COVID-19 in Illinois updates: here’s what’s happening on Friday

The suburban advisory, similar to the city version, goes into effect on Mondays and lasts for 30 days. Both opinions stop ahead of a mandatory home support order, as they are intended to be a last-ditch attempt to curb the recent resurgence of the coronavirus before more drastic measures are taken.

Also on Thursday, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker warned he could once again put in place some form of ‘mandatory’ stay-at-home order, the most extensive restriction to curb the spread of COVID- 19 that he used.

“If things don’t change in the next few days, we will quickly reach the point where some form of mandatory stay-at-home order will be all that is left,” Pritzker said. “With every fiber of my being, I don’t want us to get there. But for now, that seems to be where we’re headed.

Here’s what’s happening with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois on Friday:

The suburban advisory, similar to the city version, goes into effect Monday and lasts for 30 days, according to a press release issued by the Cook County Public Health Department on Friday. Both opinions stop ahead of a mandatory home support order, as they are meant to be a last-ditch attempt to curb the recent resurgence of the coronavirus before more drastic measures are taken.

“More than ever, we need to come together to stay apart,” Dr Rachel Rubin, chief medical officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health, said in the statement. “We know that limiting gatherings with friends and family can be difficult, but we also know that virtual celebrations will save lives.”

Aurora Rush Copley Medical Center and AMITA Health Mercy Medical Center both treated record numbers of COVID-19 patients this week, as the virus continues to soar in the region and another layer COVID-19 mitigation measures take effect.

Mercy Hospital in Aurora, near the West Side, was treating 41 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 on Thursday, and 11 more people were under investigation for the virus, AMITA health system spokesman Tim Nelson said. A week earlier, the hospital had 24 hospitalized patients positive for the virus and 15 people under investigation, he said.

Rush Copley, in the southeast of the city, had 82 COVID-19 patients at one point in the past week, also marking the highest number treated at a time since the start of the pandemic, said the Director of Operations Mary Shilkaitis.

As of Thursday afternoon, the number of patients infected with the virus at the hospital was 77. This also represented more people than the hospital had ever treated at the same time during the first wave of the pandemic in March, April and May, said Shilkaitis.

The number of patients treated and hospitalized for COVID-19 continues to rise at Edward Hospital, with a record 93 patients on Thursday morning, hospital officials said.

Naperville Hospital’s daily tally this week went from 72 on Monday, 82 on Tuesday, 85 on Wednesday and to 93 inpatients on Thursday morning.

“When you look at October 1, we had 14 patients (under treatment). At the end of the month, he was 51 years old. And two weeks later, we’re now at 93. These are pretty dramatic peaks, things that happened almost overnight, ”said hospital spokesman Keith Hartenberger.

Leyden High School District 212 has again delayed its planned return to in-person learning, citing an increase in COVID-19 cases in the region.

General education students were tentatively scheduled to return on November 6, which was later postponed to November 16, but officials now say they will stay with distance learning until the region is no longer under COVID-19 mitigation measures.

“We saw the positivity rates start to rise, which prompted our (first) announcement to delay this comeback,” Superintendent Nick Polyak explained in a note to parents. “Over the past two weeks, we were hoping to see this rate of positivity decrease. Unfortunately, after stabilizing slightly, our local positivity rate continued to increase. “

Students in English Language Learning, Special Education Services, and Bridge, Transition and LIFE classes began a four-day-a-week blended learning plan on campus in early November.

While the timing of the return of live music remains uncertain, Ticketmaster has already begun to rethink the future of concert security.

Billboard reported this week that the ticketing giant, which shares ownership with Live Nation – the world’s leading concert promoter – was discussing plans that would require customers to provide either proof of a coronavirus vaccination or a recent negative Covid-19 test to access a concert.

This would be done through a combination of third-party entities: a fan would have to ask their vaccine or testing provider to send their results to a health pass provider, such as CLEAR Health Pass or IBM’s. Digital Health Pass, which would then verify the results to Ticketmaster, which will not store or access customers’ medical records, Billboard said.

Instead of a vaccine, a negative test should be produced about 24 to 72 hours before the event, depending on the plan, which remains in the developmental stage.

Lincoln-Way Superintendent R. Scott Tingley told families this week that on Monday about 600 students from the three schools in the district were in quarantine due to either a positive test result for the coronavirus or be in close contact with someone who had tested positive.

Tingley said that, based on contact tracing reports, there was little evidence that any of the cases resulted from students and staff contracting the virus in school buildings, and most traced back to social gatherings or family settings.

He said district officials expected the number of students who cannot attend school due to self-quarantine will increase as positivity rates rise in suburbs served by the district, which include Frankfort and New Lenox.

“There are just too many students who aren’t able to attend the in-person learning at this point due to exposure or close contact,” Tingley said.

Homer 33C Superintendent Craig Schoppe told families on Thursday that 64 staff and 224 students had been quarantined due to being symptomatic of the virus or having had close contact with someone who had been tested positive. There have been 10 positive cases of coronavirus and four probable cases among district staff, and 9 positive cases and 10 probable cases among students, he said.

The district had “reached a point where we will be unable to cover classrooms and bus lines next week,” Schoppe wrote.

District 228 Superintendent Bill Kendall said Thursday that COVID-19 advice from public health officials showing that schools are located in an orange warning zone prompted the switch to distance learning.

“We are careful with our students, our staff and our community,” he said.

Rising positivity rates have led High School District 218, with schools in Blue Island, Oak Lawn and Palos Heights, to postpone plans to bring students back on a limited basis, they told parents this week.

Chicago Public Schools have said they will continue to require some staff to work in person, despite an arbitrator ruling Thursday that they should be allowed to work primarily from home until CPS proves minimizing risk of COVID-19 in every school.

Thursday’s ruling applies to selected clerks, technology coordinators, and other staff who the independent labor arbitrator said should be allowed to work from home at least four days a week, except when tasks cannot be performed remotely.

It also requires the CPS to determine which schools pass the certified risk assessments and provide the union with all the information it needs to confirm the district’s decision. If a school meets health and safety requirements, 100% face-to-face work “is appropriate,” according to the arbitrator.

More than a third of Springfield firefighters are in quarantine as a COVID-19 outbreak spreads in the department.

Seventy-three firefighters are being quarantined, including 19 who have tested positive for the virus.

All fire stations remain open and provide services to residents.

But two of the city’s 12 fire trucks will not be in service until further notice, city officials say. The engines in question are each part of a multi-company station house.

“While not ideal, it is our current reality with so many of our members who have been reported,” said Springfield Fire Chief Allen Reyne. “The department will begin working with our regional hospitals to determine if our quarantine methodology, which we have been using since day one, is still supported by the CDC.

The decommissioned engines come from Station 2, 2810 Stevenson Drive, and Station 12, 2925 S. Koke Mill Road.

The stations are also each home to one of the city’s three truck companies, which offer features like ladders and extrication equipment.

Reyne said the decision to take the engines out of service was made due to labor shortages as well as a desire to better distance themselves socially as the stations in question are both small.

So instead of two companies with six people present at each station, there will be one with three.

“So they take them away and it brings down your staffing level to relieve the people who are needed,” Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder said.

Here are five things that happened on Thursday regarding COVID-19: