The latest
No one is immune as COVID-19 spreads across Illinois
My friend’s voice was low, a whisper on the phone, as she called from another state.
The Chicagoan and her husband had gone to pick up her mother from a nursing home to protect her from a COVID-19 outbreak, the facility saying it was discharging all its elderly residents who tested negative.
They got her mother settled in in her own home and were arranging in-home care, etc., when the call came from the nursing home that it had made a mistake. Her mother’s secondary test was actually positive. Within days, the husband fell sick, then my friend.
The mother was last to show symptoms, rushed by ambulance to the hospital as breathing became difficult. She remains hospitalized.
Reporter Maudlyne Ihejirika has the full story.
News
9:33 a.m. Chicago’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony will be virtual affair this year
Chicago will have an official Christmas tree this year for fans to enjoy, but the annual lighting ceremony will be off-limits to the public.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on mass gatherings, the lighting ceremony will for the first time be a virtual event, according to plans announced Friday by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). “Visitors” can “attend” the virtual event via a 30-minute “Millennium Park at Home: Chicago Holidays” program starting at 6:30 p.m. Nov 19 on the DCASE YouTube channel.
Starting Nov 20, groups of 10 persons or fewer who practice social distancing and wear masks can visit the tree, located near the intersection of Michigan and Washington, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily through Jan. 7, 2021. This year’s tree is a 45-foot blue spruce donated by the family of Catherine Townsend of Morgan Park. There will be a specific entrance/exit to the park; details can be found at MillenniumPark.org.
Read the full story here for more information.
7:43 a.m. p.m. Illinois hits ‘terrible milestone’ of 10,000 deaths
The Illinois COVID-19 death toll for the year crept past 10,000 on Thursday — a “terrible milestone” that Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned could lead to further statewide restrictions to stem the spread of the surging virus.
“Each day we are losing more and more of our neighbors to this virus. That’s not a trend that’s going to turn around,” Pritzker said. “It’s up to us — all of us — to do something to save the next family from tragedy. Because unfortunately, it could easily be yours.”
Pritzker then led a moment of silence for those who have died of the disease. That includes the 97 people whose deaths were announced Thursday – 31 of them in Cook County alone.
The statewide daily total is the highest since the state reported 115 deaths on June 4.
State health officials also reported 9,935 new COVID-19 cases, dwarfing the previous single-day high of 7,899 reported Saturday and more than double the previous longstanding high of 4,015 reached during the spring peak month of May.
Reporters Mitch Dudek, Fran Spielman, and Tom Schuba have the full story.
New Cases
- The Illinois COVID-19 death toll for the year surpassed 10,000 on Thursday. That includes the 97 people whose deaths were announced Thursday – 31 of them in Cook County alone.
- State health officials reported 9,935 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, dwarfing the previous single-day high of 7,899 reported Saturday and more than double the previous longstanding high of 4,015 reached during the spring peak month of May.
Analysis & Commentary
7:53 a.m. Kids belong in school — the real thing — and Chicago can make it work
Educators across the country are warning about a ‘lost year’ for public school education because of the coronavirus pandemic, and let’s consider for a minute what a disaster that would be.
A lost year, with children in Chicago and elsewhere staring at electronic screens for hours — if they engage in school work at all — instead of learning in person with their classmates and teachers.
A lost year, without the presence of counselors and social workers, who traditionally are among the first caring adults to detect and flag signs of child abuse or other trauma. Calls to local child abuse hotlines have plummeted during the pandemic.
A lost year without the therapeutic services that children with special needs cannot get online.
It doesn’t have to be this way, and it should not.
