Coronavirus live blog, July 16, 2020: Pritzker worried state ‘heading the wrong direction’ as COVID-19 cases rise

The daily number of new coronavirus cases is slowing ticking upward, but daily deaths remain low. As cases and deaths also continue to rise across the country, it’s clear the coronavirus pandemic is far from over.

Here’s what happened today as officials continued to battle the pandemic.

News

8:53 p.m. ‘Mild uptick’ in Illinois coronavirus cases prompts Pritzker to worry state ‘heading the wrong direction’

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times file

Another 1,257 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Illinois, as cases of the deadly disease keep trending slowly but steadily back upward, officials said Thursday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health also announced an additional 25 deaths have been attributed to the coronavirus, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to 7,251.

The new cases were detected among a record-high batch of 43,006 test results received by the state, good for a testing positivity rate of 2.9% for the day.

That kept the state’s rolling positivity rate over the last week at 3.1%, a number that has health officials on edge as it’s climbed up from 2.5% early last week.

Following a peak month of May, daily caseloads exceeded 1,000 just twice in June. That’s already happened five times midway through July, with the state averaging about 923 new cases each day.

Read the full report here.

7:40 p.m. CDC extends US ban on cruise ships through September

WASHINGTON — Federal health officials are extending the U.S. ban on cruise ships through the end September as coronavirus infections rise in most U.S. states, including Florida.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it was extending a no-sail order that had been scheduled to expire July 24.

Major cruise lines that belong to an industry trade group had already canceled cruises until Sept. 15 because of ongoing discussions with federal officials over how to restart operations safely.

Coronavirus infections are rising in 40 states, and daily deaths have climbed more than 20% from a week ago. Florida, where many cruises begin and end, reported nearly 14,000 new virus cases and set a single-day record of 156 deaths reported on Thursday, beating the previous high of 132 deaths reported Tuesday.

Read the full report here.

4:30 p.m. List of national retail chains requiring face masks keeps expanding

NEW YORK — Two major retailers on Thursday joined the growing list of national chains that will require customers to wear face masks regardless of where cities or states stand on the issue.

Target’s mandatory face mask policy will go into effect Aug. 1, and all CVS stores will begin requiring them on Monday.

More than 80% of Target’s 1,800 stores already require customers to wear masks due to local and state regulations. Target will hand out masks at entrances to those who need them.

The announcements come one day after the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart, said that it would mandate face shields for all customers starting Monday.

Starbucks, Best Buy, Kohl’s and Kroger Co. have also announced mandatory masks nationwide.

Read the full report here.

2:16 p.m. Even with distancing, air conditioning can increase risk of COVID-19 transmission indoors

Though some public health experts expected coronavirus transmission to wane in the summer as temperatures rise and the air becomes more humid, cases have actually skyrocketed in some of the hottest and stickiest parts of the country.

Engineers and ventilation experts said this may be in part because residents escape the heat by retreating indoors where heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems could exacerbate airborne transmission with unplanned air currents.

Even in bars and restaurants where social distancing is observed, air ventilation can carry respiratory droplets or aerosols that contain virus, said Len Horovitz, pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published initial findings of an outbreak linked to the airflow in a Guangzhou, China, restaurant. Over the course of 12 days, nine people who dined at the restaurant Jan. 24 fell ill as a result of another patron with a COVID-19 infection, the authors determined.

Within five days, three people sitting at the infected patron’s table were infected along with another below the air conditioner. Of the 91 people in the restaurant during that hour, only those at tables in the way of the air conditioner’s airflow contracted the virus.

Read the full report here.

1 p.m. American jobless claims surpass 1 million for 17th straight week

WASHINGTON — More than a million Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, indicating that companies are cutting more jobs as the resurgent coronavirus scythes through the Sunbelt and some of the nation’s most populous states.

Layoffs in Florida, Georgia and California rose by tens of thousands, the Labor Department said Thursday in its weekly report. The number of laid-off workers seeking assistance remained stuck at 1.3 million — a stunning number that, while lower than the previous week, illustrated the devastation wrought by widespread shutdowns. It was the 17th consecutive week that jobless claims surpassed 1 million.

Infections are rising in 40 states, and 22 states have either paused or reversed efforts to reopen their economies, according to Bank of America. The rising number of virus cases threatens to push what appeared to be a recovering nation into critical condition.

Applications for aid paralleled rising infections geographically. Claims in Florida doubled to 129,000, and in Georgia they rose nearly one-third to 136,000, according to the Labor Department report. In California, they increased 23,000 to nearly 288,000. Applications also went up in Arizona and South Carolina.

Read the full story from the Associated Press here.

11:28 a.m. We asked parents and teachers if they’re OK with in-class instruction returning. Here’s what they said.

With schools gearing up to welcome back students in Chicago and the rest of Illinois, we asked: Parents, would you feel comfortable sending your kids back to school in the fall? Teachers, do you feel safe going back to the classroom? Some answers have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

“I have mixed feelings. My son will be going into kindergarten, and I want his first school experience to be a positive one, but there are so many uncertainties right now that I am really unsure of how positive the experience will be, or safe.” — Kelly Weible

“If they were able to do video chats with their teachers and classmates, why can’t they just do the same for regular class time? They log in, and the teacher teaches as if they were in class. They don’t need to be sitting in the classroom, and the e-learning program of just having work to do on their own isn’t enough.” — Gabi Vazquez Hernandez

Read more responses from Sun-Times readers on their comfort levels with schools reopening this fall here.

10:23 a.m. Chicago South Side Film Festival pivots to online with documentary on predatory contract home sales

The folks at the Chicago South Side Film Festival are aware that the show — no matter how it is presented — must go on.

In that spirit, the festival, which will be rebooted as an online event via Seed & Spark, a filmmaker crowdfunding website, plans to launch its 2020 slate by hosting a July 19 screening of the documentary “The Color Tax: Origins of the Modern-Day Racial Wealth Gap” at 6 p.m.

The festival, in its entirety, is scheduled to take place Sept. 25 to Oct. 4.

The film, which the CSSFF has screened previously, is the first in a docuseries by filmmaker Bruce Orenstein called “The Shame of Chicago,” which tells the story of how predatory contract home sales were thrust upon Black families who were unable to secure the types of mortgages white, would-be homeowners received.

Read the full story from Evan Moore here.

8:26 a.m. Dart touts efforts, CDC study noting drastic drop in coronavirus cases at Cook County Jail

Tom Dart Wednesday praised his office’s efforts to contain the coronavirus at Cook County Jail, citing a new study spearheaded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that credited the sheriff with successfully reducing the number of positive cases at the Southwest Side facility.

The jail — once named a top U.S. hotspot with hundreds of detainees infected — now stands as a model for other institutions on how to curb it, Dart declared.

“We not only bent our curve, we killed off the curve,” Dart said.

As of Wednesday, only 11 detainees had the coronavirus. Dart noted that eight of those detainees tested positive before being admitted into the jail, which currently has a population of under 5,000.

Since March, at least seven detainees, three correctional officers and one sheriff’s deputy died from complications related to COVID-19, according to Dart’s office.

Reporter Matthew Hendrickson has the full story,

New cases

• Illinois reported another 1,187 coronavirus cases and eight additional deaths from COVID-19.

Analysis & Commentary

8:25 a.m. Once kids go back to school, it’s mask up or go home

At the moment, it makes sense to open Illinois schools.

As long as coronavirus cases don’t spiral upward dramatically, schools should open in August or September if they can keep students distanced in classrooms, hallways and cafeterias.

That could mean schools with larger enrollments will have to resort to hybrid models for attendance, with students alternating between going to school and participating in remote learning from home.

Schools also will need sufficient staffing, including nurses and janitors.

Beside distancing, wearing facial coverings will be a must. It will be up to school administrators to enforce the mask rule when unruly students and parents defy it.

And some will defy it. You can count on it. I’m not talking about those who will accidentally let a facial covering slip below their nose before lifting it up again. I’m talking about defiant teens who want to push boundaries, or think the virus is a hoax, and class cut-ups looking for laughs.

The solution is simple: Send them home. They can learn remotely.

Read the full column by Marlen Garcia here.