Coronavirus

Public School Classes Cancelled In Chicago As Teachers Union Backs Remote Learning During Current Covid Spike

CDC might drop 5-day COVID-19 isolation guideline — prompting mixed feelings in Chicago expert

Dr. Emily Landon of the University of Chicago said tying isolation to symptoms makes sense, but she’s disappointed mask-wearing is not part of the proposed recommendation.

By Kaitlin Washburn

Chicago City Council on Wednesday, June 21, 2023.

City Hall

Proposal would require City Council approval to spend any federal relief funds over $1 million

The sponsors, Ald. Bill Conway and Ald. Scott Waguespack, want to avoid a repeat of late 2023, when Mayor Brandon Johnson transferred $95 million in COVID-19 relief without getting the Council’s OK first.

By Fran Spielman

Coronavirus in Illinois

Updated daily, we’re tracking the number of tests, positive cases, vaccinations, hospitalizations and deaths as a result of COVID-19 in Illinois.

Read now

The updated fall 2023 vaccine targets currently circulating strains of the virus and will be available to everyone at no cost, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Coronavirus Vaccine News

Chicagoans will learn this week where to get free updated COVID-19 vaccinations

The new vaccine was specifically created to cover all current strains of COVID-19.

By Cindy Hernandez

Los fabricantes Pfizer, Moderna y Novavax han elaborado nuevos suministros de vacunas. | Archivos AP

La Voz Chicago

Lo que debe saber de las nuevas vacunas contra el COVID

Las vacunas actualizadas tienen como objetivo una variante descendiente de omicron llamada XBB.1.5.

By Lauran Neergaard | Associated Press

Coronavirus

What you should know about new COVID shots

Updated COVID-19 shots will be part of a trio of fall vaccines that doctors hope will help avoid another “tripledemic.”

By Lauran Neergaard | AP

A la jefa de operaciones escolares, Crystal Cooper, y otras 11 personas se les ha prohibido volver a trabajar para CPS después de renunciar o ser despedidos luego de la investigación.

La Voz Chicago

Más de una docena de empleados dejan CPS tras acusaciones de fraude en préstamos federales

Se descubrió que los 14 mintieron en sus solicitudes de préstamos PPP de ser trabajadores independientes y algunos inventaron negocios falsos.

By Lauren FitzPatrick

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden in Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday. They visited areas impacted by Hurricane Idalia. The first lady tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.

Washington

First lady Jill Biden tests positive for COVID-19, but President Biden’s results negative so far

The first lady is experiencing mild symptoms. Both she and the president will be tested and checked for symptoms.

By Associated Press

Dr. Igor Koralnik (right) is overseeing long COVID research at Northwestern.

Coronavirus

Northwestern doctors say long COVID detected even after patients tested negative

Potentially millions of people across the U.S. showed so-called long-COVID symptoms in 2020 even though they initially tested negative for the virus back then, researchers find.

By Mariah Rush and Brett Chase

Signs on Jan. 5, 2021 near the U.S. Capitol calling for a second round of the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program. The signs were part of a campaign by Goldman Sachs investment bank supporting small businesses.

The Watchdogs

2 former Chicago police officers charged in $2 million COVID-19 relief fraud

Torrey Price retired from the Chicago Police Department on July 15 — about two weeks before he was indicted for fraud. Aaron Price, the other former cop who’s charged, retired in 2017.

By Frank Main

Las tácticas duras de la ex alcaldesa Lightfoot durante la disputa de regreso a la escuela dañaron la reputación de Arwady entre los educadores. Arwady y Lightfoot también provocaron la ira de los activistas ambientales. | Brian Rich/Archivos Sun-Times

La Voz Chicago

La Dra. Allison Arwady es despedida sin la oportunidad de reunirse con el alcalde Johnson

Una experta en enfermedades infecciosas y pediatra, a quien Lightfoot nombró para el puesto del Ayuntamiento, la Dra. Arwady le dijo al Sun-Times en abril que le gustaría continuar con Johnson.

By Brett Chase and Violet Miller

A person receives a COVID booster last fall at a Chatham neighborhood Walgreens. COVID-19 cases have increased slightly in Chicago in recent weeks.

Coronavirus

No surge, but still ‘jarring’: COVID-19 cases creeping up in Chicago

Chicago’s late-summer increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations — no matter how slight — serves as a reminder that the virus still packs a devastating punch for vulnerable communities, physicians say.

By Mitchell Armentrout

City Hall

Chicago Public Health chief Dr. Allison Arwady handed her discharge papers after 3 years

The infectious disease expert steered Chicago through the COVID-19 pandemic. Also a pediatrician, Arwady was appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

By Brett Chase and Violet Miller

Health

Loretto Hospital workers set to strike Monday morning

Frontline service, care and technical staff will strike Monday at the West Side hospital. They want a living wage, as job vacancies in some sections are between 25% and 35%.

By Emmanuel Camarillo and Mary Norkol

Chicago’s inspector general, Deborah Witzburg,

News

Watchdog investigating migrant spending and PPP loan fraud by city employees: ‘This is a large-scale undertaking’

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said Thursday that whenever there is a state of emergency and a haste to deliver financial aid, there is an inevitable shortage of oversight that invites abuse.

By Fran Spielman

Fresca in a shopping cart at a grocery store.

Columnists

Will my Fresca kill me?

Assessing risk versus reward in a world of constant dangers.

By Neil Steinberg

Michael Smerconish Hosts A SiriusXM Town Hall With Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Don’t let RFK Jr. kill you

By Neil Steinberg

Lonette Sims, chair of People’s Response Network, said she and other activists want to “rebuild” the Chicago Department of Public Health. The network held a new conference in front of City Hall on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

City Hall

Activists call for public health funding, community programs in new ordinance

Lonette Sims, chair of People’s Response Network, announced Thursday that the group had drafted an ordinance calling for greater funding for community-based public health programs.

By Catherine Odom

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state Comptroller Susana Mendoza hold a measure he just signed that will provide disability payments to first responders who contracted COVID-19 on the job prior to the release of coronavirus vaccines.

Springfield

Pritzker signs bill guaranteeing disability pay to first responders who contracted COVID-19

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s Chicago cop brother was denied duty disability benefits despite contracting COVID-19 on the job in 2020. She thanked the governor and others who helped get the bill passed.

By Tina Sfondeles

Kamehachi restaurant, Northbrook, at 12:30 p.m. on March 16, 2020, the day before J.B. Pritzker ordered all Illinois restaurants closed.

Columnists

Victory over COVID! Nation jubilant!

Just kidding. Country yawns as emergency officially ends since only 1,000 Americans die of COVID each week.

By Neil Steinberg

A pedestrian walks by a closed Center for Covid Control Testing site at 177 W. Lake St. in the Loop in January 2022. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has announced the state’s public health emergency will end May 11, meaning free testing may be harder to find.

Coronavirus

What does the end of the COVID public health emergency mean?

After three years, Illinois’ public health emergency for coronavirus ends Thursday. To be safe, stock up on free COVID tests while they’re available, a Chicago doctor says.

By Mariah Rush

Gov. J.B. Pritzker urged the public to tell family and friends about the upcoming renewal deadlines for Medicaid users. Pritzker spoke at Steinmetz High School in Chicago on Monday, May 1, 2023.

Coronavirus

Medicaid renewal process resumes, putting thousands of Illinoisans at risk of losing coverage

Gov. J.B. Pritzker urged the public to check with family and friends to make sure they know about the upcoming renewal due dates, which will be issued monthly now until mid-2024. Most Medicaid users in Illinois are unaware they need to reapply.

By David Struett

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 members and their supporters protested outside City Hall in October over COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Chicago

City went too far in worker crackdown over COVID-19 vaccinations, judge rules

In a case that applies to members of several unions, an administrative law judge for a state agency rules the city has to reinstate workers and make up for lost wages and benefits.

By David Roeder and Tom Schuba

Dr. Igor Koralnik (left), who heads a Northwestern Medicine clinic that studies the impact of COVID-19 on the brain.. He was part of a Northwestern team who reported finding a link between pneumonia hospitalizations and severe cases of long COVID.

Coronavirus

The ‘pandemic within the pandemic’

Northwestern Medicine study finds key difference in how coronavirus affected brains of hospitalized pneumonia patients vs. nonhospitalized COVID-19 patients.

By Brett Chase

Ray Hartshorne is a partner at Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, which he co-founded in 1987.

Columnists

‘Chicago is still viable’

Veteran Chicago architect sees city growth despite crime, COVID, other challenges.

By Neil Steinberg

Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, would like to keep her job but it’s unclear whether Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will agree.

City Hall

City’s health chief ‘looking forward to the conversation’ about retaining post under new mayor

Dr. Allison Arwady told the Sun-Times she wants to stay on, but Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson has voiced concerns about the way Chicago Public Schools were reopened during the pandemic.

By Brett Chase

Lindsay Garfield, finance director for SquareFoot, which helps companies find office space, working from home in New York early in the pandemic in 2020.

Business

Home-based workers as a group grew younger, more diverse during the COVID pandemic

“If only temporarily . . . the widespread adoption of home-based work was a defining feature of the pandemic era,” according to survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

By Mike Schneider | AP

Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson (left) and Paul Vallas (right) answer questions during a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times mayoral runoff forum at the University of Chicago on Thursday.

Elections

Johnson, Vallas weigh in on Trump, Arwady — and WBEZ weighs rivals’ facts on more familiar debate topics

The candidates exchanged barbs in the hour-long debate held by WBEZ’s Reset. There was little new in their remarks, except for their reaction to former President Donald Trump’s indictment and a question about Chicago’s Public Health Director, Dr. Allison Arwady.

By Mariah Woelfel | WBEZ

Lizeth Ramos — who said she feels comfortable not wearing a mask because she is vaccinated — walks into Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center on Friday.

Health

Major Chicago hospital group to drop mask requirement, ease visitor limits

Beginning Monday, all Advocate Health Care locations will no longer limit the number of patient visitors or require face masks ‘under most circumstances,’ the health care system announced Friday.

By Stefano Esposito and David Struett

A health care worker on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at Mount Sinai Hospital.

‘We nearly broke the system’: Hospitals face staff exodus, violence three years into pandemic

By Neil Steinberg and Ashlee Rezin

Number of people on a downtown Chicago sidewalk on West Madison Street near North State Street during a normally bustling weekday morning commute on March 19, 2020: zero. Number of pigeons: one.

We asked Chicagoans how the pandemic changed their lives. Here’s what they said.

By Sun-Times staff

Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson (left) and Paul Vallas (right) listen to moderators during a mayoral runoff debate at WGN Studios on Tuesday.

Elections

Mayoral debate: Vallas and Johnson ‘lecture’ one another on the CTU, Donald Trump and ‘working class’ roots

During their first televised debate, Brandon Johnson was the undisputed aggressor. In Round Two, Paul Vallas took the gloves off. Round Three was pretty much a draw.

By Fran Spielman

FILE - This undated photo made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a strain of Candida auris cultured in a petri dish at a CDC laboratory. In a CDC paper published by the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, March 20, 2023, U.S. cases of the dangerous fungus tripled over just three years, and more than half of states have now reported it. (Shawn Lockhart/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP, File) ORG XMIT: NY865

Health

Cases of superbug fungus rose dramatically during the pandemic

Candida auris is a form of yeast that is not a danger to healthy people but can be deadly to fragile people staying in hospitals and nursing homes.

By MIKE STOBBE | AP Medical Writer