Coronavirus live blog, July 11, 2020: Illinois tops more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for 3rd straight day

New coronavirus continued to rise in Illinois continuing an slowly growing trend in the last few days. Nationally, in the south and west, cases are surging leading to long lines at COVID-19 testing sites and delays in getting results.

President Trump made his first public appearance wearing a face mask on Saturday. He donned a mask while making a visit to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Here’s what we learned today about the fight against the coronavirus in Chicago, the state and the nation.

News

7:30 p.m. Illinois tops more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for 3rd straight day

| Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Illinois health officials Saturday reported 1,195 new cases of the coronavirus, marking the third day in a row that daily tallies have exceeded 1,000, a stretch not seen since May.

Officials also reported another 24 deaths attributed to COVID-19, raising the state’s death toll to 7,168, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The newly confirmed cases raise the state’s total case count to 152,962. So far this month, an average of about 888 new cases have been reported each day.

Read the full story by Emmanuel Camarillo here.

6:30 p.m. Long lines for COVID tests nationwide, stressed labs delay results as demand spikes

America’s testing system is once again strained and labs are struggling to keep pace as coronavirus rages faster than ever in the South and West.

From Florida to California, large and small labs running 24/7 can’t process samples quickly enough from millions of Americans tested every week. That means COVID-19 test results are delayed a week or longer in hotspot communities, undercutting public health efforts to track, isolate and prevent spread.

The number of daily tests reached an all-time high of more than 719,000 on July 3 and averaged nearly 640,000 each day this past week, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.

Testing centers in Sunbelt cities such as Tallahassee, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona routinely attract long lines and at times must turn away people. Other than hospital patients, whom labs are prioritizing, delays are widespread in the South and West at drive-thru and walk-up testing centers, urgent care, doctor’s offices and government-supported testing sites.

Read the full story here.

5:30 p.m. Trump wears a mask in public for first time during pandemic to visit military hospital

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to a military hospital on Saturday, the first time the president has been seen in public with the type of facial covering recommended by health officials as a precaution against spreading or becoming infected by the novel coronavirus.

Trump flew by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in suburban Washington to meet wounded service members and health care providers caring for COVID-19 patients. As he left the White House, he told reporters: “When you’re in a hospital, especially … I think it’s expected to wear a mask.”

Read the full story here.

3 p.m. No free Slurpees at 7-Eleven on 7-11 this year because of coronavirus

Add another event to the long list of coronavirus cancellations: 7-Eleven Day.

The nation’s largest convenience store chain has announced that it’s canceling its in-store birthday celebration and Free Slurpee Day because of “the uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The annual tradition has been held on July 11, aka 7/11, since 2002, 7-Eleven’s 75th birthday. It has been the company’s busiest day of the year, with millions of visitors, Marissa Jarratt, the chain’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a news release.

However, 7-Eleven isn’t cancelling free Slurpee drinks altogether. To help with social distancing, members of the free 7Rewards loyalty program will get a coupon for a free medium Slurpee redeemable once in July.

Read the full story here.

1:15 p.m. Pandemic, racism compound worries about Black suicide rate

Jasmin Pierre was 18 when she tried to end her life, overdosing on whatever pills she could find. Diagnosed with depression and anxiety, she survived two more attempts at suicide, which felt like the only way to stop her pain.

Years of therapy brought progress, but the 31-year-old Black woman’s journey is now complicated by a combination of stressors hitting simultaneously: isolation during the pandemic, a shortage of mental health care providers and racial trauma inflicted by repeated police killings of Black people.

“Black people who already go through mental health issues, we’re even more triggered,” said Pierre, who lives in New Orleans. “I don’t think my mental health issues have ever, ever been this bad before.”

Health experts have warned of a looming mental health crisis linked to the coronavirus outbreak, and the federal government rolled out a broad anti-suicide campaign. But doctors and researchers say the issues reverberate deeper among Black people, who’ve seen rising youth suicide attempts and suffered disproportionately during the pandemic.

Mental health advocates are calling for more specialized federal attention on Black suicides, including research funding. Counselors focusing on Black trauma are offering free help. And Black churches are finding new ways to address suicide as social distancing has eroded how people connect.

“There has been a lot of complex grief and loss related to death, related to loss of jobs and loss of income,” said Sean Joe, an expert on Black suicides at Washington University in St. Louis. “There’s a lot of hurt and pain in America going on right now, and you only are getting a sense of depth in the months ahead.”

Read the full report here.

11:35 a.m. Coronavirus deaths take a long-expected turn for the worse

NEW YORK — A long-expected upturn in U.S. coronavirus deaths has begun, driven by fatalities in states in the South and West, according to data on the pandemic.

The number of deaths per day from the virus had been falling for months, and even remained down as states like Florida and Texas saw explosions in cases and hospitalizations — and reported daily U.S. infections broke records several times in recent days.

Scientists warned it wouldn’t last. A coronavirus death, when it occurs, typically comes several weeks after a person is first infected. And experts predicted states that saw increases in cases and hospitalizations would, at some point, see deaths rise too. Now that’s happening.

“It’s consistently picking up. And it’s picking up at the time you’d expect it to,” said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious diseases researcher.

According to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average for daily reported deaths in the U.S. has increased from 578 two weeks ago to 664 on July 10 — still well below the heights hit in April. Daily reported deaths increased in 27 states over that time period, but the majority of those states are averaging under 15 new deaths per day. A smaller group of states has been driving the nationwide increase in deaths.

Read the full report here.

11 a.m. Cashing in on COVID-19 billions despite Medicare fraud, millions in settlements

A not-for-profit healthcare giant based in Chicago that’s paid more than $80 million in settlements since 2010 over Medicare and Medicaid fraud and other violations of federal law has received about $2 billion in federal money under a program aimed at giving businesses a boost during the coronavirus pandemic.

CommonSpirit Health has gotten the second-highest amount of federal dollars of any Illinois-based company during the COVID-19 pandemic — $718 million in grants and $1.9 billion in loans, records show.

The only Illinois parent company getting more money under the CARES Act — the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — was United Airlines.

CommonSpirit is one of a handful of Illinois companies that have gotten emergency funds during the coronavirus pandemic even after paying out millions in recent years to settle federal violations, according to data compiled and analyzed by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit organization focused on government and corporate accountability.

Read the full story by Stephanie Zimmerman here.

10:30 a.m. COVID-19 in Chicago: numbers stable, 18- to 29-year-olds now have most daily cases

Chicago’s public health commissioner said Friday that coronavirus cases in the city remain stable, despite a rise in cases elsewhere in the country.

Deaths, hospitalizations and emergency room visits related to COVID-19 in Chicago are at their lowest levels since March, according to City Hall. Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady said the city is likely in the next few weeks to even see a day without a coronavirus death for the first time since March 20.

However, Arwady also said in a conference call with reporters that Chicagoans between the ages of 18 and 29 — members of Generation Z as well as young Millennials — now have the highest daily case rates in the city.

The biggest hotspots for that age group are in Lincoln Park and New City, Arwady said.

“Of course, younger individuals are perfectly capable of transmitting that disease to people in those older age categories, people with underlying conditions,” Arwady said.

A surge in that young population would be cause for concern, Arwady said. But that hasn’t happened yet.

Read the full report from Jon Seidel and Caroline Hurley here.

8:32 a.m. Dozens of US Marines in Japan’s Okinawa get coronavirus

TOKYO — Dozens of U.S. Marines have been infected with the coronavirus at two bases on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa in what is feared to be a massive outbreak, Okinawan officials said Saturday, demanding an adequate explanation from the U.S. military.

Okinawa prefectural officials said they could say only that a “few dozen” cases had been found recently because the U.S. military asked that the exact figure not be released. The outbreaks occurred at Marine Corps. Air Station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and Camp Hansen, Okinawan officials said.

Local media, citing unnamed sources, said about 60 people had been infected.

Read the full report here.

7:14 a.m. Black health, well-being were struck a brutal double blow by coronavirus, George Floyd death

Well before the resounding cries of “Black Lives Matter,” doctors have known that Black people suffer disproportionately.

As a group, they face countless challenges to good health, among them food, transportation and income. The stress of living with racism has real, physical effects. And they are especially prone to diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases that can be tricky to manage even in normal times.

Then came COVID-19 and George Floyd. It quickly became clear that institutions designed to ensure the two most important things in life — health and safety — had converged to turn against one segment of the population in a brutal blow to Black people’s well-being that has renewed calls for racial justice in all realms, including health care.

“We are exhausted, and we are not OK,” said Dr. Patrice Harris, a psychiatrist who just ended her yearlong term as president of the American Medical Association.

Read the full story here.

New cases

• Former Cubs pitcher, current Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has COVID-19.
• Brazil’s President Bolsonaro tests positive for COVID-19.
• Illinois has recorded its second straight day of more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time since May, as officials Friday announced an additional 1,317 people have tested positive for the virus.
• The Illinois Department of Public Health also said another 20 deaths have been attributed to COVID-19, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to 7,119.

Analysis & Commentary

7:16 a.m. We can’t fly; we can’t hug; at least let us grin

When my boss asked me to gather thoughts on Alinea’s new novel coronavirus-shaped canapé, conscientious newsman that I am, I suggested heading over right away to try the tidbit. To comment intelligently, I had to first sample the purplish sphere of coconut custard with Szechuan peppercorn, dotted with freeze-dried raspberries that caused some on Instagram to grouse that lives lost to COVID-19 are being mocked by a confection.

Shoe-leather reporting. Direct experience. Can’t beat it.

Alas, time is of the essence. So all I could do is acquaint myself with the thorough treatment by Block Club Chicago, which sadly chose to quote one, count ’em, one disgruntled person, complaining on Instagram.

“This isn’t ok ... this isn’t ‘cute.’ This is shameful,” wrote the irked individual.

No, what’s shameful is Donald Trump insisting America’s schools re-open in the fall, pandemic be damned. As is the same people who are willing to sacrifice Grandma to stay behind him now tossing Junior onto the pyre as well. Our nation marinates in humiliation like Hawaiian chicken.

Read Neil Steinberg’s full column here.