Coronavirus live blog, Jan. 29, 2021: Illinois vaccination efforts increasing but slow, only 1.5% of the population have received vaccine

A total of 887,845 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have gone into Illinois arms over the last six weeks. On Friday, another 58,357 shots were administered.

Here’s what else happened in coronavirus-related news.

News

8:46 p.m. Vaccine ramp-up slowly kicks into gear as Illinois infection numbers sink to their lowest levels since October

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Illinois’ COVID-19 vaccination efforts took another small step upward Friday with the report of a third straight daily record high of doses administered statewide.

The latest Illinois Department of Public Health figures of 58,357 shots given Thursday follow totals of more than 53,000 and nearly 56,000 over the previous two days.

A total of 887,845 doses have gone into Illinois arms over the last six weeks, but only 194,471 people so far have received the two doses required for full vaccination — barely 1.5% of the population.

Earlier this week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker criticized the slow rollout of vaccines at nursing homes — which are being administered in a federal partnership with major drugstore companies — such as CVS and Walgreens — where only 131,401 shots have been given among more than 496,000 allocated doses.

Read the complete story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

7:22 p.m. Raúl Montes, Little Village community leader, dead of coronavirus at 72

Raul Montes used to say his block had the cleanest alley in Little Village. So clean, he would say, you could eat off the ground.

Though he said it in jest, part of you would believe he was serious.

For nearly five decades, Montes was known as the fixer on the 2600 block of South Kolin Avenue. Those who knew him said he was selfless, helping neighbors in need and making sure the block was clean of any debris — and never asking anything in return.

Montes died Jan. 23 at McNeal Hospital in Berwyn due to complications of the coronavirus. He’d been hospitalized almost a month, according to his son Jose Montes. He was 72 years old.

He was only 17 in 1965 when he left Chihuahua, Mexico on a train bound for Chicago to join his father and other siblings.

Reporter Manny Ramos has the full story.

6 p.m. CPS dance teachers call for ‘safe return or no return’ in video posted to CTU Facebook page

Six Chicago Public School dance teachers expressed their safety concerns through dance in a video posted online last week by the Chicago Teachers Union, but the effort has received backlash after several conservative websites linked to it.

In the video, the teachers perform dances they choreographed themselves to communicate their fears about safety surrounding CPS’ decision to reopen elementary schools to in-person classes on Monday. Five teachers perform indoors while another dances outside on what appears to be a metal ramp leading to a frozen lake. Some teachers danced with their children. The video ends with the call: “Safe return... or no return.”

“They all stand in solidarity with educators who are at risk, because no one should have to choose between their livelihood and their lives,” the Facebook post says.

Read the complete story by Alison Martin here.

5:10 p.m. Tide is turning against COVID-19, but bars and restaurants can’t expand capacity, city says

Chicago is on pace to see some of its COVID-19 business restrictions lifted next week, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday she won’t allow the city’s freshly reopened bars and restaurants to expand capacity.

Chicago’s regional coronavirus testing positivity rate fell below 6.5% for the first time Friday, to 6.4%. With two more days below that level, the city could shed Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Tier 1 mitigations and return Chicago to the fourth phase of reopening, as it was before a record-breaking resurgence in November.

The city moved to Tier 1 last week, allowing bars and restaurants to seat customers indoors at the lesser of 25% of capacity or 25 people per room.

Phase 4 rules allow local officials to “reassess” those capacity limits, but Lightfoot said the city will stick to the status quo at least until they see any potential impact from the Tier 1 reopening on Chicago’s improving infection numbers.

Read the full story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

4:05 p.m. NFL has major, but not crippling, revenue loss during coronavirus pandemic

New York Giants co-owner John Mara could have been speaking for all in the tight-lipped world of NFL finances by saying his club’s pandemic-induced losses in revenue have been substantial but not crippling.

The biggest positive in this season of COVID-19 might not be measurable: the value of finishing on time in Tampa with the Super Bowl between Tampa Bay and Kansas City on Feb. 7.

“They got all the games in,” said Marc Ganis, co-founder of Chicago-based consulting group Sportscorp and a confidant of many NFL owners. “They got ‘em all in on time, within the 17-week window. That’s enormous.

Read the complete story here.

3:15 p.m. New Year’s celebrations could’ve been an international super-spreader event to Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — After opening itself to New Year’s revelers, Dubai is now being blamed by several countries for spreading the coronavirus abroad, even as questions swirl about the city-state’s ability to handle reported record spikes in virus cases.

The government’s Dubai Media Office says the sheikhdom is doing all it can to handle the pandemic, though it has repeatedly declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about its hospital capacity.

“After a year of managing the pandemic, we can confidently say the current situation is under control and we have our plans to surge any capacity in the health care system should a need rise,” it said.

However, Nasser al-Shaikh, Dubai’s former finance chief, offered a different asses

Read more here.

2:30 p.m. Philadelphia’s problematic vaccine rollout raises larger questions

PHILADELPHIA — When Philadelphia began getting its first batches of COVID-19 vaccines, it looked to partner with someone who could get a mass vaccination site up and running quickly.

City Hall officials might have looked across the skyline to the world-renowned health providers at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University or Jefferson Health.

Instead, they chose a 22-year-old graduate student in psychology with a few faltering startups on his resume. And last week, amid concerns about his qualifications and Philly Fighting COVID’s for-profit status, the city shuttered his operation at the downtown convention center.

“Where were all the people with credentials? Why did a kid have to come in and help the city?” said the student, Andrei Doroshin, in an interview with The Associated Press.

Read more here.

1:05 p.m. Pandemic help wanted: Fast food managers, road race experts

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, Americans are painfully aware that overcoming the scourge is a marathon, not a sprint.

Enter Dave McGillivray, who knows a thing or two about endurance events — and logistics.

The race director of the Boston Marathon, which is on hold until fall, has been tapped by the state of Massachusetts to run mass vaccination operations at Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park.

Idled at his day job by the pandemic, he’s part of an emerging group of event organizers and other unconventional logistics experts who are using their skills to help the nation vaccinate as many people against COVID-19 as possible.

“It’s amazing how our event management skill set can be applied to running a massive vaccination site,” said McGillivray, who has been directing the marathon — with its many moving parts — for more than three decades.

The push for creative workarounds comes as virus cases surge nationwide, lines grow at testing and vaccination sites and tempers flare as government websites crash beneath the digital weight of millions desperately seeking appointments.

Likening it to a “wartime effort,” President Joe Biden announced this week that the U.S. is ramping up deliveries to hard-pressed states and expects to provide enough doses to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of the summer or early fall.

Read more here.

12:30 p.m. Clergy, parents call on CPS classes to remain remote until vaccine is widely distributed

Several faith leaders and parents on Friday called for Chicago Public Schools to hold off on bringing kids back to classrooms and instead continue remote learning to keep everyone as safe as possible.

“With the vaccine on the horizon, this is not the time, this is not the moment,’ said the Rev. Paula Cripps-Vallejo of Humboldt Park United Methodist Church. “We know it will take months to roll out the vaccine, and so, in the meantime, let’s continue to provide all the resources to our teachers to teach remotely, to teach safely.”

Tamara Drew, who has children at Ravenswood Elementary and Amundsen High School, said the prospect of going back to school is stressing out her younger son. He’s concerned for the safety of his favorite teacher, who was often ill last year.

“What if he dies?” Drew recalled her son asking.

About 62,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade and 10,000 teachers are scheduled to return to their classrooms Monday.

Read the full story by Mitch Dudek here.

11:45 a.m. Canada to quarantine travelers, suspend flights south

TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced stricter restrictions on travelers in response to new, likely more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus — including making it mandatory for travelers to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense when they arrive in Canada and suspending airline service to Mexico and all Caribbean destinations until April 30.

Trudeau said in addition to the pre-boarding test Canada already requires, the government will be introducing mandatory PCR testing at the airport for people returning to Canada.

“Travelers will then have to wait for up to three days at an approved hotel for their test results, at their own expense, which is expected to be more than $2000,” Trudeau said.

“Those with negative test results will then be able to quarantine at home under significantly increased surveillance and enforcement.”

The prime minister said those with positive tests will be immediately required to quarantine in designated government facilities to make sure they’re not carrying variants of particular concern. .

Read the complete story here.

11 a.m. EU regulator authorizes AstraZeneca vaccine for all adults

BERLIN — Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.

The European Medicines Agency’s expert committee unanimously recommended the vaccine to be used in people 18 and over, though concerns had been raised this week that not enough data exist to prove it works in older people.

The shot is the third COVID-19 vaccine given the greenlight by the European Medicines Agency, after ones made by Pfizer and Moderna. Both were authorized for all adults. The decision requires final approval from the European Commission, a process that occurred swiftly with the other vaccines.

“There are not yet enough results in older participants (over 55 years old) to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group,” the regulator said, but added that “protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines.

“EMA’s scientific experts considered that the vaccine can be used in older adults,” the agency said.

Read the full story here.

10:50 a.m. J&J 1-dose shot prevents COVID-19 but is less effective than some other vaccines

Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot — not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses.

J&J said Friday that in the U.S. and seven other countries, the single-shot vaccine was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe illness, and much more protective — 85% — against the most serious symptoms.

There was some geographic variation. The vaccine worked better in the U.S. — 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 — compared to 57% in South Africa, where it was up against an easier-to-spread mutated virus.

“Gambling on one dose was certainly worthwhile,” Dr. Mathai Mammen, global research chief for J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutical unit, told The Associated Press.

With vaccinations off to a rocky start globally, experts had been counting on a one-dose vaccine that would stretch scarce supplies and avoid the logistics nightmare of getting people to return for boosters.

But with some other competing vaccines shown to be 95% effective after two doses, at question is whether somewhat less protection is an acceptable tradeoff to get more shots in arms quickly.

Read the full story here.

10:05 a.m. No in-person classes Friday as CPS, CTU continue negotiations to avert strike

As negotiations continue between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union, Thursday came and went with little news out of either camp.

CPS told families once again to keep their children home for remote learning Friday while CTU continues its labor action that calls for the collective refusal of in-person work until an agreement is reached. But the heated public rhetoric that has engulfed the district’s relationship with the union was toned down, at least for a day.

Asked in a radio appearance if there was enough time left to reach an agreement, CEO Janice Jackson said she’s committed to the scheduled Monday return of 62,000 K-8 students and about 10,000 teachers — plus 3,200 preschool and special education students whose in-person classes have been canceled this week.

“We expect students and staff to be in school on Monday,” Jackson said Thursday on WBEZ’s Reset. “That’s what we expect to happen.

“We’re prepared to compromise and give up on things that we were dug in on,” Jackson said. “But the one thing we all have to agree on is that students belong in school, and that every parent should have an option.”

Read the full story from Nader Issa here.

9:07 a.m. Housing advocates in Chicago aiming to help tenants ahead of a potential wave of evictions

When Luz Franco got sick with COVID-19, she missed work and knew she wouldn’t have the money to pay the rent on her apartment in Brighton Park.

Franco, 51, figured she could give what she had to her landlord until she was able to catch up.

But she says the landlord said she was a year behind on rent, and soon she found the heat had been turned off in her apartment, and one day her son found some of their belongings on the front lawn.

She knew that wasn’t how she should be evicted but, worried about the safety of her son, decided to move to a smaller apartment with the help of a community organization, Little Village Unete.

“There was nothing we could do,” Franco says.

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, housing advocates say that — despite moratoriums meant to stop most evictions — renters like Franco still face problems.

Read the full story from Elvia Malagón here.

New cases

• Illinois set a record for a second straight day Wednesday with 55,865 people receiving COVID-19 vaccinations statewide, public health officials reported Thursday.
• Officials announced 4,191 new cases of the disease diagnosed among 100,119 tests, lowering the average statewide positivity rate to 4.3%.
• Local and state health officials Monday reported eight new cases of a more contagious COVID-19 variant in Illinois.
• As of Sunday night, 2,962 people with COVID-19 were in Illinois hospitals, with 601 patients in intensive care units and 302 on ventilators.

Analysis & Commentary

4:30 p.m. Doing right by hotel workers — and the hotels that laid them off — during the pandemic

Marie Lourdie Pierre-Jacques lived the quintessential American “bootstrap” story. She worked hard, raised a family, paid her dues.

As a young woman, she immigrated from Haiti to the United States. She spoke little English.

She took a menial job at the Swissotel Chicago downtown. She worked her way up to banquet server. It was a job she loved — her word, “loved” — for 18 years.

“I gave it my whole heart,” she told me over the phone. “When the hotel would call me at 2 a.m. to cover for someone, I would go in. Sometimes, I would stay at the hotel overnight for three days in a row so I wouldn’t be late for a shift.”

Then COVID-19 devastated the hospitality industry.

Read the full column by Laura Washington here.

9:09 a.m. Cremation ashes to … stones? How’d you like to skip your loved one’s remains across a pond?

With a deadly pandemic making our mortality less of an abstract concept, this seems like as good a time as any to tell you about how you can turn your corpse into a box of rocks.

The suggestion comes courtesy of the Cremation Society of Illinois, which is working with a New Mexico company that transforms cremated remains into smooth, polished stones.

The New Mexico outfit, Parting Stone, bills its service as “a clean alternative to ashes.” It’s for people who have chosen cremation but aren’t keen on dealing with the ashes.

The concept caught my attention because it sounded so strange. But the more I’ve looked into it, I can’t say it’s any more strange than our traditional death rituals, just different.

“I do understand that some people would think it’s weird,” said Nancy Sacks, 69, of Evanston, who chose to have her father’s cremains sent to Parting Stone last year after he died of COVID at 97.

Weeks later, she got back a small, pine box filled with what she described as “very clean, white, polished stones.”

By way of tribute, the family tossed some stones into Lake Michigan. Family members also left stones in Massachusetts near where Sacks’ father went to veterinary school and in the state of Washington at another school he attended. Sacks brought some of the stones to her son in Colorado. He threw them into a picturesque river while they walked.

“It became a very, very meaningful experience for us,” said Sacks, who still has a dozen stones left.

Read the full column from Mark Brown here.