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‘Awful’ autumn: Yet another record COVID-19 caseload, hospitalizations, positivity up — and ‘it’s not over yet’
Illinois reported another record-breaking total of 12,623 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, hospitals in some parts of the state are packed with triple the number of coronavirus patients they saw during the first wave of the pandemic and the peak of the skyrocketing autumn surge is still nowhere in sight.
“These numbers are awful,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “Even where things are not as awful, things are still bad.”
“We need to gird ourselves for winter because it’s not over yet … We have potentially months of the fight ahead of us,” he said.
For now, the state’s main weapon in that fight is local enforcement of masking and social distancing guidelines, according to the Democratic governor — but he hasn’t ruled out more serious action such as the stay-at-home order that helped bend Illinois’ springtime curve. The entire state is now under enhanced “mitigation” efforts including a ban on indoor bar and restaurant service, while some regions have been saddled further with 10-person gathering limits.
“We’re monitoring the numbers closely, and additional statewide action is possible,” Pritzker said.
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10:41 a.m. ‘Bachelorette’ suitor Peter tests positive for COVID-19, crashes car
Peter Giannikopoulos, one of the suitors vying for Tayshia Adams’ hand on the current season of ”The Bachelorette,” announced Tuesday that he had tested positive for COVID-19, then was involved in a serious car accident upon hearing the news.
The strapping real estate adviser from Everett, Massachusetts, was one of four suitors who entered the Palm Springs “Bachelorette” bubble on the episode that aired Tuesday night. Giannikopoulos, 32, wrote in an Instagram post the same night that he had begun a two-week quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus Monday.
“The past 24 hours have truly been some of the hardest in my life. Yesterday I tested positive for Covid,” he wrote alongside a shirtless selfie photo taken from a propped position in his bed. “Although my symptoms are evident, I am going to fight this and win.”
Filming for the current season wrapped in September. Giannikopoulos, a fitness buff who has posted frequent Instagram photographs wearing a face mask, said he was emotionally running his mind over how he could have contracted the virus.
“I felt lousy for a few days, but didn’t believe I would contract the virus when I have been wearing a mask in public, washing and sanitizing hands regularly, and following social distancing protocol during work,” he stated.
9:16 a.m. ‘Is this worth my life?’: Traveling health workers say COVID care conditions often poor
David Joel Perea called from Maine, Vermont, Minnesota and ultimately Nevada, always with the same request: “Mom, can you send tamales?”
That’s how Dominga Perea knew where her 35-year-old son was. And she would ship them overnight.
David Perea, a traveling nurse, had “a tremendous work ethic,” routinely putting in 80 hours a week, according to his brother Daniel.
But when Perea took a job at Lakeside Health & Wellness Suites — a Reno, Nevada, nursing home that has received dozens of safety citations since 2017 from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — his mother was “scared silly.”
During his stint at Lakeside, nearly one-fifth of its residents were infected with COVID-19, according to state health records.
Lakeside’s “top priority is the safety of those who live and work in our facility,” a spokesperson said.
When her son didn’t respond to her text on April 6, Dominga Perea knew something was wrong.
Her son had COVID-19. He died days later.
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Analysis & Commentary
9:18 a.m. As COVID-19 surges, McConnell and Trump must set foolishness aside and push through financial relief
As COVID-19 tightens its grip on the nation’s health and economy, it’s all the more important that lawmakers “go big” and pass a federal stimulus package that includes substantial aid to city and state governments, working Americans and small businesses.
But the hitch is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, and President Donald Trump, who seem to be locked in a race to determine who can be the most useless in America’s hour of need.
Citing improving unemployment figures, McConnell wants a smaller relief bill. He has yet to detail what that package might look like, but no doubt the long-and-short of it would mean less aid doled out to fewer people and entities.
As for Trump, he has yet to commit to signing any new federal stimulus legislation. He appears to be bent on spending the last 70 days of his tenure firing cabinet members and waging a Quixotic attempt to invalidate the presidential election he lost.
