The latest
Illinois’ positivity rate still rising; 9 deaths, 2,727 new coronavirus cases announced
Illinois’ average positivity rate continued to rise Sunday as health officials announced another 2,727 people have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported nine more deaths attributed to COVID-19, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to 8,984.
Saturday marked the first time in a month the state’s seven-day positivity rate has hit 4%. That figure, used by health officials to gauge how rapidly the virus is spreading, rose to 4.2% Sunday — nearly a full percentage point more than last week. On Sunday, Oct. 4, the state’s seven-day positivity rate was 3.3%.
Illinois has reported some of its highest daily case totals of the entire seven-month pandemic over the last week, with Sunday marking the eighth day this.month the state has recorded 2,000-plus cases. However, that rise can be attributed to the state’s increase in testing capacity. Over the last 30 days, Illinois has administered more than 1.675 million tests, including 64,047 tests processed in the last day.
News
9:32 a.m. ‘Totally Under Control’: A no-nonsense look at how COVID-19 ran amok in the U.S.
“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”– President Donald Trump, responding to a question about the novel coronavirus in an interview with CNBC on Jan. 22.
The doctors and the science and the irrefutable timeline carry the day in Alex Gibney’s how-did-we-get-here pandemic documentary “Totally Under Control,” but the stories of the Mask Man and the Volunteer are equally valuable, equally infuriating, equally … ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The Mask Man is Michael Bowen, a onetime Donald Trump supporter and the owner of Prestige Ameritech, a large medical supply company in Texas, who last January began sending out e-mails to top administrators offering to ramp up production on N95 masks in anticipation of demand that would occur with the inevitable spread of COVID-19. The response: crickets. Day after day, time after time, Bowen tried to find SOMEBODY at the Dept. of Health and Human Services to listen to him, but his overtures were ignored.
Cut to footage of health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic, improvising masks, making “Hazmat Suits” out of lawn garbage bags. Later, we see Bowen choking up as he laments how many lives might have been saved if someone had listened to him.
Read the full story from Richard Roeper here.
8:55 a.m. Runners participate virtually in Chicago Marathon amid pandemic
There was no clamoring at the start line Sunday morning for 43rd annual Chicago Marathon.
It had been canceled in June in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Instead, the storied race that typically starts downtown and snakes through some of Chicago’s neighborhoods was relegated to the digital realm. While some runners still took to the streets, many others tackled the 26.2-mile challenge elsewhere and shared their experiences on social media.
“I am sad that we cannot be together in person, but I am inspired by your determination to cross your own finish line, and I am grateful that we can stay together virtually,” Carey Pinkowski, executive director of the marathon, said in a tweeted statement on Sunday.
Despite the official race being nixed, participants could still purchase packages that included medallions and personalized bibs. What’s more, a makeshift “start line” was set up near Monroe Street and Columbus Drive. And the Chicago Area Runners Association also designated four spots along the lakefront trail to offer participants support and fluids as they trotted past.
New cases
Illinois’ average positivity rate continued to rise Sunday as health officials announced another 2,727 people have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Illinois Department of Public Health also reported nine more deaths attributed to COVID-19, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to 8,984.
Analysis & Commentary
8:58 a.m. We young people have been devastated by COVID-19
Tova Kaplan of Lincoln Park writes:
It is no secret that COVID-19 has had a devastating impact. Young people have been especially crushed, since schools and youth programs were among the first places to close, and the last to reopen.
For our whole lives, young people have been told to look forward to certain experiences — prom, sports events, graduation, college — that we may now never get the chance to have. These are pivotal milestones. You are only a teen for so long, and then you never have the chance to be one again.
Young people have also had to deal with terrible mental health outcomes, social isolation, lost jobs, even lost parents, and heartbreaking pessimism as we realize that the adults we rely on have failed us.
Yet despite this disproportionate impact, young people have been sidelined in crucial conversations about the pandemic.
