a surge in people stepping up to foster pets, and at least one has shifted its focus to its pet food pantry to help families and their pets amid the government-mandated shutdown during the coronavirus outbreak.
Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin has temporarily suspended all adoptions and is looking into ways to “allow adoptions on a limited basis.” In addition, all of its in-person programming has been called off. […]
The shelter currently has 200 dogs and cats in its care, many of which are in foster homes but still require veterinary care, medications, food and other supplies.
“COVID-19 has already begun to affect our ability to care for the homeless animals already in our care, let alone the animals who will come to us in need in the days and months ahead,” according to Anderson officials.
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Please, don’t be a Covidiot
Monday, Apr 6, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. Brad Halbrook on Facebook…
* A commenter on the Rend Lake Visitor Center’s Facebook page asked a few days ago if people can still fish at the lake. The center’s response…
Yes. If you are using a boat, the South Marcum, Dam West, and Cypress View boat ramps are open. The North Gun Creek Boat Ramp, managed by the Rend Lake Conservancy District, which is where the Buck and Bass Cabins are is also open. This ramp is located north of Hwy 154, across from the Rend Lake Golf Course and just west of the I57 Sesser exit. If you are interested in fishing from the shoreline, all the hunter/fisherman parking lots managed by the Corps of Engineers, the Spillway recreation area, and the Dam West recreation area are all open at this time.
…Adding… Alton Telegraph…
Alton Mayor Brant Walker on Monday described his wife, Shannon Walker’s decision to attend a gathering at an Alton bar that was ultimately shut down by police as “a stunning lack of judgment.”
Brant Walker issued the statement soon after Alton Police Chief Jason “Jake” Simmons reported that officers broke up the party at Hiram’s Tavern, 213 W. 3rd St. in Alton at approximately 1 a.m. Sunday.
Simmons said a criminal complaint of reckless conduct will be filed against each person at the party for violating the state’s State At Home order amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Brant Walker says he instructed Simmons to not give his wife any special treatment.
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* Gov. Pritzker at today’s media briefing…
The shipments that we’ve received from the Strategic National Stockpile is a mere fraction of what we’ve asked for. 367,795 masks. 1,141,000 surgical masks. Nearly 693,000 gloves. 174,000 face shields, 142,000 surgical gowns and 4000 coveralls. Again, this is a small fraction of what we need. And what we have asked for. […]
Right now, we’re looking at a statewide 10-day PPE burn rate of just under 1.5 million N95 masks, 25 million gloves, 4.4 million gowns and 700,000 surgical masks.
And that’s just across our hospitals and long term care facilities, with small set-asides for our law enforcement to make sure that they are fully covered, and our essential state workers. That’s also before you count the McCormick Place alternate facility, which we project could bring our surgical mask burn rate to over 2 million across that 10 day period, to just offer one more example.
As you can see when you compare our federal shipments to our burn rate, the product that we’ve received from the federal stockpile will last only a handful of days in this multi month battle.
Please pardon all typos.
* On to questions for the governor. Dr. Deborah Birx at the White House as been saying no grocery store for the next two weeks, nothing, stay home completely. Should Illinoisans follow that advice?…
I have not heard her say that, but I understand exactly what she’s saying, that if you can stock up, and we’ve talked about this before when we did the stay at home order to begin with, that people should try to stock up for a period of time, 14 days, if they can certainly. The less interaction that people have over an extended period of time, the more likely it is that we’re going to be bending this curve
* Considering a curfew, whether that be shortening the hours of some of these essential businesses, you know, only one person per household?…
Yes, I would. I mean, the answer is we try to look at all of these things all the time where you know you’re want to balance people’s civil liberties and and our need to be able to stay at home and to defeat this virus. […]
There are lots of things that we can do to limit peoples’ gathering and conveying this virus to one another, and we of course are considering them all the time.
* The White House has sent 450 ventilators. The state has requested more than 4000. Where are you going to get the ventilators you need?…
So we’re, day in and day out, we are on the phone with companies that have ventilators and companies that could provide ventilators to us from that manufacturer. I’ve been on the phone with the head of Ford Motor Company, which is about to come out with their version of a ventilator, with General Motors or at least the people who are coordinating the effort for General Motors to gather to get those ventilators. I’ve talked to the head of by air, a company that’s based here in Illinois that makes ventilators, so we’re doing everything we can. I’m just one person that’s been on the phone around ventilators. We’ve also collected up ventilators from places that you might not normally expect us to have one. There are dental offices sometimes just in the event that somebody has a problem, you know, it’s very unusual right but many dentists will keep a ventilator around anyway surges centers where elective surgeries had taken place, that are not open today right they all, many of the most of them had ventilators.
* Federal help staffing McCormick Place?…
We will be receiving some federal medical staff, it hasn’t been made clear that there’ll be in McCormick Place. But we were notified that in fact there are federal army and other military medical staff that will be made available to us in the state of Illinois, so I’m very pleased to hear that and as to where they’re going to be assigned we haven’t yet had that conversation.
* “Can I ask you about, it might seem silly, but there’s some criticism today to the mayor, for having a hairdresser come to her and giving her a haircut. What are you doing about a haircut? Have you had a haircut? What do you think folks should do who are not able to go to the hairdresser? They see the mayor has had a private haircut, and they’re upset”…
Well, I can’t speak to the situation of the mayor’s haircut, but I will say I have not had a haircut since before the stay at home rule was put in place. I actually feel like I’m getting a little shaggy, I’m going to turn into a hippie at some point here. My hair grows pretty fast, so maybe I’ll learn how to use a flowbee or something else to cut my own hair. But look I mean these are some of the consequences that I think we’re all having to experience I know that they’re things that people might normally buy makeup that you might go to a makeup counter somewhere to get that you can’t get any more, because those stores are closed. […]
But, you know, everybody’s making sacrifices here and I’m sure that whatever the mayor did she did in a way that is safe for everybody and for her for the people who may have, you know, done. You know, dressing her hair you know doing her haircut.
* Governor, you said at least twice ,the last time on March 5, that the risk to the general public remains low. Why did you say that, and what were you basing that, when did you change your mind?…
Well I was listening to the CDC. And what I heard from the CDC was that the risk to the general public was low. And I think the CDC is a terrific organization mostly has gotten things right over the many years that I’ve been alive. And so I believed what they were saying and I was repeating that I think I still think it’s a great organization I think that for whatever reason at the federal government level I think perhaps decisions being made at the White House. They weren’t giving very strong advice about what to do, proactively to address cobit 19. But as you know, we took early actions without the CDC, and I’m hoping and praying that those actions are, you know, delivering good results for the state of Illinois.
* What steps are being taken to shore up state spending in anticipation of the crater of state revenues? Is your administration implementing any cutback of services or staff reductions?…
First of all, this is, I mean it’s unprecedented in terms of the state even compared to 2008-2009, the revenue shortfall, the things that we’re having to do to address this, you know is creating a gap that I don’t think anybody could have anticipated. So we are looking very hard at what we need to do to to get the revenues and expenditures in line with one another. I think a lot of it is going to depend upon the federal government I mean there’s just no one else who can step in the, you know, to help our state finances, the way that the federal government can.
* With African-Americans representing a disproportionate number of COVID 19 fatalities, what plan does the administration have to attack this problem? Any theory about why blacks are being hit harder?…
There was a rumor, also very false, that African Americans were, I read this recently in a, in a serious publication, that the there was a rumor that African Americans were immune. And I hope people didn’t read that, or understand that but that is a rumor that was put out on social media. And so that obviously is false.
The flipside is also false that this this adversely affects African Americans, because COVID 19 by its very nature has some disproportionate effect on the African American populaetion. Here’s the reason that we think that it has a disproportionate effect on the African American community, things that Dr. Ezike was saying, underlying conditions that exists, the poor health care that has been provided you know because of years of disinvestment in communities of color. Those have both come together, this virus has had this terrible effect on the African American community because of those two things when there are, you know, a large number of people in the African American community with diabetes and with hypertension. And those are comorbidities that can cause greater problems with COVID 19. Together with the idea that there aren’t the safety net hospitals are challenged in our state, and tthe availability of health care in communities of color has been at a lower quality or lower availability than in other communities so those have worked. So we are countering it both by reopening hospitals that are in those communities. You’ve seen us working on reopening those as well as by making sure that we’re messaging properly, we’re using social media, and our All in Illinois campaign to message directly into the African American community about stay at home about making sure that people are washing their hands, that they’re, you know, wiping down surfaces and all the other things that we’ve asked people to do.
* What are your thoughts about Illinoisans still planning to travel Wednesday to celebrate Passover this weekend to celebrate Easter. You’ve clearly discouraged residents to stay home and maintain social distancing, but do you have a specific message for those wanting to celebrate with their family anyway? Will there be any sort of enforcement mechanism to ensure there is no needless travel in the coming weeks?…
Look, I understand the desire to worship. Passover is coming up. We’re in Easter week.
This is an important holy time of the year. And I want very much for people to experience the spirituality that they normally would. We live in a very difficult time. And I would suggest that, unfortunately, where we all should start to think about how we’re going to use technology in order for us to gather in order to hear our pastor or a rabbi, you know, or a imam or whoever we worship with, you know, to listen to them and to worship online perhaps by video or by phone, and to connect with family in the same way.
It’s very important if your family doesn’t live with you and you normally would get together for the holidays. This is a time when you’ve got to look for another way to do it. I’ve heard people using zoom. There’s a funny term I’ve heard for Passover Seder as a Seder zoom Seder. And I think that we’re all going to be experiencing the holidays in a very unusual ways this year but it’s very important. I cannot reiterate this enough. It is very important that you stay home. It is very important that you do not gather in a place of worship or in somebody’s home with you know with other families or even with your family if they don’t live with you. It’s, we’ve got to protect each other and this will not last forever, but this is one Easter, one Passover that you’re going to have to do something unusual on the way that your worship and I asked you please do that for all of us.
* You said last week that you’d exhausted nearly every step at the state level to slow COVID 19 spread. On Sunday, you mentioned some other measures such as temperature checks. When would those steps become necessary?…
I think what we’re trying to do is, again, keep it balanced. This question was asked a little bit earlier, there’s a balance between, trying not to impose on everybody’s civil liberties, and at the same time trying to defeat this virus. And so, evaluating that every day, and I think the triggers would be if people are just not living by the rules, we’d have to enforce them to a greater extent.
You know, especially around the holidays here, nobody wants to have police patrolling the parking lots of churches, or synagogues or mosques to break people up. It’s not right. It’s not fair to the police officers either.
And we just, we all need, we are in this together, we all need to step up and do the right thing even if this time of year especially at this time of year.
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1,006 new cases, 33 additional deaths
Monday, Apr 6, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,006 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 33 additional deaths.
Cook County: 1 male 30s, 2 males 40s, 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 5 females 60s, 1 male 60s, 5 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
DeKalb County: 1 male 50s
Lake County: 2 males 80s
Will County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 2 males 80s
Jefferson and Wabash counties are now reporting cases. Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 12,262 cases, including 307 deaths, in 73 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.
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Question of the day
Monday, Apr 6, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Sunday on the blog…
S&P has revised its state of Illinois credit outlook from BBB-/Stable to BBB-/Negative.
That means Illinois is now just one tiny tick above non-investment grade status, or junk bond territory.
We’ve been here before. S&P assigned a BBB-/Negative rating to Illinois in June of 2017, the month before several Republicans broke ranks with Gov. Bruce Rauner and ended the two-year budget impasse.
S&P raised Illinois’ outlook to BBB-/Stable in July of 2019.
The problem here is that, by all accounts, this COVID-19 problem is nowhere near the end.
Brace yourselves.
* Greg Hinz followed up last night…
Pritzker’s office said in a statement: “The state of Illinois is committed to working through the difficult challenges brought on by COVID-19. The state prioritizes its debt payments and will ensure we stay on track through this crisis. By working together, Illinois will get through this crisis and rebuild our economy with new resolve.”
* The Question: Do you think Illinois can avoid junk status? Explain.
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COVID-19 roundup
Monday, Apr 6, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Uh-oh…
A second apartment complex in Taylorville has been quarantined because of COVID-19
Three people at the Park Glen Apartment Complex tested positive for the virus, and the facility has been placed under a 14-day quarantine.
The Christian-Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency reported that Christian County’s public health administrator, Denise Larson, was notified of the positive tests late Sunday afternoon, and the Illinois Department of Public Health recommended the quarantine.
* They’re now up to four at this nursing home…
According to health officials, one of the Jackson County COVID-19 cases reported Sunday is a resident of Manor Court, a skilled nursing facility within Liberty Village of Carbondale.
Bart Hagston, administrator for the Jackson County Health Department, said Monday that the woman in her 60s whose positive status for the virus was released on Sunday is a resident of Manor Court. Hagston said this marks the fourth case at the facility — one of those cases was a woman in her 90s who died on Thursday. She was the first in the lower 17 Illinois counties to die from the respiratory disease.
* Good news…
Two weeks after a rapid and deadly outbreak of COVID-19 cases hit a Lake Zurich assisted living center, the situation there has stabilized, a representative said.
No new coronavirus cases have been discovered among residents or staff at Cedar Lake Assisted Living & Memory Care, 777 Church St., said William Swearingen, an executive with Spectrum Retirement Communities, the company that manages the facility. […]
Nine of Cedar Lake’s 65 residents tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week of March. One subsequently died at a hospital.
Two workers tested positive for the virus the same week. Neither are caregivers, and both were expected to recover, Swearingen said.
* Press release…
State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, will be featured on the first episode of the new show Illinois Connected that will air on Tuesday, April 7 at 10 a.m.
Illinois Connected is a new statewide show that highlights current events in the state of Illinois and is streamed on livestream.com/blueroomstream. Welch will be featured in the first episode, touring the 7th district and giving an update on the state’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s imperative that folks stay home to save lives and flatten the curve,” Welch said. “This program will help give me the opportunity to update residents on the reopening of Westlake Hospital and let them know how they can help flatten the curve and support our local businesses—all from the comfort of their own home.”
* Letter to the editor writer is unclear on the concept of news…
Today’s News Sun headline about the coroner preparing a refrigerated semi-trailer for bodies is totally uncalled for. Talk about a downer. I think everyone knows that preparations are being made, but to have this as the first thing you see when you open your morning paper is disgraceful.
* Selected headlines from the Tribune’s live blog…
Chicago’s Local School Council elections postponed because of COVID-19
Lightfoot joins 8 Chicago sports teams in a new ‘We Are Not Playing’ ad campaign to help stop the coronavirus spread
Lightfoot says CTA schedule changes, service disruptions unlikely
With fewer drivers on the road because of coronavirus, Allstate will return $600 million in premiums to its customers
Federal lawsuit seeks immediate release of medically vulnerable inmates at the Cook County Jail
Coronavirus case curtails operations at domestic violence court, even as hotline calls increase
McDonald’s to donate 1 million N95 masks to Chicago, state health care workers
* Roundup…
* As cases surge, 3 in 4 US hospitals already facing COVID-19
* Panic-buying for coronavirus affects diabetes patients: They can’t find rubbing alcohol
* Pentagon: Active duty infections topped 1,000
* Veterans hospital employees fear new work-from-home ban will endanger community
* Governors plead for food stamp flexibility amid pandemic
* Will Bears be playing in Soldier Field by September?
* ‘Part of the team’: How local truckers are delivering for health care providers
* Local 3-D printers becoming the front line of the PPE supply chain
* Emergency childcare providers are taking care of essential workers’ kids in Southern Illinois
* How the coronavirus is being felt by Macon County animal shelters
* Shelby County Board to hold meeting — outdoors
* Illinois lawmaker says China government should pay for damages: The U.S. Congress would have to waive the applicability of the doctrine of sovereign immunity to allow Americans to take legal action against the Chinese government.
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* ProPublica Illinois today…
Five months ago, when Illinois schools Superintendent Carmen Ayala learned students were being repeatedly shut inside small rooms alone as punishment and physically held down on the floor, she said she cried. She vowed it would never happen again.
But Illinois State Board of Education officials negotiated with a key legislative rule-making committee to allow schools to use prone restraint for one more school year, aiming to phase out its use by July 2021. The decision last week came after a few small schools — including one whose advisory board includes state lawmakers — mounted letter-writing campaigns and direct appeals to government leaders.
State education board members already had relaxed the emergency ban that prevented children from being secluded by themselves, though with clearer direction on when isolated timeouts can and can’t be used and, for the first time, state oversight. The board, however, had remained firm on not allowing face-down, or prone, floor restraints because they are too dangerous.
That last sentence is not true.
* How do I know it’s not true? From ProPublica Illinois this past December…
Illinois Will Allow Prone, Supine Restraints on Children While Schools Learn to Phase Them Out
Amending emergency rules put in place two weeks ago, the Illinois State Board of Education says it will again allow schoolchildren to be physically restrained in positions it had banned, though only in crisis situations.
All JCAR did last week was extend those amended emergency rules from last December. The emergency rules covered quiet rooms and physical restraint.
* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line thoroughly covered last week’s meeting…
The commission, known as JCAR, meets monthly to approve rules written by state agencies and boards in order to implement newly passed state laws. Often, before JCAR is able to take final action on rules, emergency rules will be written that can last up to several months.
One of the most pressing set of emergency rules JCAR needed to vote to extend were ones approved by the Illinois State Board of Education in November after Tribune/ProPublica Illinois investigation into the use and potential abuse of isolation rooms in school settings for children who are deemed disruptive in classroom settings. The new rules prohibit the use of locked seclusion rooms and stop schools from using prone restraint.
Cunningham said though the emergency rules would expire while school was still out of session in Illinois due to Pritzker’s executive order shuttering schools to prevent the spread of coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, the rule was still important to have in place for special education students who have been moved to out-of-state boarding schools better equipped to handle their needs. Some of those schools are still in session. […]
Beyond those special education students at out-of-state facilities, Cunningham said that if school was resumed statewide in a month or further down the road, without JCAR having met to extend the emergency rules on isolation rooms, it would “become a complicated legal question.”
“We would open things up to all sorts of legal debate about us renewing a rule after it was already expired,” Cunningham said. “Do we have ability to extend a rule that already expired?”
*** UPDATE *** ISBE…
Hi Rich,
I am sending some information for your post on the recent ProPublica story on prone restraint: https://capitolfax.com/2020/04/06/am-i-missing-something-here/.
Following weeks of conversations, it became clear that it would not be possible to move forward with a ban on the use of prone restraint via rulemaking at this time. JCAR informed ISBE that if a one-year extension on the practice was not accepted, a filing prohibition for this section would be under serious consideration by members. ISBE agreed to this one-year extension on the use of prone restraint in very narrow circumstances to allow schools more time to transition to less restrictive techniques.
ISBE looks forward to continued talks with members of JCAR and with members of the General Assembly regarding the agency’s concerns with the use of prone restraint. ISBE will fully support legislation to ban prone restraint.
Thank you,
Jackie
Jackie Matthews
Director of External Communications
Illinois State Board of Education
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Today’s heroes
Monday, Apr 6, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Effingham Daily News…
Two local Certified Nursing Assistants are heading to the front lines of Illinois’ fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taylor Flowers of Mason and Kayla Summann of Altamont, both 23, will spend eight weeks in Chicago helping hospitals and medical facilities care for COVID-19 patients. […]
“My family was super encouraging. My boyfriend, Kevin, was my ultimate supporter and pushed me to go,” Flowers said.
Summann’s children and fiancé understood her desire to join health care workers in Chicago. She said her family agreed that it was the best move for her career, and though they are worried for her safety and health, Summann said her family shared words of encouragement.
* The paper’s Jeff Long has a regular “Roses and Thorns” column and he recently singled out the two women for praise…
There really aren’t enough roses in the world for two local Certified Nursing Assistants who are now on the front lines of Illinois’ fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As EDN Reporter Kaitlin Cordes wrote this week: Taylor Flowers of Mason and Kayla Summann of Altamont, both 23, will spend eight weeks in Chicago helping hospitals and medical facilities care for COVID-19 patients. Cook County has amassed the state’s greatest number of cases and deaths. Flowers and Summann answered a request from a Chicago-based health care company to send workers to the northern part of the state to aid with the unprecedented influx of patients due to the virus. State officials on Tuesday even sent an alert to mobile devices seeking medically trained individuals to fight the spread of the virus. Flowers described her decision to fight the virus on the front lines as a calling. “And we haven’t looked back,” Flowers told Cordes.
You can choose to listen to the local politicians who admit to using the state’s historical divide to score political points, or you can listen to Taylor Flowers and Kayla Summann.
Best of luck, ladies! Go get ‘em!
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* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is planning to spend untold millions to support his graduated income tax proposal this year via his Vote Yes For Fairness ballot initiative committee.
But another group has formed to help with the effort. The Vote Yes for Fair Tax committee has reported raising almost $600,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to date.
A few years ago, a ballot initiative committee with almost $600,000 in the bank several months ahead of a vote would be a sign of strength. In these times, with a billionaire governor who succeeded a near-billionaire governor, it looks almost small.
But the Vote Yes for Fair Tax committee won’t be running expensive TV ads, says its chairman, John Bouman of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law. “This is more of the sort of sweat-equity, grassroots, community-based ground game” approach, he says.
The organization’s largest contributor to date (at $250,000) is the National Education Association, which has thousands of members here. The Illinois Federation of Teachers has kicked in $100,000. AFSCME Illinois Council 31, with tens of thousands of members, has contributed $50,000 in cash so far and donated the time of two staffers. SEIU Healthcare, which also has tens of thousands of members here, contributed $50,000 in cash and $10,000 for access to Voter File data, and donated the time of two staffers.
I’ve detected some worry among Pritzker types that this other group could go off-script and weaken the overall message.
Click here to read the rest before commenting, please. Thanks.
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Without fanfare last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a sweeping executive order (2020-19) granting many health care providers immunity from civil liability during the COVID-19 crisis.
If medical facilities, community-integrated living facilities, community mental health centers and others are providing COVID-19 health care services, they cannot be sued “for any injury or death alleged to have been caused by any act or omission by the Health Care Facility, which injury or death occurred at a time when a Health Care Facility was engaged in the course of rendering assistance to the State by providing health care services in response to the COVID-19 outbreak,” until after the governor’s disaster declaration finally expires.
And the same goes for doctors, nurses, emergency medical service workers and even “health care volunteers.” They’re all immune to civil liability if they are providing services to any of the facilities dealing with the pandemic.
To be clear, this executive order covers not just the treatment of pandemic cases, but every service offered during the pandemic, as long as the institutions are involved in the response. If you have a botched heart surgery, they’d still be theoretically immune to lawsuits, as long as it didn’t involve “gross negligence or willful misconduct.”
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, which represents plaintiffs lawyers and has pushed for strong civil suit protections, is one of the most powerful Statehouse lobbies, but it has been utterly silent on the governor’s new executive order and hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
So, how can the governor legally sweep away almost all civil liability for those providers? Well, it’s in state law.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act gives the governor a ton of powers, and exempts health care workers and others from certain civil liability during a pending or actual disaster while under contract or direction from the government.
Pritzker’s executive order specifically directs medical facilities, personnel and volunteers to “render assistance in support of the State’s response to the disaster.” That gubernatorial order triggers the law’s provisions.
Everyone from the federal government on down say it’s about to get very real here (it already is in New York), and several hospitals will be overloaded.
A Pritzker administration official explained what’s about to happen. “You tell your hospital, ‘I know your standards of care are, say, 15 nurses on your ICU floor and now we’re telling you to only have 10 nurses because you have nurses calling in sick, and you have 20 more patients, but you’re just gonna have to tough it out and do that because you cannot turn anybody away who you can fit in a bed.’”
Understandably, you don’t want facilities and staff constantly worrying about being sued while treating people in those conditions. They have enough to worry about right now.
The hospitals also reportedly asked for the executive order partly to make sure that nursing homes and other residential facilities don’t freak out about legal liability when their residents begin to show symptoms and then hurriedly decide to immediately transfer them to already overburdened hospitals.
Flattening the curve, remember, is all about preventing the overloading of hospitals. Staying at home lessens your chance of catching or spreading the virus, and it also means keeping nursing home, CILA residents and others in place as long as possible.
Most hospitals weren’t doing well financially even before the pandemic. Closures were becoming the norm throughout the state as revenues dried up.
Elective procedures were essentially keeping most facilities afloat, but those are now banned by the most recent executive order. As Crain’s Chicago Business reported last week, even Cook County’s public health system relies on elective procedures to bring in revenues, but eliminating them per CDC guidelines cut the number of surgeries it performs in half.
It’s the same wherever you look, particularly in rural areas.
A massive health systems bailout will likely be required after this is all over, if not before. Until then, I’m told the Pritzker administration wanted to provide whatever help it could, and this executive order will do that.
As to whether that theoretical botched heart surgery mentioned above will fall under the civil liability exemption, I’ve heard differing opinions on whether it will or won’t. Judges and juries are certain to cut hospitals and caregivers some slack if they are working in an over-burdened facility. A heart surgeon, however, who is not doing any pandemic work wouldn’t have much of a defense for botching a surgery.
So maybe the trial lawyers won’t be completely shut out.
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Fair Maps Momentum Grows
Monday, Apr 6, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
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* The University of Washington IHME’s COVID-19 model was updated last night. Illinois is now expected to require peak healthcare resources on April 16th. That’s a day earlier than its initial projection and four days earlier than its April 2 projection.
A total of 3,629 COVID-19 deaths are now projected, up from 3,386 in the April 2 forecast and the 2,453 deaths projected in March.
The study projects 208 deaths per day by April 12, which is much higher and much earlier than the last projection of 109 deaths per day on April 20th and the first projection of 91 on April 17th.
The statewide ICU shortage is projected to start in two days, a day later than the April 2nd projection, but much earlier than the original March projection of April 16.
And remember, there’s a range involved here. This is not an exact science. Actual numbers could be higher or lower and dates could be earlier or later. Think of a poll’s Margin of Error.
The revised updates are explained in detail here.
* More…
A state-by-state breakdown suggested that a number of the U.S.’s hotspots were gaining ground on the virus, with death projections falling for California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Washington, and others. New Jersey’s projection rose dramatically from 2,100 to 9,690
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* Maria Ines Zamudio and Elliott Ramos…
The COVID-19 virus is killing black residents in Cook County at disproportionately high rates, according to early data analyzed by WBEZ.
While black residents make up only 23% of the population in the county, they account for 58% of the COVID-19 deaths. And half of the deceased lived in Chicago, according to data from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
As of Saturday, 107 of Cook County’s 183 deaths from COVID-19 were black. In Chicago, 61 of the 86 recorded deaths – or 70% – were black residents. Blacks make up 29% of Chicago’s population.
The majority of the black COVID-19 patients who died had underlying health conditions including respiratory problems and diabetes. Eighty-one percent of them had hypertension, or high blood pressure, diabetes or both. […]
“It’s disturbing and upsetting, but not surprising,” said Dr. Linda Rae Murray, health policy professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “This is just a reflection of the facts that we already know about these pandemics. People who are vulnerable will die quicker and won’t have as many resources.”
Discuss.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Press release…
The following statement was issued by SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana president Greg Kelley in response to news of the disproportionately high number of African American victims of the coronavirus:
CHICAGO–”News that a disproportionate number of African Americans, particularly Black males, die as a result of the coronavirus disease is shocking, yet not surprising. For far too long, officials have talked about and planned strategies to address economic and health disparities that exist among African Americans. The current pandemic demonstrates the dismal impact of their efforts.
“As a Black male, these statistics further heighten my concern for our members. They are the predominantly African American healthcare workers who are undervalued members of the workforce without whom no medical delivery would be possible.
“The person who transports patients, does the laundry, cleans the patient or prepares the food, and more, is likely to be Black. These same “essential” workers – people prone to underlying health conditions – have to labor without proper protective equipment, fight for decent wages and many can’t afford health insurance at the institutions where they work.
“The coronavirus is a devastating disease that we must work together to overcome. The bigger disease is the one that continues to perpetuate these conditions in the African American community. Let’s declare racism as a pandemic and put forth the proper resources to address it.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Better late than never, I suppose…
Calling it a “public health red alarm,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot pledged on Monday that her administration will unveil a plan to address the coronavirus’ toll on black and brown Chicagoans after data showed they were being hit especially hard by the disease.
About 70% of Chicagoans who have died from COVID-19 are African American, Lightfoot acknowledged.
“It’s devastating to see those numbers and knowing that they’re not just numbers, they’re lives, there’s families and communities that have been shattered,” Lightfoot said. “That’s why we will be announcing a very robust and immediate comprehensive plan to address this.”
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Yesterday’s back and forth
Monday, Apr 6, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pritzker yesterday…
I really believe that governors that haven’t taken the kind of action that we did, or took it much later than we did, are unfortunately, they have been listening to President Trump and his advice. And his advice has been, first it was this is a hoax. Then it was this is just like the flu. This will go away in a few days. I think many of them were listening to all of that while the President was not taking this very seriously. I think now that he has taken it seriously, many of them have moved toward more stringent orders.
* President Trump yesterday…
There’s a governor, I hear him complaining all the time. Pritzker. I hear him, he’s always complaining and yet, I just said ‘give me a list of a couple of the things we’ve done in Illinois.’ And we’re building a 2500 bed hospital in McCormick Place, that’s a big Convention Center in Chicago.
And we’re helping to staff it, and probably will end up staffing it because he’s not able to do what you’re supposed to be able to do as a governor. He has not performed well.
It’s being locally staffed so far, but we’ll see.
* Vice President Pence yesterday…
Later during the briefing, Vice President Mike Pence said he had spoken to Pritzker, and the governor did “express great appreciation for the fact that our Army Corps of Engineers had constructed 500 beds at McCormick Place [convention center], and before the end of this week would construct another 2,500 beds for an overflow health facility in Chicago.” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the Army Corps was “outstanding,” Pence noted.
“We have sent 600 ventilators to the state of Illinois, but I assured the governor, and I assured the mayor, that while the principle focus that we have in the next several days is the rising cases in the greater New York City area and Louisiana, that Michigan and Illinois are in the forefront of our thinking,” Pence said. “At the president’s direction, we’re gonna make sure that the people of Illinois and the people of Michigan have the resources, equipment and support that they need.”
* Gov. Pritzker yesterday…
I think sometimes people mistake when I am being critical of the White House or the president, they mistake that for me being critical of the people are helping at the federal level.
The Army Corps of Engineers has done a superb job for the state of Illinois. The Army has come in and they’ve met with me, a number of times, they are putting their personnel forward, they’re working with our Illinois National Guard. We’re the best in the nation to make sure that we’re building out the facilities that we need to.
And FEMA, the FEMA officials that we deal with here in our region, and the HHS officials, all are working very hard. They live here in Illinois, most of them. And so they want this to succeed for them and for their families as well as for all of us.
So I am grateful for all of the help that we get from those federal employees who work day and night really to protect the people of Illinois. And so my criticism has been the lateness of the policies decisions that have been made by the leaders, and therefore the lateness of any help that we have gotten, which has been due to the people who are above the people that I just described, and their unwillingness to make good decisions that work to the to the betterment of everybody in Illinois.
* Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell…
Deep breaths before commenting, please.
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