* Block Club Chicago on December 15, 2020…
Chicago’s vaccination campaign has officially begun, marking the beginning of the end of the pandemic, officials said.
The city gave its first dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine to doctors, nurses and a patient care technician Tuesday morning at Loretto Hospital. It kicked off what officials say will be a year-long effort to get as many people as possible vaccinated in Chicago to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is, I fully believe, the beginning of what will be the end of COVID-19 here in Chicago,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
* Block Club Chicago today…
Loretto Hospital vaccinated ineligible people at a luxury Gold Coast watch and jewelry shop where the hospital’s chief operating officer is a high-spending and frequent customer.
Loretto Hospital and its executives, including Chief Operating Officer Dr. Anosh Ahmed and Chief Executive Officer George Miller, are already embroiled in controversy for steering doses toward organizations with which they have ties. Ahmed was heavily criticized after Loretto held a vaccination event at Trump Tower — where Ahmed and another hospital leader live — and after Ahmed told people he vaccinated millionaire Eric Trump.
Block Club has learned Loretto Hospital also held a March 3 vaccination event at a Gold Coast shop called Geneva Seal, which sells jewelry and designer watches worth $20,000 — and more. Ahmed is a frequent customer there and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at the shop, a source said.
Credit: Loretto HospitalDr. Anosh Ahmed is the chief operating officer of Loretto Hospital.
The shop at 112 E. Oak St. is far from Loretto Hospital — and the vaccinations were offered to ineligible people who own and work at the high-end boutiques along the Gold Coast, as well as their family and friends, sources said. The Austin hospital is meant to serve and vaccinate people on the West Side, where coronavirus has devastated communities of color.
* The hospital’s board of trustees includes two state legislators, Sen. Kimberly Lightford and Rep. La Shawn Ford. Both attended a media event with the governor today, but the video conked out and I’ve been waiting to see if they took questions about the hospital. But let’s go to Block Club Chicago again…
Loretto Hospital’s board said it has reprimanded two of its chief executives the same day Chicago’s health chief said the hospital let “well-connected” people jump the vaccination line.
Board members would not say what punishments will be doled out to Loretto Hospital CEO George Miller and COO Dr. Anosh Ahmed — but the hospital already has had its supply of coronavirus vaccine doses cut off by the city. Dr. Allison Arwady, chief of the city’s health department, said officials are investigating events where the hospital vaccinated ineligible people and gave shots outside of the West Side community.
Arwady expressed serious concerns about Loretto’s vaccination program during a Friday call with reporters, saying the hospital has lost community trust and officials don’t feel comfortable sending precious vaccine doses there for the time being. The accusations against the hospital are particularly “unacceptable” because Loretto is in Austin, a Protect Chicago Plus neighborhood that has been hit hard by COVID-19 and where the city has been trying to boost vaccinations, Arwady said.
The hospital’s board has taken “appropriate actions of reprimand against Miller and Ahmed for their role in the mistakes of judgment,” Rep. LaShawn Ford, who sits on Loretto’s board and represents the area in the state Legislature, said in a statement.
It would be nice to know what measures they took. Their last 990 form shows the hospital’s former CEO made $840,000 a year while its best-paid physician made just $165K.
…Adding… Press release…
AFSCME Local 1216—the union representing nurses at Loretto Hospital on the West Side of Chicago—issued this statement following the latest in a series of revelations about the alleged misappropriation of COVID-19 vaccine doses by the hospital’s top management.
“As the safety net hospital for the city’s West Side, we have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said D Sutton, a registered nurse and the president of AFSCME Local 1216. “Loretto nurses have been on the front lines of our COVID unit. I and many others have been sickened in the line of duty, some of us so seriously that we had to be hospitalized ourselves.
“Now that the safe, effective COVID vaccines are available, we have been the ones delivering the shots to protect our community. Our work is critically important and we do not want it disrupted.
“We call on the city to restore Loretto Hospital’s supply of vaccine doses. Our community which has been systematically ignored and under-resourced for decades should not be punished now for the reported actions of a few.
“To our community, know that Loretto nurses are here for you, working to keep you healthy and safe. Understand that taking the vaccine is the way to protect yourself, your family and get back to normal in Chicago as quickly as we can.”
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* Lynn Sweet…
A fundraiser for Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., will be headlined by Karl Rove and co-hosted by a who’s who of Illinois Republicans, a show of political strength coming as ex-President Donald Trump vows revenge against GOP House members who voted to impeach him.
The co-hosts — there are more than 150 on the invitation obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times — include two high-ranking Trump appointees from Illinois: Ron Gidwitz, Trump’s former ambassador to Belgium and acting ambassador to the European Union, and Barbara Stewart, the ex-chief executive officer of AmeriCorps.
Kinzinger is one of 10 Republicans to vote with House Democrats to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as Congress was taking the final steps to validate Joe Biden’s presidential election. […]
The list of top Illinois GOP donors co-hosting the Kinzinger funder include John Canning and his wife, Rita; Craig Duchossois and his wife, Janet; Susan Crown and her husband, William Kunkler; David Herro; Michael Keiser; Barry MacLean; John Rowe; and Muneer Satter.
The co-hosts also include Mark Denzler, president & CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association; International Union Of Operating Engineers Local 150 PAC; Todd Maisch, president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce; Grundy County GOP Chair Aren Hansen; former Sen. Mark Kirk; and state Sen. Sue Rezin, whose legislative district turf overlaps on some of Kinzinger’s congressional district.
* From Kristina Zahorik, President of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association…
“Let us not forget that Adam Kinzinger is a tried and true Republican who voted with Donald Trump more than 90% of the time and repeatedly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And now, Adam Kinzinger is teaming up with Karl Rove, one of the architects of the war in Iraq, who helped elect George W. Bush — someone who, after Trump, is one of the worst Presidents in modern history — and to this day still defends the Bush administration’s use of torture.”
“Adam Kinzinger is attempting to rebrand his image so people will forget how extreme his voting record is. But even while Adam Kinzinger is now throwing Donald Trump under the bus, he continues to align him himself with some of the worst members of his party. We can acknowledge Kinzinger for standing up and impeaching Trump, but we can’t forget who he has always been — an extreme Republican.”
Karl Rove has a history of incorrigible behavior and practices, including just last year his use of racially loaded language when he attacked President Obama for speaking at a historically black college and, in Rove’s words, committing a “political drive-by shooting.”
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Question of the day
Monday, Mar 22, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It’s Monday, which means it’s Senate COVID test day, so I have to run into town for a bit. Let’s do a wellness check. How are you and yours holding up?
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* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,220 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 22 additional deaths.
- Cook County: 1 female 50, 1 male 60, 2 females 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s, 5 males 80s, 1 female 90s, 3 males 90s
- DeKalb County: 1 female 20s, 1 male 60s
- Lake County: 1 male 60s
- Marshall County: 1 male 80s
- Rock Island County: 1 male 80s
- Will County: 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,223,083 cases, including 21,103 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 47,374 specimens for a total of 19,676,396. As of last night, 1,182 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 233 patients were in the ICU and 98 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 15-21, 2021 is 2.6%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 15-21, 2021 is 2.9%.
A total of doses of 5,341,895 vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 414,900 doses total have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities. This brings the total Illinois doses to 5,756,795. A total of 4,747,845 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight, including 361,971 for long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 92,148 doses. Yesterday, 41,343 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* Sunday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,431 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 22 additional deaths.
Cook County: 1 male 30s, 2 females 50s, 1 male 50s, 2 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 4 males 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 90s
Fulton County: 1 male 60s
Grundy County: 1 male 80s
Madison County: 1 male 70s
McDonough County: 1 male 60s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,221,863 cases, including 21,081 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 70,102 specimens for a total of 19,629,022. As of last night, 1,132 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 236 patients were in the ICU and 97 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 14-20, 2021 is 2.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 14-20, 2021 is 2.8%.
A total of doses of 5,341,895 vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 414,900 doses total have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities. This brings the total Illinois doses to 5,756,795. A total of 4,706,502 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight, including 361,886 for long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 95,171 doses. Yesterday, 75,380 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
* Saturday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,962 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 25 additional deaths.
Cook County: 1 female 30s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
Douglas County: 1 female 90s
Franklin County: 1 female 90s
Madison County: 2 females 70s, 1 male 70s
McHenry County: 1 male 80s
McLean County: 1 female 90s
Moultrie County: 1 female 100+
Ogle County: 1 male 80s
Sangamon County: 1 female 90s
St. Clair County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,220,432 cases, including 21,059 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 77,661 specimens for a total of 19,558,920. As of last night, 1,179 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 228 patients were in the ICU and 103 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 13-91, 2021 is 2.6%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 13-19, 2021 is 2.8%.
A total of doses of 5,341,895 vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 414,900 doses total have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities. This brings the total Illinois doses to 5,756,795. A total of 4,631,122 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight, including 360,941 for long-term care facilities. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 98,165 doses. Yesterday, 120,426 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
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Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Monday, Mar 22, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s…
As part of Illinois’ latest reopening plans, customers with proof of full vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test will not count against the capacity limits that have hamstrung businesses for the past year.
Some struggling business owners say that provision has the potential to be a big help. But implementing it? That could be a logistical nightmare.
“It’s great that the governor is looking for ways to get businesses back open quicker at a place where people feel safe,” said Scott Weiner, co-owner at Fifty/50 Restaurant Group, which operates 17 restaurants, including Roots Handmade Pizza and West Town Bakery. “I just hope that there’s a way to actually roll it out.”
There is no universal vaccine passport being distributed in the United States, and some worry about patrons fabricating vaccine records. There’s also a concern establishments could violate privacy laws in requesting health care information.
Restaurants shouldn’t be asking customers for private health records, but nothing can stop customers from offering up their own proof.
So, if the customer is silent when reserving a table, then that reservation would be counted toward the capacity limits (50 percent for outdoor seating, 30 percent for indoors). But if the reserving customer says that all four of the people in the reservation will supply proof upon arrival that they’ve received their final shots at least two weeks prior to the reserved date, then those folks won’t be counted toward the capacity limits. Leave it up to the customers to make their own decisions.
Since there is no uniform vaccination card, some scammers may try to get through the system. But even fully justifiable rules will not stop all dishonest people. It’s just human nature and is not a reason to have no rules at all. And, frankly, if you’re going to the sort of restaurant which could be heavily populated with dishonest COVID scammers, you might wanna frequent a different restaurant.
I’ve been using this same argument for media access to the House and Senate press boxes. Right now, the Senate limits occupancy to three per box and the House limits it to two per box. But reporters who are willing to show they are fully vaxed and “ripened” for at least two weeks should be allowed into the boxes above the capacity caps.
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Unclear on the concept
Monday, Mar 22, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Wirepoints…
The Illinois legislature’s biggest failure during the pandemic has been its complete abdication of responsibility over the management of the pandemic itself – Gov. Pritzker has been running the state’s response via executive fiat for over a year.
The result has been a disaster for democratic norms. Lawmakers should have stepped in and authorized the governor’s emergency rules or passed their own laws at the start of the pandemic. But they did neither.
No matter their excuses, Illinois lawmakers no longer have reasons for inaction. The curve has been flattened. There’s no risk of running out of hospital beds or ICU resources. Daily cases have collapsed. And most importantly, vaccines are being rolled out at an increasing rate. Herd immunity is expected by the end of April.
Gov. Pritzker should be stripped of his powers by the legislature immediately. That’s especially true now that Pritzker has added another incremental phase to his plan instead of fast-tracking a full reopening.
Yes, because a body that officially sat in near silence throughout the pandemic ought to now step up and run the state because that would somehow be better.
I often get the distinct impression reading takes like this that either the authors know nothing about how the General Assembly operates, or are being totally disingenuous.
…Adding… And yes I’m aware, as commenters have pointed out, that their “facts” are ridiculous as well. In my defense, I just figured that was a given.
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* Friday…
If you click the link, you’ll see that Pritzker wrote the check on Friday, March 11th, a week before he reported depositing it.
* Tribune…
Pritzker has repeatedly dismissed questions about his political future as the 2022 campaign season has begun, saying he is focused on public health efforts to deal with COVID-19 and help restore the state’s economy in a post-pandemic environment.
“I’m just focused on the job that I’ve got today and making sure we get through this pandemic and get everybody vaccinated,” Pritzker said Monday in an interview with the Tribune.
That interview took place three days after Pritzker wrote the check. So, apparently, he wasn’t telling the entire truth when he said he was “just focused” on his job as governor. And he said that in pretty much every interview. From his interview with Hannah Meisel…
“My focus really has just been keeping people healthy, safe and keeping the economy going,” Pritzker told NPR Illinois. “The politics will take care of itself in the end.”
Not sure why he would undercut his own words like that, so we’ll see how that works out for him.
* Sun-Times…
The $35 million contribution isn’t exorbitant for Pritzker, whom Forbes has dubbed the richest politician in the nation with a net worth of $3.5 billion.
It’s only a fifth of the $171 million Pritzker spent to defeat multi-millionaire Republican ex-Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018, a clash of investment titans that went down as one of the most expensive gubernatorial races in American history.
And it’s well short of the $58 million Pritzker dumped into an ill-fated ballot initiative last fall to amend the state constitution to allow for a graduated state income tax system. The governor was outdueled in November by fellow billionaire Ken Griffin, whose $53 million helped persuade voters to reject the plan.
It’s also short of the $50 million Rauner plunked down just before the beginning of the 2018 cycle.
* Crain’s…
Asked about when the governor might formally announce or whether such a large donation should be viewed as a sign Pritzker is worried about his chances, campaign spokesman Quentin Fulks said in an email, “Given the increasing number of Republicans who have declared their candidacies for governor in 2022, Gov. Pritzker wanted to ensure that he was ready to respond to their false and misleading attacks if necessary.”
A handful of Republicans have already tossed their name in for the 2022 race: state Sen. Darren Bailey, businessman Gary Rabine, former state Sen. Paul Schimpf and Christopher Roper, a downstate resident.
“Over the past two years, the governor has led Illinois through a global pandemic by listening to the experts, not the anti-science conspiracy theorists currently running in the Republican primary, while improving the lives of millions of Illinoisans through his actions,” Fulks said, also citing other Pritzker accomplishments on infrastructure spending, health care, and women’s rights.
*** UPDATE *** Tribune…
He did so again Monday during an event touting a new mass vaccination site in Forest Park. “I’m focused on getting us past this pandemic keeping people safe and healthy in the state of Illinois,” Pritzker told reporters.
“Any of that support for my committee is really designed as a preventive measure in the event that Republicans continue in any more public way to try to attack the Democratic agenda of standing up for working people or to frankly lie about the Democratic agenda,” Pritzker said.
“We’re doing what’s right for people all across the state of Illinois, making sure that working families get what they need to stay in their homes, to get jobs, to raise their wages, etc. And so, those resources will be used simply to fend off those illegitimate attacks,” he said.
Whatever. He deliberately played reporters for chumps. Not cool.
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
I’ve given Gov. J.B. Pritzker some grief for his failures in the past few months.
His graduated income tax proposal went down in flames in November. He failed to pass his top priorities during January’s lame duck session of the Legislature. And his candidate for chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois lost to U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly earlier this month.
What follows, then, is an edited-for-space transcript, with further reporting from me, of our recent interview on two of these topics:
Pritzker: “Rich, I think you’re forgetting an awful lot. Remember in the midst of a pandemic… because that’s where we’ve been, I stood up the largest rental assistance program in the entire country. The childcare assistance program that we stood up is now hailed as a model for the nation. This was the one we did in the midst of the pandemic, the one that my team, Theresa Hawley, Jesse Ruiz, the folks at ISBE, the folks in our Early Childhood Office of the Governor put together. Those are two examples of major programs. Don’t forget the Business Interruption Grants, which for many thousands of businesses helped them pay rent or pay utilities to keep their doors open.
“Those were things that I stood up during the last six months, and they’re enormous successes, the people who have been beneficiaries of those have been enormous successes.
“And then don’t forget over the summer I laid out criminal justice pillars. And look what happened with the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, which did a tremendous amount of work and really deserve a tremendous amount of credit. But the pillars that I set out over the summer were worked on with them during the summer. And then, what do you know, that’s the bill that I signed, the Safe-T Act.”
It was Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford who led the Black Caucus’ efforts to pass their “pillars,” including criminal justice reform. Lightford told me that Sen. Elgie Sims and Rep. Justin Slaughter worked with the governor’s office on criminal justice reform before COVID hit.
“They continued to meet with the governor’s team after the George Floyd incident and of course the efforts grew as a result” Lightford told me in a written statement. “However, I created the Pillars.”
Lightford said “the conversations stopped” with the governor’s team after Pritzker released his “seven guiding principles” for criminal justice reform in early October. “We kept working and building out our pillar that included their points and additional items,” she said.
Pritzker’s list did have many of the items included in the final legislation. But claiming authorship might not be the greatest idea going forward.
Anyway, back to my interview with the governor:
Pritzker: “So we’ve had many victories. I think that when you’ve got a lot of goals, as I do, for moving the state forward, we’re going to win on a lot of them, we’re going to lose on some of them. But you keep moving forward. And I think the totality of the record has been one where a lot of progress has been made. I think I’m genuinely considered to be the most progressive governor in the Midwest, if not in the country right now. And Illinois has moved tremendously forward on the things that I campaigned on. I put a lot of policies forward while I was running, and we’ve accomplished almost all of them.”
Miller: “But, I mean, it’s kind of hard to overlook, though. The graduated income tax. It’s like a once in a lifetime thing that gets on the ballot. And then it didn’t pass.”
Pritzker: “I didn’t say overlook it, Rich. I think it’s a demonstration of my values that I put forward a very hard thing to get on the ballot, nobody’s been able to do that before. I know that the Senate president has been fighting for this for many, many years, and we were allies in trying to get this on the ballot and making sure that people understood it and so on. And the fact that it didn’t pass is frankly not something that I think I would point to. Instead, I would point to the fact that what we’re trying to do is change the way people are taxed in the state of Illinois so that middle class people and working class people pay less and wealthy people pay more. I don’t know who expected me to be the leader of that effort, but I can tell you that it’s something I fought hard for. And just because we didn’t win doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing to do.”
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