* After briefing reporters on hospitalizations, ICU and ventilator use, Gov. Pritzker praised and thanked educators and then took questions from reporters.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* Yesterday the pastor at the church in Lena Illinois had services with dozens of people attending. Will the Illinois State Police enforce the court ruling next weekend or will you request the county do something to enforce that order?…
We have always asked local law enforcement, local officials to enforce these orders. And the best way to do that of course is a reminder to the pastor and to the parishioners that they’re putting themselves and others in danger by holding a service like this. The pastor filed suit, that suit failed. And it’s because people do have the ability to worship, and we’re trying to simply to keep people safe during this time of a global pandemic.
* So will you urge, I’m sorry if I missed it, will you urge local officials both in Chicago, which was going to bring me to my next question, and in any other county that is defying the gathering the stay at home and the gathering order of no more than 10 people. Will you urge authorities to step in and do something more than disperse?…
We’re asking them to disperse, so that’s the most important thing. We just don’t want people getting sick. Nobody, it’s not an intention that people will go to jail. I will say, however, that if people are persistently defiant, they can be put in jail. And I’m not suggesting that that’s the best answer or the first answer, but it is something that’s an option for local law enforcement.
* There were nearly 1000 CPD dispersals over the weekend, but zero citations and you of course as you just said you defer to local authorities but what are your, what’s your reaction to that number of dispersals in Chicago and what do you feel needs to happen, and does it concern you that this could lead to a resurgence?…
It does concern me and people should really understand that if our numbers flatten and get better, and that’s where we seem to be at right now, it’s because people have followed the rules. And to the extent people are not following them and gathering in groups they’re going to spread the virus and they’re going to cause us to go back into a previous executive order, or more stringent lockdown than what we’ve had, if in fact there’s a spike of cases as a result of people not following the rules. So again we want to encourage people to do the right thing. I’m sorry that the police have had to break people up like that, I know that there’s, it’s attractive when the sun is out for people to go out and gather in groups, but I want to remind everybody that it’s a mistake. Right now, the only way that we can defeat this virus because we have no vaccine. And we have no treatment that keeps people out of the hospital. And so the result is the only way we can fight this virus is really by obeying social distancing obeying the orders that have been put in place.
* Would you like to see more citations issued as a deterrent?…
That is not something that I prefer. But as I say when if people are being persistently defiant I do think that local law enforcement needs to step in. But it’s up to the mayor and it’s up to the local law enforcement to make those decisions.
* We’re receiving, as I feel I say to you every time I’m here, we’re receiving literally dozens of complaints almost every day about people who can’t get onto the [unemployment] system, they get kicked off the system, no one answers the phone, have debit card problems, and you’ve said well we’re updating the system, we’re updating the system, but these folks, continue to tell us well it doesn’t seem like it. So what specifically is being done right now to make sure that the director the acting director of IDES is doing what he is supposed to do to help these people who are desperate?…
So let me begin by saying that we, we obviously are deeply concerned about anybody that is owed unemployment and somehow can’t file their claim, that is not something that’s intended and we’re certainly trying to work through any problems for people that have been persistently having difficulty. I will say that, that the system is you know I get the numbers of processed claims every day and the numbers of people who are being processed every day are very frequently in the 10s of thousands, which is vastly more than ever before. In fact, it’s a multiple of what even was occurring on a weekly basis and daily basis during the Great Recession of 08-09. So there’s an awful lot that’s being processed.
There’s also a multiple of phone lines that are being answered for people who are calling in. It’s still not enough, there are some people that call in persistently have to wait for some time on the phone before they can get ahold of anybody or because there’s a limit to the number of people can answer phones, they may not get ahold of somebody on a given day, I would encourage everybody to go online, that is how most people are multiple so people are actually getting through and filing their claims. So that’s what I would say when we’re doing that. I will say that the acting director and everybody that’s working in IDES is working overtime to make sure that it’s working as best it can, and they are working through there really isn’t a backlog at this point. So people who are having trouble there’s something there’s typically an issue with their claim which I understand, they need to use we have online tools that they can use, even if they can’t sign up online. There’s a chat function there’s an ability to message to IDES to let them know what your issue is and have somebody get back to you about it.
And I would just say one more thing, sorry Dana, just that later this week we’re going to review where we are with unemployment so you’ll have a much better a more holistic view of how we’re doing and what we’re doing, what we’ve done to address these issues.
* Have you ever thought of having the acting director come here so we could ask him questions directly?…
I haven’t but you know I’ve been focused as you know here for the most part on the directly addressing the virus.
* Thoughts on people who have been going into Indiana over the past few days for services they can’t get here?…
I think, to the extent that people are not social distancing, and accessing services in Indiana may have decided that they want to open those things up, I understand that there are risks associated with that and I would discourage people from doing it. But understand that people are free to to do what they want, as they may leave the state. I don’t control the state of Indiana, and they don’t control Illinois, but I’d rather be from here than there.
* Governor Cuomo today says he’s looking at opening regions of New York State on May 15, will you consider reopening regions, and if so, what is the criteria?…
We’ll be talking more about that. But suffice to say that I absolutely think of the state as you know it’s, we have a lot of different areas of the state, different population densities and so on. The most important thing though that I have pointed out to people is to think of the state not in the typical way that you think about regions, but rather about healthcare regions to think about how many hospital beds and that’s why I talk today about how many hospital beds.
Does a certain percentage availability mean because a spike in one area that happens to have 25 hospital beds available or 25 ICU beds available. If there’s a significant spike in that area 25 is not a big number. And so what we want to make sure is that we are able to handle a spike, because that’s what potentially could occur if we reopen things too fast.
And as to the setting a date, it sounds like another governor set a date for, I will say that it really needs to be based on data and metrics. My guess is knowing that Governor, that he was really talking about hoping that that might be a date in which they could do it but you really need to do this based on the data. And that’s what we’re following very closely and I want to open it as fast as anybody does. I just want to make sure that we’re doing in a safe fashion.
* With that and the data in mind, do we have to wait till May 30 to hear what your phased-in reopening plan is? And could you disclose some of the details before May 30 or do you plan to…
You don’t have to wait till May 30. We’ve been thinking about this and working on it for some time now to, to make sure that we’re going to give people a view into how the phases might work and how many phases there are and what would work in each phase.
He was asked a question about McCormick Place and where people can apply for contact tracing jobs. Mostly repeats of what he’s already said.
* Are there any regions of the state, where R Naught, the figure I guess you calculate rate of spread, Okay, where the R Naught is below one, and if so, what are those areas? And again, as I’ve asked, might those areas begin to open before May 30 but what are those areas?…
Yeah so we aren’t doing enough testing across the state now, we’re again I want to remind everybody we’re the second most amount of testing among the top most populous states, the top 10 most populous states, so we’re doing a lot of testing, but no state is doing enough testing. We need to vastly increase the amount of testing that we’re doing again even though we’re, you know, doing a lot, but it takes a lot of testing in order for us to get to an R naught number. But we do have a statewide number because of the number of tests we’re doing statewide. That number is down to about 1.2. We’re certainly trying to keep track of the you know what’s happening in each and every region. So, as things are coming down more things can be opened up.
* Is reopening the state’s economy conditional on the implementation of a mandatory tracing program, or for the mandatory tracing program to be completed and if so how long is that anticipated to take?…
I’m not sure what Greg [Bishop] means by a mandatory tracing program, but the tracing program, the contact tracing program is being worked on and built up, its completion is not a precondition to, you know, two phases. But, contact tracing is critically important for certain industries especially to make sure that if people can’t maintain social distance in some circumstance, then it’s a situation in which we would need a lot more contact tracing for that kind of an industry to make sure that people aren’t spreading it a symptomatically. So it’s, I understand the question, it’s not a mandatory contact tracing program but it is a program that will help us to diminish the spread. And we are trying to work spin it up as fast as possible.
* Another question from Greg, what’s your recommendation for local governments on revenue losses should they be laying off staff and cutting budgets now, or should they follow the state’s example of no furloughs, and no immediate cuts?…
Well I think a lot of assumptions in there. I’m not going to tell local governments what they should do to meet their budget requirements but what I am doing is working hard to make sure that in Washington that they understand the damage that’s been done to all the states, and to all of the local governments, and particularly smaller local governments which really didn’t get very much out of a previous cares act. We need to make sure that we’re helping them so that they don’t remember you know it’s easy to say well gee, you should furlough a lot of people in order to deal with their budget problem, but remember what happens in a pandemic like this. We have a decreasing amount of revenue coming in and increasing need by people for the services that states and local governments offer, and that’s why we need help from the federal government to preserve those services.
* One of the plans being floated to reopen the country is to pivot our focus on protecting everyone to focusing on the most vulnerable. Is that something that you are considering as we continue to proceed throughout the month of May?…
Well we are protecting everybody everybody’s life is valuable. But I will say that we already are making extra effort for those communities that are most vulnerable you’ve heard a lot about what we’re trying to do to protect people in congregate settings which are often the most vulnerable right these are people who are physically or developmentally disabled, they’re people who are elderly, and may have other existing underlying conditions. You’ve seen that we’ve spun up more testing in areas where there are large African American populations or large Latino populations, which have a propensity to have comorbidities or a higher rate of positivity so. So we’re working on those populations that are most vulnerable even now, and we’ll continue to do that as we begin to open things up, and I think what you meant was might there be a shift, as we move forward from stay at home for all to making sure we focus on the most vulnerable only as a part of a reopening. Well, sure I mean I think we’re shifting, I mean that shift when you say shift I mean, I’m not going to shift away from protecting everybody but this idea of shifting the stay at home and saying only these people have to stay home. I guess that’s, everything is evolving. That’s what I would say and obviously at some point we’re not going to have the same order in place that we have now and we’re gonna be loosening things up. But as we do that, we’re going to be still paying extraordinary attention to those who are elderly and in these congregate settings. I didn’t mention of course the staffs in those settings, and even in our prisons the staffs in our prisons as well.
* Regarding McCormick Place was it too much too soon or a necessary precaution?…
You know it’s interesting if you go back to the day that we talked about the stay at home order on March 20 and Dr. Emily Landon stood here. She said the most remarkable thing and about the success of a stay at home order is that nothing happens, and that’s really this is a function of, guess what, a lot of people didn’t get sick and a lot of people didn’t die. And so that’s what it means that we spun it up because at the time we didn’t know whether we’d be bending the curve properly, and it turns out, we have. And so, thank goodness we and I said early on, my prayer is that we won’t have to use a corporate place or any of the alternate care facility and it’s still my prayer, people I want everybody understand. We’re not through this yet. We’re not done with this, the virus didn’t go away it’s still out there.
* Where is Dr. Ezike today?…
She had a family matter
* According to movement tracking data from Google, most of the stay at home behavior changes asked of Illinois like that going into workplaces avoiding public transit going to grocery stores as little as possible already happened in early March. If social behavior is now on the rise because of warmer weather and loosened restrictions and the new stay at home order and Illinois R naught value is still about one. How can we be sure we will ever get to an R naught value below one? Other places that have put in a stay at home order have gotten to an R naught value under one…
We’re headed in the right direction, we’re moving in the right direction. Still. And as to the point about the R Naught starting to move or people are being less mobile let’s say in early March, I just pointed out that the news about coronavirus was out there, remember that some of the first moves that we made in the state of Illinois occurred in the early March in the first week a week and a half of March. And so people began to see that this virus is out there, that people are getting sick and I think they they reacted naturally to that. And then, I think that’s evidenced by the way of how smart people are in our state. And the fact that people have followed the stay at home orders, other evidence of how terrific the people of Illinois are.
* There’s legislation being introduced in the General Assembly that would cancel rent for those who cannot pay it subject to the establishment of a housing relief fund that would in theory mostly be paid for by a second federal stimulus bill. is this something you would think it is this something you think would be wise to count on from Congress. Is there anything that they can do proactively either through state police or the Attorney General to prevent landlords, or ignoring the moratorium on evictions and evicting tenants?…
I’m not aware of the specific piece of legislation that’s being referenced here but I am very much in favor of alleviating the burden on renters across the state. It is true that Illinois, you know the budget situation for Illinois makes it extraordinarily difficult to provide a lot of relief, but we do have rent relief programs at the Department of Human Services, and we do want to do as much as we can with the federal dollars that we received to alleviate the burden particularly on working class families.
* Rich Miller is asking for your reaction to the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association warning that municipalities and businesses that reopen in defiance of the EO could face litigation? And also your reaction to the Illinois Department of Insurance statement that says businesses run the risk that an insurer could find reason within the policy language to deny COVID-19 related claims? What could potentially happen to state licensed businesses if they reopened in defiance of the EO?…
Well I was a businessman before I became governor and I have to tell you that I would not want to defy the executive order because I believe that I would be taking on liability If I did that.
[Sigh. He skipped two of my questions.]
* The mayor of East Peoria announced today that he is opening the city in phases starting this Friday, it will include salons. This goes against the stay at home order and the recommendations of IDPH. Is there concern that this could cause more cases? Will the state step in and prevent this? What about people traveling from nearby communities and then returning home?…
I think they’re running the risk that they’re going to infect people who work there, people who patronize their stores. And in defiance of this stay at home order it strikes me the point that we were just talking about insurance not covering you when you may have in business insurance but you will be subject to liability because it would not surprise me if insurance companies are found to not be required to cover you when you are defying essentially state law or state executive order.
[OK, so he did answer another question.]
* Illinois companies like Apple and Google have volunteered their tech to help with contact tracing. Has your office been in contact with any reps, do you have any privacy concerns and enlisting their help?…
So I’m very much aware, I think some of you know when I was in business I was in the technology business so I’ve followed it pretty closely and I’ll just say we’re looking at the technology that’s being proposed. It poses some questions about privacy. It’s not something that we’re currently looking at as part of the program that we’re building for contact tracing. But I’ll want to see more as the technology is presented and developed.
* Some small businesses have told us they may not survive the economic flow COVID-19 has delivered. Do you foresee any industries in Illinois that will no longer exist because of this crisis?…
I don’t know and I’m hopeful that that’s not what’s happening, but I can see that so many people are suffering. It’s why I’m so such an advocate of the, not just the PPP program but so many supports for small businesses because we want people to come back and reopen their doors. We’re going to do everything we can in the state to have that happen. Small business people are the bedrock of business bedrock of job creation in our state so they deserve our support.
* We know the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate call sessions. But you have the power to call a special session. What have you thought about doing that? Why or why not?…
I think the most important thing is that the legislature gets together safely. And like I’ve said before 177 members of the General Assembly plus staff. That’s an awful lot of people. That’s more than 10 getting together. And so the epidemiologists would express concerns about a group that large.
Having said that, there are ways to do it. We hope to provide support to the legislature as they have asked, how could they do it safely and we’ll continue to do that. We want the legislature to get together and they have the ability to get together and we’re providing again, epidemiological advice about how to do their best to keep everybody safe.
* Tennessee announced last week that it will begin mass testing of staff and inmates that state prisons, it appears Illinois has only tested about one to 2% of inmates. Is this adequate? Will you follow Tennessee’s lead and begin widespread testing in prisons and jails?…
The more testing we have available to us, the more we will be testing in all those congregate settings. But, you know, remember we also have nursing homes, we also have these developmentally disabled homes, and so many other areas that also need testing. So, again, it takes a lot more testing than we have today.
* Can you address the significance of today’s death total being the lowest since April 19? Also what reaction do you have to Saturday night’s federal court ruling in the beloved church case?…
As to the number of fatalities today, I would just encourage everybody to look at these things on a multi day basis, taking maybe a three, five or seven day average. I’m hopeful, when I saw this number today, I was hopeful that this was the beginning or a continuation of a trend that I’ve been praying for. But I think one day is not a helpful number to look at.
As to the ruling in the case of the church, I want to remind everybody that it’s important to get together with your fellow parishioners and your pastor, but we’ve asked people to do that in groups of 10. We’ve asked pastors to reach out to their parishioners and try to do that online or get it in small groups. Bible study in a small group, again socially distant, and you know we’ve provided other suggestions of ways that people could get together to have services. But getting together in groups of more than 10, I don’t think, I read that there were 60 or 80 people that got together at that one church in defiance of even the US Federal Court ruling. It’s an enormous mistake and I am very hopeful that we aren’t going to need to send teams in to do mass testing among the people who may be spreading the virus in their communities.
* We heard today the mayor is still advocating for a Chicago casino. Do you think that’s still a possibility and what are some options you and the state legislators are considering and making that happen?…
I’ve favored, getting that done, I think it’s the right thing to do. It may be difficult to do in the next month I don’t know, in the next few weeks. it depends on when the legislature gets together and how I will say that, you know, we have a whole year here, for the legislature to get together to handle legislation and I think as we again see more treatments available and as we have testing and tracing and PPE available, it will make it a lot easier for the legislature to get together throughout the year. Maybe in one day increments just to keep everybody safe, not needing to stay overnight and room together and all of that. But there’s a lot of the year here with which to address something like that and as I understand it, the Republican leaders are in favor, at least I’m aware that the House Republican leader is in favor of that casino, that Chicago casino bill, and I know there are a number of Democrats who are too so I would hope that we’d be able to get that done in, you know, sometime during the year here.
* How are the occupancy limits at stores being enforced and how well do you think people are complying with the new face covering requirement after the first few days?…
It’s really just a visual survey about face covering and and occupancy of stores. So I don’t have a report, an official report of that. But I will say just you know as I look outside as I see people walking on the street or in small parks or whatever around Chicago. I have seen that, I think the numbers seem to me to be about 70 to 80% of people are wearing masks or they’ve got a mask with them that they don’t have on their face, because they’re not around somebody else. So I think that’s pretty good adherence although I’d love it if everybody would do it.
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2,341 new cases, 46 additional deaths
Monday, May 4, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 2,341 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 46 additional deaths.
Cook County: 1 female 20s, 1 female 30s, 1 female 40s, 1 male 50s, 2 females 60s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 3 males 70s, 6 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s
Iroquois County: 1 female 60s
Lake County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 70s, 3 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s
Macon County: 1 male 70s
Madison County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 90s
Monroe County: 1 male 70s
Sangamon County: 1 female 100+
St. Clair County: 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 female 30s, 1 male 50s, 3 females 70s, 1 male 80s
Winnebago County: 1 male 50s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 63,840 cases, including 2,662 deaths, in 97 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have processed 333,147 specimens for a total of 13,834.
* Gov. Pritzker today…
On April 5, we had 3680 COVID patients in the hospital. On April 12, 4091. On April, 19 4599. On April 26, 4672. As of midnight last night. May 3, that number had reduced to 4493. […]
On April 5 COVID patients occupied 43% of our 2709 ICU beds. On April 12, they occupied 39% of 2991 ICU beds. On April 19, 40% of 3134 ICU beds. On April 26, 34% of 3631 ICU beds. And as of midnight last night, 33% of our 3681 ICU beds, which when combined with the ICU beds occupied by non COVID identified patients leaves about 933 ICU beds available statewide. […]
In the Rockford region, 51.5% of ICU beds were available as of midnight, and that’s about 86 beds. In the Peoria region, 40.2% of ICU beds were available and that’s about 101 actual beds. In the Springfield region, 54.3%, or 82 actual beds. In the Edwardsville region, 27.5% or 25 actual beds. In the Marion region, 27.5%, or 41 actual beds. In the Champaign region, 44.9%, or 62, actual beds. And in Cook and the collar counties and the city of Chicago, 16.9% of ICU beds were available as of midnight, that’s 186 actual beds. In the southwest suburbs, 17.9% or 94 actual beds. In the West suburbs, 15.9%, or 77 beds. […]
We continue to keep our eye trained on the number of Illinoisans with COVID-19 who are on ventilators, and from a statewide standpoint, we’ve continued to see a slight downward trend on this metric, from 29% usage on April 6, then 25% on April 14 then 23% on April 26. And of the 4493 Illinoisans in the hospital, 763 are on ventilators, that means 22% of our total ventilator inventory is currently in use by COVID-19 patients. That’s a lot lower than we had expected at this point. And it’s because of the amazing work that people have done, staying at home and following our executive orders.
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COVID-19 roundup
Monday, May 4, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Most people understand that the executive orders didn’t shut down society, the virus did. And here’s one more example of the virus’ impact…
For the first time since the Grant Park Music Festival was established in 1935, the institution will fall silent.
The festival has canceled all its events running June 10 through Aug. 15 in Millennium Park and across the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Just ensuring the safety of the (Grant Park) Orchestra and Chorus, the administrative staff, our production crew, our patrons – that really drove our decision,” said festival President and CEO Paul Winberg in an interview Monday morning.
“It’s just not safe or prudent to move forward with our festival season. This is going to have a tremendous financial impact on the organization. We’ve been busily trying to assess what that even would look like.”
No government ordered them to do that.
* Even so, some folks are still having trouble getting their minds around this…
The superintendent of a West Central Illinois expressed disappointment following the Illinois State Board of Education’s decision to cancel in-person graduation ceremonies statewide because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The ISBE issued a statement Friday in which it encouraged school districts honor graduates virtually, but acknowledged that virtual events may not be possible in all situations. Drive-in, drive-through and individualized ceremonies are permitted - as long as they abide by specific IBOE criteria and adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Superintendent John Asplund of Galesburg Community School District 205 told WGIL radio that the district planned to hold an in-person ceremony prior to the state board’s order and would still like to have one once ceremonies are permitted.
* Tribune live blog…
Chicago reaches 1,000 COVID-19 deaths
If you get sick with COVID-19, is your employer liable? As businesses prepare to reopen, worker safety is a priority.
Nursing homes push for immunity from lawsuits as COVID-19 deaths top 20,000
Cook County Sheriff’s Office deputy dies of COVID-19
Food distribution pop-up sites start on South, West sides to fill gap during COVID-19 pandemic
Inmate who agreed to stay in Cook County Jail to avoid immigration trouble lost life to COVID-19 instead
* Sun-Times live blog…
Does Lightfoot’s Chicago Housing Solidarity Pledge do enough?
Galewood townhome that was site of viral party also hosted smaller gathering a month earlier
Coronavirus testing site opens in Back of the Yards
Miami Dolphins unveil plan to host fans in stadium amid coronavirus pandemic
In-person visits for parents of children in DCFS care have been suspended since March
Hours after cops broke up Lawndale party, 5 teens were shot at a gathering in the same block
Illinois sets new daily record by processing nearly 20K coronavirus tests, finding 2,994 new cases
Called to order: Supreme Court begins 1st arguments by phone
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FDA finally cracking down on antibody tests
Monday, May 4, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Washington Post…
The Food and Drug Administration, under fire for allowing more than 100 commercial coronavirus antibody tests on the market without review, moved Monday to assert oversight, saying the tests will have to pass agency muster, including meeting standards for quality and accuracy.
Officials said “unscrupulous actors” have been “marketing fraudulent test kits and using the pandemic as an opportunity to take advantage of Americans’ anxiety.”
The FDA action came after the agency was criticized for a March 16 policy that allowed commercial test makers to sell antibody tests after validating their own data and notifying the FDA. The result, some testing experts said, was a flood of products of dubious quality that confused hospitals, doctors and consumers — “a wild, wild West” environment, said Scott Becker, chief executive officer of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, which represents state and local public laboratories. He and others in the laboratory field urged the agency to exert its authority over the tests.
Antibody, or serology, tests are designed to identify people who may have overcome covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, including those who had no symptoms, and developed an immune response. They are not designed to detect active infections. Some officials tout the blood tests as a way to identify people who have developed immunity and can safely return to work. But many scientists say evidence is lacking that the tests can prove someone has immunity from the coronavirus or for how long.
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn emphasized those uncertainties in a Monday call with reporters. “Whether a test should be a “ticket for someone to go back to work as the sole item, my opinion on that would be no, because there are a lot of unanswered questions,” he said.
Go read the whole thing. Insane.
* And while we don’t even know how immune people are after they’ve been infected, having reliable tests is important for another reason…
The tests might also be used to identify potential donors of “convalescent plasma,” an approach in which blood plasma containing antibodies from a recovered individual is used to treat a Covid-19 patient, the F.D.A. said.
* Politico…
Last week, the American Medical Association called on HHS to restrict use of antibody tests to health providers trained to interpret their results and in epidemiological studies due to “growing concern” about the performance of several tests on the market. Until more is known about whether survivors of coronavirus infection emerge with any degree of immunity, people should not use the antibody tests to guide their decisions on physical distancing, the physician group cautioned.
The senior FDA official said the agency has had discussions with the AMA and hinted that government guidelines on the appropriate usage of antibody tests are forthcoming. Several members of the White House coronavirus task force have said it might be necessary for people to receive two antibody tests to cut down on the potential for unreliable results.
“Even a high-performing antibody test when used on individuals in a population that does not have many cases of COVID-19 infection — a population with low prevalence — may produce as many or more false results as true results because the likelihood of finding someone who has been infected is very small,” Shah and Shuren wrote. “This doesn’t mean the test is bad, but rather recognizes the inherent limitations of these kinds of tests.”
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So, you think Illinois’ order is harsh?
Monday, May 4, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* US News and World Report…
Italy on Monday relaxed some restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus after enduring the longest lockdown in Europe.
Following a roughly two-month shutdown as the pandemic intensified, the country reopened its manufacturing and construction industries. Access to parks and public gardens was increased, and funerals can have up to 15 attendees. Restaurants and bars are also allowed to offer takeout services.
Italy has basically reopened to where Illinois was under its original stay at home order, except for the 15 people at funerals.
And even with that heavy-duty Italian lockdown, the country has so far endured the deaths of 29,079 people, or 481 per million. As I mentioned earlier today, Illinois’ death toll is 204 per million.
…Adding… Thanks to a commenter for reminding me about this…
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Please define “continued to grow”
Monday, May 4, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Daily Herald…
The new numbers come as the number of people protesting or ignoring Pritzker’s stay-at-home guidelines continued to grow over the weekend.
About 100 protesters lined Randall Road in Algonquin on Sunday, a day after a demonstration in Fox Lake focused on restrictions limiting boat capacities to two people.
* Saturday’s Fox Lake “protest”…
Fox Lake dairy queen protest I think everybody is sick of it we want to make our own decisions about our future this is America
Posted by Lisa Davidson Senkiw on Saturday, May 2, 2020
If “everybody” is a handful of people standing outside a Dairy Queen, I guess she’s right.
The governor was actually asked about that protest yesterday.
* Click the pic for a wider image of the Algonquin protest, but here’s one of the signs…
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The vital importance of wearing masks
Monday, May 4, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a team of scientists writing in the Atlantic…
Research shows that even a cotton mask dramatically reduces the number of virus particles emitted from our mouths—by as much as 99 percent. This reduction provides two huge benefits. Fewer virus particles mean that people have a better chance of avoiding infection, and if they are infected, the lower viral-exposure load may give them a better chance of contracting only a mild illness. […]
Every infectious disease has a reproduction rate, called R. When it’s 1.0, that means the average infected person infects one other person. The 1918 pandemic flu had an R of 1.8—so one infected person infected, on average, almost two others. COVID-19’s rate, in the absence of measures such as social distancing and masks, is at least 2.4. A disease dies out if its R falls under 1.0. The lower the number, the faster it dies out. […]
Models show that if 80 percent of people wear masks that are 60 percent effective, easily achievable with cloth, we can get to an effective R0 of less than one. That’s enough to halt the spread of the disease. … Mask use in combination with physical distancing is even more powerful. […]
For example, in Hong Kong, only four confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 have been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, despite high density, mass transportation, and proximity to Wuhan. Hong Kong’s health authorities credit their citizens’ near-universal mask-wearing as a key factor (surveys show almost 100 percent voluntary compliance). Similarly, Taiwan ramped up mask production early on and distributed masks to the population, mandating their use in public transit and recommending their use in other public places—a recommendation that has been widely complied with. The country continues to function fully, and their schools have been open since the end of February, while their death total remains very low, at only six. In the Czech Republic, masks were not used during the initial outbreak, but after a grassroots campaign led to a government mandate on March 18, masks in public became ubiquitous. The results took a while to be reflected in the official statistics: The first five days of April still saw an average of 257 new cases and nine deaths per day, but the most recent five days of data show an average of 120 new cases and five deaths per day. Of course, we can’t know for sure to what degree these success stories are because of masks, but we do know that in every region that has adopted widespread mask-wearing, case and death rates have been reduced within a few weeks.
More here and here.
According to Worldometers, the Czech Republic’s COVID-19 death rate is 23 per million people. The US death rate is 209 per million. Illinois’ is 204.
This is exactly why Rep. Mark Batinick pushed so hard for a mandatory mask requirement.
* But…
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday that his order requiring state residents to wear face masks went “too far.”
DeWine announced April 27 that face masks must be worn in stores — but after some Ohioans found the order “offensive,” he reversed himself the next day.
* Also…
An emergency proclamation issued Thursday in Stillwater, Oklahoma, requiring the use of face masks in stores and restaurants was amended Friday after threats of violence.
“In the short time beginning on May 1, 2020, that face coverings have been required for entry into stores/restaurants, store employees have been threatened with physical violence and showered with verbal abuse,” Stillwater City Manager Norman McNickle said in a statement.
“In addition, there has been one threat of violence using a firearm. This has occurred in three short hours and in the face of clear medical evidence that face coverings helps contain the spread of Covid-19.”
* Meanwhile, in Illinois…
* Public Radio…
A spokesperson for the ACLU of Illinois said courts have ruled that laws can be set in the name of public health, which makes Governor J.B. Pritzker’s order on face coverings enforceable.
Ed Yohnka said precedent has been set with vaccination requirements at public schools being imposed because they are considered to be for the good of public health.
“The important thing is that businesses and others can enforce the order, but they ought to do so with a recognition that there’s a lot of different kinds of face coverings, and that it shouldn’t be a reason for police interaction. And it shouldn’t be a reason for discrimination,” Yohnka said.
But…
Meantime, grocery stores cannot force people to wear masks while shopping, said Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants’ Association
“Obviously they’re gonna be complying with the request. They are gonna have to put up signs to ask people to comply. There will be some issues in terms of enforcement. I think there’s confusion. Some people thought that think that we can deny access, we can’t do that legally. So we’re not gonna be able to be the police in this matter. But local law enforcement certainly can,” Karr said.
A store is private property. There are, of course, reasonable public accommodation laws on the books, but anyone who believes they have a right to walk onto someone else’s property and not obey the owner’s rules is just not thinking right.
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* Fayette County Sheriff Chris Smith and Fayette County State’s Attorney Josh Morrison…
It is important for all Fayette County citizens and business owners to remember that the State of Illinois is in charge of many licenses and your ability to do business in the State of Illinois. While we can ensure you that your personal rights will be respected inside of Fayette County, if you violate the Governor’s Executive Orders, the State, not the County, has the ability to act on professional certifications and licenses you may hold. This means that while we may determine that you have not committed a criminal offense, any license you hold may be at risk if the appropriate State agency determines it should take action.
A list of state-regulated professions is here.
I checked with the governor’s office about this very thing last week and was told revoking a state license could be a complicated process involving local boards of public health. We’ll see where this goes, if anywhere. But it’s still a good reminder, even if it looks a lot like a good cop, bad cop type of thing.
Fayette County is in southern Illinois. Its county seat is Vandalia.
* The sheriff and state’s attorney also had some guidance about masks…
We will also respect property owners’ rights to make rules and policies for their properties. If a property owner or store has a policy that you must wear a mask, you must follow their policy or you risk them asking police to trespass you. Again, this is a property owner right, not a police rule.
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Our Democracy Could Be Decided By A Coin Toss
Monday, May 4, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Democrats, who have a supermajority in both legislative chambers, were assumed to control the 2021 remap. However, a move by the Census Bureau could delay population data being sent to the states until July 31, 2021 putting that control in jeopardy.
If census officials win a delay, the Illinois Constitution outlines a process that calls for the appointment of an eight-member commission, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, to draw maps. If they cannot agree, a ninth member – either Democrat or Republican – is randomly chosen, allowing either party the opportunity to gerrymander to their partisan advantage.
Our democracy is too important to be left to a game of chance.
We need an independent, nonpartisan redistricting commission to determine maps that are fair and equitable for all communities across Illinois.
Let’s end partisan gerrymandering and create a process that gives power back to the people.
To learn more about the effort for Fair Maps (SJRCA18, HJRCA41) visit, https://www.changeil.org/policy-priorities/redistricting-reform/.
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* This has become a focal point of people like Reps. Darren Bailey and John Cabello and others on the right who are looking for a way to undermine the stay at home order…
[Woodford County State’s Attorney Greg Minger] calls the state ambiguous in its approach to the coronavirus. Despite the governor’s order, he points to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s 2014 Illinois Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan. He points to a brief section of the document that states, “Quarantine (a period of isolation to prevent disease spread) is not effective in controlling multiple influenza outbreaks in large, immunologically naïve populations, because the disease spreads too rapidly to identify and to control chains of transmission. Even if quarantine were somewhat effective in controlling influenza in large populations, it would not be feasible to implement and enforce with available resources, and would damage the economy by reducing the workforce.”
To the Journal Star, Minger acknowledged that a quarantine — defined by the state plan as involving people “believed to have been exposed to infection, for the purpose of preventing transmission of diseases” — differs from the stay-at-home order. However, from a public-health standpoint, he says the two approaches are essentially identical.
That 2014 document is here.
* The attorney for Reps. Bailey and Cabello also referenced the document in an interview with Rebecca Anzel at Capitol News Illinois as the reason for re-filing Bailey’s lawsuit…
The document he is referring to is guidance from the governor’s office and Illinois Department of Public Health detailing how stay-at-home restrictions are to be enforced.
“If you do not adhere to these Executive Orders, the Illinois Department of Public Health and Certified Local Health Departments have the authority” to require residents and businesses to comply, and it cites the statute creating the department.
According to law, if public health officials believe a person is a “danger to the public health,” they may quarantine or isolate that person “to prevent the probable spread of a dangerously contagious or infectious disease.”
That cannot be implemented, though, without the resident’s consent or a court order issued within 48 hours. The burden of proof to get a judge to sign off is significant — among other things, the department would need to prove that the community’s health is “significantly endangered” by the person it seeks to quarantine.
Those rules also apply to businesses the IDPH might seek to close due to health concerns.
“Local health departments got that letter,” DeVore said. “Why did our citizens not get this letter advising them of their rights to due process?”
Um, maybe take it up with your local public health department?
…Adding… Crain’s…
Bailey said the additional lawsuits are “just more proof” that the governor’s actions were unconstitutional.
“You can’t just let businesses sit in quarantine without due process,” he said.
The Xenia representative clarified that he’s not interested in turning over the executive order statewide. Rather, he thinks the decision to reopen should be made by county health departments.
“Never have I suggested that we need to open the whole state up,” he said. “We should obey the law, but let local health departments make decisions based on what’s going on in their areas.”
* Phil Luciano got some clarification from IDPH…
However, the IDPH says there are key differences. For one, the 2014 plan “is specific to pandemic influenza, not pandemic coronavirus,” the department said in a statement to the Journal Star.
Further, according to the statement, “If you read through the larger document referenced, you will see that quarantine is just one of the many tools available to public health officials in preparation, response, and recovery from pandemic influenza. The stay-at-home order is not a quarantine.”
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* With a hat tip to WMAY, this is from Springfield’s Route 66 Drive-In Theater’s Facebook page…
We got the go ahead to open drive in so we will open on May 8 for the weekend and then maybe more nights the following week. Tickets will have to be presold and will be done through our website. My capacity will be half as have to park every other spot. Concessions will be done through app called FanFood and then will pick up at pick up window. I recommend downloading the app before you arrive. It will be going live this week for you to take a tour. We will be showing a single feature rather than double to keep rest room use down. Playground will be closed. Guests need to stay in there vehicle and park facing forward. No hatches will be allowed up. More details to follow.
The governor’s latest EO appears to forbid the reopening…
All places of public amusement, whether indoors or outdoors, including but not limited to… movie and other theaters… shall be closed to the public
* But DCEO has issued guidance that allows it…
Drive-in movie theatres can operate on a limited basis. Cars must be parked in every-other spot to ensure a minimum six-foot distance between cars. Patrons are not allowed to sit outside of their vehicles to view the movie. To the extent possible, reservations and payments for the theatre should be made in advance online or over the phone. To the extent possible, concessions should be ordered online or over the phone and be available for curbside pickup. Restrooms should have sufficient soap and hand sanitizer, and shall be regularly sanitized. Drive-in theatres should also follow the social distancing guidelines set forth in the order.
I may go to a movie, but I am not going into a public restroom. If the urge strikes, I’ll just drive on home.
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* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
The Illinois General Assembly hasn’t been in session since March 5 because of the international COVID-19 pandemic.
Some legislators have passed the time posting recipes on social media. Some Republicans have lately been holding online press conferences demanding the supermajority Democrats and the Democratic governor do what they want.
A couple of House Republicans have filed lawsuits against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order and have been rewarded with more publicity than they could’ve ever dreamed of.
A large number of legislators, however, have been diligently working on actually governing. Both chambers have set up “working groups” of members who are tackling issues like the budget, infrastructure projects, education, gambling, energy, etc.
Not all, but from what I can tell, the vast majority of working group members are doing their best to figure out how to deal with this crisis in difficult circumstances.
Some legislators have jumped head-first into community work. Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, has been distributing face masks to first responders and even retail businesses. Batinick also spent days convincing Pritzker to impose a face-covering mandate in his revised executive order, which took effect May 1.
Freshman Rep. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, says she has over 350 factories in her district, and almost her entire focus throughout this crisis has been attempting to protect the health and safety of workers in those factories, many of whom are immigrants. Villa is the daughter of immigrants, and she recently told ProPublica Illinois that several people in her own life work for local factories, including a food-processing facility that was shut down by the Kane County Health Department after pressure from Villa and others.
When Villa first started hearing reports of problems at the factories, she says, she called her local mayors, health departments, the governor’s office and even the manufacturers themselves. “I was trying to figure out how to do this,” she tells me.
Click here to read the rest before commenting, please. Thanks.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
In the wake of a recently-reported death of a worker at Smithfield St. Charles from COVID-19, State Representative Karina Villa is calling for an immediate investigation into what Smithfield plant management did to protect the worker from getting sick.
“While the Governor’s office, the Attorney General’s office, IDPH, and county health departments have taken concrete steps to implement processes which keep workers safe at manufacturing facilities, we can’t ignore what has already happened to workers at these plants,” Villa said. “We keep hearing more and more about how negligent plant management has been to their employees at Smithfield and at other facilities. It’s disgusting.”
In light of recent reports that Latinos are now the most adversely affected by the spread of COVID-19 of any demographic group in Illinois, stopping the spread of COVID-19 in predominantly Latino essential workplaces is more urgent than ever before. While rules are being implemented to protect workers from further workplace malpractice, workers, especially Latino workers, need advocates in their corner.
“Latinos are dying in disproportionate numbers because factory owners and management can’t be bothered to care about the people who work for them. The Governor and IDPH have instituted a lot of rules which help these employees, but that doesn’t change what they have already had to go through. I will continue to work with the UFCW and all unions who represent essential workers to ensure that they are kept safe and hold those responsible for preventable disease spread and death accountable.”
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
A recent poll shows Illinoisans strongly approve of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in Illinois and an even higher number supports his stay-at-home order.
The We Ask America/Capitol Fax poll of 800 registered voters taken April 23-24 found that 71% approve of Pritzker’s handling of the state’s response to the outbreak, while just 23% disapprove.
A whopping 77% support the stay-at-home order, while only 18% oppose it and 4% don’t know. And 59% say they strongly support the order, while just 8% strongly oppose it.
Meanwhile, the state is split on President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic. While 48% support his response, 49% disapprove; 3% percent didn’t know.
A strong plurality of 48% say they worry that states might lift their stay-at-home orders too soon, while 29% say they worry states might be too slow; 23% don’t know.
The results included really bad news for suburban Republicans, who already appeared headed for yet another harsh November before COVID-19.
President Trump performed poorly in the suburbs in 2016. The GOP’s suburban losses mounted in 2018, and 2020 was looking like it could be even worse. Republican legislative leaders have not yet raised the sort of money they’ll need to fend off suburban Democratic challenges.
According to the poll, 52.5% of collar county voters disapproved of President Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak; 47% approved.
Those same collar county voters approved of Pritzker’s handling of the crisis 76.5% to 17%. Those are better marks than Pritzker received from suburban Cook County voters, whose split was 70.5% to 25% That’s notable because Republicans have already lost a lot of their foothold in suburban Cook, but still had significant strength remaining in the collars. If that poll is right, and those numbers hold… whoa.
But it gets worse.
Another 57% of collar county voters were more worried that states might lift their stay-at-home orders too quickly, versus 22% who worried they’ll lift them too slowly. Again, those are “better” numbers than suburban Cook voters, whose split was 54% — 23%.
And 81% of collar county denizens supported Illinois’ stay-at home-order, while just 17% opposed it. Again, those are better numbers than among suburban Cook County voters, who backed the order 77% — 20%.
“80 percent issues” have long been pretty nearly impossible to find in this fractured country. They are campaign unicorns. Using issues in that percentage range can very effectively “move” voters one way or another. And, perhaps unsurprisingly considering the other results, more collar county voters “strongly” supported the order (62%) than suburban Cook voters (56%).
Polls are just polls and subset numbers are less reliable than the full poll. But after looking at several national surveys and polling from other states, it’s difficult not to conclude that these gubernatorial stay-at-home orders are, at least for right now, a new “third rail” of politics.
Opposing them appears to carry great political risk in urban and suburban areas.
Now, throw the lawsuits against the stay-at-home order filed by Republican state Reps. Darren Bailey and John Cabello onto the fire, and you can see why suburban Republican legislators are reaching for the antacid.
The Republican legislative leaders are powerless to stop this behavior. As they’ve steadily lost suburban seats, Downstaters have become a much more powerful voice in the party. And they’re increasingly taking a hard-right turn since the ascension of Donald Trump.
I asked House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s spokesperson if Durkin supports or opposes these lawsuits. “Leader Durkin is not planning on filing any lawsuits and as a firm believer in the judiciary system, he will follow the court’s decision on this important issue.”
Not exactly a profile in courage there, but, if present trends continue, Durkin may not have many suburban members left after November and he’s up for reelection as caucus leader next January. Not that anyone appears to be craving to take his job at the moment.
Things can always change. The reason “80 percent issues” are so rare these days is because people changed their minds.
It seems unlikely that suburbanites are going to line up behind the current leadership of the stay-at-home opposition, however.
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[Comments now open.]
* Background is here if you need it. From Gov. Pritzker’s media briefing today…
A northern Illinois church that sued had services today with more than 100 people. Will there be consequences?
I understand that their temporary restraining order was denied in court. I heard that just a few minutes before coming out here. And so they shouldn’t have been having services at all except if they were in groups of 10 or less.
Again, this is temporary, and people need to understand that, especially faith leaders that keeping your parishioners safe is the most important thing that you can do your leadership matters here, and we’re not stopping you from praying we’re not stopping you from connecting with your parishioners what we are trying to stop is the spread of this invisible killer.
I’ll update when I know more.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the court…
Plaintiffs The Beloved Church and Stephen Carrell filed a motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on 4/30/2020. In their motion, Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief to permit them to gather for worship at their church on Sunday, 5/3/20, despite Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order 2020−32 (dated 4/30/2020). The Court ordered expedited briefing, and Defendants filed their responses at 5:00 p.m. on 5/1/20, and Plaintiffs filed their reply at 2:00 p.m. on 5/2/20.
After due consideration, the Court denies Plaintiffs’ motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. The Court will issue a written opinion and order explaining its ruling shortly.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Sun-Times has a very good story about the ruling. Click here.
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[Comments now open.]
* Among other things, the governor warned the public today about COVID-19 scams…
Reprehensible bad actors continue to use this public health emergency to prey on others. We’re hearing reports of cyber scams, telephone, email and text-messaging scams, counterfeit COVID product offers, bogus door to door offers of COVID tests and of COVID products relating to coronavirus, solicitations for donations to phony charities related to COVID-19 and fraudulent efforts to obtain federal relief funds.
The Attorney General will not hesitate to use the authority of his office and partnerships with state, local, and federal law enforcement to hold accountable anyone seeking to profit off of this pandemic. To the scam artists, you will be caught. And you will be prosecuted. I’m urging all Illinois residents vigilant and to report any COVID-19 scams, to the attorney general’s office.
As always, please pardon all transcription errors.
* On to questions for the governor. I’ve been told there’s also some protests going on up in Fox Lake because of the boating restrictions… only two per boat. What do you say to people who are protesting the two per boat rule? Is there any opportunity for potentially families who have more than two to not have to do that?…
Again, the enforcement is up to local law enforcement. We’re asking them to do that. And I would remind the people that are doing it that look it’s the data that tells us that if you’re in a group of a large group of people in a small space with, you can’t maintain a six foot distance between each person in a party, then you shouldn’t be together in that space. And many, many boats, most boats that people can afford, don’t really make room for more than two people. We wanted to make sure that people want to go fishing can do so, that’s certainly an outdoor activity that everybody enjoys many people do anyway. And so that was the intent of the limit of two people, also the idea that if you can’t maintain the six foot distance you’re putting yourself and your family and your friends in danger.
* Is there any opportunity for the state to include the number of cases and deaths at [nursing home] facilities in the daily briefing that you do?…
We provide it online, it’s available at the IDPH website. So rather than go through the cases in each location. It’s all there for people to access.
* What about the public transportation in Chicago, what is being done these days to keep people from catching COVID-19 on the trains on the buses here in the city?…
That’s obviously the responsibility of the city and the CTA. We are talking to them and to the RTA and Pace about designing sanitization processes that will work as we begin to reopen non essential businesses there’s we’re being to reopen the economy and more and more people want to take public transportation. So we want to make it safe for everybody and. And the best way to do that is to let the system design something and present it to the public health and their own local county public health and City Public Health officials.
* Amy Jacobson from wind has two questions for you. First off, you mentioned on Friday that you’ll be hiring 3000 contact tracers. Will they have any arresting authority, if some people refuse to [stay at home]? [That is one paranoid person]…
No. […]
The idea here is simply to let them know they need to self isolate to make sure that they get tested themselves. We want to contact everybody so that we can slow the spread here so people aren’t just walking around thinking that they have never come in contact with somebody and probably don’t have it when in fact they may have been in close contact with someone
As you know, hundreds of people are getting the antibody tests right now. Are you counting those who have tested positive from the antibody tests in your daily totals for COVID-19?…
No, first of all because the antibody tests are very unproven. There are lots of these tests that have a false positive or false negative rate that is unacceptable.
And so until we have a very proven method of doing antibody tests wouldn’t be useful for us to use those numbers. Having said that, we will going forward as tests are available that have that efficacy. We will be reporting or looking at those we may even be initiating those for the state itself. But we don’t include those numbers now in our numbers of people who have tested positive because it’s really a different thing right one is how many people are testing positive on an ongoing basis we talk about each day how many new people. And that’s really something to keep an eye on the total numbers of people less important to keep an eye on because the truth is, we haven’t tested everybody in the state. And no state has, and the numbers that get reported are really a function of how many tests we do. So we’re looking at the new positive tests and comparing those to the total number of tests that were done for that day, and it gives us a positivity rate that we want to track so but antibody tests will be important when they get more efficacious.
* Can you explain the reason why some businesses are now being allowed to be open and others are not. Such as, why hair salon, barbers, nail salons not being open but dog and pet groomers are?…
The idea is that dog and pet groomers don’t have to come within six feet of a human being that may have COVID-19.
But at a hair salon, it would be nearly impossible for somebody to perform a haircut on somebody without being very very close to them. So that’s an example. I’m not a doctor and, and I do ask the epidemiologists and experts about these things and that’s what I understand is the difference between why a dog groomer for example and not a barber.
* Greg Bishop: The President’s economic adviser today said there could be a relief package for state and local governments that there are some concessions sought including reversing sanctuary city policies. Republicans have pushed for pension reform and local government unfunded mandate relief before Illinois gets federal funds to plug budget problems that existed before the pandemic. What concessions are you willing to give in on an exchange for federal aid?…
Well, I’m not negotiating that package. I mean I’m the governor of a state, not a Senator or Congressman. But I certainly would say that we should try to leave politics out of this, and instead look at what the damage that’s been done to all the states, those were represented by Republicans those who were represented by Democrats and try to help them all of us fill the hole that’s been made by coronavirus.
Greg Bishop: Have you asked for an analysis of the economic societal and health damage that you acknowledge your shutdown is having an Illinois to compare that to the health impacts from COVID-19?…
I haven’t sought out an assessment. I will say that there are lots of organizations, I think the University of Illinois put out some information like that, lots of folks who are trying to estimate what the future of our economy will look like going forward. And so I look at those certainly.
But to be clear and I know the way the question is phrased it’s as if someone caused this. The reality is that COVID-19 is causing this. The fact that it is a new coronavirus, the fact that virtually well most of the states almost all of the states, put in a stay at home order are lots of restrictions, because the mitigation efforts were necessary because so little preparation was made. And it was very difficult for anybody to get a handle on this early on. So, you know, it will be interesting to see what the damage that was done by the virus was in retrospect, at this point it’s almost impossible to measure.
* Is there any plan for the state to put together a stimulus package for the people of our state, such as what the federal government did for the whole country? [Illinois can’t print money, but whatevs]…
I would say we are trying to look at those, you know how can the state be helpful all across state. I mean one of the things I’ve talked about is our small businesses. We obviously also need to maintain and even build up our public health resources as well as providing health care services to people. So those are all things that will help to rescue people in the state. But to do more we really will need support from the federal government directly to our state revenue line. And that’s why we’ve asked for help and that’s why virtually every state in the United States has gone to the federal government to look for a replacement of lost revenues.
* Less than 48 hours after the Galesburg High School announced plans to have an in-person graduation ceremony, Illinois State Board of Education put out an order banning any such ceremonies. If a school district can have an in-person ceremony for a class of 2020 in a socially distant safe and responsible manner, why not allow the school districts to give the students the closure they want? In this case, parents and students voted overwhelmingly that they did want the actual graduation ceremony…
I think as of yesterday, the Illinois State Board of Education actually put out guidelines so that there could be graduation ceremonies. And they try to make it available to people to organize something that would maintain social distance and following epidemiological suggestions about how to do it. Because look I’m as concerned as anybody to make sure that people have at least something to celebrate their graduations. I mean it’s a sad fact that many seniors, high school and college seniors aren’t going to be able to have a usual graduation. So we want something special for everybody and so the Illinois State Board of Education has put out guidelines for that.
* What are you hearing from Washington and the White House in regards to the next relief package and to what extent it might help city and state governments?…
I regularly speak with people in Washington. I was on the phone with the Minority Leader of the senate just yesterday and have spoken with are the actually the Minority Whip in the senate that’s our senior Senator Dick Durbin. And so I get regular updates and it looks like there is real support on the Republican side. And near unanimous support of democratic side for support for the states. And I would say near unanimous support by governors for support for states as well as local governments. And I’ll just add one more thing, I really think it’s important that we address the challenges of smaller local governments and not just those that have 500,000 or more people in them. We have a lot of cities and counties across the state that need help. And that’s true in most states. So I’m fighting hard for them too.
* I understand you’ve made a commitment to signing an executive order to delay the deadline for Illinois hotels to install so called panic buttons, which was included in a package of anti sexual harassment legislation passed last spring. The sponsor say they’ll pass a bill to put off the deadline when lawmakers return to Springfield, but in the interim you’ll likely have to take executive action. When will you sign the order and how long will you put off the deadline?…
A final decision hasn’t been made about that. I do support those panic buttons so they’re very important. And that’s something that I, you know, have fought for was happy to support as candidate as well as the governor.
* On a lighter note, Hannah would like to know if you’ve heard about the murder hornets…
I have heard about these Hornets that apparently are ravaging bees. And so all I can say is that I’m allergic to bee stings, so I’m not sure if I’m not sure what it means for me but I will say we have a lot of challenges. I’m somebody who has been staying at home working every day and so on, haven’t had time to spend, focusing on the murder hornets.
* Based on reports from around the country, no states are short on ventilators. Could that change and how does Illinois stand on its supply in case of a possible surge in the fall?…
When this pandemic came upon us, we looked at the inventory, ventilators looked at the numbers that were being used in places like Italy in Spain and elsewhere and in China, and said we don’t have enough ventilators. And so we began a process to make sure that if we couldn’t bend to the curve that we could keep people alive. And so we sought out ventilators wherever we could. The state of California was kind enough as they started to bend their curve to offer us 100 of their ventilators which was great, but we only had about 2200 in the state total. And we needed, according to the models that we had looked at back then. You know that unless something changed we might need more than 4000.
So, as it turns out our stay at home order and all the other restrictions, the mitigation efforts that we put in place, have worked. And so we do not need all the ventilators that we thought we would we have in fact sent the hundred back to California so that they could be sent to somebody else who may need them. And we are hoping that the ventilators and we’ve acquired a number of ventilators just since then we have over 3000 of them now. We hope that that inventory and the fact that there’s a lot of availability right now will be enough in case there is another surge.
* Jared Kushner told The Washington Post on Saturday with regards to testing, quote, The biggest thing holding us back is not supplies or capacity, it’s the state’s ability to collect more samples. Is that true for Illinois? Why or why not?…
Well, to collect samples is just one piece of the puzzle to get tests done. You need machines, yes we have machines that exist in the state of Illinois though they don’t belong to the state. They don’t belong anybody except private enterprises, typically or private nonprofit hospitals.
And so getting access to those machines and their capacity is one thing you need to accomplish and other is you need the swabs, and that’s the ability to take a sample. That’s true. We need swabs, we don’t have enough swabs and we’re getting more from the White House actually we’re getting some more this month. But you also need viral transport medium and you need the reagents that are necessary to run the test. So if you have all of those things, by the way you also need more lab technicians to run the machine so you can run all these, so I just mentioned at least four or five pieces of it.
So I would say that the statement by Jared Kushner is a little bit inaccurate, but I am glad that there is a recognition that that we need more of the pieces of the puzzle to to get the testing done, because it’s true.
* Cook County is now the county with the third highest number of cases in the US, being only behind New York, can you share any insight into why Cook County numbers are so high?…
Because we’re doing a lot more testing than most places in the country and that’s the truth. So that’s why I would discourage people from just looking at the gross number of tests that are being done in a state or in a county. We have built up our testing, I mean today was our highest ever at 19 plus thousand.
And just a few weeks ago we were at four and 5000, just two weeks ago, I think, and we intend to go higher. Many other places are choosing not to test, which means that they don’t show new tests. I mean sorry, new cases, because if it’s not a confirmed case, it doesn’t get counted usually.
So I would just say that I would ignore a little bit about the gross testing numbers, and instead look at the positivity rate. How many people did we test among the people we tested how many tested positive? That is a number that ought to be going down for us that’s varied between about 21 and 15%. We want it to go down even further, it’s an indication that there is a lower infection rate across the state.
* How long can a plateau last?…
I hope it doesn’t last too long.
But it’s unknown. This is a new Corona virus and different states, different localities are experiencing different curves. But I’m hoping that we’re in a flattened curve. Now I’m hoping, again, you just know that by watching it day in and day out, and that we begin to fall off that curve and our numbers begin to decline.
* More people are ignoring your stay at home order and gathering in large groups, but some gatherings are ending in violence. 200 people were together around 3am before a man was killed in a double shooting in Peoria. What do you suggest local leaders do to enforce your order when people are going out regardless?…
Well, again, I mean I certainly don’t want to put anybody in danger by suggesting that law enforcement needs to go break up a group of 3000. On the other hand, it is against the order and law enforcement does have that ability.
What I would say to people in Peoria and elsewhere in East Peoria etc. is that there’s a reason why we put these orders forward. It’s to keep people safe, it’s because this virus really knows no boundaries. One person in the middle of that 3000 can cause many others to get infected and each one of those people has the ability to infect others. And so we won’t know really for a couple of weeks how many people in Peoria have gotten sick, because people were irresponsible and got together. And I am sorry to hear that there was violence attendant with all that, but people should follow the rules here and in relatively short order we’ll begin to see , as the economy opens up things will get better for everyone.
* A recent Tribes story showed a disconnect between young people of color and the media and government. What can or should officials be doing to better reach young people of color to warn them about COVID?…
Yesterday, you saw that I had with me Jamal Cole from an organization here in Chicago that does tremendous work working with young people in the African American community. And then the Latino community, to many of those leaders have the ability to speak I think forcefully to their colleagues, their peers to convince them, so they understand that this virus can attack somebody in their 20s, just as it can, or in their teens just as it can somebody who is 40 years old or over.
And the fact is that we need to do more messaging around this, people need to understand how serious it is. And look, even if you think you’re invincible and you’re in your 20s, here’s what can happen. You could get coronavirus and not suffer very badly from it, but you will be carrying it around and giving it to others. Do you have a grandmother, do you have a parent, do you have a friend who is older than you who has a comorbidity who might have diabetes or has heart disease? You’re putting them at risk when you are willing to ignore the rules that we’ve put in place here.
* DCFS has ended visits for parents with children in foster care. Advocates across the state say DCFS should not have a blanket order and allow parents to have in person visits with precautions. Do you think accommodation should be made?…
We certainly are looking, I mean DCFS is looking at all the accommodations that they can make. And so I am you know sad for foster parents and kids can’t get together, the biological parents and kids are getting together. DCFS has created though, video conferencing and other methods for contacting for getting those folks together, so they can at least have some ongoing dialogue, in place of getting together personally. But look this is about protecting people and we don’t think this will go forever. This in fact is something that we’re trying to get through to make sure that as people get sick we’re not over-running the hospitals, and that we’re able to develop a treatment. So, this is really about a relatively short period of time in which there is difficulty accommodating those kinds of visits, but we’ll try to work through them best we can.
Pritzker was then asked about the church which asked for a TRO against the governor’s EO. He said the TRO had been denied. Click here for more info and any updates.
* We received a question from a listener who says a relative is dying of cancer and lives in Colorado. Would it be legal to travel there to help family?…
There’s nothing that stops a person from going to Colorado to be with their family member.
But, you know, I would just say that there are a lot of, if you’re driving, there a lot of places that you would need to stop along the way, and be extraordinarily careful. There are airplanes that are still flying, you have the ability to get on an airplane. Again, I think most of the airlines are requiring face coverings now. So it’s really a matter of whether you can do it safely. That’s the most important thing. Nobody’s going to arrest anybody who’s, attempting to get to a family member who’s ill.
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2,994 new cases, 63 additional deaths
Sunday, May 3, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pritzker at today’s briefing…
Today we’re reporting 2,994 new cases for a state total of 61,499, which includes many individuals who have already recovered. 97 of our 102 counties have known cases of COVID-19.
19,417 new tests were reported over the last 24 hours. That’s our highest number of tests ever performed in a single day.
And I’m deeply saddened to report that 63 lives were lost in the last 24 hours to COVID-19, for a total of 2618 fatalities in Illinois since the beginning of this pandemic. May their memories be for a blessing.
In terms of the number of COVID-19 patients and assumed COVID-19 patients in the hospital in any condition, whether mild or serious., as of midnight last night that number was 4701, of those 1232 are in the ICU and 759 of those ICU patients are on ventilators.
I’ll post the press release when it’s available.
…Adding… Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 2,994 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 63 additional deaths.
- Cook County: 2 males 40s, 3 females 50s, 3 males 50s, 4 females 60s, 7 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 9 males 70s, 5 females 80s, 5 males 80s, 4 females 90s, 4 males 90s
- DuPage County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
- Jefferson County: 1 male 80s
- Kane County: 1 male 70s
- Lake County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 70s
- Madison County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 90s
- Monroe County: 1 female 90s
- Will County: 1 female 70s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 females 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 61,499 cases, including 2,618 deaths, in 97 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have processed 19,417 specimens for a total of 319,313.
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The hollowing-out of state government: IDES
Sunday, May 3, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’ve been meaning to post this thread for days and never got around to it.
One important note: Manar states that Illinois spent $288.8 million on IDES in Fiscal Year 2008 vs. $275 million this fiscal year. But he didn’t adjust for inflation. Doing that would show Illinois spent $338.89 million in adjusted dollars in FY08, which is $64 million more than this fiscal year, an almost 19 percent historical reduction. As far as agency operations goes, current spending is almost $34 million, or 17.5 percent below where it was in FY08 after adjusting for inflation…
Back in February, Gov. Pritzker proposed adding 226 new staff at IDES “to improve administration of the Unemployment Insurance Program.” That was the second-highest proposed headcount increase of any state agency, behind only IDOC.
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* WMAY…
State child welfare investigators say they are being put in danger during the pandemic… and are calling for changes in some of the rules governing their jobs.
AFSCME Council 31 is calling on the Department of Children and Family Services to allow investigators to perform some of their work through phone or video calls, instead of direct face-to-face contact. The union says investigators would still meet face to face to determine a child’s immediate health and safety, but they say not all interviews require that.
The union is also asking for more personal protection equipment for employees.
* Peoria Public Radio…
Anne Irving, regional director for AFSCME Local 31, said the goal is not to discontinue in-person visits, but to avoid putting people at risk unnecessarily.
For example, she said, in cases where a child is hospitalized and being cared for by medical providers, away from the perpetrator, the recommendation would be to delay the visit or minimize the recurrence of visits, in order to not have investigators moving in and out of the hospital.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an overwhelming number of their contacts … involving children, but I think those contacts involving other adults in the household, for example — those could lead to a significant reduction in the face-to-face, without having any impact on the safety of the child,” she said.
Irving said it could also be applied to cases involving teenagers, when they’re not in imminent danger. She said in cases where in-person contact is necessary, the recommendation would be to conduct those interview outside, practice social distancing, and wear protective equipment.
Referencing DCFS data, Irving said 15 department employees have tested positive for COVID-19 since April 8. Another 38 have reportedly been “COVID exposed” as of April 21.
* DCFS issued a response. An excerpt…
There have been significant changes made to the practice of investigations during this crisis to ensure investigators are staying healthy and safe, while also ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the children and families we serve.
The hotline and investigators use screening questions before ever coming into contact with any family.
If there are concerns about the family being COVID-19 exposed, investigators can adjust how they engage parents to preserve everyone’s safety. This includes conducting interviews outdoors, having parents use video to walk the investigator through the home, and practicing social distancing.
When necessary, investigators call on law enforcement or emergency medical services to assist.
DCFS has provided protective gear to our staff, including more than 850,000 gloves, nearly 500,00 masks, and 997 gallons of hand sanitizer. We have an estimated 30-day supply of protective gear available for all direct services staff with additional inventory arriving all the time.
The department has worked closely with the Illinois Department of Public Health and our private agency partners to setup COVID-19 testing sites around the state that make it easier for DCFS staff to be tested quickly.
Beginning in March, the department has been meeting regularly with AFSCME to hear their concerns and collaborate on ensuring the safety of staff during this crisis. DCFS continues to be willing to meet and discuss their ongoing concerns.
* Related…
* Watching out for Illinois’ most vulnerable kids becomes all the harder during a pandemic: About 85% of DCFS’s operations are being conducted remotely. This includes remote interviews of children, foster parents and other care providers. Even operators at DCFS’s child abuse hotline are handling calls remotely, from their homes.
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* After Dr. Ezike’s presentation, Gov. Pritzker introduced two guests, Jahmal Cole at My Block, My Hood, My City (who delivered a fiery speech), and Neha Gill, the executive director of Apna Ghar. But first he highlighted some groups which have stepped up during the crisis. For instance…
In Carbondale, restaurant owners and chefs came together to launch the Southern Illinois Collaborative Kitchen, providing meals for local organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, offering pickup and delivery to customers and supporting area restaurant workers. In Quincy, the Lutheran Church of St john is running a mobile food pantry, to help deliver essential nutrition to nearby rural communities. The Divvy bike system in Chicago has announced another 30 days of free rides for all healthcare workers throughout the month of May.
Click here to learn more about how you can volunteer.
As always, please excuse any transcription errors.
* On to questions for the governor. Very high numbers again this week. I know a lot of that is due to more testing, but have you found any other trends or any other explanation for seeing so many more infections after weeks and weeks of staying home?…
No, it really is a function of doing more testing. And in fact what you’ll find is a lower infection rate. If you do the math here of how many tests done as a denominator and how many positives as a numerator, you’ll see that we’ve come down on average, from what was around 21 or 22% infection rate to something in the high teens.
So I think that’s something for people to look at the gross number of cases you know of positive cases, really isn’t any indication of much other than that we’ve done more testing indeed if we tested everybody in the state we would have a much much higher number.
* Can you reiterate wearing a mask? I’m sure you’ve seen through Chicago today, a lot of sidewalks packed, a lot of public spaces very packed. You’ve said if you can social distance outside you don’t need it. Have you changed your thoughts on that at all?…
No, that’s still what people need to do and I’m glad you asked.
Face coverings are vital for people to wear. In fact, it may be the most important thing that you can do to save other people’s lives, to keep other people from getting infected and to protect people in your own home. If everybody does it, if everybody goes out and takes a mask with them and puts it on make sure you’ve got it on when you are in public and in an area where you’re not likely to be able to keep six foot distance, then you are protecting other people.
One more thing I noticed that people don’t feel like, well, if I’m walking along the sidewalk, and there’s no one six feet behind me and no one six feet in front of me going the same direction. People feel like why do I need to wear a mask? Well you know why, it’s because someone may be coming the direction toward you. You are going to be within six feet of that person for at least a few moments as you pass that person and the next person, and the next person.
So wearing a face covering is extraordinarily important, and I speak, not just over the city of Chicago in areas that are highly populated but even downstate where it’s true that if you’re not around other people you don’t need to be wearing that mask or that face covering. But when you do go shopping, if you go to the grocery store, you’re going to go into a park or something else, where you know you’re probably going to run into other people, you should bring that face covering with you.
* What is your plan if more people are out violating the stay at home order?…
Well, first of all it is local governments and county governments that should be enforcing the social distancing and wearing face coverings and so on.
We need to continue to message to people that it’s not acceptable to gather in large groups or to not wear a face covering. That’s extraordinarily important for us to do. People need to take care of each other, and for the most part people really are. But I know people need to be reminded some people make mistakes, and maybe even purposely gathering groups they think they’re being defiant and that’s okay. I believe me I understand when I was younger I you know felt like I wanted to be defiant to this is not a moment for that this is life threatening to be defiant in this moment about not wearing a face covering or gathering in large groups, you are putting others at risk and your own self and your family.
* Between nursing home outbreaks and the mental health toll this pandemic is taking, are there discussions about ways to uniformly facilitate video communications in nursing homes between loved ones outside and the elderly inside?…
Many of the nursing homes and indeed people who are working in nursing homes are actually helping to facilitate that for the people who are residents of those nursing homes. It isn’t something that the state has a program for, but it is something that I recognize is very important in so many people have a device of some sort, even seniors in a nursing home, often have some kind of device these days, even if it’s simply an iPhone or a, you know, small handheld device. So we want to encourage that because it has been a while now you know we had to impose a strict lockdown of nursing homes, even before the beginning of our disaster declaration in the state. We’ve had nursing homes, not accepting even family members to visit. And I know how hard that is for people but it’s vitally important. Even as difficult as nursing homes have been as a you know a spreading ground for coronavirus and it’s just a fact of life that these congregate settings are well you know the, the fact is that that shutting them down to outside visitors has helped a lot to keep many of those homes either COVID free or fewer infections.
* What is the state doing to curb the number of COVID cases at long term care facilities? If people believe their loved ones are in serious danger because of the lack of care, how can they get them out?…
Dr. Ezike: So, very challenging question in terms of how to curve, we have our strategies, but we know as we look even as to our partners, facing the exact same thing across the state and even in other countries, it’s still a challenge. Let me tackle your second part of your question, if individuals want to take their loved ones home.
I don’t think there’s any rules against that, and we know that congregate care settings are difficult in terms of two people being to a room, being several maybe sometimes several hundred people in a fixed location. So, by its nature, it’s very challenging and if people want to have their loved ones at home and are able to take care of their loved ones, there’s no restriction on that at all. And I think, obviously families can take wonderful care of their loved ones and so full encouragement to do that if people aren’t in a position to do that.
But in terms of what we’re trying to do again, we put out the guidance before there was ever a case in a single nursing home, we started at the end of February and put out clear guidelines where we started, people said initially Oh, that’s too cruel to say that there won’t be visitors, and we were doing it with these, senior citizens in mind that we wanted to decrease their opportunity to be affected by people coming from outside. So we initially put in the the no visitors. We said that people have to be checked all staff have to be checked anyone with symptoms anyone with a fever.
There was, you know, questions that had to be reviewed that you have to attest that you are safe to come to work. We wanted to decrease all the outside people that were coming in for different reasons. The group gatherings had to be had to be stopped. We couldn’t have lots of volunteer groups coming in, again, trying to balance between, some of these social things that really help brighten people’s spirits. But then things that also threaten people’s lives, knowing that the vector, the way that the virus comes into the facility is through people coming from outside the residence or there they didn’t go outside, they didn’t go outside to contract that virus.
* This one from Greg Bishop at the center square. Protester say economic damage from the shutdown is doing more damage to the health and well being of families and individuals, leading to depression, self harm, domestic abuse, lost education opportunities for children, medical procedures put off and many other major societal problems. How do you weigh all of those costs?…
Well, Greg. You’re right. These are all some of the damages that are being caused by coronavirus, there’s no doubt about it. So, you know, we weigh these things in the mix, there’s no doubt.
At the moment,as you know, we continue to climb this curve, though at a much slower pace, the curve that has,increasing the number of hospitalizations and ICU beds filled in our state.
And it’s true even in areas in southern or Central Illinois, it is in Chicago and Cook County in the collar counties. So we’re weighing them. There’s no doubt I want people to get back to work and trying to find safe industries, safe ways to get people back into their jobs, whether they work in an office factory, a food processor or a restaurant or a bar.
These are all things that we’re trying to weigh in the mix and and again there’s a lot of factors to consider as we’re trying to reopen the economy but very importantly, we’ve been listening to the CDC guidance on this. And of course the expert epidemiologists that work for the state as well as for many private institutions in Illinois.
* Also from Greg, with the challenges your authority and the courts, why not have the legislature, wear face coverings as the public is now required to do so when grocery shopping or going back to work and have them come back for a special session to clear up your authority?…
They have the ability to come back and they would i would assume and I would, in fact it’s required that they wear face coverings when they do so.
* And from Amy Jacobson wind radio at your joint statement with Mayor Lightfoot last night you said quote, We must stay the course until data shows further progress and a reduction of new cases and as widespread testing comes online. We are thankful for all the new testing sites you opened up around the state, but wasn’t flattening the curve, based on hospitalizations, because the more people we test the more people we will likely have positive?…
I’m not sure how that last part is related to hospitalizations, but I’ll try to answer the question.
Anyway, we still have increasing hospitalizations or flattened hospitalizations, some areas. And so we need to watch those numbers and have them coming down. A Again I would point once again to the plan that the CDC and the White House put out as a guide for when can you really begin to look at reopening and it’s after you get through the peak, and sometimes that peak is kind of flattening and I’ve been talking about flattening for some time. Truthfully, as we’ve been talking about flattening and bending the curve, as I have indicated, we’re still going up by a little bit.
But whatever you would call it, at the moment we’re not going down. And that’s what we really need to do. Hospitalization is a very important number for us all to pay attention to, ICU beds also very important number to pay attention to, again, the case rate, I would look at the infection rate and not the total case numbers. And then I would look at the per capita infections in all across the state, you know, just because you see a certain number of cases in a county and saves that doesn’t seem like many, it may be that there are very few people live in that county.
* Rebecca at capital news Illinois. This is my semi weekly check in. How are you both doing in terms of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and after some awful protest signs Friday?…
Well, thank you and my family and I are fine.
And well, I will say that the people who were protesting, there were quite a number of people who seem to have been carrying signs filled with hate. There were people carrying signs with swastikas on them, suggesting that they believe in either that they believe in Naziism or they think it’s okay to throw the invective at people with a swastika.
What I can tell you for myself is that I have spent decades of my life fighting against bigotry and hatred. I helped to build a Holocaust museum, I’ve worked with Holocaust survivors. The meaning of that swastika is apparently unknown to the people who are carrying it or if it is known it is a demonstration of the hate that is among us.
Having said all that, these were a few hundred demonstrators, and there are millions of people in the state of Illinois, really good people who are doing the right thing, protecting each other during this extraordinary crisis. And I am so grateful to live in a state with those millions of people.
Dr. Ezike: All is well with me and my family. I continue to hear about people who are more directly affected. I am fortunate. I have a job and I have my health, my prayers go out every day to the people who are not as fortunate, who don’t have the income and who are struggling and so I understand how difficult this is everyone is bearing it differently. And so again, thank you for the concern for me, but the goal is to work for the people who are being disproportionately affected by this pandemic and that’s what we’re all doing and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
* The debate over the graduated income tax will be even more intense because of the pandemic. Can you address concerns of businesses that say it will be a greater burden on them if it’s passed?…
For those who are making that claim, the fact is that when you earn, if you earn a lower earnings in a year, you pay lower taxes. When you earn higher in a year you pay higher taxes. There is nothing new or changed or different about the effect of the graduated income tax during this moment, than there was, you know, four or five months ago before we knew about this pandemic.
Other than that, I think it’s needed perhaps now more than ever. We very much need to alleviate some of the burden on the working class and middle class and people who are striving to get to the middle class, and to also pay for the services that the state has needs to provide, as well as to to deal with the structural deficit that already existed in the state. Not to mention now the shortfall that will exist as a result of the attack of the coronavirus.
* Many protesters I spoke with in Springfield said they didn’t care about the rising number of cases and that’s because they feel that COVID-19 is a hoax. There are also several protesters with racist signs directed towards you. What would you like to tell those protesters?…
I think I said what I wanted to about that, I just you know I will defend to the death or right to be wrong and to say it out loud.
But the fact is that, they look at the facts and they understand that the experts are trying to protect them and the elected officials that are standing on the you know the right side of this are trying to protect them. And so I’m very hopeful that nobody got sick as a result of showing up at a protest and not wearing a mask and not adhering to social distancing norms
* COVID Act Now, which works in partnership with Georgetown and Stanford, claims Illinois are not number is 1.11. You told WJPS Radio this week that it’s 1.25. What is the latest Illinois number as far as you can tell?…
Dr. Ezike: At the beginning was well over three. And as you do the mitigation strategies, obviously that’s not the original R Naught number anymore and the effective R has fallen to our last number about 1.2 something. So again depending on what numbers you’re using but, again, the point is that it definitely came down thanks to the mitigation strategies because people work so hard to stay at home and to help limit the transmission of this virus and so we’re very proud that it came down and, you know, we hope that is not going to see a significant rise as people, as if people change their behavior factor you can stay there.
* This next one’s from Hannah, the daily line, after about a week of a pretty big dip in the positive test rate of those tests and for COVID-19 yesterday’s positive test rate was back up to 21%. And today’s rate is back down to 16%, obviously more testing is yielding more confirmed cases but is there a way IDPH can break down more details about the people who are newly confirmed cases, wouldn’t it be helpful to know if these new cases are concentrated among healthcare workers or grocery store workers in order to both protect them and protect the uninfected public?…
Dr. Ezike: There is a lot of data coming in in terms of, you know, having thousands, maybe I think we had 15,000 come in and so depending on where the samples are coming in from each day. If they’re from a higher risk group, if we did mass testing in a long term care facility. We know that rates of positivity if there was an outbreak there would obviously be higher than if we had a drive thru where we had people who didn’t necessarily have symptoms, but felt that, you know, they had risk because of some of the work they do so again it depends on where the samples are coming in each day.
We don’t even have the time when I get the information from the last 24 hours that’s not even enough time to be able to figure out how many healthcare workers, how many you know to break it down like that, but I know it’s important to understand how many healthcare workers have been affected, we’ve been sharing the long term care facility numbers. Again, we will continue to update the long term care facility numbers and show you that that is a significant proportion of the cases and unfortunately, of the fatalities as well. So we’ll continue to be as transparent as possible.
* The governor has made his feelings, clear about antibody tests. Can you describe any benefit these tests may have and since the lab say they are reporting the results of these tests of the state, what are you doing with them?…
Dr. Ezike: Yeah, so I know there’s a lot of excitement around the antibody test. We would love to be able to say definitively that the results of this test state that you have been exposed and that you have immunity, we’ve already heard from the World Health Organization that we’re not sure exactly how to interpret the results. So we have to be tempered in our response to the test.
But, as people get tested as we learn more as we go forward, we will be able to make more deductions if we see people who had positive antibodies we’ll have to figure out like what level of antibodies was protected so if you had a certain level and then we see that that person goes on to have another COVID infection that would suggest that that level was not protective. So not having the full data, but we will continue to amass it as more and more people are getting the antibody tested. That’s how we’ll be able to make useful deductions and be able to go forward and be able to interpret this important information
* We saw the week of April 25, and with 680,000 weeks of unemployment claims WBEZ reported angry people showing up in unemployment offices. What’s the latest on staffing and capacity at IDs and how big is that backlog?…
I think I reviewed this yesterday but I’ll try to, to, to repeat some of it today. First of all, there is not a backlog in the sense of people have filed something in there and it’s not officially filed. People go online, they create an account and they fill it out and that is then a filing. People call up and file with somebody over the phone and that becomes a filing.
It’s sometimes hard to tell exactly how many people are waiting. What we know is how many that we’re processing it IDES on a regular basis. And that number has significantly increased the, as the weeks go on, as you can imagine, more and more people are filing. Our rate of filing as I say has gone up, a rate of processing rather has gone up and so there is, we are reporting to you kind of what we know about the incoming and what we’re able to to reveal about the incoming processes. We have increased the frontline staffing answering the phones, we have increased the number of people who are working behind the scenes on the IT systems and increased the amount of work. We have outside contractors that are continuing to make sure that that system is up and running as, you know, as much time as possible. It is still this 10 year old system that’s been bolstered, you know from underneath but in the end we’re going probably to have to replace the system. Significant improvements need to be made in the future but it won’t be able to happen during these first months of the coronavirus outbreak.
* If someone is sick with COVID symptoms but not severely ill, is it better for them to just stay home and not get tested for COVID-19 in order to conserve tests for those who may be higher risk or should they get tested?…
Dr. Ezike: If someone was exposed to someone who was laboratory confirmed to have COVID and then they develop similar symptoms, I guess it’s not a big stretch to guess that that person has COVID. Also obviously they would qualify to get tested if they want to be tested.
But if they’re not in the high risk category and are able to stay at home, they’re able to care for themselves that they’re able to connect with a medical provider and just check in, in case the symptoms did progress. That is fine if the person wanted to know for sure to be added to the account. That is fine too.
So, it’s not a directive in terms of what the right way to proceed. Either is fine, but the most important thing is probably to talk with the medical provider and make sure that you’re sharing your symptoms, so that we can make sure that there’s not a point where the symptoms progress that needs acute medical care. But if you’re fine and you’re healthy and you stay home and isolate and identify people who you may have been in contact with even two days before let those people know, so that they can be aware that they have been exposed and that they might need to stand down because they potentially will show some symptoms so that part of the self contact tracing if people are able to help identify people who they have exposed. That’s really helpful to alert other people that they need to be watching out for the development of symptoms.
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2,450 new cases, 105 additional deaths
Saturday, May 2, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 2,450 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 105 additional deaths.
Boone County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Clinton County: 1 male 80s
Cook County: 1 female 20s, 1 female 30s, 1 male 30s, 1 female 40s, 1 male 40s, 3 females 50s, 8 males 50s, 5 females 60s, 7 males 60s, 8 females 70s, 8 males 70s, 6 females 80s, 12 males 80s, 7 females 90s, 2 males 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 females 80s, 5 males 80s, 3 females 90s, 2 males 90s
Jefferson County: 2 females 90s
Kane County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
Kankakee County: 1 male 70s
Lake County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
McDonough County: 1 male 70s
McHenry County: 1 male 60s
Sangamon County: 1 female 70s
St. Clair County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 90s
Will County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 2 females 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 58,505 cases, including 2,559 deaths, in 97 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have processed 15,208 specimens for a total of 299,896.
The Illinois Department of Veteran’s Affairs is reporting one resident at its LaSalle Veterans’ Home testing positive. Testing efforts are underway at the facility.
* Dr. Ezike at today’s media briefing…
To date, almost 300,000 tests have been performed across the state.
As of midnight, 4717 people were in the hospital with COVID-19, of those 1250 patients were in the ICU and 789 patients were on ventilators.
…Adding… Hannah…
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* Mike Miletich at WGEM…
Throughout the day, several protesters displayed signs of hatred and racist messages toward Gov. Pritzker. For example, Jackie Fletcher drove over two hours from Morris to participate in the protest. Fletcher proudly displayed a sign “Heil, Pritzker” with a swastika. The Pritzker family is Jewish and started their life in Chicago after fleeing pogroms in Kyiv. However, the protester had “Re-Open Illinois” on the other side of her sign, as “some people get touchy about swastikas.”
Ms. Fletcher…
* The Nazis were present at both rallies, as confirmed by the AP. Take a look at the way this Chicago protester twice wrote the letter “B”…
OK, now look at the font of the letter “B” on the Auschwitz death camp gate…
Anyone who took the time to copy that unique, deliberately upside-down Auschwitz “B” onto a sign protesting a Jewish governor who helped build a Holocaust museum knew exactly what she was doing.
* But, for the most part, many of the protesters appeared to be various forms of crackpots…
“Give me liberty or give me COVID-19,” read one sign
WBEZ did not make that up…
Back to Tony Arnold’s story…
Some nurses gathered at the Thompson Center to express support for keeping the stay-at-home order in place. One of those nurses said he was frustrated by the insults hurled at him by some of the protesters, whom he said berated him and offended him with a sign that he said read, “Nurses are Nazis.”
“People were telling me that I wasn’t a real nurse, that I was a paid actor,” said Paul Pater, a University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital emergency room nurse and Illinois Nurses Association board member, who organized the counter-protest. “Some of the things these people say kind of don’t make sense because they’re worked up in a frenzy. They were saying, ‘You’re not a hero. You don’t have valor. You’re stealing valor from the troops.’ ”
* SJ-R…
Other speakers brought up anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and some held signs that contained symbols associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory.
An example of a QAnon conspiracy theorist is here (profanity alert). She also happens to be the Republican candidate for Congress in the 2nd District.
…Adding… Some have asked what the QAnon thing is about. Click here. But, just be warned, it’s a bizarre rabbit hole.
We’ve already discussed the anti-vax presence in the “movement,” but here’s an example from yesterday…
“NWO,” by the way, means New World Order. That’s a decades-old conspiracy theory dating back to the George HW Bush presidency.
* Back to the Miletich story…
The majority of people participating say they don’t care about the state’s growing number of cases and deaths. On Friday, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 3,137 new COVID-19 cases and 105 deaths since Thursday. Illinois has 56,055 cases and 2,457 Illinoisans have died since the pandemic started.
“The people here have taken time to look at the numbers and educate themselves and feel safe enough to go out and do something like this,” said protester Elton Wood. No matter what experts say…”It’s, it’s, it’s the greatest hoax in the history of the world,” said Theresa Johanson. “Not that it’s not killing people. Yes, but I think it has an end goal that’s not something any of us want.”
An “end goal”? These folks can apparently convince themselves of just about anything, except for, you know, reality.
* Related…
* Auschwitz Museum condemns Reopen Illinois protester’s sign seen at Chicago rally
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