Latest coronavirus news for May 26, 2020: Live updates

The latest

39 more die in Illinois of COVID-19 as all regions of state set to move to Phase 3 on Friday

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo

Another 39 people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois — as the four regions in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan are set to see some restrictions loosened come Friday.

Officials, however, said the 39 deaths reported Tuesday could be lower due to a lack of reporting on Memorial Day. There were also 1,178 new cases reported from 17,230 tests received. The virus remains in 100 of 102 Illinois counties.

In total, 4,923 people have died of the coronavirus in Illinois. With the new cases reported on Tuesday, there have been 113,195 positive cases and nearly 787,000 total tests performed.

Tuesday marked the fourth consecutive day with fewer than 100 deaths reported. But more than half of the total COVID-19 deaths have been in May.

Pritzker on Tuesday planned to outline the regional metrics needed to head into the third phase of his reopening plan. That includes a positivity rate under 20% and stable or declining hospital metrics. All regions are set to move forward on Friday, Pritzker’s office said.

Read the full story here.

News

9:04 p.m. Total Recall? GOP quartet seeks to oust Pritzker, insisting ‘it’s going to be difficult’ but not ‘impossible’

SPRINGFIELD — Suburban Republican Allen Skillicorn insists he would really rather Gov. J.B. Pritzker finish out his term than be booted from office.

“Frankly I just hope the governor fixes the unemployment system, so people can get their unemployment and we should move on from this,” the state representative said. “I mean, I would much prefer that.”

Whether the governor is able to solve the unemployment problems that have arisen during the coronavirus crisis remains to be seen, but Skillicorn isn’t waiting to find out.

The East Dundee Republican launched a recall effort to remove the Chicago Democrat from office — an uphill battle that would require bipartisan support from legislators and hundreds of thousands of signatures from voters to get on the ballot.

Skillicorn said troubles with the Illinois Department of Employment Security website was the last straw.

He said he would “happily” take his recall petition “off the table,” if the governor fixes the problem. But it might not matter what Skillicorn leaves on the table, given the high threshold for a successful recall petition.

Read the full report from Neal Earley here.

7:59 p.m. Radiologists scrap fall event at McCormick Place

The annual radiologists’ gathering at McCormick Place, a late-in-the-year mainstay on the convention hall’s calendar, is being canceled this year but will continue in a virtual format.

The Radiological Society of North America announced the decision Tuesday to scrap the McCormick Place meeting scheduled Nov. 29-Dec. 4, citing concerns about the coronavirus.

The decision could prompt other organizations to change plans for conventions or meetings scheduled during an ordinarily busy fall season at McCormick Place. Organizers of most such events are taking a wait-and-see approach, with some posting notices on their web sites that they are awaiting further guidance from state and local officials about holding large assemblies.

The radiologists’ meeting is especially prized in Chicago tourism because it is among the largest shows, bringing more than 50,000 people to town, many of them free-spending medical professionals.

Read the full report from David Roeder here.

7:23 p.m. Pritzker ready to toast ‘cocktails-to-go’ — but Lightfoot wants a chaser

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday said he’ll sign legislation that will legalize “cocktails-to-go” to aid ailing business owners during the pandemic.

What that will look like in Chicago — a hotspot for COIVD-19 — and when that may happen remains unclear.

While Mayor Lori Lightfoot is supportive of the plan, mayoral aides says they are exploring changes to it. That’s allowed under the legislation, which gives municipalities local control to either opt out or make changes.

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for June 17, and it’s unlikely a meeting would be called earlier to take up the plan.

Under the measure — which passed with bipartisan support in both the Illinois House and Senate on Saturday — restaurants and bars would be able to sell cocktails in sealed, tamperproof containers. Any alcoholic beverages transported in a vehicle would have to be placed in the trunk or in an area inaccessible to the driver.

Read the full report from Tina Sfondeles here.

5:47 p.m. Nurse fired from Norwood Park senior home for pointing out COVID-19 safety issues: lawsuit

A nurse claims she was fired from a Norwood Park senior home in retaliation for whistleblowing about COVID-19 safety issues, according to a lawsuit.

Andrea Hinich, a military veteran, alleges she was fired a day after bringing up safety lapses in a safety meeting at her workplace, Norwood Crossing, 6016 N. Nina Ave., according to a lawsuit filed May 20 in Cook County Circuit Court.

She was fired April 22 for “insubordination” after refusing to take part in a plan to distribute personal protective equipment, or PPE, to staff without required “fit testing,” the suit states. Fit testing, a federally required safety rule, is the process of testing PPE on someone to determine the person knows the right size PPE they require, and that they know how to wear it properly.

Read the full story here.

2:35 p.m. CPD Supt.: Stay-at-home order contributed to most violent Memorial Day weekend since 2015

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said cabin fever stemming from the state’s stay-at-home order contributed to the most violent Memorial Day weekend Chicago has experienced since 2015.

A total of 49 people were shot, 10 of whom died.

“The stay-at-home order did little to prevent violence particularly in parts of the West and South sides,” Brown said Tuesday. “These incidents primarily involved disputes between rival gang factions as well as clashes involving the sale of illegal drugs.”

Police issued about 300 dispersal orders to crowds each day of the holiday weekend, Brown said.

The crowding brings increased risk of virus transmission as well as injury or death should gunfire erupt in a congested area, he said.

“The effects of the coronavirus also go beyond hospitalizations, people are feeling restless after being cooped up for weeks,” Brown said.

Read the full story here.

1:45 p.m. When will Illinois reopen?

On May 5, Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled his five-phase plan to reopen the state, breaking the state into four regions and identifying key metrics each region needs to meet before moving to the next phase.

When the plan was released, each region was already in Phase 2, but the governor’s office cautioned that regions could move backwards if the spread of the coronavirus intensifies.

We’re tracking the state’s progress along Pritzker’s plan to gradually reopen, using data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Click here to see our Reopening Illinois data-tracking portal.

1:10 p.m. Chicago moves to create 600-strong army of contact tracers to fight coronavirus

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said she expects a “whole new class of jobs that didn’t exist before” to be created by the need to reassure people it’s save to gather in public again.

Tuesday, the mayor took a giant step toward creating 600 of those new jobs in impoverished black and Hispanic neighborhoods that have also borne the brunt of the coronavirus.

The Lightfoot administration released a $56 million request-for-proposals from organizations interested in coordinating “contact tracing and resource referral efforts” across Chicago.

The RFP requires the lead agency to “sub-grant 85 percent of contract tracing funding to at least 30 neighborhood-based organizations located within or primarily-serving residents of communities of economic hardship” that have also been most heavily impacted by coronavirus cases and deaths.

Read the full story by City Hall reporter Fran Spielman here.

12:01 p.m. Preckwinkle vetoes plan to give first responders addresses of COVID-19 positive residents

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle vetoed a resolution Tuesday that would provide the addresses of COVID-19 positive patients to first responders in suburban Cook County.

Preckwinkle said she was “profoundly disappointed” by the passage of the controversial resolution Thursday.

The resolution, titled Share Addresses for Emergencies with First Responders, would have provided first responders in the jurisdiction of the county’s Department of Public Health access only to the addresses of those who’ve tested positive for the deadly virus. That area includes 127 municipalities and 2.5 million residents.

Preckwinkle cited conversations with the county’s Department of Public Health and its decision to follow guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health as part of her reasoning to veto the measure.

Read the full story from Rachel Hinton here.

10:41 a.m. Worry, haste, retail therapy: What have we bought and why?

Between technical glitches and food worries, retail therapy and sheer amnesia, something has happened to shopping during the pandemic that can be summed up thusly: rubber chickens.

Melissa Jean Footlick bought some while sheltering at home in San Diego with her husband and three dogs. She’s a kidney transplant patient so she’s been taking extra care. She’s among millions who have helped online retail sales surge as consumer spending fell off rapidly when businesses shut down.

For others, shopping madness has been about the essentials, only super-sized: 10-pound bags of rice; 25-pound sacks of flour; 50 pounds worth of sugar; pickles and pancake mix for a crowd.

For some, it’s impulse shoe purchases, with nowhere to go. And mistaken multiple pounds of blueberries when a single container was the goal.

Read the full story here.

9:55 a.m. What casinos look like in a post-pandemic world

The Illinois Senate approved a Chicago casino Saturday night 42-14, a feat decades in the making, now bound for Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk. It marked a huge feat for Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who achieved what several Chicago mayors couldn’t.

Bill sponsor Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, said the state’s capital programs will get $45 million upfront in licensing fees before the casino is even opened. And the state will receive an additional $700 million in a re-worked reconciliation fee.

But what will casinos look like in a post-pandemic world? Las Vegas offers a preview as the tentative June 4 reopening date set by Nevada’s governor approaches.

Free parking, but no valet service. Bartenders, blackjack dealers and waiters wearing masks. Hand sanitizer everywhere.

Yes, dice will roll, cards will be dealt and slot machines will beckon. But poker rooms? Closed.

Read the full story here.

8:18 a.m. Chicago’s new normal: When will tourists come back?

Chicago has drawn more than 55 million domestic and international visitors annually for the past several years, lured in part by summer offerings like Lollapalooza and Millennium Park concerts, as well as year-round draws like the Art Institute and Navy Pier.

The city also has benefited from a travel and tourism boom boosted by the strong economy that followed the 2008 Great Recession, with 153,700 jobs tied to Chicago tourism in 2019.

But that was before the coronavirus pandemic upturned the whole world. Now, it’s clear that Chicago tourism numbers won’t reach anywhere close to previous levels until there’s a COVID-19 vaccine or effective treatment.

Choose Chicago’s new campaign, called “Tourism & Hospitality Forward,” encourages hotels, restaurants, museums and other attractions to pledge to keep “socially responsible” health and cleanliness measures top of mind for both visitors and employees, and to prominently display that info on websites and other communications.

Read the full story from Stephanie Zimmerman here.

6:52 a.m. Reopen Illinois protesters rally again, days before Pritzker’s next reopening phase

Just days before businesses in Illinois will incrementally begin reopening, hundreds of protesters gathered in Grant Park on Memorial Day to hear speakers rail against the statewide stay-at-home order that has brought the economy to a screeching halt in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Some demonstrators hoisted signs that promoted conspiracy theories and many chose not to wear face coverings, flouting measures recommended by health experts to contain the deadly disease as they pressed closely together to hear the speakers yell into a megaphone.

The rally, which overshadowed a similar event outside the Thompson Center on Monday, was ultimately shut down by Chicago police officers enforcing Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order.

For hours, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy by a cast of Republican firebrands that included Darren Bailey, a state representative from downstate Xenia who’s locked in a court battle over Pritzker’s order; and Stephen Moore, a writer and television pundit who advised President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.

Read the full story from Tom Schuba here.

New cases

• Illinois officials announced 31 additional deaths and 1,713 new cases for coronavirus on Monday.
• Chicago police announced Tuesday 10 more cases of COVID-19 within the department, bringing the total number of cases to 548.
• Hecky Powell, rib king and Evanston icon, has died at 71 after being exposed to the coronavirus.

Analysis & Commentary

8:30 p.m. Temperature checks on deck: Reopening guidelines usher in new normal

You’re familiar, perhaps, with those signs in restaurants and bars: “No shoes. No shirt. No service.” Add this one for the COVID-19 pandemic era as Illinois and Chicago start to phase in reopening plans: A fever keeps you out, too.

Temperature checks, staggered operating hours and eliminating many amenities taken for granted — from water fountains to dropping in anytime at the health club — are what Illinoisans could be dealing with in the coming days. Could be, because so far, the state does not have an enforcement mechanism in place.

For at least 10 industries in Illinois, guidelines for the “new normal” arrived Sunday when the state released a series of detailed reopening procedures to kick in as soon as Friday.

Whether employers and customers will adapt and whether businesses can be profitable under the new rules will be key to the revival of the Illinois economy.

Gov. J. B. Pritzker at his Tuesday briefing called the provisions “minimum expectations moving forward.” Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday issued guidelines tailored to Chicago and aligned with the state.

Maintaining six feet of social distancing at all times, using face coverings, frequent hand washing or sanitizing remain key to curbing the pandemic. To do this in a workplace will require extensive — and perhaps expensive — reconfiguring.

Lynn Sweet breaks down what’s ahead for owners, workers and customers.

6:21 p.m. Isn’t it time everyone had enough?

One thing Covid-19 has made indisputably clear: in Chicago as in the nation, a significant portion of the population has been living all along, in a prosperous nation, without enough.

Not enough nutrition, not enough health care and not enough compensation.

As our national conversation pivots from containing the virus to restoring economic vigor, central to any solution must be the drive to ensure that every citizen has enough.

Ours is not the first generation to see a crisis reveal the incivility of civilization. In the 14th Century, as in ours, a sudden rise in dazzling wealth for some coincided with a precipitous fall into poverty for others. Wise minds bemoaned the disequilibrium. In one of the most popular works of the day, “Roman de la Rose,” the poet Jean de Meun argued for “soufficiance” (enough-ness) as the dream state of abundance — where no one has too little and no one has too much.

We are not, of course, in the 14th Century. Life is longer and generally more comfortable. Scientific discoveries, expansion of education, leaps in transportation, communication and improved modes of governance have extended life expectancy, suggested opportunity and softened pain.

In this context, as Mayor Lightfoot makes clear, the fact that a large segment of our population lives without enough to live without fear is an indictment.

No one doubts we are at a crossroads.

Read the full column here.

3:27 p.m. As doctors, we are taught ‘First, do no harm.’ That becomes harder during a pandemic

“Doc, I honestly cannot go to the ER.”

It would be a lie to say I was surprised when my patient with chest pains answered my recommendation so bluntly. It’s a refrain I have heard often the past few weeks.

He is a diabetic, at high risk for having a myocardial infarction, and as I pleaded my case, trying to explain what I thought was best for his health, I found the phrases I invoked familiar as well:

“I am worried about you.”

“I wouldn’t want anything avoidable to happen.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

But these justifications don’t carry the weight they once did because COVID-19 has changed the risk profile of emergency rooms, and I can no longer guarantee that my recommendation to go to the emergency room is purely benevolent.

Read the full commentary by Dr. Monica Maalouf, a practicing physician in Chicago who teaches Narrative Medicine at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine and serves as Faculty Director of Wellness.

2:55 p.m. Nobody should ever liken a stay-at-home order to Anne Frank’s hiding in an attic or a Japanese American internment camp

Moments after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced his stay-at-home order for Illinois on March 20, I saw the first meme: “If Anne Frank could hide in an attic for two years, you can stay home for a few weeks.”

Here it comes, I thought: the latest flood of comparisons between current events and the Holocaust.

These comparisons, including memes and social media posts referring to Anne Frank, labeling political figures as “Hitler,” or invoking Nazis as a shorthand description for something distasteful, are on the rise. Such comparisons are not limited to Holocaust history, however.

This past week, and not for the first time, in arguments related to overturning Wisconsin’s stay-at-home order, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley invoked the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, implying an equivalency that, at best, shows a gross lack of historical understanding.

Comparisons like these are harmful because they distort the true history and meaning of these events without truly addressing the contemporary issues.

Read the full commentary by Amanda Friedeman, assistant director of education at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.

7:30 a.m. What we leave behind and what we welcome as city moves toward reopening

As the city moves cautiously to re-open its isolation doors next week in the wake of a COVID-19 fatalities decline, expect an eraser to appear. Expect change.

It’s not a stretch to consider new hustle and bustle to eradicate the following:

• A very quiet morning.
• The sound of birds ALL day.
• The actual noise of wheeled grocery store carts; the language of muffled “mask” speech.
• Wildflowers given a chance to sow before the Spring mow on public property.
• The actual sound of our Windy City’s wind.
• Silence beyond six feet.
• Big-time family time.
• People actually walking their OWN dogs.
• The friendly street “nod” from muffled masked strangers.
• The time during the workweek when we actually heard our doorbell ring; answered our own door; and had an extended, uninterrupted conversation with a close friend.
• The mea culpa moment, as a Catholic, of attending Sunday mass via TV at home, with a cup of coffee and a great sermon from the top hat, Cardinal Blase Cupich.
• The seismic shift from horizontal to vertical, when elevators in our city’s concrete canyon come alive.

And the gift during our isolation of a tiny window into life in rural America or small town, USA, where restaurants are rare, elevators are non-existent and no one hires dog walkers.

Read Michael Sneed’s full column here.