As Chicago and the rest of the state prepare to reopen in the coming days and weeks, coronavirus deaths in Illinois surpassed 5,000 on Wednesday. The U.S. also passed a jarring milestone in the pandemic: 100,000 deaths.
With desperate Chicago restaurants to be allowed to host outdoor diners within weeks under the next phase of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reopening plan, city officials are still trying to come up with a process so many of them can legally do so.
Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
11 a.m.: Coronavirus tab for Chicago Public Schools now up to about $44 million
So far, Chicago Public Schools estimates about $44 million to address the pandemic, with about 20% of that spending beyond the district’s regular contract costs, Chief Operating Officer Arnie Rivera told the Board of Education Wednesday.
That includes an estimated $24.4 million on technology such as laptops, tablets and internet hotspots, with $4.4 million of that total coming from a $75 million emergency coronavirus authorization approved by the Board of Education in March.
Other expenditures include $1.2 million for emergency cleaning and supplies such as soap and masks; $10.2 million for essential personnel; $3.4 million for educational materials for distance learning; and $4.9 million for nutrition and other costs, ranging from student meal delivery to reimbursement for canceled international trips. —Hannah Leone
10:50 a.m.: Ford temporarily shut downs Chicago Heights stamping plant Wednesday for COVID-19 cleaning, the fourth factory to face production disruption in less than two weeks
Ford Motor Co. temporarily paused production at its stamping plant in Chicago Heights Wednesday for sanitation after an employee at the facility tested positive for COVID-19.
The company closed production on one line at the stamping plant, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday evening. Ford notified workers known to have been in close contact with the infected individual and asked them to self-quarantine for 14 days, according to the Free Press.
It is the automaker’s fourth plant shutdown tied to the coronavirus since the firm resumed production last week.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker stopped production at its Kansas City Assembly Plant Tuesday. Last week, the company paused work at its Chicago Assembly Plant, which makes Lincoln Aviator, Ford Explorer and Police Interceptor SUVs, and its Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan after employees tested positive for COVID-19. Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
10:46 a.m.: CVS opening hundreds more drive-thru testing locations
CVS Health on Friday plans to open another 24 COVID-19 drive-thru testing sites in Illinois, bringing the total number statewide to 40.
Most of the new drive-up test sites are in the Chicago area. A list of CVS testing locations is available here.
All of these CVS pharmacy drive-thru sites use self-swab tests and patients must make an appointment first, the company said in a news release.
Patients should stay in their vehicles and will be directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window, where they will be provided with a test kit and instructions. A CVS employee will observe the self-swab process to make sure it’s done properly, the news release said. Tests will be sent to an independent lab and results are expected in about three days.
CVS Health said it’s establishing 1,000 test sites across the country, and more than half are in communities in need of the most support during disease outbreaks and other hazardous events, as defined by the social vulnerability index developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The index takes into account factors like poverty, lack of access to transportation and crowded housing, according to the CDC. —Angie Leventis Lourgos
10:22 a.m.: COVID-19 spurs union pushes among Chicago-area essential workers. ‘We’re not just burger flippers. We’ve been essential.’
Concerned about their safety on the job as the coronavirus pandemic continues, workers at Chicago-area grocery stores, marijuana dispensaries and other essential businesses are increasingly pushing to unionize.
Workers at Sunnyside dispensary in Lakeview have cast ballots, and Instacart employees at a nearby Jewel-Osco are also in the process of voting by mail on whether or not to unionize. Workers at the Dill Pickle Co-Op in Logan Square staged a demonstration asking the co-op to recognize their 13-member union, which has been certified by the National Labor Relations Board.
The coronavirus outbreak has unleashed a flurry of unionization efforts in the Chicago area by workers who argue the pay increases and safety measures some employers have put in place don’t go far enough.
“A lot of these essential workers … are reaching out and saying, ‘I’m called a hero, I’m deemed essential. I look at my pay stub, I look at my benefits, I look at my workplace protections and there is a big mismatch,'" said Zach Koutsky, spokesman for Local 881 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents more than 34,000 grocery store, drugstore and food production workers in Illinois and northwest Indiana. Read more here. —Ally Marotti
10:02 a.m.: Illinois stores everywhere but Chicago can start reopening Friday. Here’s what to expect in phase 3.
Illinois retailers outside of Chicago that have been closed since mid-March are preparing to let customers back in stores starting Friday.
That doesn’t include stores in Chicago, which is not planning to loosen restrictions on retailers that are not considered essential until early June.
9:16 a.m.: Legal marijuana was supposed to help communities hurt by the war on drugs. But COVID-19 may crush efforts to diversify Illinois’ largely white weed industry.
Opening a marijuana business has never been easy.
The industry is highly regulated. Weed is still illegal under federal law, which makes it harder for companies to land financing. And finding a site can be difficult and expensive because the rules on where a cannabis business can locate vary wildly from town to town.
To foster opportunities for entrepreneurs of color to break into an industry that has seen sales of about $147.5 million of recreational weed just in the first four months, the state’s recreational marijuana law laid out specific social equity rules. But now the COVID-19 pandemic could threaten some startups’ efforts to diversify the largely white-owned industry as they run out of time and money. Read more here. —Ally Marotti
9:02 a.m.: 2 Cook County judges diagnosed with COVID-19
Two Cook County judges, both assigned to the Bridgeview courthouse, have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the Chief Judge’s office announced Thursday morning. They are the first judges known to have confirmed infections.
A statement from the office did not say when the judges were most recently at the suburban courthouse.
The announcement comes as Cook County courts are considering how to phase in a reopening as the pandemic continues. An order expected to be entered Thursday by Chief Judge Timothy Evans will extend the courts’ shutdown until July 6 or further notice. —Megan Crepeau
8:02 a.m.: Coronavirus economic toll mounts: 41 million have sought jobless aid
Roughly 2.1 million people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, a sign that companies are still slashing jobs in the face of a deep recession even as more businesses reopen and rehire some laid-off employees.
About 41 million people have now applied for aid since the virus outbreak intensified in March, though not all of them are still unemployed. The Labor Department’s report Thursday includes a count of all the people now receiving unemployment aid: 21 million. That is a rough measure of the number of unemployed Americans.
The national jobless rate was 14.7% in April, the highest since the Great Depression, and many economists expect it will near 20% in May. Read more here. —Associated Press
6:40 a.m.: Here’s what will be different Friday, when most of the state (but not Chicago) moves into phase three of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan
All four regions of the state are poised to move into the next phase of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan Friday, which means many restaurants will be back open for outdoor service and “nonessential” retailers will be open to shoppers.
Except in Chicago, where Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said restrictions won’t be loosened until “early June.” The city (and all cities and counties) can enact tighter guidelines than the state, but not looser ones. For the most part, Chicago’s guidelines are similar.
While the state’s opening up a bit, don’t throw away those masks yet, they’ll continue to be required in public. Read more here. —Dan Petrella and Jamie Munks
6:30 a.m.: As non-COVID-19 patients return to Chicago-area emergency rooms, doctors see skyrocketing blood pressure and other side effects of delays in care. ‘It’s terrible, and it’s frightening.’
One patient ran out of medication during the COVID-19 pandemic and ended up in the Loyola University Medical Center emergency room with dangerously high blood pressure.
Others, unwilling or unable to get consistent treatment for chronic conditions during the pandemic, have come in with out-of-control asthma, mental health crises or inadequately treated chronic kidney failure.
After a lull in emergency room visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors at four Chicago emergency rooms told the Tribune they have seen an increase in non-COVID-19 patients in the past few weeks, along with signs that some patients are suffering because of pandemic-related delays in care. Read more here. —Nara Schoenberg
6:25 a.m.: Staffer at Springfield convention center where state House met tests positive for COVID-19
A worker at the Springfield convention center where the Illinois House convened for a special session last week has tested positive for COVID-19.
Jessica Basham, chief of staff for House Speaker Michael Madigan, shared the news in an email to lawmakers and staff Wednesday, noting that “at this time it appears this individual had no interaction with any member or other staff person.” Read more here. —Jamie Munks
Here are five things that happened Wednesday that you need to know:
Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know:
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May 28, 2020 at 11:25PM
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Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening Thursday - Chicago Tribune
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