The October rise in COVID-19 cases isn’t surprising because people are spending more time indoors, and after seven months in crisis mode, fatigue is settling in. Not everyone is keeping their guard up and masks on.
Here’s what we didn’t see coming: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in conflict about whether to keep restaurant dining rooms open. As of this week, the governor ordered a new shutdown in the city of Chicago effective Friday, along with similar restrictions for Lake and McHenry counties, suburban Cook County and four other counties including DuPage. Caseloads and hospitalizations are rising. But Lightfoot disagrees with Pritzker’s decision.
A day after indicating she would try to talk Gov. J.B. Pritzker out of tightening restrictions in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday she had met with the governor and won’t try to block his order to ban indoor bar and dining service in the city.
“We had a very frank and productive conversation with the governor and his team and my team as well. We explored a lot of issues and we came out of that discussion really committed to making sure that we work hard together.”
According to several sources, the Illinois High School Association will announce Wednesday that the basketball season can start as scheduled. It’s a totally unexpected move that directly contradicts the guidelines Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health outlined on Tuesday. […]
“After diligent discussion, the Board has made the decision today to follow the recommendation of the IHSA SMAC as it relates to basketball,” IHSA spokesperson Matt Troha wrote in an email to athletic directors. “The Board remains considerate of rising COVID-19 cases in Illinois and understand the importance of adhering to safety guidelines for the good of all citizens. However, the Board has not been presented any causal evidence that rising COVID-19 cases make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organization nationally or internationally.”
The email says the IHSA will “allow local school officials to make decisions related to participation.”
The disagreement between the IHSA and the governor/IDPH likely means the final decision will come down to the individual school districts. Theoretically the school districts would open themselves up to tremendous liability by playing against the guidelines of the governor and the IDPH.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Gov. Pritzker was asked about this today…
We’ve told school districts what the rules are and I think they all know. The IHSA may have their views on it but school districts know what the rules are and I think that it’s unfortunate, but they would be probably taking on legal liability if they went ahead and move beyond what the state has said is the mitigation standard.
The Illinois High School Association recently announced its intention to move forward with the regularly scheduled basketball season, in contradiction to public health guidance. As COVID-19 cases rise across the State, the importance of following public health guidance has only increased.
We recognize the value of sports in students’ lives and share your hope that students can return safely to play this school year. However, at this moment, we urge you to prioritize health and safety, and to returning the 1.76 million students currently learning remotely to the classroom.
The parents and families of Illinois have trusted us as leaders not only with the education of their children but with their health and safety while in our care. Public health experts have determined that basketball poses a high risk of COVID-19 transmission and is not currently safe to play.
Defying the state’s public health guidance opens schools up to liability and other ramifications that may negatively impact school communities.
Our Illinois schools and communities are safer when we work together in support of public health standards. We are relying on superintendents and school leaders to make responsible choices to protect health and safety and to focus on bringing all of our students back to the classroom.
Wednesday, Oct 28, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
“Among all the states, Illinois jumped to the head of the pack when it comes to the environment in 2016 with its Future Energy Jobs Act, a law creating a welcoming market for installing solar energy. But because of delays in acting on a successor law to provide new funding, the solar energy industry is leaving the state in what is being called a falling off of the “solar cliff.”
Illinois is estimated to have lost close to 3,500 solar jobs already, and 1,000 more jobs could be gone by the end of the year…
Illinois has worked hard to become a leader in green energy, attracting jobs in the industry and improving the environment. The state has become an important home to businesses installing solar energy and making use of “community development” projects, in which property owners without good access to sunlight can share projects with other property owners.
“I just went through DuPage County (data) for the month of October, and there’s not one case … that they can relate that goes back to restaurants,” Durkin said.
Chris Hoff, director of community health resources at the DuPage County Health Department, said last week that the department’s data has been widely misconstrued in arguing against restrictions on restaurants and bars.
While it’s true only a small percentage of outbreaks have been connected to specific eating and drinking establishments, only about 15% of the county’s more than 22,000 cases at the time had been tied to any specific location through contact tracing interviews with people who test positive.
“All of this information is based on those interviews with people, which means that information is only as good as the information we can get,” Hoff said, adding that the county has an ongoing campaign to encourage more people to answer the phone when tracers call.
Even when people do participate, it’s often difficult to pinpoint where they contracted the virus, he said.
“We know that the environments that promote transmission are indoor settings where there are large numbers of people who spend extended periods of time together without masks,” Hoff said. “And so bars and restaurants definitely fit the bill, along with a lot of other indoor venues.”
Chicago health officials released staggering numbers Tuesday that show just how quickly the coronavirus is spreading in the city, with one estimate indicating that more than 57,000 residents could currently be infected with the virus.
During a weekly press conference discussing the city’s latest travel restrictions, Dr. Allison Arwady, the director of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that approximately 8,213 Chicago residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and are currently considered to be “active” cases.
Those numbers are already high, but city health experts fear the virus could be even more widespread than that. According to Arwady, officials believe there could be between five and seven times as many active cases as are currently being reported, due to residents who haven’t been tested or who aren’t showing symptoms.
Gov. JB Pritzker said the mitigations were triggered in Chicago by seven straight days of hospital admission increases and eight consecutive days of rising test positivity. In Chicago, the number of non-ICU patients is up 72% since late September and the number of those in ICU is up 56% since October 1.
Chicago’s top public health official seemed to anticipate the move before the governor’s announcement.
“If the governor makes this decision, we will obviously support it,” Dr. Allison Arwady said earlier on Tuesday. “The numbers that we have seen here give me no reason to think that this is not imminent.”
But the mayor and her top doc were clearly not on the same page. Click here for more on that.
In July, the Illinois Department of Health published its Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan, which laid out the metrics that would trigger restrictions on nonessential businesses and gatherings.
Pritzker’s actions on Tuesday followed that plan, and it was unclear why Lightfoot and her administration did not understand the metrics it details. […]
Hours after Lightfoot told reporters on Oct. 19 that she didn’t “think there is a cause and effect” between the surge in confirmed cases of the coronavirus and bars and restaurants, Pritzker told the news media he was confident there was a causal relationship between the fast spread of the virus and indoor dining and drinking.
Two days later, Lightfoot acknowledged that the risk of getting COVID-19 is “greatest” at bars and restaurants, “because people gather, they take their masks off, they have a drink, they socialize, they talk.”
That group could eventually include more than 7,500 restaurants statewide, according to Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, who said he raised his estimate to almost a third of the industry that could be sunk in part due to the governor’s “extreme” measures.
“Why the full shutdown? At least let us try 25% capacity,” Toia said. “We know how to do this right — masking, social distancing and sanitizing. Any business doing it right should be kept open, and any one that isn’t should be shut down. We don’t understand why the restaurants are the only ones affected.”
The rules issued by Pritzker, who has cited studies suggesting bars and restaurants are “super spreading” sites, also mean other city gatherings will be limited to 25 people or 25% of room capacity.
The Democratic governor noted Chicago is averaging twice as many COVID-19 hospital admissions per day compared to a month ago, while its average seven-day testing positivity rate has almost doubled since the beginning of October.
* Jamie Munks, Gregory Pratt and Dan Petrella at the Tribune…
Late last month, Lightfoot cited a decrease in COVID-19 cases as she allowed bars that don’t serve food to reopen for indoor drinking. She also eased rules on restaurants, gyms and other retailers, allowing them to increase capacity. The changes were Lightfoot’s attempt to ease the financial burden on Chicago businesses by lifting frequently criticized restrictions.
But they also came as the number of new COVID-19 cases per day was hovering around 300, well above the 200-case threshold the mayor set months ago as a goal before moderating restrictions.
Chicago now is averaging nearly 800 new cases a day, Arwady said. To put it into perspective, she said 400 was a level of concern and 200 was the level the city wanted to stay under.
So, Toia does have a decent point. Chicago restaurants were limited to 25 percent capacity until the end of September, when the mayor upped the cap and then the spread greatly intensified. But whether reverting back to that 25 percent limit would actually drive numbers back down is another story. I hope to ask that question of the governor today.
*** UPDATE *** Inevitable…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot's dropped her challenge to Gov. Pritzker's ban on indoor dining and bars. She didn't have a lot of options, even though she was upset with the governor's plan.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 6,110 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 51 additional deaths.
Adams County: 1 female 80s
Bureau County: 1 female 70s
Clinton County: 1 female 90s
Cook County: 1 youth, 3 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s, 2 females 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 3 males 80s, 1 male 90s
Franklin County: 1 female 50s
Jefferson County: 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s
Kankakee County: 1 female 80s
Knox County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Lake County: 2 females 80s, 1 female 100+
Macon County: 1 male 70s
Madison County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 70s
Marion County: 1 female 80s
McLean County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 90s
Peoria County: 2 females 80s, 2 females 90s
Piatt County: 1 male 80s
Rock Island County: 1 female 60s
Stephenson County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Wayne County: 1 male 60s
Whiteside County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s
Will County: 2 males 80s
Winnebago County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 389,095 cases, including 9,619 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from October 21 – October 27 is 6.7%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 70,752 specimens for a total 7,459,042. As of last night, 2,861 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 600 patients were in the ICU and 243 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
*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.
And as noted in the headline, Region 3’s 7-day rolling average positivity rate has been at 8 percent or higher for two straight days. One more and mitigations are automatically triggered.
Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) are announcing COVID-19 resurgence mitigations will be implemented in Region 9, Lake and McHenry counties, beginning at 12:01 am on Saturday, October 31, 2020. Region 9 has seen a 7-day rolling average test positivity rate of 8 percent or above for three consecutive days, which exceed the thresholds set for establishing mitigation measures under the state’s Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan.
The administration continues to work aggressively to support small businesses, distributing nearly $11 million in emergency grants and assistance to businesses and communities in Region 9 alone. Businesses in Region 9, as well as other regions currently under additional mitigations, will receive priority consideration for the current round of Business Interruption Grants (BIG), with $220 million available to help offset costs and losses businesses have incurred as a result of the pandemic.
“As of this morning, Region 9 – Lake and McHenry Counties – has now sustained an average positivity rate of 8 percent or higher for three days – meaning that they will join seven of our 11 other regions in operating under resurgence mitigations,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “So, beginning on Saturday at 12:01 a.m., public gatherings in Lake and McHenry counties will be reduced to 25 people, and indoor dining and indoor bar service will be temporarily closed – although outdoor service in tents and takeout, delivery and drive through service will remain available. These resurgence mitigations aim to cut down on some of the highest high-risk activities until we bring down the positivity rate in a region once again. I know this virus is hard on everyone. But this battle isn’t going away by itself. We have to manage our way through it with the tools we have available to us. And there are many of those tools that nearly everyone in our state has available to join the fight.”
“With Region 9 being added to the list of regions in mitigation, we are getting close to the entire state implementing mitigation measures,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “This is not just a warning, but a call to action. We continue to move backwards, losing all the ground we had gained over the summer. We turned the state around once, let’s do it again. Limit your potential exposures by wearing a mask, physically distancing, and limiting in-person gatherings. It will take all of us working together to beat this virus.”
Mitigation measures taking effect October 31 in Region 9 include:
Bars
No indoor service
All outside bar service closes at 11:00 p.m.
All bar patrons should be seated at tables outside
No ordering, seating, or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed)
Tables should be 6 feet apart
No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting
No dancing or standing indoors
Reservations required for each party
No seating of multiple parties at one table
Restaurants
No indoor dining or bar service
All outdoor dining closes at 11:00 p.m.
Outside dining tables should be 6 feet apart
No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting
Reservations required for each party
No seating of multiple parties at one table
Meetings, Social Events, Gatherings
Limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25 percent of overall room capacity
No party buses
Gaming and Casinos close at 11:00 p.m., are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable
These mitigations do not apply to schools or polling places.
From the onset of the pandemic, support for small businesses has been one of the central features of the Pritzker administration’s COVID-19 response. Since March, the administration has launched a menu of small business and community relief programs – with over $500 million in grants and programs launched by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), including emergency hospitality grants, a downstate small business stabilization program, Fast Track Capital, and more. For more information on programs available for businesses and communities, please visit DCEO’s website.
While all regions are seeing an increase in positivity rates, Region 9 has experienced sustained increases in both positivity and hospitalization rates. The region is currently seeing an 8.4 percent positivity average, an increase from 4.8 percent in September and from 3.1% percent in June. COVID-related hospital admissions have also surged, now three times as high as September and five times as high as June.
As of today, including Region 9, a total of eight of the state’s 11 regions have triggered one of the state’s failsafe state-action metric. Currently, Regions 4, 5, 7, and 8 are operating under Tier 1 mitigation measures given that these regions continue to report a 7-day rolling positivity rate above 8 percent. Regions 10 and 11 will soon operate under Tier 1 mitigations given that these regions triggered additional mitigations based on sustained increases in both positivity and hospitalization rates. Region 1 is currently operating under Tier 2 mitigation measures after continuing to see a rise in positivity, even under the Tier 1 mitigation framework, with the highest rolling positivity average in the state.
In the coming days, IDPH will continue to track the positivity rate in Region 9 to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigations should remain in place. If the positivity rate in Region 9 averages less than or equal to 6.5 percent over a three-day period, there is a decrease in hospital admissions for COVID-19 like illness over a three-day period, and the three-day rolling averages of ICU bed availability and medical/surgical bed availability is greater than or equal to 20 percent over a seven-day period, the region will return to Phase 4 mitigations under the Restore Illinois Plan. Conversely, if the average positivity rate continues to increase over seven out of 10 days and the hospital admissions for COVID-19 like illness continues to increase over seven out of 10 days, more stringent mitigations can be applied. If the metrics remain stable, the region will continue to be monitored.
As part of the administration’s robust response to the pandemic, the state continues to strengthen its nation-leading testing operation. Testing remains readily available throughout Illinois, as the state continues to average more than 70,000 tests per day. The administration will build upon this progress, given that testing remains a critical step to reduce further spread of the virus in communities. To find the nearest testing center, please visit DPH.Illinois.Gov/Testing.
IDPH will continue to work closely with local health departments in Lake and McHenry counties to provide education to the public and offer information to businesses and organizations on safe ways to reopen. The significance of face coverings, social distancing, and hand washing have been consistently emphasized by the administration throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
A full list of mitigation measures pertaining to some businesses and industries may be found on the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) website at www.dceocovid19resources.com/restore-illinois.
Do you ever feel that you’re the most hated man in Illinois in this virus situation?
* Part of his response…
Pritzker: "Tough decisions need to be made by leaders. … Doing the right thing is to be a leader, no matter what some minority of folks yell at you. The vast majority of people in Illinois want to get through this virus" by keeping people healthy and out of hospitals.
Today, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s campaign released its 11th television ad, “Truth,” which lays out the repeated fact checks of Congressman Rodney Davis’ lies. Multiple independent fact checks have called Davis’ ads and claims false, yet he continues to fill the airwaves with lies about Betsy as well as his disastrous health care record.
The KMOV fact check found Davis’ claim that Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is lying about not taking any money from Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and that Madigan spent nearly $300,000 to elect Dirksen Londrigan is “false.” The $300,000 Davis refers to is from the Democratic Party of Illinois, a group dedicated to electing Democrats to office in Illinois.
Davis also lied about Dirksen Londrigan breaking her promise not to accept corporate dollars, another claim KMOV confirmed is “false.” Unlike Davis, who has accepted more than $3 million in corporate PAC money, Dirksen Londrigan is refusing to accept corporate PAC money, now or when in Congress, so she won’t be beholden to anyone except the Central Illinois families she represents.
A separate fact check from WGLT also confirmed that Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement despite his repeated false claims to the contrary. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would strip health care coverage from millions, including more than 31,000 in the 13th District, and remove protections from more than 282,500 13th District residents with pre-existing conditions.
“After all the ads, you deserve to know the truth,” said the narrator. “Independent fact checkers say Rodney Davis’ attacks against Betsy Londrigan just aren’t true. … The truth: Mike Madigan is not funding Londrigan’s campaign. Davis is also lying about his record on health care. “Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement.””
“Trump Campaign Co-Chair Rodney Davis is taking a page out of the Trump Playbook by doubling down even after being called out repeatedly for his lies by independent fact checks,” said campaign spokeswoman Eliza Glezer. “Davis doesn’t want to run on his horrible health record so he’s resorting to lying to his constituents about his opponent and his disastrous record. Central Illinois families can’t trust Rodney Davis.”
Betsy: I’m Betsy Londrigan and I approve this message.
Narrator: After all the ads, you deserve to know the truth.
Independent fact checkers say Rodney Davis’ attacks against Betsy Londrigan just aren’t true.
Reporter: That claim is false… That claim is false.
Narrator: The truth: Mike Madigan is not funding Londrigan’s campaign.
Davis is also lying about his record on health care.
“Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement.”
We can’t trust Rodney Davis.
* Meanwhile…
Yet another independent fact checker has confirmed that the false claims in Betsy Londrigan’s attack ad featuring the former owner of the Feed Store are not true. In a tweet, WCIA’s Mark Maxwell said the claims in Londrigan’s “misleading attack ad” are “baseless” and “false.”
From WCIA:
Richardson said the Londrigan campaign “called up and asked if we’d be willing to make that ad, and explained what the subject was, so I thought about it for about a day or so and said, ‘sure, yeah.’”
Londrigan’s campaign did not make a strategist or advertising consultant available for an interview, but the campaign acknowledged the ad’s message was crafted to connect with voters who are frustrated with the economic fallout from the pandemic.
“The PPP loan program was supposed to be a lifeline for small businesses, but we got the run around while political insiders got the money first, and funds ran out,” Richardson said in the ad.
Fact check: PPP funds were quickly replenished, and while the application window has closed, the program still has available funds remaining. The temporary lack of funding did not prevent Richardson from applying for a loan. There’s no evidence Davis ever tipped the scales in favor of his brother’s company or against any other company.
“Rodney Davis’s family got to the front of the line for a million dollar payout, and he voted to keep it secret while businesses like ours suffered,” Richardson says.
Fact check: Several hundred thousand companies successfully applied for wildly popular COVID-19 relief loans within the first few days of the program’s opening. There is no evidence the Congressman’s influence expedited their application or slowed down anyone else’s.
The Londrigan campaign cites a vote on House Resolution 6782 to support their claim that “he voted to keep it secret.”
Fact check: The text of that bill would have only required loans worth more than $2 million to be publicly disclosed, and would not have applied to the loan in question.
The Davis campaign says the political attack ad is “absurd” and “dishonest.”
WCIA video: Fact check: Davis never voted to keep brother’s loan “a secret”
Last week, KMOV called the false claims in a similar TV ad from the Londrigan campaign “misleading” and also said “there is no evidence showing Rep. Rodney Davis had anything to do with his family getting PPP.” The Illinois Times also reported, “There also is no proof that the congressman’s family was treated any differently than anyone else…”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Congressional Leadership Fund is up with a new ad…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Congressman Davis…
Today, Rodney Davis’ campaign for Congress released two new ads, “No Proof” and “Very Best.” The first ad, “No Proof,” highlights independent fact checks of Betsy Londrigan’s lies about Rodney Davis and his family, and also highlights Rodney’s support for the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program.
The second ad, “Very Best,” highlights Londrigan’s close ties to Mike Madigan and Rodney’s bipartisan work to lower healthcare costs, protect pre-existing condition coverage, and support small business.
Today, Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives (IL-06) released her final cable ad of the General Election, highlighting opponent, Rep. Sean Casten’s, dismal record of choosing tax hikes and special interests over the real people and small businesses of Illinois Sixth Congressional District.
The ad, Trust, confronts the fact that for the past two years Sean Casten has neglected his district to push for sweetheart tax deals and subsidies for special interests. Casten has been so diligent in his self-dealing, that when the CARES Act was being negotiated in the House, his first action was not to ask what his district would get. No. Congressman Casten’s first play was to lobby Nancy Pelosi for special energy subsidies.
The ad goes on to contrast Casten’s disinterest in those he serves with Ives’ involvement in her community and service to her neighbors.
The region that includes Lake and McHenry counties could face the same restrictions as early as Saturday. Positive COVID-19 results, measured as a seven-day average, exceeded 8% of tests given for two straight days in those counties. A third day would trigger more restrictions.
Hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue to increase across the state. As of Monday night, the state reported 2,758 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19, including 595 in intensive care unit beds and 241 using ventilators. Those numbers were once again new highs since early to mid-June.
Researchers at the University of Kansas report counties with mask mandates thwarted significant escalation in transmission of COVID-19 and counties operating without a requirement people wear a face covering suffered steady infection rate increases. […]
“Cases in counties with a mask mandate stopped increasing. They didn’t go away. They stopped increasing,” Ginther said. “And, cases in counties without a mandate, starting in mid-August, just kind of went crazy.”
The KU researchers demonstrated Kansas counties without the mask order experienced a surge in coronavirus infection rates that climbed from about 10 cases per 100,0000 in July to nearly 40 cases per 100,000 in October. The number of cases for counties covered by the mask order plateaued since July at around 20 cases per 100,000.
Masks are not 100 percent effective, but they do work. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The study is here.
Antibodies against the novel coronavirus declined rapidly in the British population during the summer, a study found on Tuesday, suggesting protection after infection may not be long lasting and raising the prospect of waning immunity in the community.
Scientists at Imperial College London have tracked antibody levels in the British population following the first wave of COVID-19 infections in March and April.
Their study found that antibody prevalence fell by a quarter, from 6% of the population around the end of June to just 4.4% in September. That raises the prospect of decreasing population immunity ahead of a second wave of infections in recent weeks that has forced local lockdowns and restrictions.
Although immunity to the novel coronavirus is a complex and murky area, and may be assisted by T cells, as well as B cells that can stimulate the quick production of antibodies following re-exposure to the virus, the researchers said the experience of other coronaviruses suggested immunity might not be enduring.
A church and nursing home in Jacksonville are among the latest places with COVID-19 outbreaks, health officials said Tuesday.
The Morgan County Department of Public Health said 11 people who have attended Westfair Baptist Church had the virus. Department officials also confirmed two residents and two staff members of Heritage Health Therapy and Senior Care were infected.
Dale Bainter, Morgan County’s public health administrator, said there is a lot of community spread of the virus.
“We’re just seeing a lot of small clusters and pockets, and … family spread.” He said it’s sometimes hard to identify the origin of a case.
“Let’s say we’ve got two outbreaks, but we might have a family … impacted by both,” Bainter said. “You don’t know which caused the other one.”
DeKalb County Board member Larry West, a Republican representing the county’s first district, also weighed in on mitigation enforcement in a Saturday social media comment on a public Daily Chronicle social media post.
“Here is an idea….as long as any business has restrictions on it and employees and owners are not able to make ends meet, the state government should not be paid,” West wrote. “This would be the governor, his cabinet and advisors, all state senate and representatives and health department. This should include county boards and health departments. Being a board member I would support this until our local businesss are safe.”
More than 124,000 hours of overtime, equaling more than $6.4 million.
That is what has been dished out to employees of the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) because of the increased need for their services.
Representatives from around Illinois on both sides of the aisle say 124,000 hours of overtime in nine months is not sustainable.
Rep. Kathy Willis, D-Northlake, said it is not fair to the employees or the people of Illinois.
However, IDES said they really had no other option. […]
Willis said the crux of this issue is the lack of employees that the department has. She said with all of this overtime, more progress should have been made thus far.
Discuss.
…Adding… Rep. Willis in comments…
Want to add something that i actually said in the interview that conveniently got cut… I actually thanked the employees that were willing to work the overtime to help the people that needed unemployment help. I also mentioned that having people work such long hours of overtime that adds to the stress of their job and again how the employees were willing to step up and work through the back log.
During a visit Tuesday in Champaign, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced plans to create two community college–based manufacturing training academies.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will provide a total of $15 million for two capital grants through a competitive application process.
The manufacturing training academies will be constructed in downstate Illinois, where the DCEO said there’s a shortage of skilled laborers.
Pritzker made the announcement at Champaign-based Eden Park Illumination, which was founded by two University of Illinois professors and makes ultraviolet lighting for various industries.
[DCEO Director Erin Guthrie] noted that Eden Park has grown rapidly in recent months, creating a large number of new jobs in the Champaign area.
“However, they need help with the hiring to fill the demand they have both for their customers and as they make product advancements and innovate,” she said. “The same is true for many of other Illinois companies that we’ve heard from. The need for skilled manufacturers is a big one and it weighs heavily on them as they plan for the future.”
Despite the decline of manufacturing nationally, Guthrie said it is still the largest contributor to the state’s economy, employing more than 500,000 workers and accounting for $60 billion in exports annually.
But David Boulay, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, said rapidly changing technology in the industry is making it challenging for manufacturers to find the skilled labor they need.
“Worker skills really are expiring like never before,” he said. “Automation, artificial intelligence, collaborative robots are creating massive change in the workplace. And even during this pandemic, we are seeing the signs of that massive change accelerated.”
The Urbana City Council is calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to enact a mandatory moratorium on utility disconnections.
This comes after the council passed a resolution to prioritize making utility shutoffs a safety risk.
Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin hand-delivered the resolution to the governor’s staff on Tuesday, Oct. 27, while Pritzker made a stop in Champaign. […]
“I don’t have the ability to simply put a moratorium in a place like that,” Pritzker said. “What we did do was go to the ICC and have them work with all of the utilities to try to have a moratorium on shutoffs.” […]
“I was surprised to hear him say that he didn’t have the power to do that,” Marlin said.
On the eve of a special IHSA board meeting to announce new details about the fate of the winter high school sports season, Illinois health officials have moved basketball from being classified as a “moderate risk” sport to the “higher risk” category.
According to new guidelines released by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the department assessed the risk for transmission associated with basketball, and found that it should be classified as a “higher risk” activity. […]
While it isn’t clear what that could mean for the winter basketball season, some clarity could be coming, as the IHSA will host a special board meeting on Wednesday to provide updates on its various winter sports, and to vote on the path forward for those activities.
Winter high school sports seasons in Illinois were “put on hold” Tuesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Practice for boys and girls basketball seasons were expected to begin Nov. 16, with games to be played as early as Nov. 30.
But the IDPH moved basketball from medium risk to high risk on its website Tuesday, and under current conditions in the coronavirus pandemic, high-risk sports are allowed only no-contact practices.
“About 15 minutes prior to Governor Pritzker’s press conference today, we were alerted that the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has elevated the sport of basketball from a medium risk level to a high risk level. We remain considerate of the recent rise in positive COVID-19 cases in our state. However, in our meeting with IDPH on Friday (October 23), we felt that we presented multiple options that would allow for basketball to be conducted safely by IHSA schools this winter, many of which are being utilized in neighboring states who plan to play high school basketball. Despite that setback, there is some positive news, as IDPH accepted the IHSA’s mitigations related to other sports, including cheerleading and dance, allowing them to move from a medium risk level to a low risk level. We will hold our special Board of Directors meeting on October 28 as scheduled, where our Board will provide direction on the other winter sports, as well as discuss the IHSA sports schedule for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.”
Later Tuesday, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association released its own statement in response to Pritzker’s announcement, with the organization’s Twitter account posting that the IBCA is “very disappointed to learn of (Tuesday’s) decision by the governor and IDPH.”
“Our data suggests that the spread of this virus has been minimal inside our gyms among our student-athletes and coaches,” the IBCA statement reads.
The aforementioned data comes from a survey sent out by the group to the state’s basketball coaches that tabulated both the use of summer and fall contact days and the number of positive COVID-19 tests in programs.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes will always be a primary consideration of our coaches,” the statement reads. “But we have not been given specific information as to why basketball has been elevated to “High Risk” in Illinois. … The lack of transparency is incredibly frustrating for all of us who simply want to enjoy playing the game of basketball in our home state of Illinois.
“We strongly urge the governor and IDPH to re-evaluate their decision to move basketball to the “High Risk” category and to provide clarity with the metrics used to drive these decisions.”
This is not to criticize Pritzker for using science and data to make his decisions. He’s been very consistent on that over the last 7 ½ months. And you’d rather see someone err on the side of caution in a pandemic.
But you can’t blame players, coaches and administrators around the state for feeling as though Pritzker dealt them the stick’s short end again. It’s also not unfair to say that the lines of communication between Pritzker and the IHSA could stand to be much better.
If it looks like Pritzker has upstaged the IHSA in order to get his way, well, you know what they say.
