The latest
Hundreds of coronavirus deaths removed from weekly nursing homes update as state changes how tally is compiled
Illinois officials are no longer including 216 deaths and 1,727 confirmed cases in their weekly reporting of coronavirus outbreaks at long-term care facilities, according to an analysis by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The omissions are part of a revised way COVID-19 cases and deaths at nursing homes and other facilities will now be reported, officials said. A Sun-Times count of current and past numbers shows long-term care facilities now account for half of all coronavirus deaths in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Public Health releases figures every Friday on the number of coronavirus cases and deaths reported at every long-term care facility in the state.
Reporters Nader Issa and Caroline Hurley have the full story.
News
9:52 a.m. Players have ‘very, very difficult decision to make’ amid coronavirus pandemic, Ozzie Guillen says
Ozzie Guillen is as conflicted and puzzled as anyone else.
The former White Sox shortstop and World Series-winning manager, known for speaking his mind and voicing firm opinions on any and all topics, doesn’t know if we will have baseball in 2020.
“You wake up in the morning and read one thing, and by the afternoon, it’s different,” Guillen said this week. “It’s very confusing.”
Guillen is not alone amid the bewildered around us. The owners and players have been divided on how to salvage a season — or half a season with an expanded postseason — and how to endure significant financial losses on both sides while safely navigating through a health pandemic.
“The players have a very, very difficult [decision to make],” Guillen said.
Read the full story from Daryl Van Schouwen here.
8:46 a.m. Springfield springs into action: Lawmakers pass mail voting, property tax, jobless, borrowing bills — and plan to return Saturday
Illinois legislators will return on Saturday for a fourth day of an unprecedented pandemic special session to iron out major legislation — including a full spending plan to get the state through the rest of the year and next and a package of relief efforts to aid Illinois residents and businesses.
But the wheels were rolling on Friday — all day — on several key issues, most importantly the passages of legislation to delay property tax late fees for the majority of the state during the crisis and a measure that allows a ”bridge loan” from the federal government — up to $5 billion — to help fill a revenue gap caused by COVID-19.
Both will head to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.
And Democratic lawmakers are trying to revive a Chicago casino plan with a reworked tax structure. While amendments were still brewing, the House Executive Committee on Friday night approved the latest version. Chicago would still have the highest tax structure in the state.
Read the full report from Tina Sfondeles and Neal Earley.
8:02 a.m. Outdoors in a pandemic: Signs point to a rise in traditional outdoor pursuits, and it may stick
Whether hooking a crawler piece or fathead minnow on a No. 12 hook under a small float or foraging for morel mushrooms with family, people are remembering their roots in the outdoors.
With the stay-at-home edicts, the shift toward more traditional pursuits of foraging, fishing for food as much as for sport, and hunting for food as much as for sport morph into more than childhood memories.
“Oh, yeah, I think with this whole thing going on, I noticed an increase in fishing,’’ said Greg Dickson, proprietor of Triangle Sports and Marine in Antioch. “It is like during the oil embargo and the market crash, people come back to fishing, a grass-roots activity. I have been doing this a long time, so it doesn’t seem much different than those other times [of crisis].’’
He sees the shift.
“Long term, I think this will be positive,’’ he said. “People grew up doing this, then life gets in the way, now they come back to it, a grass-roots thing.’’
Read the full story from Dale Bowman here.
7:08 a.m. Nursing homes now account for half of all Illinois coronavirus deaths; protesters gather at Pritzker’s house
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19997099/merlin_91297335.jpg "Illinois removes hundreds of COVID-19 deaths from weekly
nursing homes update as officials change how tally is compiled
(LIVE UPDATES) 2")
Nursing homes now account for more than half of all coronavirus deaths in Illinois, according to a data analysis by the Chicago Sun-Times.
That updated tally came as a dozen people gathered Friday at Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Chicago home to protest his oversight of long-term care facilities.
Nursing homes reported 1,583 new COVID-19 cases and 395 new deaths in the past week, according to data released Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
A Sun-Times count of state totals stands at 2,368 deaths and 14,799 confirmed cases at long-term care facilities since the pandemic started. The figures released by the state show lower totals, however, because officials have stopped including in their public data 74 facilities that have not had a new case in the past 28 days, an IDPH spokeswoman said Friday.
Read the full story by Nader Issa and Tyler LaRiviere here.
New cases
Analysis & Commentary
7:11 a.m. When others around the world don’t even have clean water and soap, we all pay the price
Without better basic hygiene around the globe, we are bound to be hit by another pandemic.
Yet the World Bank this week reported that some 3 billion people around the world don’t even have access to clean water and soap, the most basic and effective necessities for preventing the spread of disease, including the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Globally, 46% of schools don’t have hand-washing facilities with water and soap.
Germs, as we have come to appreciate so painfully during the current pandemic, respect no borders. A bug in China or Italy can circle the globe in no time, especially if billions of people can’t even wash their hands.
Read the full editorial by the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board.
