Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday announced an effort to ramp up contact tracing in Illinois with a pair of pilot programs in Lake and St. Clair counties.
Pritzker has said that a comprehensive way to track, notify and quarantine everyone who has had significant contact with diagnosed COVID-19 patients is one of the key requirements for fully reopening the state.
Illinois officials also reported 2,294 new COVID-19 infections and 59 additional deaths. The latest numbers pushed the statewide total of known cases to 96,485 and deaths to 4,234.
Earlier Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city will be fining churches that had more people out than allowed under the statewide stay-at-home order. This came after at least 100 people gathered for services at a Belmont-Cragin church on Sunday.
Here’s what’s happening Monday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:24 p.m.: Lawsuit claims negligence in coronavirus-related death of resident at Bria of Geneva nursing home
The family of a woman who died with the coronavirus at a nursing home in Geneva filed a lawsuit Monday, alleging that the facility left its residents vulnerable by failing to follow basic precautions against the spread of the disease.
Bria of Geneva officials disputed the allegations, reporting that most of those who had COVID-19 there never showed any symptoms from a “silent enemy.”
The lawsuit, filed in Kane County Circuit Court, claims that the nursing home was negligent in failing to provide adequate protective equipment and testing, and failed to isolate sick residents, allowing the disease to spread like wildfire through the facility. There were 122 cases reported at the home as of Friday and 22 deaths, among the highest totals in the state. Read more here. — Robert McCoppin
6:47 p.m.: Chef José Andrés visits coronavirus testing site in Chicago, delivers meals to school and hospital
Chef José Andrés, perhaps best known now for his humanitarian work worldwide, joined actor Sean Penn and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot at a new coronavirus testing site on the Northwest Side on Monday.
World Central Kitchen, the non-profit founded by Andrés, will help provide meals for workers at new testing sites in the Hanson Park and Little Village neighborhoods. The chef created the non-governmental organization in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He emerged as an outspoken leader during disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017. Read more here. — Louisa Chu
6:27 p.m.: State Farm cuts auto rates $2.2 billion as Americans continue to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic
State Farm announced Monday it will cut its auto insurance rates by $2.2 billion as Americans continue to drive less as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bloomington-based firm is the nation’s largest underwriter of auto insurance. State Farm is seeking regulatory approval in each state to reduce auto rates nationwide, and it estimates the national average for those rate cuts to be 11%.
Last month, State Farm said it would return $2 billion to policyholders as part of its “Good Neighbor Relief Program” because fewer people are driving during the health crisis. Most auto policyholders received a 25% credit. All together, State Farm estimates its customers could save about $4.2 billion between the rate reduction and the rebate. Read more here. — Abdel Jimenez
4:38 p.m.: Chicago aldermen, restaurateurs call for crackdown on delivery apps
Chicago restaurant owners and aldermen on Monday called for crackdowns on third-party restaurant delivery fees and practices that are facing increased scrutiny as their business booms while restaurants struggle to keep operating during Chicago’s COVID-19 shutdown.
Grub Hub, Door Dash and other delivery apps that take additional fees from restaurants in exchange for delivering food have been criticized in recent months because of the various costs they charge restaurants in order to make deliveries.
Beverly Kim, co-owner of Avondale restaurants Parachute and Wherewithal, told a City Council committee Monday that her restaurants don’t deliver. But she realized recently that a delivery company had set up a fake Website advertising Parachute and offering to deliver food to people’s homes, she said. Read more here. — John Byrne
4:01 p.m.: Pritzker says investigation into unemployment portal data breach is ongoing
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday the state is continuing to investigate how many people were affected by a data breach in a new Illinois Department of Employment Security unemployment portal that made private information of Illinois residents public last week.
It’s unclear at this point how many people were affected, but private information for some people applying for unemployment benefits, such as addresses and social security numbers, was publicly exposed.
Deloitte built the new state system, which went live last week for gig workers to apply for federally-funded unemployment benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
The glitch was “something that was a result of the work that was done to build it,” Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus briefing on Monday. “But they are offering credit reporting for all of those who are affected by it to make sure that they can monitor their credit in case there’s any problem that they may undergo. But we are still investigating the number of people who were affected by it and we want to make sure that we get the system completely hack-proof and safe.”
For months, people have reported issues accessing the online filing system and getting through by phone, which Pritzker has blamed on inadequate technology and understaffing at the agency.
A constituent contacted Republican state Rep. Terri Bryant last week to say she “stumbled upon” personal information for thousands of unemployment applicants on the IDES website, while trying to apply for benefits herself. —Jamie Munks
3:52 p.m.: Harper College decides to keep campus mostly shut in the fall
Classes at Harper College will continue to be mostly online in the fall.
As other area community colleges and four-year institutions wrestle with when and how to reopen, the Palatine-based school has decided to keep its Palatine campus mostly closed in the autumn and to continue to deliver most instruction online. Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
3:29 p.m.: Cook County Forest Preserves head urges residents avoid gatherings on Memorial Day weekend ahead of more parking lot closures: ‘That’s not a safe way to celebrate’
On a regular year, Cook County Forest Preserves enthusiasts would be dusting off their grills and wrapping up picnic baskets in preparation for this Memorial Day weekend.
But amid the coronavirus outbreak, the head of the nature preserves system is pleading with residents to stay away from the county’s 70,000 acres of nature and wildlife this holiday weekend.
“That is not something I ever expected to say,” Arnold Randall, the forest preserves general superintendent, said in a Monday news conference.
“It goes against our entire history and all of our efforts every day to provide a place where people can access the outdoors in nature right here in Cook County. This is a testament to the importance of stopping the spread of this deadly disease.”
To drive away crowds at the preserves, Cook County will be closing two additional parking lots during the three-day weekend and extending existing weekend closures to Monday. Read more here. —Alice Yin
2:58 p.m.: Windy City Smokeout cancels 2020, shifts lineup to 2021
Windy City Smokeout, the annual country music and barbecue fest slated for July in the United Center Parking lots, announced Monday it is canceling this year’s event out of coronavirus concerns.
“We’re optimistic we can all get together again next summer,” says the event’s web page. “If the public health situation allows, we will hold the festival on July 9-11, 2021. Our buddies Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley & Jon Pardi will return as our festival headliners. That’s right; same parking lot, same party.”
The event is offering this year’s ticket holders a food-credit bonus for hanging on to them and using them next year. Refunds are also available but must be requested by June 17, the site says. Read more here. —Steve Johnson
2:43 p.m.: Pritzker announces effort to ramp up contact tracing; 2,294 new known COVID-19 infections and 59 additional deaths reported
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday announced an effort to ramp up contact tracing in Illinois with a pair of pilot programs in Lake and St. Clair counties.
Pritzker has said that a comprehensive way to track, notify and quarantine everyone who has had significant contact with diagnosed COVID-19 patients is one of the key requirements for fully reopening the state.
With a significant increase in testing for COVID-19 in the state over the past month, short of 30% of known cases in the state are part of a contact tracing effort. The goal is to more than double that to “the industry standard of over 60%,” Pritzker said Monday.
The state Department of Public Health is engaging with 97 local health departments across the state on their abilities to “expand and deploy their contact tracing capabilities.” The state Department of Public Health will coordinate funding for local health departments to hire contact tracers using federal aid dollars and Disaster Relief Act funding.
State officials on Monday announced 2,294 new known cases of COVID-19, pushing the statewide total to 96,485 since the pandemic began. Nearly all Illinois counties – 100 of 102 – have seen confirmed cases. There have been 59 additional deaths, for a total of 4,234 deaths statewide. —Jamie Munks
2:33 p.m.: Uber laying off another 3,000 workers, raising questions about the company’s future in Chicago
Uber Technologies is laying off 3,000 additional workers and closing about 45 offices around the world as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll on the company’s main profit generator, its ride-share business.
The news throws into question the tech giant’s plans for Chicago. Uber already halted construction on its massive space at The Old Post Office last month because of the pandemic, and pushed back its move-in date from this fall.
The San Francisco-based company announced last year that it signed a 10-year lease for 463,000 square feet in the long-vacant Old Post Office. Uber planned to consolidate its Chicago offices and hire 2,000 employees over three years.
“While we don’t expect to use those offices until 2021, we don’t anticipate any changes to our strategy at this point,” Uber spokeswoman Lois van der Laan said in an email Monday.
She declined to share how many people in Uber’s Chicago offices are being cut.
The company had more than 1,000 employees in the Chicago area as of September, including workers in the Uber Eats and Uber Ride businesses, such as sales staff, lawyers, marketing, and operational staff for Chicago and other Midwest markets. Read more here. —Ally Marotti
2:07 p.m.: Civil rights groups decry anti-Semitic and other hate messages at stay-at-home protests
Civil rights groups on Monday spoke out against anti-Semitic and other messages of hate among stay-at-home protesters in Springfield and Chicago.
Swastikas have appeared on some signs carried by the demonstrators, with at least one comparing Gov. J.B. Pritzker — who is Jewish — with Hitler.
“Invoking Hitler is not only grossly inapt but it is counterproductive,” said Lonnie Nasatir, president of Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago. “It is a real affront to Americans who fought against Nazis as well as survivors of the Holocaust.”
Andy Kang, executive director of the Association of Asian Americans for Justice Chicago, said such rhetoric is dangerous.
“It’s not about the stay at home orders,” he said. “Hateful rhetoric has almost always led to violence and hate incidents.”
Sindy Benavides, head of the League of United Latin American Citizens, noted that COVID-19 cases are grow among Latinos and he worried about the pressures felt by vulnerable people.
“It is our hope that individuals respect the state at home orders, especially for those who can not work from home,” she said. —Jessica Villagomez
1:17 p.m.: Business owners now face misdemeanor charge if they reopen in spite of Pritzker’s stay-at-home order
Business owners who disregard a statewide stay-at-home order to reopen could now face a Class A misdemeanor under an emergency rule Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration filed late last week.
The new enforcement provision comes as the state nears the beginning of a third month under Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, which faces growing opposition.
Among the businesses the new rule targets are restaurants, bars, gyms and fitness centers, salons and barbershops, which have been ordered closed to serving customers on-site since March.
Under Illinois law, a Class A misdemeanor can carry a fine of $75 to $2,500. Read more here. —Jamie Munks and Rick Pearson
1:13 p.m.: Five reasons your stimulus check may have been for less than you expected
Why is my stimulus check so scrawny? Why am I getting far less than I thought I would?
As much as you’d like to be happy about seeing a stimulus check in your mailbox — or spotting the direct deposit in your bank account — sometimes, you end up wondering why you didn’t see more money.
And more people than some might imagine are miffed. The Internal Revenue Service even now has listed a group of reasons for why the dollar amount of your Economic Impact Payment could be, as the IRS delicately puts it, “different than anticipated.”
Many people already have received stimulus payments of up to $1,200 for singles and up to $2,400 for couples, plus $500 for dependent children ages 16 and younger.
But those amounts aren’t guaranteed. They will vary based on your income. And in some cases, you might not see any money at all.
Here’s a look at some reasons why your stimulus might have fallen a little short. Read more here. —Detroit Free Press
12:23 p.m.: Chicago public health officials report 626 COVID-19 cases in homeless shelters, two deaths among workers there
There have been at least 626 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Chicago homeless shelters, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. Two staff members at the shelters have died from complications of the virus as of May 14.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said it was “pretty remarkable” that no homeless people have died from the virus so far.
She credited the use of downtown hotels to isolate residents and “decompress” the shelters.
Arwady discussed the statistics during a public Q&A forum on Monday. Last week, the city released data on positivity rates in shelters, with about 12% of people living in single rooms testing positive for the virus compared to 32% of people in shared sleeping arrangements. —Cecilia Reyes
11:10 a.m.: Lightfoot says city will fine churches that violated social distancing rules
The city will be fining churches that had more people out than allowed under the statewide stay-at-home order, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday.
Which ones specifically will be determined later today, Lightfoot said.
Over the past week, Lightfoot had been asking churches to abide by social distancing rules and warning that she would take action against churches that refused.
But on Sunday, hundreds of people defied Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order to attend church anyway and the mayor’s office warned that violators may be cited after review.
At an unrelated news conference to highlight coronavirus testing sites aimed at black and brown communities, Lightfoot said the city would be fining those churches that didn’t comply with her directives, though she didn’t specify which. Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
11 a.m.: Actor Sean Penn joins Lightfoot on tour of Chicago coronavirus testing site
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and actor Sean Penn toured one of the coronavirus testing sites she set up with support from his charity on Monday, drawing attention to expanded testing aimed at black and brown communities and lower-income residents.
Last week, the city announced it would ramp up Chicago’s COVID-19 testing capacity ahead of a potential reopening by adding six sites in mostly black and brown communities with an assist from Community Organized Relief Effort, a charity Penn co-founded with Ann Lee.
Standing at a podium outside Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science school on the Northwest Side with Penn behind her, Lightfoot emphasized that the tests are free and officials won’t ask about immigration status.
“Please, please come out of the shadows,” Lightfoot said.
Penn, who’s known for his humanitarian work, said his organization exists to help governments and other organizations address public health issues.
“We like to think of ourselves as a quick unbureaucratic weapon in the arsenal of bureaucracies,” Penn said. Read more here. —Gregory Pratt
10:18 a.m.: The pandemic is boosting a stagnant meal kit industry. But will interest persist when people are no longer stuck at home?
Meal kit services like Chicago-based Home Chef are enjoying a surge in demand as legions of people cook from home amid COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. That’s a welcome development for an industry that was crowded with more than 100 competitors and stagnating before the coronavirus struck.
The share of the population using meal kits has grown to 7% since the pandemic began, after being stuck at 5% all of last year, according to Darren Seifer, food and beverage analyst with NPD Group. The lift may be temporary, but some say it could be a seminal moment as people avoid going out and look to stretch their dollars.
“These meal kits have an opportunity now to prove their value,” Seifer said. Read more here. —Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
8:38 a.m.: Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial shows promising early results, it says
The first coronavirus vaccine to be tested in people appears to be safe and able to stimulate an immune response against the virus, its manufacturer, Moderna, announced Monday.
The findings are based on results from the first eight people who each received two doses of the vaccine, starting in March.
Those people, healthy volunteers, made antibodies that were then tested in human cells in the lab and were able to stop the virus from replicating — the key requirement for an effective vaccine. The levels of those so-called neutralizing antibodies matched the levels found in patients who had recovered after contracting the virus in the community.
The company has said that it is proceeding on an accelerated timetable, with the second phase involving 600 people to begin soon, and a third phase to begin in July involving thousands of healthy people. The Food and Drug Administration gave Moderna the go-ahead for the second phase earlier this month. Read more here. —The New York Times
7:58 a.m.: After ending extra hazard ‘hero’ pay, Kroger to give bonus to front-line workers
Just days after announcing it would end hazard “hero” pay to front-line workers, Kroger says it will give them extra “thank you” bonuses, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
The move comes after an outcry from the grocery store’s union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International, which said workers are still risking their lives by coming to work.
The bonus is $400 for full-time workers and $200 for part-time workers to be paid out in two installments on May 30 and June 18, Kroger announced Friday. Hazard pay was a $2-per-hour supplement. Read more here. —Associated Press
6:30 a.m.: Lakeview restaurant worker struck by deliveryman during quarrel over social distancing, police say
Criminal charges were pending against a food delivery driver who was recorded driving his Toyota Prius into a worker during a quarrel outside a Lakeview restaurant, authorities said.
The incident took place around 6:15 p.m. Friday outside Ms. T’s Southern Fried Chicken in the 3300 block of North Broadway, Chicago police confirmed.
A 40-second video posted to YouTube picks up after the quarrel has already begun and showed two women standing along the curb blocking the driver’s car from traffic. “He threatened to run me over!” said a woman standing just off camera, exchanging words with the driver behind the wheel wearing a face mask. Read more here. —William Lee
6 a.m.: Chicago’s St. Anthony Hospital fights for survival, sues state for money owed
In a workshop at St. Anthony Hospital, maintenance crews spend time each morning making the sanitizing wipes the medical center can no longer afford to buy.
After soaking paper towels in a liquid mixture developed by an infection preventionist, they deliver the 3.5-gallon buckets — bright green drums with “Menards” printed on them — throughout the 151-bed hospital.
The regular vendor stopped supplying the wipes weeks ago when the medical center struggled to pay its bills on time. And a worldwide shortage has made them difficult to find on the open market, where hospitals now try to outbid each other for precious stock.
With a century-old mission to care for people living in Little Village and other nearby neighborhoods, this is the unorthodox approach St. Anthony must take as it battles both insolvency and a deadly virus that has hit the neighborhoods it serves harder than other parts of the city.
“We needed a solution and we found one,” said Dr. Alfredo Mena Lora, the hospital’s medical director of infection prevention. “There has been a lot of difficult problem-solving since the pandemic began, but it had to be done because we’ll be dealing with COVID for a long time.”
If, that is, St. Anthony can survive. Read more here. —Stacy St. Clair
6 a.m.: With a new, stricter grading system — plus warmer weather — Cook County is now getting a D on social distancing
Chicago still has work to do when it comes to staying at home, according to one assessment.
Residents of Chicago and the surrounding Cook County suburbs are now getting a D in social distancing from a New York City data firm that’s been grading the country on compliance with stay-at-home orders.
That’s a significant drop from late March, when the area got an A, but the difference is more about revisions to the grading system than a huge change in behavior. Unacast, the firm drawing the measurements from a sampling of cellphone data, toughened its criteria based on input from public health experts.
Grades also fell in many other locales across the country, including Chicago’s collar counties and Illinois as a whole. Some areas, however, fared better than the Chicago region. New York City, perhaps hit harder by COVID-19 than anywhere else in the United States, scored a B as of Friday. Read more here. —Hal Dardick
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