After more than a month under tighter restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, the Metro East region will return to phase four rules that allow indoor dining and bar service and gatherings of up to 50 people, state officials said Friday.
The region outside St. Louis was the first in Illinois to see a scaled back reopening in August after it passed a state-set threshold of an 8% positivity rate for three consecutive days.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday reported 2,818 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, as well as 35 more confirmed fatalities.
The total number of known infections now stands at 313,518 and the death toll to 8,945 statewide since the pandemic began. Officials also reported 71,599 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.8%.
Additionally, Lake County has been added to the list of counties under warning for a potential resurgence of the coronavirus, state health officials said Friday. The weekly list from the IDPH includes 26 counties, down from 28 a week earlier.
On Thursday, the daily number of new known coronavirus cases announced by Illinois officials was the highest in nearly five months, except for a day in early September when the state caught up on a testing backlog. The 3,059 new known cases on Thursday represented the first time the daily count has topped 3,000 since May 14, when IDPH reported 3,239 cases.
COVID-19 in Illinois by the numbers: Here’s a daily update on key metrics in your area
COVID-19 cases in Illinois by ZIP code: Search for your neighborhood
Chicago’s travel quarantine list: Here’s what you need to know to avoid a large fine
Illinois coronavirus graphs: The latest data on deaths, confirmed cases, tests and more
Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
5:40 p.m.: Gen Z college grads struggle to launch careers in pandemic economy. ‘I chose the worst year to get my life together.’
Kevin Zheng had big plans lined up as he prepared to graduate in the spring with a degree in criminal justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The 23-year-old thought he’d enter the job market well-prepared, with an internship at the Chicago Police Department on his resume.
But the COVID-19 health crisis upended that plan. His internship was canceled, his graduation was delayed until August, and he sat in his bedroom for the virtual commencement ceremony. Now he’s looking for a job in a pandemic-induced recession.
“I chose the worst year to get my life together,” said Zheng, a first-generation college graduate who lives in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood.
As the coronavirus pandemic wears on, Zheng and other recent college graduates are grappling with a tight job market, high unemployment rates and pressure to find work to pay off student loans.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
5:20 p.m.: FitzGerald’s closes temporarily after employee tests positive for coronavirus
FitzGerald’s Nightclub in Berwyn, one of the few local venues still programming live music during the pandemic, said Friday it will close temporarily for a “wellness break” because an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
The worker was last on site 12 days ago, said the statement posted early Friday afternoon on the club’s website, “so we believe this club member was not contagious during their last shift.”
“We just know it’s the right thing to do,” owner Will Duncan said. “A staff member tests positive, you wait to verify that everyone is negative before you reopen.”
Lost will be a busy weekend, at minimum, including shows by Expo ’76 and the Waco Brothers and a guest stint on the grill by chef Stephanie Izard of Girl and the Goat that was planned for Saturday night.
“It would be easy to be tempted by trying to preserve everyone’s good time,” Duncan said. “But I believe very strongly in our safety protocols and in being open and honest with each other as work colleagues and being super transparent with our public.”
Read more here. —Steve Johnson
1:41 p.m.: High schools in Northbrook, Glenview report at least two COVID-19 cases during first week of hybrid learning
Just days into its new hybrid learning plan, Glenbrook High School District 225 temporarily moved back into e-learning Friday after reports of at least two positive COVID-19 cases in the schools, according to officials.
The district designated Friday as an e-learning day to deep clean the schools, but officials expect to move forward with hybrid learning again next week, Superintendent Charles Johns wrote in a letter to families on Thursday.
After operating completely virtually for the first month and a half of school, the district recently moved forward into the hybrid phase of its return-to-school plan. The hybrid model, when fully implemented, will bring back all interested students on a staggered schedule in which half attend school each morning and the other half attend each afternoon.
To ease into this hybrid model, the district began a two-week phased approach on Oct. 5, bringing only one grade level into the building each day while the others continued learning remotely. It was expected by district officials to be fully implemented with all students by Oct. 20.
According to Johns in the letter to families, the district learned on Wednesday evening that a Glenbrook South student had tested positive. On Thursday, the district learned that a second-shift staff member at Glenbrook North had also tested positive.
Johns said the district is also “currently monitoring multiple suspected and probable student and staff cases in the district” but did not specify how many.
Read more here. —Kaitlin Edquist
1 p.m.: Lake County added to warning list
Lake County has been added to the list of counties under warning for a potential resurgence of the coronavirus, state health officials said Friday.
Lake County was added to this week’s list because there have been 90 coronavirus cases per 100,000 and because there has been a recent surge in emergency room visits for COVID-19-like illness, which accounted for 4.3% of all visits for the week ending Oct. 3, more than double the rate two weeks earlier.
The weekly list from the Illinois Department of Public Health includes 26 counties, down from 28 a week earlier. Counties are added to the list when they reach two or more bench marks indicating the virus that causes COVID-19 is spreading locally, such as more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents or when the death toll increases by more than 20% for two straight weeks.
The other counties on this week’s list are: Case, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Effingham, Fayette, Henderson, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lee, Mason, Massac, Pulaski, Richland, Saline, Shelby, Union, Vermilion, Whiteside, Winnebago, and Warren.
Public health officials continue to warn that some businesses are “blatantly disregarding” restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, including mask requirements and social distancing guidelines.
State health officials continue to warn of outbreaks connected to large gatherings, bars and clubs, weddings and funerals, college and sports teams, family gatherings, long-term care facilities, prisons and jails, and schools. There also are continued cases of community spread, especially among people in their 20s, health officials said.
—Dan Petrella
12:03 p.m.: 2,818 new known COVID-19 cases and 35 additional deaths reported
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday reported 2,818 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, as well as 35 more confirmed fatalities.
The total number of known infections now stands at 313,518 and the death toll to 8,945 statewide since the pandemic began. Officials also reported 71,599 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide positivity rate is 3.8%.
—Chicago Tribune staff
Noon: After ending negotiations, Trump now says he wants bigger relief package than Democrats as McConnell says deal ‘unlikely’
The White House is boosting its offer in up-and-down COVID-19 aid talks Friday in hopes of an agreement before Election Day, even as President Donald Trump’s most powerful GOP ally in the Senate said Congress is unlikely to deliver relief by then.
Trump on Friday took to Twitter to declare, “Covid Relief Negotiations are moving along. Go Big!” A top economic adviser said the Trump team is upping its offer in advance of a Friday conversation between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
A GOP aide familiar with the new offer said it is about $1.8 trillion, with a key state and local fiscal relief component moving from $250 billion to at least $300 billion. The White House says its most recent offer was about $1.6 trillion. The aide requested anonymity because the negotiations are private.
Pelosi’s most recent public offer was about $2.2 trillion, though that included a business tax increase that Republicans won’t go for.
But GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told an audience in Kentucky that he doesn’t see a deal coming together soon out of a “murky” situation in which the participants in the negotiations are elbowing for political advantage.
Read more here. —Associated Press
11:07 a.m.: Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro says he’s tested positive for the coronavirus
In a statement posted Friday morning on Facebook, U.S. Rep. Mike Bost announced he has contracted COVID-19.
Bost, a Republican from Murphysboro, wrote that he was made aware of his diagnosis Thursday night.
“Despite taking my temperature regularly and having no evidence of a fever, I experienced a mild cough and a rapid loss of both taste and smell and recognized it was important to get tested immediately,” Bost wrote.
Read more here. —The Southern Illinoisan
11:02 a.m.: iO Theater of Chicago is for sale
At the end of what has been a stunning week for Chicago comedy and improvisation, the venerable iO Theater announced Friday that it, too, has put itself up for sale.
The announcement came just days after news that its much bigger rival, Second City, declared itself also to be on the block.
The iO (once ImprovOlympic) only dates to 1981, as compared to 1959 for Second City. Nonetheless, both theaters are privately held, for-profit operations that share a parallel history, rivalry and centrality in the history of American comedy, along with associations with now-famous talents like Tina Fey, Mike Myers and Amy Poehler and reputations for making stars of the entertainment business. Each has been closed since March and thus starved of box-office revenue due to city and state regulations limiting the size of indoor gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both also have been buffeted by internal accusations of racial inequity and demands for change from some former students in comedy classes and also from past performers.
Read more here. —Chris Jones
10:56 a.m.: State returns Metro East region outside St. Louis to Phase 4 reopening rules after weeks under tighter restrictions
After more than a month under tighter restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, the Metro East region will return to phase four rules that allow indoor dining and bar service and gatherings of up to 50 people, state officials said Friday.
The region outside St. Louis was the first in Illinois to see a scaled back reopening in August after it passed a state-set threshold of an 8% positivity rate for three consecutive days.
The region can return to phase four of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan at 5 p.m. Friday, after its percentage of positive tests fell below 6.5% this week for three days in a row.
The region reached a high 10.5% rolling positivity rate Aug. 27, and now sits at 5.8%, Pritzker’s office said Friday.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
7:20 a.m.: Chicago businesses cited for violations of masking rules, 3 ordered shut down long-term after alleged violations of COVID-19 rules
The most frequent citation issued to Chicago businesses by city officials under COVID-19 rules since the lifting of tight coronavirus restrictions in June has been for failure to follow rules requiring masks, while only three businesses have been ordered shut long-term, according to the city.
A total of 149 businesses have had tickets issued by the city’s business affairs department for allegations of violating reopening guidelines, 114 of the citations citing violations of mask rules, according to a city news release. Another 72 businesses have had citations issued related to failure to enforce social-distancing rules, according to the city.
City “investigators will continue to hold businesses accountable to all of the reopening guidelines, especially as we approach Halloween, with a particular focus on the most common violations: failure to ensure proper social distancing, and failure to ensure that employers and customers are wearing face coverings,” the city said.
Long-term closure orders have been issued to three businesses “for egregious and repeated violations of the reopening guidelines,” according to the release. All three were drinking establishments: Wise Owl Drinkery & Cookhouse, 324 S. Racine Ave., Cork & Kerry, 10614 S. Western Ave., and The Lotus Black, 1540 W. North Ave. There have been 42 other businesses issued one-day closure orders because of violations, according to the city.
Of the mask citations, 86 involved failure to ensure customers wore face coverings and 70 involved employees failing to wearing face coverings, according to the city.
—Chicago Tribune staff
6:45 a.m. 3 new COVID-19 cases in Highland Park, Deerfield high schools; officials stop saying if those infected are staff or students, say uptick isn’t an outbreak
Township High School District 113 officials announced Thursday that three individuals in the district have tested positive for COVID-19 – following other such notifications in recent weeks – but officials say it won’t hinder plans to move students to a hybrid learning mode.
“We’ve had cases every now and then since we’ve been back in school,” Superintendent Brue Law told Pioneer Press. “It’s a part of life right now.”
The latest positive COVID-19 cases include two individuals at Highland Park High School and one at Deerfield High School. Each of the notifications sent to parents and guardians, students and staff – one sent Thursday morning from Deerfield Principal Kathryn Anderson and the other distributed later that afternoon from Highland Park Principal Deborah Flynn – state that the individuals involved are now in isolation and that the district is working closely with the Lake County Health Department on contact tracing.
SD113 spokeswoman Karen Warner said she would not give out any information about the individuals who tested positive, including their identities or whether they are students or staff members.
Though previous district notifications of positive COVID-19 incidents have never explicitly identified the affected person, citing privacy laws, there had been an indication as to whether the individual was a student or staff. District leaders said they are now advised by the county health department to no longer reveal that, and the notices now only state that an “individual” has been infected.
Read more here. —Graydon Megan
5 a.m.: No parade on Columbus Day amid pandemic concerns and controversy over explorer’s legacy
There will be a lot less fanfare than usual on Columbus Day in Chicago this year.
As criticism of Christopher Columbus’ place in history has grown, clashes erupted over the removal of statues in his honor this summer and Chicago schools officially dropped his name from the holiday.
Traditionally, Monday would be marked with a parade that celebrates Columbus’ voyage to America and Italian American culture. However, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, facing a reckoning over Columbus’ legacy and concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, dropped plans for the parade.
The organization plans to host a rally and car procession Monday, according to its website. Organizers did not immediately return requests for comment. The city has no scheduled events.
Read more here. —Jessica Villagomez and Hannah Leone
5 a.m.: Researchers surprised: 20% of Chicagoans in blood-test study came up positive for coronavirus antibodies
Nearly 1 in 5 Chicago residents who sent blood-spot samples to Northwestern University researchers tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to preliminary results of an ongoing study.
That 20% infection rate is higher than the scientists anticipated based on earlier research, said Dr. Elizabeth McNally, director of the Center for Genetic Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. One study by other Northwestern researchers tested hospital workers from across the Chicago region and found antibodies in less than 5%.
The latest project, called Screening for Coronavirus Antibodies in Neighborhoods, or SCAN, is examining infection rates in five pairs of adjoining Chicago ZIP codes where rates of previously reported COVID-19 cases differed widely. Though the research is continuing, McNally said enough testing has been done to draw some initial conclusions.
Read more here. —Hal Dardick
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In case you missed it
Here are five things that happened Thursday related to COVID-19:
An IHSA doctor said high school basketball could happen in Illinois if players wear masks.
A Winnetka businessman was charged with price gouging in the sale of protective masks during the pandemic.
The daily count of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Illinois topped 3,000 for the first time since mid-May.
Wisconsin surpassed 3,000 new COVID-19 cases for first time as the Upper Midwest and Plains emerge as troubling hot spots.
Orland Park dropped a lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker challenging COVID-19 restrictions.
