The latest
‘Risky behavior’ in four downstate counties prompts Pritzker warnings as state sees 1,532 new COVID-19 cases.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office on Friday singled out four downstate counties for coronavirus outbreaks tied to “business and risky behavior,” as the state zeroes in on COVID-19 hot spots in an effort to prevent a gradual statewide case increase from escalating into a full-blown resurgence.
Those four counties scattered across the state — Adams, LaSalle, Peoria and Randolph — are at a “warning level” after officials traced outbreaks to lax masking requirements at bars, youth sports and other high-risk gatherings, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Many of their new cases have been confirmed in people 29 or younger, the demographic health officials have said is behind Illinois’ steady case increase over the last month.
And they’re among the latest 1,532 cases confirmed statewide, marking Illinois’ third straight day with a four-digit caseload. It’s the 11th time July has seen a 1,000-plus day, compared to just twice in June.
Read the full report from Mitchell Armentrout here.
News
9:30 a.m. Federal public health officials release new strategy addressing COVID-19 inequalities
If Black, Hispanic and Native Americans are hospitalized and killed by the coronavirus at far higher rates than others, shouldn’t the government count them as high risk for serious illness?
That seemingly simple question has been mulled by federal health officials for months. And so far the answer is no.
But federal public health officials have released a new strategy that vows to improve data collection and take steps to address stark inequalities in how the disease is affecting Americans.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stress that the disproportionately high impact on certain minority groups is not driven by genetics. Rather, it’s social conditions that make people of color more likely to be exposed to the virus and — if they catch it — more likely to get seriously ill.
“To just name racial and ethnic groups without contextualizing what contributes to the risk has the potential to be stigmatizing and victimizing,” said the CDC’s Leandris Liburd, who two months ago was named chief health equity officer in the agency’s coronavirus response.
Read the full report from the Associated Press here.
7:15 a.m. Sox, Cubs open delayed season in fan-free ballparks
In some places outside Wrigley Field Friday, it looked like a typical Friday night with the Chicago Cubs playing on the road, as fans lined up to get into bars to watch the game.
But the team was right there, in a fan-free Wrigley Field. Same for the White Sox, playing at home in a nearly-empty Guaranteed Rate Field, with a few fans gathered in the parking lot, creating a greatly scaled-down tailgate.
That’s what it’s like when Major League Baseball starts a delayed season amid a global pandemic.
There were festivities, but no fireworks, as the White Sox took the field. At Wrigley, there were a few fans, off in the distance, on the rooftops overlooking the ballpark.
See more from Ashlee Rezin-Garcia and Tyler LaRiviere here.
New cases
- Another 1,532 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Illinois, health officials announced Friday, the latest four-digit daily caseload that has Gov. J.B. Pritzker worried the state is on the brink of a dangerous coronavirus resurgence.
- The new cases were confirmed among 44,330 tests received by the state, keeping Illinois’ testing rolling positivity rate at 3.4% over the last week.
- Mel Gibson spent a week in a Los Angeles hospital in April after testing positive for COVID-19, his representative revealed Friday. The 64-year-old actor and director has completely recovered and is doing “great” according to the rep. He also said Gibson has tested negative “numerous times” since then.
- Nats’ Juan Soto tests positive for COVID-19, will miss season opener
- Cubs quality assurance coach Mike Napoli tested positive for COVID-19.
Analysis & Commentary
7:30 a.m. Cubs’ open season with unmistakable allegory at Wrigley: The Show must go on
You want a symbol of big-time sports’ return to Chicago? Try the Cubs’ Jason Heyward running out to right field for the first inning of the first game of the season Friday, carrying the city’s flag with him. Hard to top that.
That it was Heyward, and that he held that flag, represented more than just baseball, of course. An African American player of prominence — the first, and for several moving seconds the only, Cub on the field — would represent the team’s stated embrace of the Black Lives Matter Movement, and would do so while showing love to a city in turmoil.
It was pitch perfect, and it was very much in tune with the symbolism and metaphors that are everywhere you look in baseball, whose restart is — viewed without cynicism, inasmuch as that’s possible in 2020 — a grand embodiment of “the show must go on.”
The Show is going on. Ready or not. Sensible or not. Pandemic or not.
Recognizable or not, too.
