EVENING NEWS CLIPS – 4.10.20

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT

MLL JOINS LABOR LEADERS TO TOUR MCCORMICK PLACE

CBS2 News at 6PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

ANCHOR: More than 2200 beds are now ready for covid-19 patients if needed. 600 workers spent the last two weeks building at the empty halls to an alternate care facility is what they are calling it. the facility is expected to be ready to accept patients next week, if needed.

ABC7 News at 6PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: Today is mid-April and I think we have a long way to go before we start looking at events in July and August.

ANCHOR: Mayor Lori Lightfoot getting a tour of stunning progress at the ultimate care facility at

WGN News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: I want to stress just how remarkable it was to pull all this together in such a short period

FOX32 News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: MLL: the goal here is to be ready when the first patients come, people aren't going to be able to walk up and admit themselves to this facility.

PLACKO: I’m Dane Placko live at McCormick place, where earlier today we had a tour along with

ABC7 News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Ranch

*MLL: The goal here is to be ready for the first patient to come. people will not be able to walk up and admit themselves to this facility.

ANCHOR: the mayor getting a tour of the newest phase of the alternate care facility built at

NBC5 News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick place

*MLL: For the past week we have hired over 400 medical staff and over 300 of them have come completed their training we've received hundreds of negative pressure tents from Oregon.

ANCHOR: As numbers continue to rise here in Illinois, McCormick place is ramping up to begin

NBC5 News at 4PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick place

*MLL: For the past week we have hired over 400 medical staff and over 300 of them have come completed their training we've received hundreds of negative pressure tents from Oregon.

ANCHOR: As numbers continue to rise here in Illinois, McCormick place is ramping up to begin accepting patients. Today Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot took us inside the updated medical

WGN News at 4PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: I want to stress just how remarkable it was to pull all this together in such a short period of time.

Transformed from convention center to medical facility, Chicago’s McCormick Place now has 1,750 beds ready for coronavirus patients

TRIBUNE//Gregory Pratt

The transformation of McCormick Place from a convention center into a medical center continued Friday as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the completion of 1,750 rooms to help future patients infected with the new coronavirus. Illinois and Chicago officials have joined with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois National Guard to build out the city’s lakefront convention site with beds for sick people in anticipation of a possible crush of COVID-19 patients that could overwhelm area hospitals.

MLL SAYS IT’S TOO SOON TO CANCEL SUMMER EVENTS

WGN News at 4PM: MLL says it's too soon to cancel summer events

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: Mid-April and I think we have a long way to go before we start looking at events in July and August.

ANCHOR: Well some of this summer's large-scale outdoor events and maybe even your neighborhood festival could be in jeopardy because of covid-19 that's been really tough to hear for a lot of people WGN's Julian crews is live in lake the lake view with more on that Julian.

Too early to make decisions on Chicago’s summer festivals, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says

TRIBUNE//Gregory Pratt and John Byrne

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says it’s too early to decide whether this summer’s Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago will be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I think it’s too soon for us to be talking about events that are happening in July and August,” Lightfoot said. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday cast serious doubt on the summer festival season, cautioning that organizers should “think carefully about canceling large summer events.”

It’s Too Soon To Cancel Summer Events In Chicago, Lightfoot Says

BLOCK CLUB//Kelly Bauer

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said it’s too soon for the city to tell if it will cancel large summer events due to the pandemic. Lightfoot, speaking at a Friday news conference, said it’s simply “too soon” to talk about events that will happen in July and August. Gov. JB Pritzker said a day earlier he thinks all large events planned for the summer should be canceled to limit the spread of coronavirus. But Lightfoot said the city will make those decisions closer to the summer.

MLL URGES FAMILIES TO STAY HOME THIS EASTER SUNDAY

CBS2 News at 6PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

ANCHOR: Sunday is Easter typically time for family gatherings but this weekend, this Easter weekend, a reminder to stay home. use phone calls, videoconferencing to connect with your relatives is being echoed tonight by the head of the Illinois medical district.

NBC5 News at 6PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: Now, this is tough on all of us, myself included, who look to this time to practice traditions that mean so much to ourselves and our loved ones, but it is imperative that this year we worship in a new way.

ABC7 News at 6PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: I implore all Chicagoans and faith leaders to celebrate in any way you can as long as it is done on separation.

ANCHOR: a holy week tradition taking place with a different feel. almost no crowd there. it is a

FOX32 News at 5PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

ANCHOR: Pope Francis has completed a solid good friday service at the vatican, the pope was inside a mostly empty st. peter's basilica, with just a handful of clergy, normally, the good friday mass draws 10,000 people to rome, church leaders say the crowds are missing, but the meaning of the day marking the crucifixion of jesus is not lost. it's a similar scene churches

WGN News at 4PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: the more we do, the faster we'll get through this together. we are indeed seeing progress but that is only because we've been diligent in staying home to save lives.

ANCHOR: many are contemplating travel to visit families for the easter holidays. medical

CPD ANNOUNCES THE LOSS OF AN OFFICER TO COVID-19

NBC5 News at 6PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: we begin with the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. some sad news to share. earlier today we learned a second chicago police officer has died from kpli cases related to the coronavirus. natalie?

MARTINEZ: allison, it is more sobering news. we don't know his name but we do know he was a

CBS2 News at 6PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: Late today we learned a second Chicago police officer died from the coronavirus. his name is not yet been released but we know he is in his 50s, and it started with area central detectives.

ABC7 News at 6PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: more about the police who passed away.

CBS2 News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: this afternoon, another chicago police officer has died. we begin with Chris Tye live at area central. Chris.

NBC5 News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: We begin with the latest on the coronavirus utoutbreak here in illinois. the state is reporting new cases and a second police officer has died from complications of the virus. Carol Marin is joining us with much more on these developments. carol?

MARIN: the governor announced today that the curve of this killing pandemic may be flattening

FOX32 News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

WGN News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: a second chicago police officer has died from complications of covid-19 wgn's marcella raymond is live at on this case marcella.

RAYMOND: So cpd spokesperson says the department is just devastated by now 2 debts of its finest the latest casualty is a sergeant a supervisor, worked at a very central 51st of Wentworth

NBC5 News at 4PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: Natalie Martinez is live with what we know right now.

MARTINEZ: and, Katie, because it happened and we got the information so recently, we don't know yet what his name is, however, we do know from the superintendent that they are

WGN News at 4PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: we've step up the training. we've done a lot of social distancing on efforts particularly around road close to make sure that people are complying with social distancing. and on now before people, check in for duty, they're getting a temperature check at every a district station.

ANCHOR: a second chicago police officer has died from complications of covid-19 wgn's

Second CPD member who tested positive for COVID-19 has died

TRIBUNE//Jeremy Gorner

Another Chicago Police Department member who tested positive for COVID-19 has died, according to sources familiar with the matter. The victim, a police supervisor, is the second department employee to lose his life to the coronavirus. His identity was not immediately released, but sources said he’s a sergeant in the Area Central detective division on the South Side and he got sick from the disease last month.

OTHER MLL NEWS

ABC7 News at 5PM: MLL calls on federal government to allow SNAP benefits for online grocery shopping during Covid-19

Anchor: getting groceries and essential items can be challenging during this pandemic. if people cannot go out to the stores themselves, delivery may not be as easy as it seems. this is been a big problem for one woman.

CASTRO: it is so hard on me.

Nightline Interview of MLL

ANCHOR: tonight, we've been reporting on the alarming rate of African Americans dying from covid-19. earlier today I spoke to two mayors shining a light on this disparity. Lori Lightfoot of Chicago and LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans. thank you both for joining us. Mayor Lightfoot, let me begin with you. you helped sound the alarm about the racial divide. first, what was your initial reaction to the numbers and why have you demanded demographic information

The Conservative Candidates Vying To Lead Chicago’s Police Union Support The Mayor’s Pick For Top Cop

WBEZ//Chip Mitchell

The two candidates in a runoff to head the union for Chicago’s rank-and-file cops are both politically conservative. They are both fans of President Donald Trump. And neither sees eye-to-eye with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, especially when she takes progressive stands on police reform and criminal justice issues. But both incumbent Kevin Graham and challenger John Catanzara Jr., the top finishers in the first round of balloting for Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 president, are talking up Lightfoot’s nomination of former Dallas police chief David Brown to be superintendent

As coronavirus hits Chicago’s African American community, South Side aldermen call on residents to take social distancing rules more seriously

TRIBUNE//John Byrne

Citing the high prevalence of the coronavirus in Chicago’s African American community and parts of their wards in particular, three South Side aldermen on Friday called on residents to take the statewide stay-at-home order seriously. Ald. David Moore, 17th, pointed to the particularly high numbers in the 60620 ZIP code around the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, which touches his ward and those of neighboring aldermen Howard Brookins, 21st, and Derrick Curtis, 18th.

Before data showed Chicago blacks dying at higher rates, communities of color knew recovery from COVID-19 would be slow

TRIBUNE//Nausheen Husain and Cecilia Reyes

In early January, months before the first case of the novel coronavirus in Illinois, Renee Mounia, 50, was admitted to Cook County Hospital with flu-like symptoms. Mounia already had high blood pressure, but was now lethargic and having trouble breathing. She was put on a ventilator and died soon after. Doctors were never able to say what happened to her, according to her family, but Tariq El-Amin, Mounia’s brother-in-law, thinks it may have been an undiagnosed case of COVID-19.

Trying to measure depth of COVID hole with no yardsticks

CRAIN’S//David Greising

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has made it clear that protecting lives is a consuming passion as she leads Chicago through the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind that all-important purpose, keeping the city solvent is a high purpose, too. Protecting Chicago's fiscal health is a big undertaking even in typical times. There's a reason Chicago's credit rating has hovered at or near "junk" status in recent years. And Moody's last year called Chicago and Detroit the two cities in the country least prepared for a recession.

Cities and states brace for economic ‘reckoning,’ eyeing major cuts and fearing federal coronavirus aid isn’t enough

WASHINGTON POST//Tony Romm

New York could lose $10 billion in tax revenue. Pennsylvania has ceased paying 9,000 stuck-at-home state employees to save cash. In Illinois, an unprecedented crisis is brewing thanks to billions of dollars in unpaid bills. The economic carnage unleashed by the novel coronavirus nationwide hasn’t just shuttered businesses and left more than 17 million Americans seeking unemployment benefits

Chicago City Council to hold virtual meeting next week

TRIBUNE//Staff

Chicagoans who want to tune in to the City Council’s stay-at-home council meeting next week will be able to tune in via City Clerk Ana Valencia’s website, chicityclerk.com. And members of the public who want to air their complaints to aldermen and the mayor can sign up to do so starting Monday. The council will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, with aldermen logging in from remote locations, Valencia and Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday.

COVID-19

Pritzker vows to step up COVID fight in African-American community

CRAIN’S//Greg Hinz

With COVID-19 continuing to take an especially high toll in the African-American community, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced new efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus among blacks and other people of color. Contending that generations of systemic disparities in health care now are becoming clear, Pritzker said one effort will involve Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital.

With No Safety Net, Undocumented Chicagoans Struggle To Survive Pandemic: ‘We’ve Been Left Behind’

BLOCK CLUB//Mauricio Pena

PILSEN — Guadalupe wakes up every morning more worried than the day before. Worried about the health and wellbeing of her family. Worried about how her family is going to pay rent, utility bills, or how she’s going to buy food. To calm her nerves, the 48-year-old mother has been climbing out of bed every morning and checking on her four sleeping children to make sure they’re OK.

For businesses, the cost of coronavirus continues to mount, from health care expenses to safety equipment

TRIBUNE//Abdel Jimenez

Companies large and small are trying to understand how much of a financial toll the COVID-19 health crisis will take as staffing, operational disruptions, health care costs and worker safety provisions loom large for them. With revenues falling, the biggest challenge many companies face is continuing to pay their workers. Kweilin Ellingrud, a senior partner for consulting firm McKinsey & Company, co-authored a report published this month that found up to one third of U.S. jobs are vulnerable to layoffs, furloughs or reduced hours.

Preckwinkle defends firing of county health department chief during pandemic

SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman

Dr. Terry Mason was “very good at public education and outreach,” but not so much at “strong operational leadership,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Friday, explaining her decision to fire the county health department chief in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Mason’s firing has raised eyebrows because he was the man in charge of the county’s response to the pandemic.

Preckwinkle defends Dart’s handling of Cook County Jail during coronavirus outbreak

SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman

Cook County Jail is a “petri dish” for the coronavirus where two detainees have died and more deaths will inevitably follow, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Friday, defending Sheriff Tom Dart’s handling of the crisis. Over the years, Preckwinkle and Dart have clashed repeatedly on budget and criminal justice issues.

A day in the life of J.B. Pritzker

CRAIN’S//Greg Hinz

How does Illinois' governor, working amid an unprecedented global health crisis, turn off his brain and get some sleep after a day spent wrestling with equipment-short hospitals, help-demanding officials from Cairo to Waukegan and an always-challenging Trump White House?

He catches an episode or two of "Tiger King," the somehow seemingly appropriate Netflix series about people who happen to keep tigers around as pets—if you can call a 500-pound ball of teeth and claws a pet.

It’s helped animals thrive at the Shedd, now a machine called the KingFisher is helping diagnose coronavirus cases

TRIBUNE//Grace Wong

A state-of-the-art machine that helps animals thrive at the Shedd Aquarium is being used to help humans fight the coronavirus outbreak. The instrument is called the KingFisher, and the Shedd loaned it to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Chicago lab, where it’s being used to confirm the presence of the virus in patients.

COLUMNISTS AND EDITORIALS

Suspend the Freedom of Information Act? Even during a pandemic, that’s a horrible idea

SUN TIMES//Editorial Board

It is never a good idea to restrict the public’s right to information. Not even — or perhaps, especially — during this pandemic. At a time of crisis, the public depends even more on the media for accurate, timely information. Many times, that information is obtained via the state’s Freedom of Information Act. So we were glad to hear Thursday that the Illinois Municipal League and Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost their bid to suspend FOIA deadlines during the time Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order is in effect.

FULL TRANSCRIPTS

ABC7 News at 6PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: more about the police who passed away.

NAGY: tonight we do not know much about this officer. just that he was a veteran of the department. police are still working to inform the officer's family and his other officers who are now grieving the second loss. purple ribbons are already wrapped around the trees. they are meant as a memorial. a mark of a morbid moment. the death of his -- another Chicago police officer. it has just been 24 hours since the department buried another officer. he died of complications April 2.

BECK: We are doing our best to recognize his sacrifice, the daily sacrifices of first responders and health care workers during this time of pandemic.

NAGY: the 12,000 officer forces being ravaged. at last count, 237 members have tested positive for covid-19. chicago's outgoing interim superintendent sessa's officers are stretched beyond capacity. trying to protect the city and themselves all while struggling with the grief of losing two of their own. officers are expressing how difficult it is to deal with the coronavirus professionally and personally. Mayor Lori Lightfoot also tweeted her condolences and offered condolences. Liz Nagy NBC7 news.

CBS2 News at 6PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: Late today we learned a second Chicago police officer died from the coronavirus. his name is not yet been released but we know he is in his 50s, and it started with area central detectives.

NBC5 News at 6PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

MARTINEZ: allison, it is more sobering news. we don't know his name but we do know he was a detective who worked out of this bureau. a member of the chicago police department has lost his life due to covid-19.

PRITZKER: our first responders, they're the ones protecting us, they and our health care workers. so every loss of life is a loss to all of us.

MARTINEZ: the police superintendent Saturday saying in a statement "we are still working to inform extended family members. we can confirm this is a sworn member who worked in the central bureau of detectives.

PRITZKER: someone who goes out to work every day knows they're exposing themselves to covid-19 and they do that to protect all of y of special note. they are heroes.

MARTINEZ: this is the second department member to pass away from complications with the virus. the first was marco defranco, 21-year veteran of the force. he was most recently serving as a narcotics undercover detective. yesterday a private service in norridge as he was laid to rest. We have updated numbers for you. the department as a whole has 170 positive cases. of those, 163 are sworn members, seven of them civilian. we're live at 51st and went worth. natalie Martinez, nbc 5 news.

ABC7 News at 6PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: Today is mid-April and I think we have a long way to go before we start looking at events in July and August.

ANCHOR: Mayor Lori Lightfoot getting a tour of stunning progress at the ultimate care facility at mccormick place. this is governor pritzker announcing testing expansions when it comes to african-american populations.

WALL: as the governor is gearing up to put in more testing, the mayor is looking at mccormick place. patients to -- should start coming here as early as next week. the Mayor getting a tour of the second phase of mccormick place. it will serve as an alternative care facility. a total of thousands of rooms.

TURKAL: That is dependent on constant communication with our hospital partners. when it is time, we will be ready.

WALL: the governor announced a new initiative to provide for more testing sites on the south and west side. the goal is to test hundreds of people a day and then have them processed at the hospitals.

EZIKE: We will not stand idly by while one segment of the population bears an unfortunate heightened burden of this disease.

WALL: the governor was walking back his comments from thursday about people needing to cancel plans or this summer.

PRITZKER: I was merely suggesting that people should contemplate what if. we need to follow what the science says and what the doctors tell us.

WALL: The mayor saying it is too soon to make those decisions

MLL: Today is mid-April and I think we have a long way to go before we start looking at events in July and August.

WALL: The Mayor echoing the any decisions on cap civilizations will be best -- based on science.

CBS2 News at 6PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

ABC7 News at 6PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: I implore all Chicagoans and faith leaders to celebrate in any way you can as long as it is done on separation.

ANCHOR: a holy week tradition taking place with a different feel. almost no crowd there. it is a sign of what to come for this Easter.

RIVERA: people in Chicago, the state, and around the world or be asked by their leaders to worship differently this weekend to save lives. this was readily apparent right here. less than 10 people formed a procession for the 43rd annual event. an actor portraying Jesus. the streets nearly empty this good Friday. normally they look like this. up to 8000 spectators.

QUINTANA: we are six feet away. but the warmth is there. jesus is with us.

RIVERA: leaders recognizing the severity of the threat. they are calling on the devout to celebrate easter weekend from home.

CHICAGOAN: we have to take responsibility for our actions.

MLL: I implore all Chicagoans and faith leaders to celebrate in any way you can as long as it is done on separation.

RIVERA: coming together in their own personal protective equipment.

BROOKINS: if we do this now, we can celebrate many birthdays and easter's and christmas is together.

RIVERA: the message to stop as many as new infections as possible. Reporting live in Pilsen.

NBC5 News at 6PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

COFFEY: many churches are usually full of people on easter sunday but this year will be a test of faith.

MLL: Now, this is tough on all of us, myself included, who look to this time to practice traditions that mean so much to ourselves and our loved ones, but it is imperative that this year we worship in a new way.

COFFEY: churches are adapting to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. the message is to have a virtual ceremony on sunday.

CHICAGOAN: Everyone i know is doing facebook live or live streaming or allowing people to stay and shelter at home but to worship.

COFFEY: because gathering for sunday services will not help fight the coronavirus, according to this nurse who says front line workers are already struggling.

CHICAGOAN: you assemble on that day, you are going to strain the health care system that day, trust me.

COFFEY: these aldermen say not to congregate from your safety and that of first responders.

CHICAGOAN: we implore you but we don't have time to debate you to stay in the house! to abide by the order of the governor and the mayor. there will be plenty of time to come out and socialize.

COFFEY: the message from public officials, celebrate in any way you can, as long as it's done separately and consistent with social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines.

CBS2 News at 6PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

MCKINNEY: for those of us who are Christians, we know that Easter is a major holiday in our community. but Jesus did die for our sins, and rose again just so that you could go to grandma's house and enjoy a piece of caramel cake. but, this Easter, we are asking you to stay home so that you will have the opportunity to celebrate with her at a later time.

WGN News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: a second chicago police officer has died from complications of covid-19 wgn's marcella raymond is live at on this case marcella.

RAYMOND: So cpd spokesperson says the department is just devastated by now 2 debts of its finest the latest casualty is a sergeant a supervisor, worked at a very central 51st of Wentworth he was 56 him was a 25 year veteran sources tell us he may have had an underlying health condition and tested positive for the virus last month. sources also say he has a son on the force. the offices death comes one day after cpd officer Marco Difranco was laid to rest he died last week, the Chicago firefighter Mario around who also died from covid-19 it was a 17 year veteran of the department. earlier today Mayor Lightfoot said first responders are being protected. She says the city doesn't have the capacity to test all of that.

PRITZKER: someone who's out there every day who leave their home and kiss your family goodbye knows that they're exposing themselves potentially. 2 people have covid-19 and doing so to protect all of us. those people are worthy of some special note and those are heroes.

RAYMOND: now there has been a lot of concern among police firefighters and emts who say they do not have enough equipment to keep them safe and of course there are not enough tests available for covid-19 so they're not all getting tested either they do have temperatures being taken the mayor told us when they come to work governor pritzker said if they do not have what they need they need to tell their supervisor. call the department of public health or call the state police. i'm live at area central marcella raymond wgn news.

CBS2 News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: this afternoon, another chicago police officer has died. we begin with Chris Tye live at area central. Chris.

TYE: brad, irika, the name of the officer is not released, pending notification of the family. it's a male in his 50s, and he's a sergeant inside the detective bureau here at area central. where minutes after the news came out, these ribbons went up. the sources telling cbs 2 the number totals 237 officers and cpd staff that tested positive for covid-19. today's news of the second fatality in the force after yesterday marco defranco of laid to rest. he was the first police officer in the state of illinois to die from this. he was an undercover narcotics detective and worked cpd 21 years. at the procession yesterday, no one knitted their car for fear of spreading the virus. today, the governor saying while every life is fresh, the risk first responders are being asked to take is very real.

PRITZKER: someone who is out there every day, who, you know, leaves their home and kisses their family goodbye knows they're exposing themselves potentially to people who have covid-19 and doing so to protect all of us. those people are worthy of some special note. those are heros.

TYE: heartbreaking is how one person inside the force told me today. another source today telling me it's a somber day inside of those walls. the interim superintendent for chicago police charlie beck sending out a note to all men and women in blue, imploring them to take care of each other and their families. chris tye, seen 2 news.

NBC5 News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

MARIN: the governor announced today that the curve of this killing pandemic may be flattening out. he cautions it's too soon to say it's dropping. and now we learn that another officer, a second one in a second week has died. what we know pending notification of all of his loved ones is that he is a sworn officer in the central bureau of detectives according to superintendent charlie beck.

PRITZKER: every loss of life is a loss to all of us, but someone who is out there every day who as they leave their home and kiss their family good-bye knows they're exposing themselves potentially to people who have covid-19 and doing so to protect all of us, those people are worthy of some special note. those are heros.

MARIN: it was just yesterday that chicago undercover narcotic officer marco defranco was laid to rest.

FOX32 News at 5PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

EWING:Natalie and Anthony, a very somber day here at area central, all those that i've spoken with, the new the sergeant say that he was a model police officer, and this comes on the heels of another death already that had a lot of people emotional here with cpd, this is the 2nd covid 19 related death within the department. a lot of officers telling me that they didn't know that the sergeant had any known medical issues. this is a shock to area central right now, sadly, this is the case, today he died from complications surrounding the coronavirus, he worked in the area central bureau of detectives and out of respect for the family and the department, we are not releasing his name. we know the sergeant was on the force for at least 25 years, and has two family members on the force as well. purple bunting is all over the police department, that sits on 54th and south Woodward avenue. inside the station I'm told members of CPD were in tears when they learned of the 2nd fatality to claim a life on the force. this grim news comes a day after better narcotics officer Marco Difranco was laid to rest. the 50-year-old's death was the department's 1st due to complications from Covid-19. Difranco was a 21 year veteran and leaves behind a wife, and two young children. Governor JB Pritzker was caught off-guard at his press conference today, when he was told about this recent CPD death. take a listen.

PRITZKER: someone who is out there every day, who as they leave their home and kiss their family goodbye, knows they are exposing themselves potentially, to people who have covid 19 and doing so protect all of us, those people are worthy of some special note, those are heroes.

EWING: interim superintendent of the police department Charlie Beck did send a letter to the police force today, sending condolences to the force and this entire family, that is now impacted by this death, in that letter he also told fellow members of cpd if they're feeling sick, to simply stay at home. we know that a percent of the force has exactly been doing that, they've called in sick on a daily basis, that is two times more than the usual. close to 200 members of the police force are positive for the coronavirus. live from area central, tia ewing, fox 32 news.

WGN News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: I want to stress just how remarkable it was to pull all this together in such a short period of time.

ANCHOR: Crews at McCormick place have completed the second phase of work as they transform the convention center into a makeshift hospital for covid-19 patients. earlier today, Mayor Lightfoot joined labor leaders for nearly 2 weeks, hundreds of carpenters laborers operating engineers electricians plumbers and decorators have been working alongside the Illinois national guard and army corps of engineers, all of them working around the clock to get the 3,000 bed facility ready.

MLL: I want to stress just how remarkable it was to pull all this together in such a short period of time the people that have been working here have done so with great self-sacrifice and without any fear. but with that commitment in a mission to get the job done and we're so incredibly grateful.

ANCHOR: McCormick place will be ready to start taking patients next week now it will not be a walk in facility, those patients would be transferred from other overwhelmed hospitals.

NBC5 News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick place

*MLL: For the past week we have hired over 400 medical staff and over 300 of them have come completed their training we've received hundreds of negative pressure tents from Oregon.

ANCHOR: As numbers continue to rise here in Illinois, McCormick place is ramping up to begin accepting patients. Today Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot took us inside the updated medical facility.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: it truly is an alternate universe inside McCormick place. The mayor calling it an astronomical feat.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: greeting the colonel with an elbow bump, the Mayor getting her first look at phase two of the McCormick place alternative care center, which can handle more coronavirus patients.

COLONEL: 1,750 patients. 1,750. all in one spot.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: it is an effort that has come together in record time.

COLONEL: hey, look, this is incredible. if you look behind us and see what's been done, frankly over the last five days on top of what we did on the other side of the hall, we created 2,250 covid-19 capable patient spaces, turning those over to the community for their use. I mean, who else does this?

WOJCIECHOWSKI: and with the cooperation of the army corps of engineers and local trade unions.

REITER: the workers who built this facility are heros. every day they risk their own health and safety by leaving their families to come here to mccormick place. their sacrifice will not be overlooked by the grateful people of this city.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: this is where the city will care for whatever overflow patients come from local hospitals fighting the virus. it will also be ground zero for the city's efforts.

MLL: for the past week we have hired over 400 medical staff and over 300 of them have come completed their training we've received hundreds of negative pressure tents from Oregon.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: a member of her staff has been diagnosed with the virus and is doing well at home on quarantine.

MLL: This is just the latest sobering reminder of how this disease can impact everyone and how seriously we all have to take it.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: you are now looking at a picture of the hyatt regency mccormick place. the city says it's working with that hotel to use rooms for first responders, including nurses and doctors who will be stationed here at the mccormick place alternate care facility. reporting live, charlie wojciechowski.

ABC7 News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Ranch

*MLL: The goal here is to be ready for the first patient to come. people will not be able to walk up and admit themselves to this facility.

ANCHOR: the mayor getting a tour of the newest phase of the alternate care facility built at McCormick place.

MLL: The goal here is to be ready for the first patient to come. people will not be able to walk up and admit themselves to this facility. They’re going to be recommended and referred by enlisting hospitals.

ANCHOR: it will be staffed with 400 health care professionals. it is not clear when it will actually open. the first patients could be sent there in just a matter of days.

FOX32 News at 5PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: MLL: the goal here is to be ready when the first patients come, people aren't going to be able to walk up and admit themselves to this facility.

PLACKO: I’m Dane Placko live at McCormick place, where earlier today we had a tour along with Mayor Lori Lightfoot of this massive facility turning a convention center into a huge hospital.

PLACKO: The Mayor being led on the tour by the army corps of engineers, which is supervising the construction of what will eventually be 3000 private rooms and beds for Covid-19 patients. just in the past few days convention hall a has been transformed into what they are calling an alternate care facility with more than 1700 beds. the city has also hired 400 nurses and healthcare workers to staff the facility. hundreds of new union tradesmen have been working around the clock to get it ready to open in a matter of days. the mayor is saying they don't know right now when the 1st patients will arrive, but they will likely be those with mild symptoms who don't require the advanced care of a regular hospital.

MLL: the goal here is to be ready when the first patients come, people aren't going to be able to walk up and admit themselves to this facility. They’re going to be recommended, and referred by existing hospitals.

PLACKO: all of this being done in a matter of two weeks. live at mccormick place, dane placko, fox 32 news.

FOX32 News at 5PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

LEE: normally, right now, we would be showing you all the crowds, looking at the stations of the cross, but, it's one of the many Easter traditions that have been put on hold, or changing because of the coronavirus pandemic. the fact that we are all under orders to stay at home right now. this year, stations of the cross will be moved online, it's airing right now on the archdiocese of Chicago website, leaders from other churches worked together on this, Mayor Lightfoot, part of that video as well, and the men and women on the front lines of the coronavirus fight will be, too, medical professionals, police, firefighters, teachers as well, again, the holy Saturday vigil and so the Easter mass, those will be on the website, too, streaming live this year, a lot is different. a lot of denominations will celebrate online, too, my church asked everyone to make sure they have bread and juice on hand for communion, some churches struggling financially right now, too, since they have to shut down because of the covid 19 pandemic. they are collecting tides and offering through cash app and venmo, and here's another option for you since you can't go to your house of worship, how about just turning onto fox 32 sunday morning, and celebrate with us, starting at 10 am, there will be a message from joel osteen, td j, lady antebellum and 11:00 there will be a special gospel service that will feature kirk franklin and yolanda adams performing just to name a few. so, we will all be separate in the body, but together, in spirit. reporting downtown, terrence lee, fox 32 news.

ABC7 News at 5PM: MLL calls on federal government to allow SNAP benefits for online grocery shopping during Covid-19

CASTRO: it is so hard on me.

KIRSCH: She struggles to climb five flights of stairs to her front door. she has been making the truck check for months. .

CASTRO: i do so many steps and then i stop. and then i continue and that i stop.

KIRSCH: proving to be more of a challenge during the covid-19 pandemic. she is a senior at higher risk of coronavirus complications. she turned to grocery delivery to avoid going outside. she learned that would not be possible.

CASTRO: they said they would deliver the groceries to the lobby. they will not carry them up five flights. i won't even know before i get home from work.

KIRSCH: she still goes into work at a medical center. supporting the fight. she says they have had delivery issues with uber eats.

CASTRO: we have to run downstairs and carry the food up here.

KIRSCH: the city says it can help with that kind of problem. it recommends that residents call 311. the city says this team has already delivered more than 2 million meals in the last few weeks. Mayor Lightfoot calling on the federal government to allow staff benefits to be used online.

KIRSCH: we can see the challenges some people are dealing with right now. we did reach out to whole foods and uber eats for response. we have not heard back.

NBC5 News at 4PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

ANCHOR: Natalie Martinez is live with what we know right now.

MARTINEZ: and, Katie, because it happened and we got the information so recently, we don't know yet what his name is, however, we do know from the superintendent that they are working on informing family and there should be more information out soon. we do know he felt symptoms on march 20th and was hospitalized and that he passed away today. the governor spoke on it within the past hour.

PRITZKER: our first responders, they're the ones protecting us, they and our health care workers. so every loss of life is a loss to all of us. but someone who is out there every day who, you know, as they leave their home and kiss their family good-bye knows they're exposing themselves potentially to people who have covid-19 and doing so to protect all of us, those people are worthy of some special note. those are heroes.

MARTINEZ: heroes like the other member as well who passed away. this is the second department member to pass away from complicated with the Covid-19 Virus. was first was Marco Defranco, serving as a narcotics undercover detective. you're looking at here a live picture of purple ribbons here at area central, interim superintendent Charlie Beck saying I am saddened to share the devastating news. he can confirm this is a sworn member who worked within the bureau of area of central detectives. as we get more information, we hope to give that to you in the 6:00 hour. for now that's what we know, live at 51st and Wentworth.

WGN News at 4PM: CPD announces the loss of an officer to COVID-19

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

ANCHOR: a second chicago police officer has died from complications of covid-19 wgn's marcella raymond is live at on this case marcella.

MLL: we've step up the training. we've done a lot of social distancing on efforts particularly around road close to make sure that people are complying with social distancing. and on now before people, check in for duty, they're getting a temperature check at every a district station.

RAYMOND: so governor pritzker earlier today during his press conference comment at commented about this officers death and also talked about pp east. he said everyone should have access to them. but i've talked with many first responders who say they are not getting what they need. more on the governor's remarks and this developing story coming up at 5. for now live at us air is central on the south side we're celebrating the wgn news.

NBC5 News at 4PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick place

*MLL: For the past week we have hired over 400 medical staff and over 300 of them have come completed their training we've received hundreds of negative pressure tents from Oregon.

ANCHOR: As numbers continue to rise here in Illinois, McCormick place is ramping up to begin accepting patients. Today Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot took us inside the updated medical facility.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: it truly is an alternate universe inside McCormick place. The mayor calling it an astronomical feat.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: greeting the colonel with an elbow bump, the Mayor getting her first look at phase two of the McCormick place alternative care center, which can handle more coronavirus patients.

COLONEL: 1,750 patients. 1,750. all in one spot.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: it is an effort that has come together in record time.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: and with the cooperation of the army corps of engineers and local trade unions.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: this is where the city will care for whatever overflow patients come from local hospitals fighting the virus. it will also be ground zero for the city's efforts.

MLL: for the past week we have hired over 400 medical staff and over 300 of them have come completed their training we've received hundreds of negative pressure tents from Oregon.

WOJCIECHOWSKI: a member of her staff has been diagnosed with the virus and is doing well at home on quarantine.

MLL: This is just the latest sobering reminder of how this disease can impact everyone and how seriously we all have to take it.

WGN News at 4PM: MLL joins labor leaders to tour McCormick Place

*B-Roll of MLL at McCormick Place

*MLL: I want to stress just how remarkable it was to pull all this together in such a short period of time.

ANCHOR: today, Mayor Lori Lightfoot joins labor medical and federal leaders today for a look at the progress of the transformation of McCormick place. Chicago's convention center has been turned into an upturn it care facility for covid-19 patients. more than 600 electricians plumbers carpenters laborers operating engineers and decorators have been working tirelessly alongside the army corps of engineers and the Illinois national guard to make this transformation happen. this week they completed an additional 1700 and 50 patient rooms.

REITER: for the workers who built this facility, are heroes. every day they've risked their own health and safety by leaving their families to come here to mccormick place their sacrifice will not be overlooked by the grateful people of this city.

ANCHOR: We're told the court place will be ready to start taking patients next week now it's important to note this is not a walk in facility. those patients would be referred by other hospitals.

WGN News at 4PM: MLL says it's too soon to cancel summer events

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: Mid-April and I think we have a long way to go before we start looking at events in July and August.

CREWS: As you know there's been a lot of discussion about this over the last 24 hours. yesterday, Illinois governor JB Pritzker casting doubt on whether or not it be safe to hold. summer festivals in Chicago today, he has tempered his remarks a bit saying that we just need to be ready for any eventuality as for Mayor Lori Lightfoot she understands all the obvious concerns but for right now she prefers to take a wait and see approach.

MLL: Mid-April and I think we have a long way to go before we start looking at events in July and August.

CREWS: Chicago's Mayor holding off on any decisions the city in the last decade. drawing huge music festivals like lollapalooza pitchfork and others drawing visitors from across north America and the rest of the world. these mega events of course a major source of revenues and jobs for a wide range of companies from airlines to hotels restaurants. taxi cabs rideshares and more but part of the reason perhaps for Chicago's Mayor holding off on any decisions the economic

impact those who put on street festivals of course wanting to be good stewards and keep everybody healthy but in the event the covid-19 starts to lift in Chicago event organizers are exploring creative ways to keep visitors safe.

KRAGE: social distancing needs to be in place for going to work last. our vendors and providers to make sure that we're able to you know provide as much social distancing is necessary maybe elongate our streets.

CREWS: Michelle Krage and star events waiting to hear from the city from the department of cultural events The Mayor's office of special events but she says in the meantime they are exploring different ideas like putting markers on pavement to space people out and they point to the million that they've raised for local nonprofits with proceeds from their festivals. coming up in the 5 o'clock hour we'll talk to the lakeview chamber of commerce which host a large number of street festivals in neighborhoods are going to talk about the economic impact that this has on local businesses in lakeview Julian Crews WGN news.

WGN News at 4PM: MLL urges families to stay home this Easter Sunday

*B-Roll of MLL at press conference

*MLL: the more we do, the faster we'll get through this together. we are indeed seeing progress but that is only because we've been diligent in staying home to save lives.

ANCHOR: many are contemplating travel to visit families for the easter holidays. medical professionals say no, flatten the curve so you can celebration another time.

COFFEY: with one of the holiest days of the year on sunday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had another strong message for the public -- stay at home.

MLL: the more we do, the faster we'll get through this together. we are indeed seeing progress but that is only because we've been diligent in staying home to save lives.

COFFEY: these aldermen representing south side residence say not to congregate for your safety and that of first responders.

MOORE: we don't want them out here breaking up gatherings or situations where people just standing around during this pandemic. so we need your help on this.

COFFEY: nbc 5 spoke to a nurse who told us that people gather at churches on easter sunday, it could strain the health care system.

BLACKMON: I would just hope that we can look at the number of people that are dying, that are -- and basically are straining the health care system. the people that are on the front line.

COFFEY: the message from some church leaders is to have a virtual celebration on sunday.

ADAMS: I understand why some are concerned about the freedom of assembly, but we feel like you can assemble virtually and still worship god and be healthy and safe to worship in that way when this is over.

COFFEY: the message from civic and church leaders the testing of faith will help all of us get to the other side of the pandemic. chris coffey, nbc 5 news.

FULL ARTICLES

Nightline Interview of MLL

MLL: when i first saw those numbers, it was staggering. i mean, it truly was painful to see in black and white the level of devastation and disparity. it was devastating the black community here in Chicago. i knew these numbers were not just a Chicago story, but a story playing out really across the nation. the data helps guide what our response is. we have to have that demographic information, to be able to guide an effective response and educate people about what's happening and what they can do as a community, as a family, and as individuals.

ANCHOR: Mayor Cantrell, let me ask you. New Orleans has one of the highest metro poverty rates. how does that lack of access to health care both before and during covid play into these staggering death rates?

CANTRELL: what we're witnessing here is the intersection of the impact of race, gender, inequities in terms of that. as it relates to poverty, the lack of access to quality health care. this ferocious virus, because of all of these different factors, it's taking our people out in record numbers. with the virus as well as in deaths. and, in the city of new orleans, we are a hot spot. we're fourth in the u.s., and our people are dying.

ANCHOR: what needs to be done to protect this vulnerable community, the african-american community.

MLL: this is a question of poverty, no question about it. that's why we started sounding the alarm about the devastating effects of poverty in our city way before anybody knew anything about coronavirus. social distancing is a luxury when you have space. but, in many of our communities, you have inner generational families, limited amount of space, and you have people that are on the front lines that can't afford or don't have the option and luxury to telework.

ANCHOR: so what do you say to those citizens who have to take buses and subways to get to work, who don't have the luxury of working from home?

CANTRELL: what this has revealed to us is the policy tyranny of working families and those that do not earn a livable wage, of those who do not have social networks. this is exposing what we know is happening on the ground.

ANCHOR: what can we do now to help save lives?

MLL: we are reaching out to communities through the faith community. we have street outreach. workers that normally are trying to prevent violence from happening we've activated that network. we are in block clubs. we are limiting the number of people that can get on a bus. we've added extra buses. and we're doing the same thing with train lines.

ANCHOR: share with us your personal reflections on just how much covid-19 seems to be exposing these long-standing, systemic inequalities of race and class in this country?

CANTRELL: when you see the data and use the data, not only to educate yourself, but to educate your community, you know, you cannot overlook that. the deaths are real. and so what it does, i know for me, is to double down on the efforts to link our residents with the support of services that they need. and especially when we know that these disparities exist on every level prevalent in the black community, no matter what disaster comes our way. right now it's covid-19, but we need to understand that the vulnerable will still be the most impacted. what's next? because there will be something next.

ANCHOR: Mayor Lightfoot?

MLL: the thing we can never forget, these aren't just statistics. these are real people, real lives that are being directly, dramatically affected. it just hits you right in your heart when you think about the potential devastation and how many people we are going to lose as a result of this virus. but really, we're going to lose them because of years of neglect, years of not making sure that we're making the kind of investments in black and brown communities that we absolutely must now, because it's imperative for us to turn this around.

ANCHOR: Mayors Lightfoot and Cantrell, thank you so much for being here.

MLL: thank you.

CANTRELL: thank you.

Before data showed Chicago blacks dying at higher rates, communities of color knew recovery from COVID-19 would be slow

TRIBUNE//Nausheen Husain and Cecilia Reyes

In early January, months before the first case of the novel coronavirus in Illinois, Renee Mounia, 50, was admitted to Cook County Hospital with flu-like symptoms.

Mounia already had high blood pressure, but was now lethargic and having trouble breathing. She was put on a ventilator and died soon after. Doctors were never able to say what happened to her, according to her family, but Tariq El-Amin, Mounia’s brother-in-law, thinks it may have been an undiagnosed case of COVID-19.

The earliest case of the novel coronavirus was confirmed in Illinois only three weeks later. Mounia’s stepdaughter, who also fell sick around the same time Mounia did, is a flight attendant, and the family thought later that her travels could have put her in contact with the virus.

Spurred by his concerns about Mounia, and as he found out about more confirmed coronavirus cases in people the family knew, El-Amin, the imam of a South Chicago mosque, later joined the National Black Muslim Covid Coalition, which long before local coronavirus infection data was available, explained to its community what many already knew: Stubborn disparities meant the pandemic would affect black communities more.

Even with incomplete data, the COVID-19 fears of Chicagoans of color have been confirmed. Higher rates of infection and death, especially in black communities, paired with broader economic and health issues, mean that recovery will take longer in some neighborhoods than in others. Some community leaders are now trying to brace for the impact.

Black residents on the South Side make up the majority of the population in seven of 10 ZIP codes with the most deaths, according to census data. Auburn Gresham, where more than 90% of residents are black, includes the Chicago ZIP code with the most COVID-19-related deaths in the city, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Two of those 10 ZIP codes were majority-Latino, and the remaining ZIP code was split roughly equally between Latino and non-Latino black residents.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker have joined people in the hardest-hit communities in pointing to long-standing failures that will hamper attempts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Margari Hill, a co-founder of the National Black Muslim Covid Coalition, listed ways structural racism hits black and brown communities even before a pandemic comes into play: bias in medical care; targeting by the criminal justice system; neighborhoods that don’t have fresh food access; and a reliance on public transportation.

Many of those issues can foster the spread of diseases like COVID-19. Riding public transit puts people more at risk of being exposed. In Chicago, food and pharmacy deserts are concentrated on the South Side, and eight of the 10 ZIP codes with the highest percentages of people without cars are on the South and West sides.

“Because the African diaspora is diverse, we are thinking about the rights of the undocumented. We are thinking about all poor people. We are thinking about the Muslim ban,” said Hill. “But I do feel that it’s a good strategy to focus on the most impacted because that will help all of us.”

Jocelyn Wilder, a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, said she wouldn’t want people to look at COVID-19 outcomes and conclude the disparities stem from one group choosing to not socially distance.

“Attribute the difference in mortality and infection rates to socioeconomic factors that preceded the epidemic,” Wilder said.

While there’s already evidence of higher rates of infection and mortality among black Chicagoans, data on coronavirus deaths in Chicago’s non-black Latino communities remains incomplete — the Cook County medical examiner has labeled no death as “Latino” and more than a quarter of the city’s confirmed illness cases do not report race.

County data does show that in the 10 ZIP codes with the most coronavirus-related deaths, three have a Latino population of at least 40%: One is in Chicago Lawn, near Midway Airport; another ZIP Code is split between Humboldt Park and Austin; and a third is in North Lawndale.

Despite the lack of accurate numbers, health care providers at the CommunityHealth clinic in West Town, where 60% of the patients are Spanish-speaking, are brainstorming new ways to help patients get food and hygiene products. It’s an issue they dealt with before the coronavirus hit, but the pandemic has made things worse.

"Before COVID times, we could help them connect to food pantries or housing assistance or other classes they may need," said CEO Stephanie Willding. "Now we don't know if those places are even open."

Another concern at the clinic, whose population is uninsured and low-income, said Willding, is a fear of seeking care that could be counted as a public charge on immigration applications, or encountering federal immigration agents at a health facility.

“Our immigrant communities are afraid to go to hospitals, they’re afraid to get tested, they’re afraid to get treatments,” she said.

Of the 10 Chicago ZIP codes with the highest percentages of uninsured people, six are Latino-majority, according to census data. And even when people have access to insurance through an employer, it doesn’t mean copays and premiums are affordable in an emergency.

Cynthia DeLira of West Humboldt Park would count as insured, but said she is having trouble monitoring the myeloma she was diagnosed with at 22.

She’s been in remission for four years and recently qualified for Medicaid, but needs to see a doctor every quarter for biopsies and PET scans, which has proved difficult when medical providers are backed up.

DeLira said she took a leave of absence from work in early March to not put herself at risk; she has left her apartment only four times since then. Her daughter, who is 9, got a computer from school, and mother and daughter have been able to get some meals from Chicago Public Schools. She said she’s still paying off debt from previous radiation treatments, which were only partially covered by insurance.

"For me,” she said, “the biggest concern is where the next chunk of change is coming from."

It’s too early to say how much factors like car ownership and the low-wage service jobs determined as “essential” will play into the pandemic, but experts said earlier crises, such as the Great Recession of 2007-08, show there could be slow economic recoveries for the same communities now seeing starkly high rates of coronavirus. In ZIP codes with the greatest number of COVID-19 deaths, the median household income is between $22,992 and $42,019, compared with the city’s median income of $55,198. Roughly 1 in 4 individuals who live in these areas have incomes at or below the poverty line.

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In response to the disparities, Lightfoot announced a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team to mitigate the spread of the virus in communities hit hardest, though black officials are asking for other financial relief.

For small business owners on the South Side, where it’s already hard to make a profit, the question is: “Will I have a business to return to?”

Corzetta Mubarak, who owns A Child’s World Early Learning Center in South Chicago, said she was hoping the stay-at-home order would be manageable, but the business quickly ran out of money.

"Friday I made payroll and that was it," she said. "There are no more funds. I can't pay the mortgage, I can't pay Peoples Gas, I can't pay myself."

Mubarak said she considered keeping the center open as an emergency child care center, an option offered by the city. But only 10 children could stay at the center each day, and she didn’t know how she’d choose.

“If I can go back at all,” she said of the center, “it’ll be like starting a whole new business all over again.”

Suspend the Freedom of Information Act? Even during a pandemic, that’s a horrible idea

SUN TIMES//Editorial Board

It is never a good idea to restrict the public’s right to information.

Not even — or perhaps, especially — during this pandemic. At a time of crisis, the public depends even more on the media for accurate, timely information.

Many times, that information is obtained via the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

So we were glad to hear Thursday that the Illinois Municipal League and Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost their bid to suspend FOIA deadlines during the time Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order is in effect.

There’s no reason in the world that government bodies and the media — and others who formally request public information — can’t continue to resolve FOIA disputes informally, as they have always done. It’s a matter for honest dialogue, not anti-democratic rule changes.

“We fully well understand what’s going on, that they have limitations on what they can do,” Illinois Press Association President Sam Fisher told us.

Pritzker shot down the Municipal League’s proposal Thursday, and good for him.

The League last week had asked Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to suspend FOIA deadlines. Lightfoot on Wednesday threw her support behind the idea, saying that city employees risked being pulled away from fighting the coronavirus to fulfill FOIA requests.

Lightfoot ought to know better. No journalist or news organization that we know would expect life-saving work to take a back seat to handing over a stack of documents. And the public and the courts wouldn’t stand for it.

In FOIA guidelines issued Thursday, Raoul stated that he had no power to change FOIA policy. Only the governor or Legislature could do so. Pritzker then made it clear he wasn’t on board with suspending the deadline.

Negotiations on FOIA requests in Illinois have been the norm for years. The state’s FOIA statute allows for that. Pretty much every reporter who’s ever filed a FOIA request with a school district, village board or other government entity has had to engage in discussion about deadlines. Rarely is information provided within the initial five-day deadline.

No need to change the rules. Let’s just step up the dialogue.

With No Safety Net, Undocumented Chicagoans Struggle To Survive Pandemic: ‘We’ve Been Left Behind’

BLOCK CLUB//Mauricio Pena

PILSEN — Guadalupe wakes up every morning more worried than the day before.

Worried about the health and wellbeing of her family. Worried about how her family is going to pay rent, utility bills, or how she’s going to buy food.

To calm her nerves, the 48-year-old mother has been climbing out of bed every morning and checking on her four sleeping children to make sure they’re OK.

Over the last few weeks, Guadalupe’s world has been turned upside down. Her husband lost his factory job and she can no longer safely sell beauty products door to door.

“There’s no money coming in, it’s just money going out,” Guadalupe said.

Thousands of people across the city have found themselves out of work or with scaled back pay amid the coronavirus crisis and the shutdown designed to slow it. Local and federal leaders are scrambling to provide relief to people struggling to make rent and buy basic necessities like food and medicine.

For many, emergency relief funds, extended unemployment benefits and a federal stimulus check will help blunt the financial blow. But Guadalupe and thousands of other undocumented Chicagoans who are dealing with the ripple effects of the crisis have no real safety net: They don’t qualify for the unemployment benefits or stimulus checks that many can rely on.

Combing through her bills, Guadalupe listed off how much she currently owns in utilities — $105 for electricity, $250 for gas — before taking a pause. (Block Club is using an alias to protect her identity because she is undocumented.)

“We are worried because the bills don’t stop…and we are just trying to figure out a way to make these payments,” she said in Spanish.

Before the outbreak, the Pilsen family was already struggling to get by with their income of approximately $350 to $400 per week. Now, amid the coronavirus crisis, Guadalupe said they are “living day by day.”

“It’s even more difficult now with this situation,” she said.

“We are living in fear, worry, anxiety, depression…sometimes my head hurts thinking about how we are going to pay our bills when we can’t go outside,” Guadalupe said.

In speaking with other undocumented friends and family who have also lost their jobs, there’s a lot of “desperation,” Guadalupe said. “It’s difficult right now. We don’t know how we are going to survive, so we pray to god everyday.”

Currently, undocumented people pay taxes but are not eligible for federal benefits.

When Guadalupe first heard of the stimulus check, she was hopeful but she grew frustrated when she learned her husband and her children, ages 13, 14, 17 and 22, were ineligible.

“You feel sad because we are all paying taxes. We are all contributing, not just people who have documentation,” she said.

On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed an executive order meant to protect undocumented Chicagoans during this crisis.

Lightfoot’s order is predicated on the fact that undocumented people aren’t eligible for relief on the federal level. It ensures that undocumented people in Chicago are eligible for the city’s existing coronavirus relief funds, including ones meant to help people pay rent and help entrepreneurs keep their small businesses afloat.

“This order is more than just an official decree. It’s a statement of our values as a city and as Americans,” Lightfoot said at a press conference. “It means that in this crisis, we will leave no one behind, and no one will get left behind.”

The order, while an “incredibly welcoming sign,” does not create any new protections for undocumented Chicagoans — it just reaffirms existing city policy, according to Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

“Chicago has had on its books a policy opening up all city services to everybody in the city regardless of immigration citizenship. … this dates back to Harold Washington,” Tsao said.

It’s concerning, Tsao said, that undocumented Chicagoans must compete with other city residents for relief funds and benefits, which are in incredibly high demand right now.

For example, 83,000 people applied for just 2,000 housing grants, meaning fewer than 2.5 percent will get the funds.

Tsao said he’d like to see city and state leaders provide undocumented Illinosians with resources like basic income support and nutritional assistance — resources that aren’t being offered on the federal level. But he also acknowledged that Chicago doesn’t have “unlimited funds.”

What’s for certain, Tsao said, is immigrants “are serving really crucial roles in our society these days. They’re front line workers in any number of different fields — food service, delivery, manufacturing. Unfortunately, the federal government has failed to fully recognize that.”

“To the extent that Mayor Lightfoot and other local governments are recognizing that immigrants are really essential in the current crisis — that’s definitely a welcome and appreciated sign from them.”

‘Waiting weeks or months isn’t really an option for many people right now’

Ahead of the mayor’s announcement, independent organizations have tried to fill the gap and help undocumented Chicagoans.

The director of the Gage Park Latinx Council Antonio Santos said the city’s executive order falls short of making “meaningful impact” on the lives of undocumented families facing huge uncertainties.

“We need to see more being done at a city and state level at a faster response,” Santos said.

“It’s great that the mayor offered some news that will be beneficial but the impact and the reach isn’t widespread enough and not happening quickly enough to ease people’s worries.”

Two weeks ago, the group launched a GoFundMe page to help undocumented community members on the Southwest Sides with rent, car payments and other bills. The mutual aid fund has raised nearly $24,000 from over 300 individual donors.

Within 48 hours of opening the application to undocumented Southwest Side families, the group was flooded with 2,500 applications. The group closed the application portal early after 3,000 applications were submitted by Saturday night.

Among the highest financial requests made was for rent ranging from $650 to $1,200. Other requests were for utility bills, groceries and medication, Santos said.

The thousands of applications submitted during a span of three days underscored how many undocumented families are grappling with a loss of income, Santos said.

“Most families live paycheck to paycheck or are $400 away from a financial crisis,” Santos said.

Because of the pandemic, families are being forced to prioritize which bills to pay, Santos said. They are being asked to make a decision between rent and life-saving medication like insulin, Santos added.

The group is working to fulfill requests from about 50 families and is reaching out to other community groups and businesses to figure out how to help more struggling immigrant families.

“People have an immediate need. Most people, especially undocumented families on the Southwest sides, don’t have a savings, don’t have a safety net. They are essentially out of money as soon as they are out of work. Waiting weeks or months isn’t really an option for many people right now,” Santos said.

Last week, Pew Research Center released a national survey showing that 49 percent of Latinos received a pay cut or lost their job because of the pandemic, compared with 33 percent of other U.S. workers.

About 8 million Latino workers are employed in the restaurant and bars, hospitality restaurants, hotels and other service-sector positions that are at higher risk of job loss, according to another study by Pew Research Center.

‘They are anxious. There’s a lot of fear’

Laura Mendoza, an immigration organizer for the Resurrection Project, said the mounting challenges facing the immigrant community are “daunting.”

Without federal assistance, the city and different organizations are trying to find resources to help families during this time, Mendoza said.

Undocumented immigrants are scrambling to come up with rent or mortgages while trying to navigate the healthcare system during such precarious times, she said.

Many community members are worried about getting care because of their undocumented status, Mendoza said. They’re also worried about the financial costs incurred if they happen to contract the virus and are hospitalized.

Families are being forced to think about worst case scenarios of possibly paying for a death in the family when they don’t have any income, Mendoza added.

“Our families are living paycheck to paycheck. They don’t have a rainy day fund that they can dip into,” Mendoza said.

Beyond the financial stresses family face, undocumented families are contending with mental health issues caused by this pandemic, she added.

Mental health has taken a back seat while families try to meet basic financial needs, Mendoza said.

“A lot of people right now are under stress. They are anxious. There’s a lot of fear,’ Mendoza said.

There’s a need to address the mental health of undocumented families to ensure that “when we get out of this, we want to make sure people are mentally healthy so they are able to return to whatever our new normal is going to be.”

The pandemic has taken a huge toll on the mental health of Lorena’s family. Lorena is a DACA recipient and a member of the Gage Park Latinx Council. She lives in Gage Park with her undocumented parents and her sister.

“My parents are constantly stressed and anxious,” the 24-year-old said.

“Not working for my dad has been extremely difficult because he has been socialized to believe that his value in society is measured by how much he’s producing at his work…Being on this forced break is taking a toll on my family’s mental health.”

Lorena and her sister, also a DACA recipient, have been trying to help carry the financial burden for the family now that her father, who worked as a busser at a restaurant, is out of work. Her mother is still providing childcare to other families in the neighborhood, but Lorena wants her to stop because she is diabetic and at risk for COVID-19.

As the 24-year-old tries to navigate the world with her family, a political battle is being waged in Washington, D.C. that could see her and other DACA recipients’ ability to work revoked pending a Supreme Court ruling. That would deal another blow to an already fragile financial situation for the family, Lorena said.

As bilingual speakers, DACA recipients “are pillars in our communities and families,” Lorena said.

“I’m trying to reassure my family, care for their mental health, while helping them financially. It’s a lot of pressure to carry.”

‘We are stuck between a rock and a hard place‘

In Belmont Cragin, Veronica has been trying to figure out how her family will survive with a significantly reduced income.

In the last month, her husband went from working full-time at a factory to just 18 hours a week. Prior to the pandemic, she worked two part time jobs. She’s since been laid off from her part time job at a furniture store, and her hours were reduced to one shift cleaning an office space on the weekend.

To make the rent, Veronica and her husband asked for a one-week extension on their $1,050 rent payment and have fallen behind on other bills.

“We are stuck between a rock and a hard place,” she said in Spanish.

The mother of three said a few meals from CPS’ meal program during the school closings has provided some relief. She’s also stopped at a local food pantry at a nearby church. She attempted to apply for the city’s rental relief grant, but the system was so overloaded at the time she couldn’t get through.

Now without a steady income, Veronica has been applying to jobs to make sure they don’t fall any further behind on bills.

But many employers that previously hired people without documentation are now closed, and there are few options left, she said.

She’s looked into unemployment benefits and the federal stimulus package, only to be let down to discover their lack of immigration status keeps them from receiving such benefits.

“We pay our taxes. We can prove that we have paid our taxes every year. We have dependents that were born here in the states,” Veronica added.

Despite the challenges, Veronica and her husband are trying to move forward for their three children to make sure they have food on the table and a roof over their head.

“It’s really challenging not being able to work. Not being able to have a weekly income for groceries,” she said.

In reflecting on the lack of resources available for undocumented families, Veronica sighs.

“Personally, I feel like this is discrimination for people who are undocumented. We pay our taxes and we do some of the most difficult jobs…It feels like we’ve been left out, like we’ve been left behind.”

Chicago City Council to hold virtual meeting next week

TRIBUNE//Staff

The council will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, with aldermen logging in from remote locations, Valencia and Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday.

The Wednesday meeting will be an abbreviated continuation of the March meeting, which the mayor gaveled in, then immediately recessed in a nearly empty City Council chambers.

There will be a short agenda to adapt to the new format, mainly dealing with adopting rules to allow meetings by videoconference, Lightfoot said.

A City Council meeting to consider substantive legislation likely will occur in the near future, the mayor said. Upcoming committee meetings also will be conducted by videoconference.

“During this unprecedented crisis, residents and businesses are looking to their elected leaders to take action and ensure critical services continue to be delivered and their needs are still being met,” Lightfoot said. “Despite the necessary constraints of social distancing, the City Council is fully committed to conducting the business of the city, which is more important than ever as our families and communities struggle navigate the new and challenging territory created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Lightfoot said the gubernatorial disaster proclamation allows suspension of provisions of the Open Meetings Act requiring in-person attendance by members of the council. The disaster proclamation also lets officials limit remote participation by members of the public who usually get to speak at the beginning of the meeting in council chambers, according to Valencia and Lightfoot.

"We are living in an uncertain time,” Valencia said. “However, it is our responsibility, as elected leaders, to continue to inform the residents of Chicago and remain as open and accessible as we possibly can while protecting the health and well-being of our staff, elected officials and the general public.”

Those interested in providing public comment have two remote options to do so, according to Valencia:

Residents can sign up starting Monday at 12:01 a.m. by filling out an online form at www.chi.gov/PublicComment.
Residents also can contact the sergeant-at-arms at 312-744-6800 starting Monday at 12:01 a.m. and leave a voice message with their name and telephone number.

Submissions must be in no later than 8a.m. on Tuesday. Similar to the current practices, public commenters will be randomly selected by the sergeant-at-arms and will be contacted between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesday with directions on how to participate.

If you are not contacted, you have not been selected for public comment. To provide a written statement or “submission of documents” residents should email public_comments@cityofchicago.org. Written comments will be accepted from 8 to 9 a.m. on April 15 for aldermanic review.

It’s helped animals thrive at the Shedd, now a machine called the KingFisher is helping diagnose coronavirus cases

TRIBUNE//Grace Wong

A state-of-the-art machine that helps animals thrive at the Shedd Aquarium is being used to help humans fight the coronavirus outbreak.

The instrument is called the KingFisher, and the Shedd loaned it to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Chicago lab, where it’s being used to confirm the presence of the virus in patients.

Samples are collected from patients and then prepared for testing with reagents, or special chemical compounds. Then they are loaded into the KingFisher machine, which purifies and amplifies the viral RNA before the results are analyzed. After the samples are collected, prepped and analyzed, scientists can determine if there is evidence of COVID-19.

“I think it’s sort of an example of how sometimes we discover we can help in unexpected ways,” said Dr. Bill Van Bonn, vice president for animal health at the Shedd.

The Kingfisher became an integral part of the Shedd’s Aquarium Microbiome Project, which has its own in-house laboratory. The project seeks to understand the bacteria, fungi and viruses that share space with humans and animals, Van Bonn said.

By identifying these microbes, animal keepers can better understand which ones should be introduced to the animals to ensure optimal conditions, allowing the animals to thrive as if they were in a natural environment while living in a managed one.

The Shedd purchased the $50-55,000 instrument after a donation was made to the aquarium. In the past, the aquarium had to send samples to other labs, which was not only more costly but also slow. The KingFisher was a “game changer” and Van Bonn said it accelerated the lab’s program by 10 years.

When testing became essential to combating the virus, the state public health department reached out to ThermoFisher, the manufacturer of the instrument, asking about its availability because it had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for coronavirus screening. The laboratory at the Shedd had been closed for weeks, leaving the KingFisher unused.

ThermoFisher reached out to the technicians and lab managers, asking if the Shedd would be willing to loan the KingFisher — and its accompanying components such as test tubes and reagents — out indefinitely for coronavirus testing. The Shedd said yes.

“We hope it will help reduce some of the uncertainty of this virus,” Van Bonn said.

Preckwinkle defends Dart’s handling of Cook County Jail during coronavirus outbreak

SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman

Over the years, Preckwinkle and Dart have clashed repeatedly on budget and criminal justice issues.

The sheriff has been sharply critical of Preckwinkle-championed reforms aimed at reducing the jail population that, he contends, have made his job more difficult and the county less safe.

But when it comes to Cook County Jail, site of the nation’s largest known outbreak of the coronavirus — the longtime adversaries are on the same side — even after the death of a second inmate.

“The person who died was accused of molesting children. There was no way that person was gonna get out of jail. No way. We’re trying to release people accused of non-violent crimes. We’re trying to get the jail population as low as we can. But there are limits to that. We’re not gonna release people who are accused of crimes against children, people who are accused of murder. They’re gonna stay in jail,” Preckwinkle told the Chicago Sun-Times.

“The jail is a congregate facility. It’s our equivalent of a cruise ship or a nursing home. I often say it’s a petri dish. So, we’re gonna continue to see people contract the disease. Unfortunately, there will be people who succumb to it just because it’s a jail.”

Earlier this week, a federal judge refused to order the mass release of pre-trial inmates, but issued a temporary restraining order compelling Dart to make immediate changes to testing and safety.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly criticized sheriff’s personnel for failing to supply inmates with soap, cleaning supplies and facemasks and neglecting to clean common spaces after an inmate in that area tested positive for the coronavirus.

Kennelly also acknowledged that inmates are being housed “under conditions that make social distancing impossible” with beds “separated by only one to four feet” in rooms he likened to a military barracks.

On Friday, Preckwinkle was asked whether Dart is doing enough to protect the detainee population at a time when 276 of those in jail had tested positive as of Thursday and two — ages 51 and 59 — mostly likely died of complications related to COVID-19.

“The sheriff is doing everything he can to put people in single cells and to try to reduce the contact that people have with each other. But the jail is a very difficult place in which to practice social distancing,” she said.

“The sheriff is doing the best he can under “extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Extraordinarily difficult circumstances. As I said, more people will contract that disease and some will succumb to it.”

Of the 276 jail inmates who had tested positive as of Thursday, 219 had symptoms characterized as “mild-to-moderate” and were being treated at the jail-based Cermak Health Services.

Preckwinkle said “maintaining staffing levels” is the most pressing issue at the jail, and Cermak and Stroger hospitals. She thanked Gov. J.B. Pritzker for promising 80 additional nurses and physicians assistants starting this weekend to alleviate staffing shortages at Cermak.

A day in the life of J.B. Pritzker

CRAIN’S//Greg Hinz

"It's worth it," Gov. J.B. Pritzker chuckles as we speak over the phone. "It's got a lot of crazy people."

So it goes for Illinois' chief executive, who is going through a sophomore year as governor that has to be unlike just about any in the state's history.

I'll leave the heavy political analysis and detailed judgments on his performance for another day. I'll just say that, in my circle of friends and associates, he gets good to great reviews overall, if only for sheer decisiveness.

Instead, I ask if we can talk about what's it like to, well, be Pritzker. He sure couldn't have imagined his tenure as governor would be this way.

"I feel fine," he reports. "I'm working hard. My friends joke, 'What does J.B. do when he's off? He works.' It's worth it. . . .We're saving lives."

His day begins around 4:30 am. "Nobody wants to hear from me first thing at that hour," he says. So it's emails, the morning papers and catching up with what might have been left undone last night.

He's in his office on the 16th floor of the Thompson Center downtown by around 8 a.m., by which time it's time for some calls. They could be to his fellow governors—Pritzker estimates he's spoken to almost all of them—or company CEOs who have supplies or something else the he wants; he's spoken to about 50 so far, including the heads of FedEx, United Airlines and other transportation companies with routes to China.

He's been on the horn with President Donald Trump himself just once. But Vice President Mike Pence, who heads up Trump's coronavirus response team, is different. They've talked several times. "He was a governor" of Indiana, Pritzker says. "He understands."

Pritzker says he has no regrets over attacking Trump's performance, especially on what the governor says is a long record of broken promises to deliver ventilators, top-quality masks, test kits and the like.

Those bumps have been his biggest disappointment, he says—"The unfilled promises." But parts of the federal government, particularly the Army Corps of Engineers, which helped convert McCormick Place into a temporary hospital have been "hugely helpful, he says. And letting Trump have it right between the eyes actually may have helped get stuff, he adds. "I think we've received more by speaking out. They (in the Trump White House) are very reactive."

Back to the daily schedule:

At 12:30 p.m. comes a staff meeting, with most of the 40 or so participants dialing in as they work remotely. They review the latest data on the pandemic, figure out what's going on and prepare for Pritzker's daily COVID briefing with Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. Then more calls.

One thing Pritzker says he's learned on those calls is that an antiviral drug now in late-stage testing, remdesivir, is showing very promising signs of treating COVID-19 in clinical studies.

His staff meets for a second time every day, around 6 p.m. But Pritzker makes a point of not attending much of the time: "Sometimes, there's things the staff wants to say that they don't want the boss to hear." Both staff meetings are catered. The boss pays.

Back at home, Pritzker says, he may have a little dinner, then he chats with his son and makes more calls.

"Are you keeping your work area clean?" Pritzker asks at the end of our call. Touching surfaces that an infected person has touched is a real risk, he points out.

Last question from me: When will we finally get out of this? When the situation and supplies are there to test, treat and contact-trace everyone who is infected, he answers. But a vaccine is "many months away."

So it goes. Maybe I'll try watching that tiger myself tonight.

For businesses, the cost of coronavirus continues to mount, from health care expenses to safety equipment

TRIBUNE//Abdel Jimenez

With revenues falling, the biggest challenge many companies face is continuing to pay their workers.

Kweilin Ellingrud, a senior partner for consulting firm McKinsey & Company, co-authored a report published this month that found up to one third of U.S. jobs are vulnerable to layoffs, furloughs or reduced hours. The workers most vulnerable are in low-income positions in the food service, retail, customer service and the sales industry, the report found.

“For some (businesses), expenses have gone down a great deal, but typically not as much as revenues have fallen, unfortunately. This hurts profitability and beyond a certain point, is not sustainable, particularly for small businesses that have a smaller buffer,” Ellingrud said.

For essential businesses that remain open during states’ stay-at-home orders, another big challenge is mitigating medical costs. Grocers have put up plexiglass dividers between cashiers and customers, and at call centers and distribution facilities, employers have staggered shifts to minimize the spread of the virus.

Once the economy starts up again, companies will continue those safety measures to protect workers, Ellingrud said.

But many of those steps come at a cost.

“Most small businesses, even medium businesses, don’t have very much cash flow. The median business has 27 days of cash on hand and beyond that they would be struggling to pay debts and employees. Challenge No. 1 is how do businesses survive,” Ellingrud said.

Some firms are turning to models to project the impact of COVID-19 on their organizations.

Aon, a global insurance and risk management giant, built a platform that shows infection rates and health care costs a company could face in its own workforce.

Aon’s model relies on three key pieces of information: geographic data incorporating age, sex and location of those with the disease; the number of COVID-19 cases reported by states and the federal government; and the length of states’ stay-at-home orders.

Using that data, it estimates the number of employees with COVID-19 within a company, their outcomes, and medical costs associated with their testing and treatment.

“Many employers are asking not only what is the impact today or 30 days from now, but how do I plan a year from now? ,” said Tim Nimmer, global chief actuary at Aon.

Since early March, businesses have responded to the pandemic by directing employees to work from home, providing personal protective equipment, extending paid time-off policies and making other changes.

But even with millions of Americans hunkered down at home, the effects of the virus will likely spread because some individuals will unknowingly infect others before realizing they have the disease. And those who test positive for COVID-19 have different recovery times.

“The employer starts to ask themselves ‘When do I go back? What locations would be safe to send my employees back to work? Which branches do I open first?’" Nimmer said.

Nimmer said dozens of clients in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, banking, retail, and technology have used Aon’s model.

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Once states lift their stay-at-home orders, some workers may be afraid to return to work or will need additional assistance like child care, said Carol Sladek, strategic advisory partner for work-life and communication at Aon.

“They are considering the impacts on benefits and paid family care benefits. ... There is a lot to consider when bringing folks back to the workplace. What is that new normal going to look like?" Sladek said.

Cities and states brace for economic ‘reckoning,’ eyeing major cuts and fearing federal coronavirus aid isn’t enough

WASHINGTON POST//Tony Romm

The economic carnage unleashed by the novel coronavirus nationwide hasn’t just shuttered businesses and left more than 17 million Americans seeking unemployment benefits — it has also threatened city and state governments with financial devastation, according to local leaders, who say their ability to maintain roads, schools and basic social services is at risk at a time when their residents need help most.

Many states and cities, which were already cash-strapped, are now in dire straits, facing plunging tax revenue and spiking costs.

“I do think cities across the country are looking at some degree of austerity,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg (I), who predicts his municipality will face as much as a $100 million shortfall. “This is a reckoning for us.”

Local residents aren’t shopping or traveling, as they heed orders to stay at home, contributing to major gaps in city and state incomes. Meanwhile, the normally reliable bonds that states, cities and counties issue to fund projects or make up for lost revenue are becoming less attractive to investors, jeopardizing local governments’ efforts to offset the costs of a deadly pandemic.

The result could be massive budget cuts along with layoffs or furloughs of city and state workers around the country, many local leaders fear. In response, federal officials have sought to staunch the bleeding: On Thursday, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department announced a new $500 billion effort to purchase short-term debt from states and large cities and counties. But many cities, particularly smaller ones, won’t qualify for the assistance. Democratic lawmakers are also looking to direct more dollars to states and cities, but that effort has gotten bogged down in the Senate.

The aid offered by Washington has been a mixed blessing, leaving some governors, mayors and analysts in recent days fearful that the money is too restrictive — and the Federal Reserve’s new program isn’t expansive enough — to spare the country from a dire economic crisis still to come.

The stakes are sky-high for San Antonio and other local governments across the country, which unlike the nation’s capital generally cannot rack up deficits even in times of crisis. To close the gap, Nirenberg said, the Texas city may have no choice but to look at “streets and sidewalks, parks, libraries, culture programming, social services” and a range of areas for potential cuts.

The 2008 recession offers a grim historical reminder about the lasting consequences of extreme austerity that left major civic programs and workforces gutted — slashes in spending that in some cases were not restored.

Absent significant aid, local schools again stand to face massive reductions and infrastructure projects are at risk of being halted or abandoned outright, experts said. Funding for local arts is likely to run dry. Wait times for city and state services — including at unemployment offices, already overwhelmed by historic demand — could grow because of substantial furloughs or layoffs in government workforces. And some localities may face an impossible choice to raise taxes at the risk of further impeding hard-hit local businesses.

Phoenix, for example, is already preparing for $26 million in potential cuts, said Mayor Kate Gallego (D), pointing to sharp, sudden decreases in tax revenue compounded by the fact that Major League Baseball, normally a regional boon during spring training, remains sidelined. In response, local officials have started calculating how to implement possible reductions of up to 25 percent across the board, she said.

In Ohio, revenue fell $159 million short of expectations last month, according to budget officials. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has predicted “massive budget problems” given the billions of dollars in coronavirus expenses the state has already incurred and on Friday he froze all non-coronavirus state spending, predicting state tax revenue could fall by $2 billion over the next three months. The D.C. government has frozen hiring and will forgo salary increases to deal with a $607 million budget hit.

A surplus that once existed in Minnesota is evaporating, leaders there said this month, while the governors of Kansas and Vermont anticipate the worst effects to come next year. Nationwide, these and other states combined may face anywhere between $158 billion to $203 billion in “fiscal shock” through the 2021 fiscal year, according to Dan White, the head of fiscal policy research at Moody’s Analytics.

The pain could be especially pronounced in Illinois: The state has a backlog of $8.3 billion in unpaid bills, according to its comptroller, a fast-accelerating problem compounded by pensions it can’t afford and bond ratings that already range between barely stable and negative. Even with federal aid, economists fear Illinois may flounder in the current downturn — resulting in major reductions in staff and services — then struggle to rebound as quickly as its peers. A spokesman for Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) did not respond to a request for comment.

“Illinois is one of the most concerning states right now,” said Jared Walczak, the director of state policy at the Tax Foundation. “They have very little by way of options to raise additional revenue. They are going to face serious difficulties.”

Chicago faces similar trouble with rising debt and pension costs, prompting analysts at Moody’s Investors Service to declare the Windy City in December “one of the cities least prepared for a near-term recession.” On Thursday, city leaders signaled they’re still trying to calculate the long-term effects on their budget.

To shore up the market, federal officials said they would begin buying up to $500 billion in short-term notes directly from states as well as larger cities and counties, pledging to take further action if local government finances continue to sour. The move is significant, given the fact that states rely on financing debt to fund their operations — yet that debt has become less attractive, with less friendly interest rates, in the midst of a recession.

“I think think you’ve seen in a very short period of time a flipping of the market, especially where it pertains to government,” said Mark Polancarz, the Democratic executive of New York’s Erie County, which includes Buffalo. “Some governments are going to have problems repaying these notes if their primary source of income is revenue derived on a strong economy.”

The Fed typically is reluctant to enter the market for municipal bonds out of concern it would be picking winners and losers. But many local leaders were left scrambling in recent weeks, after the U.S. government delayed the April 15 deadline by which most Americans file their taxes. States followed suit, yet the new July deadline threatened to deprive local governments of critical tax payments before the close of their current fiscal year.

Some analysts took a different view, fearing the Fed only had articulated a short-term vision by opting for short-term notes over longer-term municipal bonds, given the fact the coronavirus is likely to trigger an economic downturn that spans well beyond the next fiscal year.

“If it’s the start of something, it’s good news, and it definitely helps in easing the liquidity crunch states and local governments are facing,” said Vikram Rai, the head of Citi’s municipal strategy group. “If the Fed is going to stop here, it’s a bitter disappointment.”

The $2 trillion aid package signed by President Trump last month also seeks to aid cash-strapped local governments directly, authorizing $150 billion in payments to states and large cities. But the money quickly has become the subject of controversy nationwide because of restrictions on how it can be accessed.

Local governments can’t tap this pot of funds to close budget gaps; they only can front the costs for coronavirus-related expenses. The formula for allocating the money also threatens to deliver less direct aid to smaller cities that may need it most. And the $150 billion price tag may prove insufficient over the course of a pandemic that could lapse into next year, prompting city and state leaders to urge Congress in recent days to call for adding more.

The new coronavirus aid package put forward this week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) seeks to remedy some of the gaps, offering an additional $150 billion to help local governments “manage this crisis and mitigate lost revenue,” the lawmakers said this week. Republican senators have not agreed to the additional funding, though, with some saying they should wait and see how the first batch of money is spent.

“While they moved really swiftly to approve it, we’re waiting,” said Jessica Kinard, the budget director in Portland, Ore. “We don’t know what will come to us directly or what will come from other jurisdictions.”

Some governments entered the coronavirus crisis with more cash on hand than they had in 2008, meaning they’re a bit better positioned financially to weather the storm, said Erlinda Doherty, a budget expert at the National Conference of State Legislatures. But few can handle a lasting major dent to their revenue that may be on the horizon as a result of the coronavirus, which erased years of economic gains in a matter of mere weeks — leaving local leaders bracing for impact.

“We’ll see how long the state of home orders last, how quickly we get testing,” said Adrian Hayes-Santos, a city commissioner in Gainesville, Fla. “I think they’re going to have to do another bill.”

More than 1,100 miles to the north, Mark Washington said he’s confronting similar economic headaches. With the economy at a standstill — and tourism to the craft beer destination fully disrupted — the city manager of Grand Rapids, Mich., said sales and local income taxes are dwindling. The shortfall could end up being 5 to 15 percent of the general operating budget or “maybe even more,” he said.

On the table soon could be cuts to city programs or possibly furloughs or job cuts, something Washington said he didn’t want to do — not the least because Grand Rapids hasn’t returned to the staffing levels it had before the 2008 recession. For now, he said, he needs the federal government to make a “direct infusion into our city.”

Nirenberg, the mayor of San Antonio, sounded a similarly fearful note. With declining tax revenue — and the realization the “bond markets are stressed” — he emphasized that federal aid dollars needed to flow quickly into cities and states nationwide.

“Right now, the federal government is placing tourniquets,” Nirenberg said in the days before the Fed’s announcement. “It’s immediate relief, but won’t begin to approach what we’ll need.”

Trying to measure depth of COVID hole with no yardsticks

CRAIN’S//David Greising

Protecting Chicago's fiscal health is a big undertaking even in typical times. There's a reason Chicago's credit rating has hovered at or near "junk" status in recent years. And Moody's last year called Chicago and Detroit the two cities in the country least prepared for a recession.

There are recessions, and there are—whatever is happening to the economy right now. Two straight weeks with 6.6 million new jobless claims nationwide. A virtual shutdown in travel; very little trade. Stay-at-home orders affecting 95 percent of the U.S. population.

Chicago is getting hit hard: The $1.56 billion Lightfoot expects in federal aid is targeted chiefly at reimbursing losses arising from coronavirus. The mayor is pushing to get through this without city layoffs—and counting on spending by 30,000 city workers to be a factor in recovery.

Fortunately for Lightfoot, her economic team—headed by Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett and Budget Director Susie Park—had a head start on coronavirus. Late last year, they conducted planning for varying degrees of economic crisis.

The worst-case scenario for at least some parts of city government, Bennett says in an interview, was this: "What happens if we get no revenues for a certain period of time?"

That may have sounded extreme then. These days, it's closer to a description of what is happening in certain areas.

In the weeks since coronavirus hit the U.S., last year's planning work is coming in handy. "If we hadn't had that in place, it would have been difficult to do some of the analysis we need now," Park says.

Lightfoot in a press call April 9 said the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak had her spending considerable time comparing notes with counterparts in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and New York City. She was looking for comparables as Chicago's case count climbed.

Likewise, Bennett and Park turned to reliable sources: contacts at the Federal Reserve, the big banks, the credit rating agencies and the global Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development.

Despite the helpful data, it still is too early to estimate the impact on Chicago from the looming recession. Meanwhile, the city is busy managing cash flow—making certain to collect every dollar available and minimizing losses. One tricky big-ticket item: leases at the airports. Negotiations with the airlines are never easy, and the city today is negotiating with airlines to collect those payments, even though very few passengers are coming and going.

Lightfoot in her press call referred to a "yin and yang," saying that many revenues are down from, say, restaurants and entertainment, but they're up in other places. Revenues from the city's "cloud tax," levied on streaming services, are zooming.

Federal spending will make up for some of the lost revenue. The $470 million to Chicago from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund is the biggest single item. But most of the money from Uncle Sam is intended to cover COVID-19-related costs. Its net economic impact may be limited.

And despite the efforts by Park, Bennett and others to plan and respond, there still are some big unknowns. The Federal Aviation Administration has allocated $10 billion for airports, but the city doesn't yet know how much O'Hare and Midway will get.

In their effort to project forward, Park and Bennett have looked back, digging up revenue and expense data from past economic shocks. The 9/11 attacks and the SARS pandemic—a respiratory disease that in 2003 affected 26 countries, including the U.S.—were not very instructive. Chicago's diverse economy was resistant to both.

But the Great Recession, which finally ended in 2009, hit Chicago hard, and Park and Bennett are worried this one could have similar effects. "We're taking that experience and adjusting it for what we're looking at now," Bennett says.

The data is murky enough, and the course of the disease so unknowable, that no one quite yet knows what exactly we're looking at.

The Conservative Candidates Vying To Lead Chicago’s Police Union Support The Mayor’s Pick For Top Cop

WBEZ//Chip Mitchell

But both incumbent Kevin Graham and challenger John Catanzara Jr., the top finishers in the first round of balloting for Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 president, are talking up Lightfoot’s nomination of former Dallas police chief David Brown to be superintendent — one of the biggest policing decisions of her mayoral tenure.

Brown, who awaits City Council confirmation, came to national prominence in 2016 when a sniper killed five Dallas officers. Cops under Brown killed the sniper by detonating an explosive carried by a remote-controlled robot.

“That was a very tough call to make, and it was the right call to make,” Catanzara told WBEZ. “I give him kudos for that.”

Catanzara made his name in 2017, Trump’s first year in office, when the Chicago Police Department reprimanded him for posting on Facebook a photo of himself in his police uniform, holding a placard that said he supports his president and the Second Amendment.

Catanzara said his support for Brown is not without reservation. The FOP candidate pointed to a 2018 article by Brown about racial inequality, justice and policing in America. Brown, who is black, put an unfavorable spin on the police shooting that ignited rioting in Ferguson, Mo.

The article did not impress Catanzara, who is white.

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“He was bashing the police and making everything racially based and now he’s coming here, trying to lead the troops [after] furthering the narrative that the police are the problem,” Catanzara said.

In Catanzara’s next breath, however, he gushed about Brown’s response to a 2010 tragedy involving the chief’s son, who had a psychotic episode and fatally shot two people — one of them a suburban cop — before he himself was killed by the police. Brown had his own grief but visited the families of his son’s victims to say he was sorry.

“It goes to speak to the man’s character,” Catanzara said. “He had the humanity and the understanding that they needed obviously to hear from him and he needed to apologize.”

Graham, elected union president three years ago, was the only local official given the honor of welcoming Trump to town as he stepped off Air Force One before a Chicago speech last fall.

Graham told WBEZ he has heard “a number of good things” about Brown. One of those is his ability to work with a wide variety of people.

The FOP incumbent said he is looking forward to meeting with Brown about a court-enforced agreement to reform Chicago policing: “Certainly I’ve heard that he is in favor of the consent decree. I am not. So I want to find out why he’s in favor of it.”

Graham said he won’t make up his mind about Brown just yet.

“The members of the Chicago Police Department — my members — have been kicked around for the last couple years and unfairly,” Graham said. “I want to know what he wants to do to try to bring the morale up around here.”

But both of these Trump-loving candidates seeking to head the city’s big police union say they are willing to give the former Dallas chief a chance in Chicago.

Mailed-in FOP ballots were due April 2. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the election’s in-person voting and its ballot counting were postponed and have not yet been rescheduled.

Too early to make decisions on Chicago’s summer festivals, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says

TRIBUNE//Gregory Pratt and John Byrne

Mayor Lori Lightfoot says it’s too early to decide whether this summer’s Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago will be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think it’s too soon for us to be talking about events that are happening in July and August,” Lightfoot said.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday cast serious doubt on the summer festival season, cautioning that organizers should “think carefully about canceling large summer events.”

“From my perspective today, I do not see how we are going to have large gatherings of people again until we have a vaccine, which is months and months away. I would not risk having large groups of people getting together, anywhere. And I think that’s hard for everybody to hear, but that’s just a fact,” Pritzker said.

But Friday, Lightfoot said she hasn't had any substantive discussions about those summer events.

"We're still seeing cases rise. But I think it's too soon for us to predict where we're going to be down the road," Lightfoot said.

The city’s Gospel Music Festival is slated for late May, while Blues Fest is scheduled for early June.

It’s Too Soon To Cancel Summer Events In Chicago, Lightfoot Says

BLOCK CLUB//Kelly Bauer

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said it’s too soon for the city to tell if it will cancel large summer events due to the pandemic.

Lightfoot, speaking at a Friday news conference, said it’s simply “too soon” to talk about events that will happen in July and August. Gov. JB Pritzker said a day earlier he thinks all large events planned for the summer should be canceled to limit the spread of coronavirus.

But Lightfoot said the city will make those decisions closer to the summer.

“A lot of that’s gonna depend on what the data tells us. As I said, we are making some progress, but the progress is gonna be dependent on people remaining at home. I think we have a long way to go before we start looking at events in July and August,” Lightfoot said. “We certainly haven’t had any substantive conversations.

“If it’s necessary, we will take the steps to keeping people safe, but we’re still very much in the midst of this epidemic, this pandemic. We’re still seeing cases rise. But I think it’s too soon for us to predict where we’re gonna be down the road.”

Chicago has been a hot spot for coronavirus with 6,619 confirmed cases so far. There have been 16,422 cases confirmed throughout the state.

Officials have banned large gatherings throughout Illinois; closed schools, bars and restaurants; and enacted a stay at home order while repeatedly urging people to practice social distancing. Those are the best ways to prevent coronavirus from spreading further and claiming more lives, officials have said.

And on Thursday, Pritzker said it was unlikely he’d lift the state’s stay at home order before April 30 and doesn’t think there should be large gatherings of people before a vaccine is developed.

“From my perspective today, I don’t see how we’re going to have large gatherings of people, again, until we have a vaccine, which is months and months away. I would not risk having large groups of people getting together anywhere,” Pritzker said Thursday. “And I think that’s hard for everybody to hear, but that’s just a fact.

“Even with testing and tracing and treating as is necessary for us to begin to make changes, it isn’t enough for me to say that it’s OK to have a big festival with a whole bunch of people gathering together.”

Lightfoot and Pritzker have said that while Chicago and Illinois are making progress in trying to reduce the spread of coronavirus, all of that will be thrown out the window if people start gathering again and don’t practice social distancing.

“We’re gonna do everything to make sure we keep people safe,” Lightfoot said. “I think there’s a lot of thresholds to meet before we feel comfortable lifting the orders that have been in place.”

As coronavirus hits Chicago’s African American community, South Side aldermen call on residents to take social distancing rules more seriously

TRIBUNE//John Byrne

Ald. David Moore, 17th, pointed to the particularly high numbers in the 60620 ZIP code around the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, which touches his ward and those of neighboring aldermen Howard Brookins, 21st, and Derrick Curtis, 18th. “That shows us, really drives home why it’s critical that we shelter in place,” Moore said.

“We have to let these young people know that they could take the virus home to their grandmother,” Moore added. “They may feel like ‘I didn’t have any symptoms, I didn’t give it to grandma,' but we know that’s not the case. You can pass it anyway, and older people are at real risk of dying, so we need to make that very clear to people.”

A Wednesday party in Auburn Gresham in Moore’s ward to honor a man who had been fatally shot drew a large crowd and required a big police presence plus three arrests to break it up. “So not only are the people at the party putting themselves and all those responding officers at risk, they’re drawing police away from other critical tasks they could be performing,” he said. “It has this ripple effect that we really need to make sure people understand.”

Moore warned that this weekend’s Easter religious holiday is no excuse for groups to meet up.

Curtis, whose ward includes parts of Ashburn, Wrightwood and Marquette Park, warned against assuming some demographics are safer than others.

“The life residents save may be their own,” Curtis said in a news release. “This virus doesn’t discriminate against race, age or gender. When you return back to your home with your love ones the virus could be in your clothes or on your skin. Therefore, it is your responsibility to take care of your relatives and stay at home.”

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Brookins this week removed basketball rims from the courts in his ward, after seeing groups of young people continuing to congregate to shoot hoops in spite of the stay-at-home order and repeated warnings from officials that coming into close contact with one another risks transmitting COVID-19.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot closed the city’s lakefront, The 606 elevated trail and the Riverwalk after widespread flouting of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. Lightfoot also has set a curfew order on all liquor sales across Chicago, banning sales after 9 p.m.

Black residents on the South Side make up the majority of the population in seven of 10 ZIP codes with the most deaths from the virus, according to census data. The 60620 ZIP code in Auburn Gresham, where more than 90% of residents are black, has the most COVID-19-related deaths in the city, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

As of Thursday, Chicago had 6,619 of Illinois’ 16,422 known COVID-19 cases and 196 of the state’s 528 coronavirus-related deaths.

Preckwinkle defends firing of county health department chief during pandemic

SUN TIMES//Fran Spielman

Mason’s firing has raised eyebrows because he was the man in charge of the county’s response to the pandemic.

He’s the former Chicago health commissioner who joined county government, first as chief medical officer, then as chief operating officers.

Last week, Mason was abruptly replaced on an interim basis by Doctors Kiran Joshi and Rachel Rubin. Both have been senior medical officers at the county department since 2014 and members of the medical staff at Stroger Hospital.

At the time, Preckwinkle would only say that Mason had been “terminated.” She heightened the drama on a Friday — when politicians routinely bury bad news — by announcing that she was closing the emergency room at Provident Hospital for a month to figure out a better way to handle the “large volume of patients” and the “challenges of a pandemic” at the South Side hospital.

A week later, Preckwinkle both explained and defended her decision to fire Mason.

He is the third highest ranking health official to be cut from county government in recent months.

“There’s no good time to make high-profile personnel decisions. I’m very grateful to Terry Mason for his service to the county. He’s a very good public educator, [and with] outreach work —particularly to the African American community. Reminding us of the...hyper-tension and heart disease that plague our communities and what we can do ourselves to mitigate some of the impacts of those diseases.

“This is a time, however, when we need strong operational leadership. And Dr. Rachel Rubin and Dr. Kiran Joshi are co-leaders now of our Department of Health and I have great confidence in them.”

Pressed to specify where Mason had fallen short in providing “strong operational leadership,” Preckwinkle said, “I’ve said all I’m gonna say on this. Why don’t you ask another question?”

Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston, told the Chicago Sun-Times last week that he hadn’t been given a “coherent” explanation for why Mason was let go, saying all of his experiences with the former head of the public health department in the past 10 days had been positive.

“I always felt Terry Mason did a good job, and I always enjoyed working with him, but obviously Debra Carey and [chair of the health system’s board of directors] Hill Hammock felt it was time for a change,” Suffredin said.

Commissioner Sean Morrison, R-Palos Park, found the move “very alarming” considering the spread of coronavirus throughout the county.

“This coronavirus is very real, we haven’t even hit the apex yet, that’s a few weeks away,” Morrison said. “I think he did a good job.”

On Friday, Preckwinkle said she has talked to “every county commissioner a number of times over the last several weeks and they have not shared that view with me.”

As for the emergency room closing at Provident Hospital, Preckwinkle said she had no other choice after one of the health care workers there tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We sent an infectious disease team over to Provident to look at the space to try to figure out what was going on there. What they determined is there was no way to practice social distancing given the way the emergency department was configured,” she said.

“So we said…we’ll close down the emergency room for a maximum of four weeks. We’ll try to get it done quickly. Tear out the walls and try to reconfigure the space so we can practice the social distancing that’s required in this pandemic….We’re trying to make the emergency room a safe place for the people who work there and for the people who come there as patients.”

Transformed from convention center to medical facility, Chicago’s McCormick Place now has 1,750 beds ready for coronavirus patients

TRIBUNE//Gregory Pratt

Illinois and Chicago officials have joined with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois National Guard to build out the city’s lakefront convention site with beds for sick people in anticipation of a possible crush of COVID-19 patients that could overwhelm area hospitals.

Wearing a face mask emblazoned with a trademark city star, Lightfoot joined Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter on a tour of the new medical area.

“I want to stress just how remarkable it was to pull all this together in a short period of time,” Lightfoot said. “Really quite stunning.”

In addition to the beds, Chicago laborers installed more than 100 new water lines, 1,000 electrical outlets, and installed more than 100 data lines for records. The facility could start taking patients next week, Lightfoot said.

Last week, Lightfoot joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker as they unveiled the first 500 beds.

The sprawling tent city, which is being called an alternate care facility, eventually will be able to hold 3,000 beds for patients, most of whom would have mild symptoms and not require intensive care. Officials described the site as a last resort that would become operational if Chicago and surrounding suburbs run out of hospital beds.

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the agency that runs McCormick Place, has been authorized to spend up to $13 million on construction, which is being done by 400 workers representing the Army Corps of Engineers, the Illinois National Guard and local contractors. Per the convention center’s ironclad labor agreements, any construction work not done by military or government employees will be handled by union workers.

The overhaul will be paid for in part by $15 million in federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the Army Corps of Engineers’ project. Under the terms of the lease, McPier will allow its North and South buildings to be used for free, though the Illinois Emergency Management Agency will be billed for any additional services it requires, according to McPier spokeswoman Cynthia McCafferty.

Officials have warned that if members of the public choose not to follow the governor’s stay-at-home order and other measures implemented by Lightfoot, such as closing down the city’s Lakefront Trail, there could be more than 40,000 hospitalizations in Chicago — a number that would break the health system.

Second CPD member who tested positive for COVID-19 has died

TRIBUNE//Jeremy Gorner

Another Chicago Police Department member who tested positive for COVID-19 has died, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The victim, a police supervisor, is the second department employee to lose his life to the coronavirus.

His identity was not immediately released, but sources said he’s a sergeant in the Area Central detective division on the South Side and he got sick from the disease last month.

Word of his death comes a day after Chicago police Officer Marco DiFranco was laid to rest after dying on April 2 from complications due to the disease.

As of Thursday, the CPD has 151 employees, 144 sworn cops and seven civilians, that have been confirmed to have tested positive, police officials said. But they said there could be as many as 47 more employees who have contracted disease but were awaiting test results.

Check back for more details.

Pritzker vows to step up COVID fight in African-American community

CRAIN’S//Greg Hinz

Contending that generations of systemic disparities in health care now are becoming clear, Pritzker said one effort will involve Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital.

That institution next week will begin processing 400 COVID tests a day from four health clinics on the South and West Sides of Chicago, Pritzker said. The four are Lawndale Christian Health Center, PCC Community Wellness Center, Chicago Family Health Center and Friend Family Health Center.

A similar effort involving 470 tests a day will start in the Metro East area downstate which, like the South and West sides, has a large African-American population.

Pritzker said he’s also sending most of the state’s recently acquired batch of Abbott Labs rapid-testing equipment to such areas, with two of the 15 going each to the South and West sides, three to Metro East and five to Illinois Department of Corrections facilities, where a disproportionate share of the inmate population is minority. The machines will be used to their full capacity as soon as the state gets more needed test kits.

State health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike also urged people in those areas to text (312) 500-3836 if they need more information about safety precautions around COVID-19.

Cases among blacks are “alarmingly high,” Ezike said. For instance, black people in their 50s who are afflicted by the illness have a mortality rate on average 12 times that of other groups. Similar disparities exist among those in their 60s and 70s, with death rates eight times and 12 times higher than others.

Overall, 36 percent of blacks who have been tested in the state come up positive, officials said. The rate is nearly as high among Latinos, at 35 percent, with 23 percent among Asian-Americans and 18 percent among whites.

Pritzker said he’s also opening a new drive-through testing location “in the Markham/Harvey area” early next week. No specific location was identified.

“Marginalized and minority communities must receive equitable care,” Pritzker said.

The governor was accompanied by African-American leaders, including Bishop Simon Gordon of Triedstone Full Gospel Baptist Church, which is located in the Beverly neighborhood. Gordon said the moves the Pritzker administration is making “will make a difference.”

In other news, Pritzker ducked a question as to whether public schools will reopen at the end of the month, as they now are scheduled to do, saying it’s too soon to tell. And he amplified a bit on his suggestion yesterday that popular Chicago festivals may have to be cancelled this summer, describing that as a “what if” notion for people to consider but not a final decision.

The governor also suggested that people stay home this Easter weekend, rather than celebrating in groups of up to 10 as Vice President Mike Pence suggested earlier today.

As Pritzker gave his daily briefing, officials announced 68 more deaths and 1,465 new confirmed cases in the state in the last day, bringing the totals to 596 deaths and 17,887 confirmed cases statewide since the outbreak began.