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Chicago firefighter dies of COVID-19 complications
A Chicago firefighter died Tuesday evening after a battle with the coronavirus, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.
“CFD has lost one of our own to complications of COVID-19. Firefighter Mario Araujo, a proud member of CFD Truck Company 25 passed away this evening,” department spokesman Larry Langford tweeted Tuesday.
Araujo, 49, joined the fire department in October 2003 and spent most of his career on Truck 25, which operates out of Engine 102 in Rogers Park on the North Side, Langford said. He is the first member of the fire department to die of the virus.
“This tragic loss underscores the seriousness that we face as a city and a nation,” Langford said. “CFD members put themselves in harm’s way without hesitation to selflessly uphold the oath they took to be there for every person they encounter during an emergency situation.”
Read the full story from Sam Kelly here.
News
6:18 a.m. 150 cases of coronavirus found in 20 Lake County nursing homes
At least 150 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in 20 nursing homes across north suburban Lake County.
Each of the 20 long-term care facilities has at least two cases of COVID-19, Lake County health officials said, though they did not name the facilities. Officials could not be reached for further details Thursday morning.
The number of Lake County nursing homes with positive cases of COVID-19 has nearly doubled since last week, when 11 facilities housed 62 cases.
As of Wednesday, 1,044 cases of the coronavirus had been reported in Lake County, with 23 deaths, health officials said.
New Cases
Analysis & Commentary
6:40 a.m. ‘Your instinct is to run to the patient’ — but you can’t
The COVID-19 pandemic is not taking place in a vacuum. Car accidents and gunshots and burns and falls and heart attacks and strokes still happen, and those patients, too, are rushed to Level One trauma centers such as Mount Sinai Hospital, where every patient who rolls in must be treated as if they have COVID-19.
“Your instinct is to run to the patient,” said ER nurse Kimberly Lipetzky, who had just treated a man who had fallen 20 feet off a roof. As medical staff tended to him, they discovered he had been sick for a week, probably with COVID-19, so “then you have this added level.”
What does that added level mean? If you wear PPE — personal protective equipment — to see a COVID-19 patient, you first must strip off the gown and gloves and booties and hairnets and mask before seeing the next patient, or risk infecting someone who may not have the deadly ailment. And if you’re not suited up and a COVID patient suddenly gets into trouble, you have put on all that PPE — and fast.
“Someone is in respiratory distress. You’ve got to move quickly,” said Lipetzky. “Got to goggle and gown and hair cover. It’s a lot.”
