Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening Wednesday - Chicago Tribune

State officials Tuesday reported another 144 deaths in Illinois related to the coronavirus — the highest number confirmed in a single day since the outbreak began — as the statewide death toll reached 2,125. Officials also announced 2,219 new known cases of COVID-19. That’s the fifth time in the past seven days that the number of new cases has topped 2,000.

The new numbers came as Gov. J.B. Pritzker called a state representative’s lawsuit over his stay-at-home order a “cheap political stunt” and decried the judge’s ruling, which exempted the GOP lawmaker from the statewide directive, as “absurd.”

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

12:55 p.m.: Reopen Illinois rally planned for Loop this Friday

Protesters who want Gov. J.B. Pritzker to announce a plan to reopen the Illinois economy have scheduled a Friday rally outside the Thompson Center in the Loop.

“Illinois residents have tolerated the government’s plan for over a month — without a plan on how to slowly and safely reopen the state’s economy,” a news release announcing the event states. “We need to discuss the process of cautiously returning back to work.” Read more here. —John Byrne

12:51 p.m.: Republican lawmakers say Pritzker’s exceeding his authority with stay-at-home extension

Three Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday criticized Gov. J.B. Pritzker for allegedly exceeding his emergency powers by extending Illinois’ stay-at-home order past 30 days without legislative approval.

“Whether you agree with the governor or disagree with the governor, we believe that a separate but equal branch of government — the General Assembly — should have input in the direction of the state of Illinois,” said Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer of downstate Jacksonville in a video press conference.

The press conference took place as a second GOP state representative filed a lawsuit challenging Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. Rep. John Cabello, who filed the action, was not part of the press event, nor was Rep. Darren Bailey, who was exempted from the order by a judge’s ruling earlier this week as a result of his lawsuit.

Joining Davidsmeyer in calling for the General Assembly to convene in Springfield, GOP Rep. Dan Ugaste of Geneva said Pritzker was “bucking a system of checks and balances” by acting alone in extending the state’s stay-at-home order.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act grants the governor emergency powers for 30 days following the declaration of a disaster, but “beyond that, the statute is silent,” said Ugaste. “It doesn’t provide for the governor to extend it, but it also doesn’t state how the legislature will be involved.”

If House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Don Harmon decline to convene the two chambers, Pritzker should request a vote from the General Assembly on the stay-at-home order extension, Ugaste said.

Rep. Norine Hammond of Macomb proposed that the capitol remain closed to public visitors, who could instead livestream the General Assembly proceedings from home. While gathered in the capitol, lawmakers could protect themselves by “wearing a mask and using some common sense,” she said. —Antonia Ayres-Brown

Noon: Chicago area unemployment reached 4.8% in March as coronavirus took its toll. Experts say that number will jump in April.

The Chicago area unemployment rate rose to 4.8% in March, up from 4.2% during the same month last year, as coronavirus economic disruption began to take its toll on the job market.

Labor economists expect that number to get a lot bigger in April.

Nearly two-thirds of metropolitan areas across the U.S. saw higher year-over-year unemployment rates last month, according to a report released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The national unemployment rate in March was 4.5%, not seasonally adjusted, up from 3.9% a year earlier. Read more here. —Robert Channick

11:18 a.m.: Experimental drug remdesivir proved effective against COVID-19 in major study, drugmaker Gilead says

A biotech company says its experimental drug has proved effective against the new coronavirus in a major U.S. government study that put it to a strict test.

Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir would be the first treatment to pass such a test against the virus, which has killed more than 218,000 people since it emerged late last year. Having a treatment could have a profound effect on the global pandemic, especially because health officials say any vaccine is likely a year or more away.

The study, run by the National Institutes of Health, tested remdesivir versus usual care in about 800 hospitalized coronavirus patients around the world. The main result is how long it takes patients to recover.

Gilead gave no details on results Wednesday, but said an announcement is expected soon. NIH officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Read more here. —Associated Press

10:45 a.m.: 52 people who worked or voted on election day in Wisconsin tested positive for COVID-19. There’s no plan for changes in upcoming special election.

There are no plans to postpone or otherwise alter a special congressional election in Wisconsin that is less than two weeks away, even though more than 50 people who voted in person or worked the polls during the state's presidential primary this month have tested positive for COVID-19.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers tried to change the April 7 election so that it would be conducted entirely by mail, but he was blocked by the Republican-led Legislature and conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court. Evers and others had warned that allowing in-person voting would cause a spike in coronavirus cases, but so far the impact appears to be limited.

Several of the 52 people who have tested positive and were at the polls on April 7 also reported other ways they may have been exposed to the virus, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said Tuesday. Because of that, it’s unclear if those people contracted the virus at the polls.

The 52 positive cases were in people who tested positive in the two weeks after the election, so by April 21. Most people show symptoms within 14 days of exposure, though some people who have the virus don’t show symptoms. Read more here. —Associated Press

10:18 a.m.: Second GOP state representative files lawsuit challenging Pritzker’s stay-at-home order

Republican State Rep. John Cabello filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, the second GOP representative to sue over the governor’s directive.

The lawsuit, filed in Winnebago County Circuit Court, asks a judge to block the stay-at-home order Pritzker issued March 20 or any similar measures from being enforced on Cabello and “all citizens similarly situated.”

Illinois has been under a statewide stay-at-home order since March 21, which was originally set to expire April 7. Pritzker extended the order, which has an array of exceptions, through April 30. Read more here. —Jamie Munks

10:17 a.m.: Trump order keeps meatpacking plants open, but unions say workers unsafe

More than 20 meatpacking plants have closed temporarily under pressure from local authorities and their own workers because of the virus, including two of the nation's largest, one in Iowa and one in South Dakota. Others have slowed production as workers have fallen ill or stayed home to avoid getting sick.

“Such closures threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain, undermining critical infrastructure during the national emergency," the order states.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the order means for the three Illinois meat processing plants that closed last week. Read more here. —Associated Press

9:25 a.m.: Voices of the pandemic: How the coronavirus changes the lives of Chicagoans, in their own words

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic rose to the forefront of our everyday lives, Chicagoans have been stepping up. Their stories have inspired us, compelled us to give back, and kept us going through uncharted waters.

Here’s what Chicago had to say this week on how we’re living in the time of COVID-19. Read more here.

6:45 a.m.: Divvy extends free rides for health care workers, lower charges for others

Divvy was expected to announce Wednesday it will extend to the end of May its offer of free rides for health care workers and lower rates for other Chicago residents, according to the Chicago mayor’s office.

People with low incomes are eligible for $5 annual memberships under the company’s Divvy for Everyone program, called D4E. Under the program being offered during the state’s coronavirus stay-at-home order and being extended Wednesday, other Chicagoans can take $1 short rides and become annual Divvy members for $49.50, according to a news release from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office. The short rides usually are $3 and annual membership usually is $99.

More information for health care companies wanting to join the program for health care workers can email herobikes@lyft.com; more information about discounts and joining with D4E membership is available at the company’s website, divvybikes.com. —Chicago Tribune staff

6:15 a.m.: Southern Illinois police chief questions Pritzker’s powers, stay-home orders

ENERGY, Ill. — A southern Illinois village police chief is expressing skepticism about Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s power to issue stay-at-home orders to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter last week to residents of the village of Energy, Police Chief Shawn Ladd says he and his department have no interest in enforcing any rules, declarations or proclamations that morally or technically violate provisions of the federal or state constitutions. Ladd told The Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale nothing requires him or his officers to enforce the executive orders, first issued in March and extended through May.

"He can make suggestions,’’ Ladd said of his understanding of the governor’s powers in an emergency.

Ladd backs his views with an opinion made in an internal memo by David Robinson, deputy director of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Office to the office’s director, Patrick Delfino. Robinson said he wasn’t sure courts would uphold Pritzker’s limitations on restaurants, bars, public and private gatherings.

Sheila Simon, an assistant professor of law at Southern Illinois University assistant professor of law Sheila Simon is questioning Ladd’s and Robinson’s position.

“My thoughts are that the governor does have emergency powers and they are pretty broad,” she said, adding the state’s Emergency Management Act and other state laws gives the governor a lot of leeway.

“It does seem to be tailored to keeping us from harming each other,” she said of Pritzker’s COVID-19 orders.

Ladd’s position that the governor is overreaching is similar to that of Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey who obtained a temporary order exempting him from the directives.

Pritzker on Tuesday denounced Bailey of Xenia, also in southern Illinois, calling his legal actions a "cheap political stunt.” The governor’s comment came as Illinois officials reported another 144 deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the total number to 2,125. —Associated Press

6 a.m.: Medline wants FDA approval to sterilize N95 masks with ethylene oxide. Two other federal agencies are against it, citing cancer risks for health care workers.

Summoned to the White House last month with other medical suppliers responding to the severe shortage of protective gear for health care workers, Medline Industries CEO Charlie Mills announced the company had good news.

Northfield-based Medline already was reprocessing 100,000 masks a day used by doctors and nurses on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mills told President Donald Trump and others in the Cabinet Room.

Though masks typically are certified for one use only, Mills said, Medline could rapidly decontaminate used masks at its plant in north suburban Waukegan and send them back to hospitals and clinics across the nation. The company’s efforts would buy medical workers time while manufacturers increase production of new masks, he said.

“I think that is fantastic,” Trump said later the same day after Mills summarized his plan during the president’s March 29 appearance before the White House press corps.

What Mills failed to mention is Medline’s process relies on ethylene oxide, a germ-killing gas that researchers have found can damage the brain and raise the risk of breast cancer, leukemia and lymphomas at extremely low levels of exposure.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 3M, a leading mask manufacturer, strongly discourage the use of ethylene oxide for decontaminating masks, in particular N95 respirators needed by virus fighters. Last week the Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded that giving health care personnel EtO-treated masks could be considered a violation of federal workplace standards.

Doctors and nurses protecting themselves from the virus could end up being exposed to a potent carcinogen and neurotoxin, according to the CDC, 3M and OSHA. Read more here. —Michael Hawthorne

Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know:

Here are five things that happened Monday that you need to know:

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Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening Wednesday - Chicago Tribune
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