Coronavirus
The latest news about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 with a focus on its impact on Chicago and Illinois.
Bicycling grew more in Chicago than in any other major American city since 2019. But bike safety advocates say the city could be doing much more to protect cyclists and make biking even more attractive.
The city has until the end of the year to allocate hundreds of millions of federal dollars or risk losing them.
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.
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.
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.
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.
One educator compared the learning disruption caused by the pandemic to water freezing in cracked pavement, deepening the divide.
Shopping for affordable insurance that covers regular doctors and prescriptions can be daunting, figuring out the choices and subsidies to help pay for them. Here’s help.
House of Melanin, a beauty supply store specializing in products for African American hairstyles, opened in Oak Park in 2018 and was successful until the pandemic. Now, the growth of online ordering threatens to put the store out of business.
Small business owners who talked to the Sun-Times in 2020 share how, three years later, they’ve made it to the other side.
Amid changes in hours and strategies, many still wonder about the future of urban life three years into the pandemic.
County’s Source Grow Grants will accept new applications after an Edison Park chiropractor claimed bias in how county would distribute $10,000 grants from federal COVID relief funds.
Chicago’s public health commissioner and COVID-19 point person says she doesn’t get recognized as much as she used to. But that’s OK with her, especially given the “scary mail” she’s received.
Zishan Alvi, who co-owned Laboratory A in Chicago, allegedly submitted false reimbursement claims for tests that were never performed.
Starting this month, recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will see a decrease in their benefits after a coronavirus pandemic-era funding boost ended.
Illinois Comptroller Susan Mendoza choked up telling the panel how her brother, a Chicago cop, was left disabled by COVID-19 but denied full disability benefits.
Bosses keep talking about the return to the office, the way hatmakers pined for the return of the fedora.
The Lucira COVID-19 and Flu Home Test is a single-use test, which can be purchased without a prescription.
Ruben Olivares, who helped distribute food, vaccines and other services through the Northwest Center, was shot Jan. 18 and died days later. A GoFundMe has been set up.
The pandemic increased health care coverage, boosted telehealth, beefed up food assistance and offered universal access to coronavirus vaccines and tests. On May 11, President Joe Biden plans to end the emergencies declared for the pandemic.
Beyond the bureaucratic red tape, the disaster proclamation allowed Gov. J.B. Pritzker to put in place multiple executive orders. Should the pandemic worsen, he would have to make another disaster proclamation in order to issue those sorts of orders again.
In a signal that U.S. officials see the coronavirus as less dire, the virus will be treated as an endemic threat to health that can be managed by normal agency authorities.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot describes herself as a “pro-Chicago business” mayor. But on her watch, Boeing and Citadel have left town. On the plus side, Chicago remains a hub for tech start-ups. As Lightfoot seeks reelection, she and her rivals disagree how to revive the economy and restore downtown.
The site offers snapshots of COVID-19 transmission in communities around 75 wastewater treatment facilities in Illinois.
