More and more people are getting tested in the state of Illinois — a record-high batch of 43,692 coronavirus test results reported to the Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday, which lowered the state’s testing positivity rate over the last week to 3%.
Many parents heard about Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools officials’ plans for the upcoming school year for CPS. Reaction was mixed among parents, but officials stressed that families with students of all ages will be allowed to opt out of in-person schooling for any reason.
Here’s what happened today in the fight against the coronavirus in Chicago, the state and the nation.
News
9 p.m. Illinois sees biggest daily COVID-19 caseload in six weeks — travel quarantine order extended to suburban Cook County
Public health officials on Friday announced another 1,384 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Illinois, the highest daily total reported by the state in more than six weeks.
But those new cases were detected among the latest record-high batch of 43,692 coronavirus test results reported to the Illinois Department of Public Health, lowering the state’s testing positivity rate over the last week to 3%.
That rate is still up from just 2.5% last week, a “mild uptick” that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said worries him that Illinois could be on the brink of a case surge such as those seen in dozens of other states.
Read the full story by Mitchell Armentrout here.
6:30 p.m. CPS parents have mixed reactions to a part-time return to classroom
After months of debate and guesses, Chicago Public Schools families learned Friday what school would look like in the fall — and they had mixed reactions.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS officials announced their tentative plan to put most students back in classrooms two days a week with remote learning the other three days. High school juniors and seniors will keep learning at home full-time. All families can opt out of in-person learning for any reason.
Estrella Cedeno, a 36-year-old mother of five and West Rogers Park resident, has three children in CPS. She said she thinks it’s too soon to bring students back to school, and plans to keep her kids at home even if the two-day-a-week format moves forward.
Read the full story by Jade Yan here
3:15 p.m. How does COVID-19 affect kids? Science has answers and gaps
What role children play in the coronavirus pandemic is the hot-button question of the summer as kids relish their free time while schools labor over how to resume classes.
The Trump administration says the science “is very clear,” but many doctors who specialize in pediatrics and infectious diseases say much of the evidence is inconclusive.
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions. That is the biggest challenge,” said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a pediatrics professor at the University of Florida and former scientist at the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Several studies suggest, but don’t prove, that children are less likely to become infected than adults and more likely to have only mild symptoms.
Read the full story here.
2:35 p.m. Northern Indiana county joins others in mandating face masks
INDIANAPOLIS — Northern Indiana’s LaPorte County on Friday became the latest local government in the state with a mandate for people to wear face masks in public due to a recent growth in the number of coronavirus hospitalizations.
At least three other nearby counties, along with the cities of Indianapolis, Evansville and West Lafayette also have imposed mask requirements. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has encouraged the wearing of face coverings but has declined to issue a statewide mandate.
1:40 p.m. 6 key questions about buying a car during the pandemic
Looking for a deal on a car in the midst of the pandemic?
There are some to be had, but don’t expect everything to be on sale just because the economy is sputtering.
Automakers dialed back discounts in June after ramping them up in May, and interest rates have ticked upward after reaching historic lows.
However, deals are still better than this time last year.
Read more to find six key questions about new- and used-car shopping.
11:24 a.m. COVID-19 claims one of Chicago’s ‘Fighting O’Shea Brothers’
Tom O’Shea taught his students to love Hemingway and Gwendolyn Brooks and also how to deliver a good left hook.
As a young man, he fought in the same tournaments as Muhammad Ali. He went on to be a high school English teacher and boxing coach who sent the students he called his “Matadors” on to the Olympics, Hollywood and productive lives.
He was one of Chicago’s “Fighting O’Shea Brothers.” Back when the city’s Golden Gloves boxing finals were one of the nation’s hottest tickets, the four Irish immigrant siblings were some of its most popular pugilists. This was an era long before people had hundreds of TV channels, streaming and video games.
All four O’Sheas — Brian, Michael, Rory and Tom — fought in national Golden Gloves competitions in the early 1960s. Brian, Rory and Tom won at the national level — Tom in 1961, according to the book “Chicago Amateur Boxing.”
After tearing a groin muscle in a fall, Mr. O’Shea, who had Lewy body dementia, entered a North Side rehabilitation facility. But when his daughters learned another patient there had tested positive for COVID-19, “We pulled him out immediately,” she said.
They moved Mr. O’Shea back to his Lincoln Square home, but he, too, developed the coronavirus and died April 16.
Read the full story from Maureen O’Donnell here.
10 a.m. How coronavirus will reshape the upcoming school year
Most Chicago Public Schools students are set to return to classrooms two days a week this fall under a plan that still includes part-time remote learning months after efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus forced the closure of schools in an unprecedented disruption to education.
The partial return for the majority of the 300,000 students at non-charter schools means many of the same challenges remain for families and staff who are concerned about their health, students in special education and working-class parents who will continue scrambling to find reliable childcare on the days their children are at home.
City officials are implementing stringent health protocols at their more than 500 schools — a requirement most parents and teachers requested to support the plan — such as daily temperature checks, universal masking and routine cleaning with the help of 400 new janitors. They also call for social distancing “to the greatest extent possible,” and are keeping high school juniors and seniors on full-time remote learning to lessen crowding at schools. Families with students of all ages will be allowed to opt out of in-person schooling for any reason.
Read more about what will change for the 2020-21 school year here.
8:54 a.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.
7:53 a.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.
New cases
- Yoan Moncada rejoins White Sox after testing positive for coronavirus.
- 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.
- Boxer Tom O’Shea, a beloved Chicago high school teacher and coach who sent three boxers to the 1996 Olympics, has died of COVID-19. He was 81.
Analysis & Commentary
1:30 p.m. Pandemic shows the need for an American manufacturing revival that Chicago could lead
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of U.S. manufacturing — and shown how digital technology can pave the way for its revival. A few local demonstrations:
- mHUB, a Chicago product startup incubator, teamed with 700 Illinois businesses to produce critical medical supplies as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s essential equipment task force. The accomplishments included designing and building hospital ventilators that cost just $350, made from off-the-shelf parts.
- Azul 3D, a startup founded by three Northwestern University researchers, used its high-speed 3D printer to make face shield parts. It developed a prototype in 24 hours and produced enough components in 48 hours to make 1,000 shields per printer per day.
- Fusion OEM, a Burr Ridge systems integrator specializing in robots that operate alongside humans to perform repetitive tasks, is working with two medical equipment manufacturers and a food-processing company to install more robots to meet pandemic-related spikes in demand.
Read more from columnist Ed Zotti’s City at the Crossroads column here.
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.
