Afternoon Edition: April 1, 2020

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.

It’s a perfectly pleasant afternoon: partly sunny with a high near 50 degrees. Tonight, the low will be around 36 degrees. Tomorrow is on track to be a an even more beautiful day: sunny, with a high near 59 degrees.

Top story

A crying doctor, patients gasping for air and limited coronavirus tests: A look inside a triage tent in Chicago

Despite 15 days of serious symptoms, including a 105-degree fever, Michael Dolan still hasn’t been tested for COVID-19.

Friday afternoon, he spent hours at the outdoor triage tent at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, listening to gasping patients all around him, as he tried to get help for his worsening symptoms.

He spoke to us about he how he ended up in the tent, and what he saw once inside.

When the relatively healthy 39-year-old walked into his doctor’s office March 17 for a physical, his physician was sure Dolan had the coronavirus. But he was told he couldn’t get tested because he was young and hadn’t traveled from a hotspot.

That night, the symptoms started. And a week and a half later, they had gotten worse. So Dolan’s doctor told him to go to Northwestern for a test at the hospital’s outdoor coronavirus triage tent.

“If I had asthma, if I had a heart condition, I’d be dead by now,” Dolan said, blaming the federal government for a lack of timely guidance and an insufficient number of tests that prevented him from receiving early treatment.

When Dolan showed up to the hospital, a doctor there told him she knew he certainly had COVID-19 and, according to Dolan, said he was “the worst patient your age group that I’ve seen.” Yet he still was told he couldn’t get a test because he wasn’t 65 years or older.

While he sat in the cold tent waiting for a lung X-ray, Dolan was surrounded by five women gasping for air, all facing each other in other bays with no privacy. At one point, one of the women collapsed off her chair and was carted away.

A doctor told Dolan he had an acute upper respiratory infection and was developing pneumonia. Then, the doctor started apologizing for the lack of order and the unavailability of tests that caused Dolan to get to this point — and started crying.

“I told him you don’t have to apologize to me, you didn’t do this to me, you’re trying to help me,” Dolan said. “So I’m now the patient comforting the doctor. And he needed it. … He needed somebody to tell him everything was going to be OK.”

As he walked away from the hospital on Friday, Dolan started crying too; he had just witnessed the first signs of what he believes is the health care system collapsing.

Read the full story from Nader Issa and Tom Schuba.

More news you need

1. The Illinois National Guard is sending 30 service members to help with medical care at Stateville Correctional Center, where one inmate has died from the coronavirus and at least 32 more have tested positive. They’ll arrive at the end of this week.
2. In an effort to deter gang gatherings, some Chicago police officers have been assigned to check the ID of anyone who tries to enter four historically violent West Side blocks. Under the order, only people who live on those blocks are allowed in.
3. Speaking from his backyard deck in Springfield, Sen. Dick Durbin said Gov. J.B. Pritzker is calling the CEOs of major airlines to help airlift personal protection equipment from China to Illinois. Lynn Sweet explains what’s in the works.
4. You should wear a mask (even a homemade one) whenever you’re in public, writes the Sun-Times Editorial Board. They argue that though this hasn’t been the message all along, it should be now.
5. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker have announced a new relief program to provide financial assistance to the city’s arts organizations impacted by the pandemic. The fund has already raised about $4 million.

A bright one

The best movies are so captivating and so immersive, you get totally lost in the story. Life will be waiting for you after the closing credits, but for now, THIS is the world.

In these extraordinary, quarantined times, many of us are watching more shows and movies than ever before (the wildly popular “Tiger King” is my go-to escape right now, along with old seasons of the Real Housewives). With that in mind, film critic Richard Roeper and radio host Roe Conn are sharing their favorite feel-good films, from comedies and musicals to biopics to sports movies — even some heavy dramas and slashers.

File

On their list is “The Nutty Professor,” which is full of laugh-out-loud moments; the raucous, rumbling and rambling “Blues Brothers;” and “Isn’t It Romantic,” an overlooked, sparkling gem from just last year.

For a perfectly paced, old-fashioned crowd-pleaser with an exquisite ending, go with “Ocean’s Eleven.” And if you’re looking for a scary adventure that rivals our current reality, turn on “Jaws.”

Read the story, or listen to the “Best Movies” podcast to collect all 71 titles Roeper and Roe recommend.

From the press box

A pair of notable cancellations for sporting events in England today: MLB announced the Cubs-Cardinals series in London is off due to the coronavirus, while the All England Club canceled Wimbledon for the first time since World War II.

“It seems like it continues to spread more and more. The whole baseball thing does have to take a back seat,” White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito said during a conference call from his California home.

Your daily question ☕

Today’s the day, so we want to know: What’s the best April Fools’ Day prank you’ve ever pulled off?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked if it’s been hard being with your family 24/7. Here’s what some of you said on Facebook…

“I’m a SAHM [stay at home mom] I was already conditioned for this 🤣🤣” wrote Nicole Keeling.

“We’re old and love being together,” Mary Beller wrote.

“They keep eating all the snacks,” wrote Jimmy Leatherman.

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