Coronavirus live blog, June 24, 2020: October Chicago Marathon still on, organizers say

Chicago and the state continued its progress to Phase 4 of the reopening plan. 64 people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois, as an additional 715 tested positive for the virus. That’s the first time in two weeks that the state reported 700 or more cases in a single day, but it’s still been almost three weeks since the daily count surpassed 1,000. The state has seen declining weekly death and case totals for five consecutive weeks, according to Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.

Nationwide is another story. The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new COVID-19 cases, just short of the nation’s late-April peak of 36,400, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Here is what happened in the fight against the coronavirus in Chicago and around the state.

News

9 p.m. October Chicago Marathon still on (for now), organizers say

Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

The New York City Marathon scheduled for Nov. 1 was canceled Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic; meanwhile, the 2020 Bank of America Chicago Marathon scheduled for Oct. 11 is still on.

“We are aware of the announcement made by the New York Road Runners today,” Chicago Marathon spokeswoman Alex Sawyer told the Sun-Times Wednesday. “At this time, we are unable to say definitively whether or not the Bank of America Chicago Marathon will proceed.”

Sawyer said organizers “are committed to sharing a decision with our runners soon as possible” and have been working with city officials to “prepare[e] for both outcomes.”

The Bank of America Chicago half marathon, which had been scheduled for June 7, was canceled in late April, and registered runners had the option to defer their registration for the 2021 race or request a refund of their entry fee.

Marathon officials haven’t announced whether the same options will be available to runners in the event of the October race’s cancellation, but Sawyer said organizers were exploring “unique options outside of our standard policies.”

— Mitch Dudek

8:45 p.m. Disney delays Southern California theme park reopenings because of coronavirus

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Disney is postponing the mid-July reopening of its Southern California theme parks until it receives guidelines from the state, the company announced Wednesday.

Disney had hoped to reopen Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in Anaheim on July 17 after a four-month closure due to the coronavirus. But the state has indicated it won’t issue guidelines until after July 4, the company said.

“Given the time required for us to bring thousands of cast members back to work and restart our business, we have no choice but to delay the reopening of our theme parks and resort hotels until we receive approval from government officials,” Disney said in a statement.

Read the full story by The Associated Press here.

6:15 p.m. Coronavirus cases surge among the young, endangering older adults

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Coronavirus cases are climbing rapidly among young adults in a number of states where bars, stores and restaurants have reopened — a disturbing generational shift that not only puts them in greater peril than many realize but poses an even bigger danger to older people who cross their paths.

In Oxford, Mississippi, summer fraternity parties sparked outbreaks. In Oklahoma City, church activities, fitness classes, weddings and funerals seeded infections among people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. In Iowa college towns, surges followed the reopening of bars. A cluster of hangouts near Louisiana State University led to at least 100 customers and employees testing positive. In East Lansing, Michigan, an outbreak tied to a brew pub spread to 34 people ages 18 to 23.

There and in states like Florida, Texas and Arizona, young people have started going out again, many without masks, in what health experts see as irresponsible behavior.

Read the full story by The Associated Press here.

5:55 p.m. University of Chicago closes special units for coronavirus patients

The University of Chicago Medical Center is no longer dedicating entire floors or units solely to care for COVID-19 patients as the number of hospitalizations for the virus fell significantly.

In a sign of the dwindling number of new coronavirus cases and the eventual return to normal operations, the Hyde Park hospital said in a staff email this week that it will continue to isolate COVID-19 patients but it will no longer need to block off large portions of the medical center.

At peak in mid-April, there were 140 virus patients hospitalized at the South Side medical center. As of Wednesday morning, there were 18, a hospital spokeswoman said. At one point, two full floors were designated for treatment of those infected with the virus.

“Going forward, our patients and community will be better served by caring for our COVID-19 patients in appropriate isolation rooms and allowing our COVID-19 units to return to serving their regular patient populations,” Krista Curell, vice president of risk management and patient safety, said in the email to faculty and staff.

Read the full story by Brett Chase here.

4:05 p.m. ‘Coming back and biting us’: US sees coronavirus make a comeback

HOUSTON — Hospital administrators and health care experts warned desperately Wednesday that parts of the U.S. are on the verge of becoming overwhelmed by a resurgence of the coronavirus, lamenting that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold.

The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new COVID-19 cases, just short of the nation’s late-April peak of 36,400, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

While new cases have been declining steadily in early U.S. hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day case records this week, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas. Some of them also broke hospitalization records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.

Read the full story by The Associated Press here.

3:15 p.m. 64 more Illinois coronavirus deaths, 715 new cases

Health officials on Wednesday announced 64 more people have died of COVID-19 in Illinois, as an additional 715 tested positive for the virus.

That raises the state’s coronavirus death toll to 6,770, while at least 138,540 people have contracted the virus since late January, according to the latest figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Wednesday’s tally marked the first time in two weeks that the state reported 700 or more cases in a single day, but it’s still been almost three weeks since the daily count surpassed 1,000. The state has seen declining weekly death and case totals for five consecutive weeks, according to Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.

The state has averaged about 58 coronavirus deaths per day so far this month. That rate was nearly 100 per day through Illinois’ peak month of the pandemic in May. Overall, since the state’s first coronavirus death in mid-March, the virus has claimed an average of about 68 lives daily.

Read the full story by Mitchell Armentrout here.

12:31 p.m. Chicagoans are divided over safety of hitting the gym Friday

As Chicago and Illinois move into Phase 4 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan, gyms are among the long-shutdown establishments permitted to reopen as of Friday, with safety requirements that include social distancing and having to wear a face mask to work out at a gym.

So we asked Chicagoans: Will you be hitting the gym again now that you can? Some answers have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

“Definitely not. I have been wanting to have a regular workout plan, but gyms are probably where a lot of people are gonna get sick.” — Miguel Pizana

“Still on the fence. Masks, of course, but I’d probably stick to one machine and disinfecting it, along with hand sanitizer. I’ve gained too much weight.” — Stephanie Delph

“I will. The ‘quarantine 15’ is real.” — Al Southers

Read more remarks from Sun-Times readers here.

11:09 a.m. Back to the movies this weekend?

Movie theaters in Elmhurst, North Riverside and several other suburban locations will reopen Friday as the launch of Illinois’ Phase 4 allows indoor filmgoing to resume.

The York Theatre in Elmhurst and the Luxury 6 in North Riverside will be among the cinemas reopening their doors.

They’re all part of the Classic Cinemas chain, which also will be welcoming patrons Friday at the Charlestowne 18 in St. Charles, the Cinema 12 in Carpentersville, the Cinema 7 in Sandwich, the Elk Grove in Elk Grove Village, the Fox Lake in Fox Lake, the Paramount Theatre in Kankakee and the Woodstock in Woodstock, as well as locations in Beloit, Wisconsin, and Freeport.

The movie lineups are a mix of releases from earlier this year (“Invisible Man,” “Bloodshot,” “I Still Believe,” “Trolls World Tour”) and old favorites (“Space Jam,” “Batman Begins,” the four Indiana Jones films).

Only one brand new movie will be playing: the British rave drama “Beats,” showing at the Charlestowne.

Read more from Darel Jevens here.

9:58 a.m. City offering more opportunities this weekend for outdoor dining

More Chicago streets are set to close this weekend for outdoor dining as the city continues its gradual reopening.

The Open Streets program proved popular earlier this month, when stretches of Broadway, Rush, Oak and Cedar streets were closed to all but foot traffic.

These streets will be closed to automobiles this weekend as part of the program:

• Balmoral Avenue at the intersection with Clark Street
• Chinatown Square, adjacent to Archer Avenue between Wentworth and Princeton avenues
• Taylor Street, between Loomis and Ashland avenues
• Oliphant Avenue, closed between Northwest Highway and the first alley to the north.
• Sidewalk dining will be available on 75th Street between Indiana and Calumet avenues.

Read the full story from Stefano Esposito for more.

8:29 a.m. Fine-dining restaurants, including Chicago’s Alinea, find new ways to survive amid pandemic

Alinea in Chicago used to welcome guests with a $365, 18-course tasting menu; it’s now cooking up a six-course to-go feast for $49.95. Copenhagen’s Noma, which usually requires reservations months ahead, opened an outdoor burger and wine bar. Les Amis in Singapore is selling grocery items like artisanal butter and caviar.

Restaurants were hit hard by the new coronavirus. In the U.S. alone, the industry lost 6 million jobs in March and April. But fine dining was hit hardest of all, says David Portalatin, an industry adviser with The NPD Group. At the low point, in April, U.S. fine dining transactions were down 82% from a year ago, he said.

Some fine dining restaurants are using the closure to redesign their interiors or retool their menus, said David Mitroff, a restaurant consultant and founder of Piedmont Avenue Consulting. Restaurants of this caliber need to keep things fresh and interesting, he said.

Others are rethinking the experience entirely. Quince, a three-star restaurant in San Francisco, will likely be closed until fall. But starting in July, co-owner Lindsay Tusk is planning to offer lunches and dinners at the Marin County farm that grows the restaurant’s produce.

Read more about how restaurants are staying afloat.

7:08 a.m. Fauci hopeful for a vaccine by late 2020, early 2021

The government’s top infectious disease expert said Tuesday he is cautiously optimistic that there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021, and warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down coronavirus hot spots around the country.

Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top health officials also said they have not been asked to slow down testing for coronavirus, an issue that became controversial after President Donald Trump said last weekend that he had asked them to do just that because it was uncovering too many infections. Trump said Wednesday that he wasn’t kidding when he said that.

“We will be doing more testing,” Fauci told a House committee.

The U.S. has tested more than 27 million people, with about 2.3 million – or 8.4% — testing positive.

The health officials returned to Capitol Hill at a fraught moment in the nation’s pandemic response, with coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations.

“We’ve been hit badly,” said Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health. He said he was “really quite concerned” about rising community spread in some states.

“The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges,” he said.

Read the full story here.

New cases

• Chicago native Jabari Parker reveals he has tested positive for coronavirus
• Rockies All-Star Charlie Blackmon tests positive for coronavirus
• No. 1 Novak Djokovic, wife have coronavirus after his tennis exhibitions.
• Illinois announced another 38 deaths and 601 new cases Tuesday, bringing the state’s death toll to 6,707 among a total of 137,825 people who have tested positive for the virus.
• Comedian D.L. Hughley announced he tested positive for COVID-19 after collapsing onstage during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee.

Analysis & Commentary

5:35 p.m. Never forgive baseball’s owners and players for arguing over money during the pandemic

I’ll be excited about the return of major-league baseball when there are replacement players, replacement owners and a replacement commissioner.

Until then, I’ll stick with the sentiment that has been with me since the bickering began: What a bunch of selfish, tone-deaf jerks.

After months of everyone involved revealing their true colors, all various shades of green, baseball will begin its 60-game season July 23 or July 24. Can I get a “hooray”? How about a “huzzah”? Didn’t think so.

Let’s settle for a “Who cares?”

Read the full column by Rick Morrissey here.

7:04 a.m. Sometimes landlords who evict a tenant are the good guys

In a letter to the Sun-Times Editorial Board, Melanie Rogers of Edgewater writes:

I read the article on landlords using illegal means to evict tenants. I feel badly for tenants who are going through tough times financially. I know how difficult it can be to find work in a down economy.

Still, I am troubled by how landlords are usually portrayed as the bad guys. These situations are not always so black-and-white. Tenants have some responsibility too.

In my building, for example, our landlord has banned all smoking, including tobacco and marijuana, to ensure the health of all tenants, especially those with asthma and allergies. Still, some neighbors believe it is OK to smoke within their units. They seem not to realize that the smoke wafts through walls and floors into others’ units.

I believe the landlord is doing the best he can, but without the stick of an eviction, what more can he do? In several cases, neighbors disregard police as well.

Read this and more letters from Sun-Times readers here.