COVID-19 in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening on Monday

The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States reached 500,000 on Monday, an unimaginable tragic number. This total represents more than the populations of Aurora, Naperville and Joliet combined.

There have been more than 22,000 deaths from COVID-19 in Illinois, the seventh of all states. California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have more. Illinois has a higher per capita rate than these states except New York and New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Illinois administered 59,748 doses of the coronavirus vaccine on Sunday, reaching a total of 2,211,700, health officials reported on Monday. Over the past seven days, the state has administered an average of 55,499 vaccines per day, up from 66,320 a week ago.

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

In Illinois, that total is more than the populations of Aurora, Naperville, and Joliet combined, the state’s three largest cities after Chicago. If 500,000 people lined up within 6 feet of each other, the line would stretch from Chicago to Atlanta.

There have been more than 22,000 deaths from the coronavirus in Illinois, the seventh of all states. California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have more. Illinois has a higher per capita rate than these states except New York and New Jersey.

The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States topped 500,000 on Monday, almost equal to the number of Americans killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.

Lives lost, as recorded by Johns Hopkins University, are roughly equal to the population of Kansas City, Missouri, and greater than that of Miami; Raleigh, North Carolina; or Omaha, Nebraska.

And despite the vaccine rollout since mid-December, a closely watched University of Washington model predicts more than 589,000 deaths as of June 1.

The U.S. death toll is by far the highest in the world, and the real numbers are believed to be significantly higher, in part because of the many cases that have been overlooked, especially early in the epidemic.

When the closed-site operators relief program became law at the end of 2020, business owners in the arts industry saw it as a long-delayed survival: $ 15 billion in cinema grants concert halls, cinemas and cinemas, museums and zoos closed or operating at limited capacity since the start of the pandemic.

But now it’s late February, and organizations – many of which operate thanks to the smokes and kindness of their owners – are worried that they can’t even apply for the grants yet.

“I still can’t apply for the Shuttered Venue Operators grant,” Donnie Biggins, owner of the Tonic Room in Lincoln Park, wrote in a Twitter thread Sunday. “Waiting for the chance to apply for SVOG again crushes the live music industry even more.”

Democratic leaders have a powerful dynamic on their side as Congress prepares for its first votes on the party’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill: Would a Democrat dare to vote that scuttles the initiative to launch new President Joe Biden?

Democrats’ very slim 10-vote majority in the House leaves little room for defections in the face of strong Republican opposition, and they have none in a 50-50 Senate they control only with the decisive vice vote. -President Kamala Harris. Internal democratic disputes remain over issues such as raising the minimum wage, the amount of aid to be funneled to struggling state and local governments and the possibility of extending emergency unemployment benefits for an additional month. .

Yet as the House Budget Committee plans to approve the 591-page package on Monday, Democrats across the party spectrum show little indication they are prepared to embarrass Biden with a high-profile one-month loss. after the start of his presidency.

The difficulty in securing immunization appointments continues, compounded by last week’s delay in federal vaccine shipments due to extreme cold and winter conditions.

Officials also reported 37,361 new tests in the past 24 hours. The statewide seven-day mobile positivity rate for cases as a percentage of total testing was 2.8% for the period ending Sunday.

A former Gap manager loses his job for almost 20 years and becomes a welder.

A restaurant waiter loses his and starts working in a cannabis dispensary.

A personal trainer, who previously worked in finance, begins to seek a role in supply chain management.

Across Chicago, the job market is tight as the current health crisis continues to hit parts of the U.S. economy, forcing workers in some of the hardest hit industries to change careers. Some learn new skills through certification programs at local colleges, while others turn to workforce development programs in hopes of securing employment.

Cook County Council Chairman Toni Preckwinkle and Evanston Mayor Hagerty were due to visit a coronavirus vaccination clinic at an Evanston senior housing complex, officials said.

The Victor Walchirk Apartments Clinic is part of the county’s efforts to vaccinate people in phase 1b vaccination, including those aged 65 or older.

Preckwinkle and Hagerty were to visit the clinic and meet with the residents of the complex who are receiving vaccines.

Check back for updates. –Chicago Tribune Staff

In search of a COVID-19 vaccine for her father, Amber Dow found herself in one stalemate after another.

Then she received a private Facebook message from a stranger: Go to the Jewel-Osco site now. Enter your postal code. It is in Palatine.

She immediately followed the instructions and grabbed one of the last open places in the grocery store that day. His father, Duane Dow, 80, got his first shot on Wednesday.

The trick came from the Chicago Vaccine Hunters Facebook site, a group of over 11,000 members who collect and share information about vaccination locations in real time, as new locations and time slots emerge.

With the COVID-19 vaccine in short supply, more locals are turning to social media for help as they scour the internet for available vaccinations.

Mardi Gras came, went, and left a palatine bakery with a problem: too many ingredients for paczki, the traditional Polish donuts Americans eat on Mardi Gras, and not enough customers.

Paczki Day usually helps sales at Spunky Dunkers Donuts for a month or two, and customers often buy dozens of paczki to take to the office. But during a pandemic where many work from home and after back-to-back snowstorms, “it looked a little scary,” owner Jan Daczewitz said.

Daczewitz, who said she’s not the most tech-savvy, asked some employees to make a Facebook call Thursday afternoon.

“So, real discussions. We need your help, ”began the bakery post, which has been shared over 1,000 times on Facebook and liked over 6,000 times on Instagram. The effect was almost immediate.

Lines have formed around the store. The bakery has doubled its baking hours from two to four, Daczewitz said. She called all the employees she could, even the former workers, of whom about six to ten came to help. Some employees stayed on to work overtime.

Since Thursday, the store has gone through as many as 10,000 baked goods in three days, she estimated, until it ran out of basic donut supplies.

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