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Fauci warns U.S. could see some 100,000 deaths
The U.S. government’s foremost infection disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says the U.S. will certainly have “millions of cases” of COVID-19 and more than 100,000 deaths.
As the U.S. tops the world in reported infections from the new coronavirus, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases predicts 100,000-200,000 deaths from the outbreak in the U.S.
The U.S. is currently reporting more than 124,000 cases and more than 2,100 deaths.
Fauci was speaking to CNN’s “State of the Union” as the federal government is discussing rolling back guidelines on social distancing in areas that have not been hard-hit by the outbreak.
Fauci says he would only support the rollback in lesser-impacted areas if there is enhanced availability of testing in place to monitor those areas. He acknowledged “it’s a little iffy there” right now.
News
12:28 p.m. Two Cubs employees test positive for the coronavirus
Two Cubs employees tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a training session at Wrigley Field earlier this month.
In an email sent to associates Friday, the Cubs informed their staff that two people, who participated in a March 8 training in the team’s premier clubs, have tested positive for the contagious virus. The tests were received last Monday and Tuesday — 15 and 16 days after the workshop.
The incubation period for the virus is currently thought to be 14 days, according to the CDC.
The team has reached out and offered support to both employees, the email said.
The Cubs closed their Chicago facilities after Major League Baseball postponed Opening Day to limit the spread of the coronavirus. As of now, the league and the MLB Players Association are hoping to start a season in early June, though everything remains fluid.
11:56 a.m. Coronavirus relief plan gives Cook County reprieve on food stamps
Food stamps recipients in that nation’s second-largest county are getting a reprieve through a coronavirus relief package signed this month, but it’s only temporary.
Nearly 60,000 people in Cook County, who are able-bodied, without dependents and under age 50, were at risk of losing their public benefits under fresh guidelines that took effect this year. Because of improved economic conditions in the county, those individuals had to meet certain work, school or volunteer requirements or be restricted to three months of benefits every three years.
The fallout — possibly losing benefits — was expected to hit around the same time a similar but unconnected Trump administration rule to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, affected the same category of people nationwide. In Illinois, an additional 90,000 people would have been affected by that federal rule change expected to take effect April 1. Nationwide, nearly 700,000 could have lost benefits.
Attorneys general in roughly 20 states, including Illinois and Michigan, sued and a judge granted an injunction March 13, but that would have left out Cook County.
Now, all able-bodied recipients will continue to receive benefits during the national emergency and get a one-month grace period when it ends.
11:26 a.m. How to prep for and spend your government relief check
The coronavirus pandemic has upended the lives and finances of millions. A federal relief package aiming to provide payments to distressed consumers passed Friday — but that money is not likely to land for a number of weeks.
While you’ll have to wait for whatever money you might be eligible for, now is the time to prep your finances and plan. The best use of this money depends on your individual circumstances.
Click here for advice on how to think it through.
10:56 a.m. Relief package billions can’t buy hospitals out of shortages due to coronavirus
The billions of tax dollars headed for hospitals and states as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus response bill won’t fix the problem facing doctors and nurses: a critical shortage of protective gowns, gloves and masks.
The problem isn’t a lack of money, experts say. It’s that there’s not enough of those supplies available to buy. What’s more, the crisis has revealed a fragmented procurement system now descending into chaos just as demand soars, The Associated Press has found.
Hospitals, state governments and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are left bidding against each other and driving up prices.
For more than a week, governors have pushed back against administration assurances that supplies are available now, bitterly complaining to President Donald Trump that there’s no coordination.
“It’s pretty much every state for itself,” said Virginia’s secretary of finance, Aubrey Layne, who is deeply involved with his state’s effort to buy medical supplies.
Here’s why hospitals need more than just funding during the coronavirus crisis.
10:30 a.m. Telemedicine helps system absorb caseload while fighting coronavirus
Before the pandemic, few Americans gave much thought to telemedicine. With the pandemic, it’s become the preferred alternative for many patients.
It means not having to risk a trip to a crowded waiting room, possibly catching the coronavirus or spreading it.
Telemedicine, sometimes called telehealth, can be as simple as arranging a phone call or video chat with your doctor. But hospital networks, insurers and private clinics have gotten involved with systems that promise after-hours access and secure connections to medical records.
Read the full report by David Roeder here.
9:54 a.m. Community health centers face shutdowns as the coronavirus drives patients, funding away
Dr. Andres Mafla has practiced internal medicine at Access Hawthorne Family Health Center in Cicero for more than a decade.
Like most physicians at community health centers, Mafla treats patients who are low-income, underinsured or don’t have health insurance. Many patients are also immigrants and seniors with chronic conditions like diabetes.
Keeping his patients safe and out of the emergency room is Mafla’s number one priority — especially now amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Primary health care is critical during a public health crisis. We’re the first line of contact for these patients, and we make sure they don’t need to end up going to the hospital, which as we know are bracing for the worst,” he said.
Now, despite being a critical front in the fight to keep the state’s health care system from collapsing, many community health centers might fall victim to the coronavirus as social distancing means fewer patients — and less government funding — coming through their doors.
Read the full report from Carlos Ballesteros here.
9:00 a.m. Their wedding upended by coronavirus, Lincoln Park couple says ‘I do’ via live-streamed ceremony
A truly 21st century love story unfolded Saturday as a couple who first met online were wed in front of their closest family and friends — via a live-streamed ceremony their guests could attend from their living rooms.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19856965/wedding1.0.jpg "Fauci warns US could see more than 100,000 deaths due to coronavirus (LIVE UPDATES) 2")
The groom, Aron Croft, a 38-year-old senior manager at Motorola Solutions, and the bride, Rachel Jacobs, a 38-year-old child psychologist, greeted their wedding guests over webcam as the ceremony began.
”I know you all had to travel very far from your couch all the way to your computer screen to be here with us, and we want you to know that effort hasn’t gone unnoticed,” Croft joked to more than 100 friends and family who watched the ceremony on YouTube and the video conferencing platform Zoom.
Read the full story by Jake Wittich here.
8:30 a.m. Project CURE to host equipment drive at United Center today
With essential medical supplies running low due to the coronavirus outbreak, Project CURE, with the support of Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, announced Friday its plan to host an equipment drive at the United Center this weekend.
On Sunday, Project CURE will be collecting a variety of public protection equipment supplies — including sterile and non-sterile gloves, hand sanitizers and goggles — at Lot F on the west side of the United Center, the home of the Blackhawks and Bulls.
The drive will happen from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m., and donations will be distributed among local healthcare providers across Illinois.
Click here for a full list of items the drive is hoping to collect.
8:00 a.m. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Illinois
As of Saturday, confirmed cases statewide jumped to 3,491.
7:32 a.m. State extends pot business application deadline amid COVID-19 pandemic
State officials have once again extended the deadline for applications for certain recreational cannabis business licenses amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order Saturday extending the deadline to submit applications for cannabis infuser, craft grower and transporter licenses from March 30 to April 30, according to a statement from the Illinois Department of Agriculture. All applications must be submitted by certified mail.
The applications were initially due March 16, but state officials earlier this month extended that deadline and ordered the agriculture department to accept all applications by mail in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
7:00 a.m. Northwestern medical students launch drive for medical equipment
Northwestern medical students are collecting personal protective equipment for healthcare workers who are grappling with supply shortages as they work to treat and contain the coronavirus outbreak in Chicago.
The students are accepting donations of N95 respirators, surgical masks, surgical gowns and gloves, which they plan to distribute among emergency medicine departments and intensive care units in the city.
“We felt doing nothing was not an option,” said Tricia Rae Pendergrast, a first-year medical student at Northwestern. “We view this as an extension of the oath we took the first week of school to put the needs of others before the needs of ourselves.
“This is a really critical time. Not only will this keep physicians and nurses safe, it will keep patients safe as well.”
The drive is similar to the one Project CURE is hosting Sunday at the United Center.
— Madeline Kenney
New cases
- Saturday marked the deadliest day in Illinois due to the coronavirus as an infant from Chicago and a state employee were among the state’s’ 13 latest deaths due to the infection, bringing the statewide death toll to 47. Gov. J.B. Pritzker also announced 465 new cases.
Commentary & Analysis
8:00 a.m. How much longer will we be inside — and then what happens?
How long will Illinoisans be staying inside because of the coronavirus? Right now, bank on mid-April — at the earliest.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, which took effect on Saturday, March 21, is set to expire on Tuesday, April 7.
Expect the governor to extend that. Mayor Lori Lightfoot predicted Friday Pritzker would push the order “deep into April,” though Pritzker afterward was non-committal.
Three Chicago medical experts who have been monitoring the situation agree that state public health officials need a minimum of four weeks to make sure that all existing cases of COVID-19 infection in Illinois have been identified and isolated.
Based on the start of Pritzker’s order, that would take the date to Saturday, April 18. Even then, a host of factors could push things back, including the degree to which people can be tested and how full hospitals get.
Read Ed Zotti’s full column here.
7:23 a.m. Check out time for reusable grocery bags? For now, ‘paper or plastic’ a safer option
Apparently Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order also applies to reusable grocery bags.
Just one day after the union that represents Chicago grocery and pharmacy workers requested — and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration rejected — suspending the city’s plastic bag tax and temporarily banning the use of reusable bags, the governor announced Saturday that grocery stores around the state will soon roll out a new set of guidelines that includes a temporary prohibition on reusable bags.
It was not immediately clear how this will impact grocery stores in the city, where shoppers are charged 7 cents per bag if they don’t bring their own.
On Friday, the mayor’s office issued a statement statement shooting down the suggestion of a temporary ban and citing a lack of evidence that reusable bags transmit the illness.
On Saturday, it issued a new statement saying the city will comply with any new protocols and restrictions for grocery stores but intends to continue to collect the bag tax.
