Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
This afternoon will be mostly sunny — and windy — with a high near 31 degrees. Tonight’s low will be around 21 degrees. Tomorrow will be just as cold: cloudy with a high near 33 degrees. And though it’s a sharp break from last week (two days saw highs in the 50s), forecasters say we should expect the chilly temps to stick around until at least the end of the week.
Top story
Chicago hospitals battle staff burnout along with COVID-19 as cases surge again
Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, with a vaccine near but still not in hand, the relentlessness of fighting the virus — the endless stream of patients, the round-the-clock shifts, the deaths, the need to plug holes in the schedule created by sick colleagues — is grinding down hospital workers.
“Walk around the hospital, you can see the fatigue in people’s eyes,” said Dr. Roy Werner, director of the emergency department at Roseland Community Hospital on the Far South Side. “We have an entire staff of physicians, nurses, tech staff, housekeepers, working harder than they have ever had to work.”
Werner said “close to 50, 60 percent” of emergency room staff at Roseland already have contracted the coronavirus, including himself. Many still battle it while colleagues struggle to carry the load. That’s true across the city.
“You can’t take vacation, you can’t escape at work,” said Dr. Meeta Shah, an emergency room physician at Rush University Medical Center on the Near West Side. “Sometimes you can’t escape in your sleep. There is an overall fatigue, not being able to get the break we need. That can be exhausting.”
A Chicago Medical Society poll of its 17,000 members shows two-thirds report symptoms of burnout: physical and mental exhaustion, listlessness. Emotional numbness. And that was over the summer.
“It’s worse now, because everybody is busy all the time,” said Dr. Vishnu Chundi, chairman of the COVID-19 Task Force for the CMS. “There’s no letup.” Chundi said not only are doctors overworked, but more are coping with their own post-COVID-19 symptoms — shortness of breath, chronic pain.
“Now we’re seeing more of the staff getting it,” he said. “They’re not having enough time to recover from COVID — the fatigue, the cough. They’re coming in ragged around the edges.”
When they do, they face patient death on a scale they are simply not used to.
“It’s horrible,” Chundi said. “I’ve never seen so many people die. It’s just a number until you see it happen in front of you. Then it’s, ‘Oh my God — this is carnage.’”
Jessica Bell, a nurse at Roseland Community Hospital, said with COVID, “you can decline quickly.”
“You can be walking, talking and within minutes have to be intubated,” Bell said as she checked on a man struggling with his ventilator. “It’s very depressing. This guy was walking, talking, friendly. To see him go so quick, it makes me sad because it can happen to anyone.”
Read the full column from Neil Steinberg here.
More news you need
- Illinois public health officials reported 7,214 new cases of COVID-19 and 103 deaths today as health workers around the country begin receiving the first round of vaccinations for the deadly virus. Today’s figures continue a grim streak of daily death tolls of over 100 people.
- The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Illinois today, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said. The state received about 43,000 doses and expects more to arrive in the coming weeks. Health care workers at Loretto Hospital will be the first in the city to receive the new vaccine tomorrow morning.
- Chicago Public Schools is looking to hire 2,000 new employees to take on pandemic-related duties and fill in gaps in staffing once schools return in-person in January, a plan that’s drawing a rebuke from the teachers union. Half of the jobs include supervising students in classrooms where teachers are remote, monitoring social distancing and masking and conducting health screenings.
- A federal judge in Chicago held the lawyer husband of “Real Housewives” star Erika Jayne and his law firm in civil contempt today when he couldn’t explain what happened to at least $2 million due to people who lost family in the Lion Air Flight 610 crash. “These are widows and orphans,” the judge said. “Half a million dollars for any one of these families is … life-changing, given the tragedy they went through.”
- Pioneering Chicago sports journalist Jeannie Morris died today at 85. Morris’ wide-ranging knowledge, graceful writing and unflappable perseverance made her a star of print and TV with a long career at WMAQ-TV and WBBM-TV. In 1975, she was the first woman to report live from Super Bowl IX.
- The Illinois Electoral College members, meeting today in the Illinois House Chamber in Springfield, cast all 20 votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. There was no suspense to the outcome — all 20 electors are Democratic Party faithful.
A bright one
Operation Santa offers holiday reprieve for families of fallen, wounded Chicago cops
Tragedy struck the Jimenez family just as the holiday season was beginning in 2018. Three days before Thanksgiving, Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez was gunned down while responding to a shooting at Mercy Hospital.
The gunman ultimately died in a shootout with police after also killing two others, making it the deadliest shooting spree in three decades in which a Chicago cop was among those killed. For Jimenez’s widow, Crystal Garcia, the holidays have been especially hard for the family since his death.
But Sunday brought one reliable bright spot: Santa’s early visit to their Morgan Park home. The quick stop by a visitor from the North Pole was part of Operation Santa, an annual event organized by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation for the children of cops who were “killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty,” according to the foundation’s website.
“It is absolutely beautiful to know that my family in blue remembers every year,” Garcia said. “Even with the smallest things, to see a smile on my kids’ faces means everything to me, so I’m grateful and very fortunate to have such a big family.”
Flanked by Mrs. Claus, Frosty the Snowman and about a dozen officers, Santa doled out gifts to 6-year-old Angelina, 11-year-old Julian and 14-year-old Ebony. Angelina couldn’t hold back her excitement after opening a new electric scooter. She was quickly zooming up and down the sidewalk, telling reporters to make way.
“Honestly, it means a lot,” Garcia said of the event. “It means that my husband is still being remembered.”
Read Tom Schuba’s full story here.
From the press box
Jim Phillips, Northwestern’s athletic director during an impressive 12-year stretch for the department, has been hired as the next commissioner of the ACC. The Chicago native is also set to become chairman of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for the 2021-22 season.
And while there’s understandably a better mood around the Bears after their walloping of the Texans yesterday, Rick Morrissey says it’ll end up being a loss for fans if it stops the McCaskey family from making big changes.
Your daily question ☕
What’s keeping you going during this difficult time, and what’s giving you hope?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday, we asked you: What holiday traditions do you plan to keep this year? Here’s what some of you said…
“My son will get an orange in his stocking, even though he does not like oranges. Tradition is tradition! Plus, I have not seen him in a year due to the pandemic, so perhaps he’ll get two!” — Maureen Talarico
“When my husband’s aunt passed away I took over making her broken glass torte. She made it every year for Christmas Eve and it is my husband’s favorite.” — Ellen Zemaitis
“Christmas movies, Christmas tree decorating. Decorated the outside of the house.” — Greta Berna
“Sending out holiday cards. I enjoy reconnecting with very old friends over the holidays.” — Julie MacCarthy
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