Actor, humanitarian Sean Penn cautions Chicago to reopen slowly and safely

Actor and activist Sean Penn (from left), Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) and Mayor Lori Lightfoot tour the new coronavirus drive-thru testing site at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy, 2231 N. Central Ave., on Monday. The CORE disaster relief organization started by Penn is opening that site and five others.

Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian Sean Penn on Monday had a chilling warning for those pushing Gov. J. B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to loosen the reins and more quickly re-open the Chicago economy.

“When it comes to opening economies, slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. And blood is slippery. We don’t want to get our finger slipping on a hot trigger,” Penn said after touring the COVID-19 testing site in hard-hit Belmont-Cragin, one of six his humanitarian organization is opening in Chicago.

“We all just have to be very, very deliberate.”

Penn repeated those same chilling words when asked to compare the coronavirus to the natural disasters CORE has responded to around the world.

“One of the things that I’m always telling our staff is that slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. And blood is slippery,” he said.

Penn said COVID-19 presents “a very different dynamic than most of the disasters” he’s been involved in, including the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

“For the frontline workers, cholera, even if you get it, the treatments were available for the frontline workers. Not enough treatment, sadly, for the population at large. In this case, we don’t have a treatment,” the actor said.

“People who work front lines typically — people whose wiring is such that they’re willing to take risks themselves — have to re-wire because they themselves can become the gun. That’s something we’re constantly trying to re-message to all of our staff. Every one of us, I’m sure, has the experience of having to remind ourselves of that every day.”

Workers with the CORE disaster relief organization teach people on Monday how to administer their own nasopharyngeal swab samples to test for the coronavirus at a new drive-thru testing site at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy, 2231 N. Central Ave. on the Northwest Side. CORE was started by actor and activist Sean Penn.

To graduate to phase three of Lightfoot’s five-step reopening plan, the city needs to test at least 5% of its residents every month. That means a 43% increase by the end of the month — to 5,000 monthly tests, from the current level of roughly 3,500 tests, and with a longer-term testing goal of 10,000 tests monthly.

The partnership between City Hall and Penn’s Community Organized Relief Effort will help make it happen.

It was brokered by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the founder of Rainbow PUSH who has been working with Penn for years to bring humanitarian relief to disaster sites around the world, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

The first two of six testing sites in black and Hispanic neighborhoods hardest-hit by the coronavirus — at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy in Belmont Cragin and at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy in Little Village — have already opened and conducted over 800 tests in less than a week.

“These tests are free. … So no one needs to worry about whether or not they have the money or the insurance. ... You can get tested regardless of your citizenship status,” Lightfoot said Monday.

“Please, please come out of shadows. Make sure that you are taking advantage of these opportunities to get tested, get well, get connected up to services. Do not let your citizenship status be a barrier.”