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

Loretto Hospital won’t be receiving first doses of COVID-19 vaccines “any time soon,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Monday, as the small West Side hospital faces new questions about connected people receiving shots from the provider.

The move comes amid an uproar over the hospital having improperly administered vaccine doses, and the city of Chicago’s move to withhold first doses of coronavirus vaccines from the facility while it conducts a review to ensure it is complying with distribution rules.

Earlier in the day, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced that a new mass vaccination site will open Friday in a former home improvement store in west suburban Forest Park.

The Illinois National Guard will run the site, which will be capable of administering 1,000 doses per day at the start. The site will be open to all Illinois residents who are eligible to be vaccinated.

Beginning today, higher education staff, government employees and members of the media are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine as the state expands eligibility to additional groups of essential workers as part of phase 1c of the state’s vaccine plan. Food and beverage workers, construction trade workers and religious leaders will be eligible one week later, on March 29.

Also today, suburban Cook County will join the rest of the state outside Chicago in making people over 16 with various health conditions eligible for a vaccine. Chicago expects to add a similar eligibility on March 29.

Meanwhile, Illinois public health officials on Monday reported 1,220 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional deaths. That brings the state’s totals since the pandemic began to 1,223,083 cases and 21,103 deaths.

The state reported 41,343 doses administered on Sunday, and the seven-day rolling average of doses administered daily is 92,148 doses.

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

5:55 p.m.: After a year of empty courtrooms, Cook County begins first criminal trial

The elaborate machinery of a Cook County jury trial revved back up Monday for the first time in more than a year, with an array of jurors in plastic masks selected to decide the fate of a 56-year-old man accused of breaking into a garage on the Southwest Side.

If all goes smoothly, it could pave the way for more jury trials as the Leighton Criminal Court Building — one of the country’s busiest, in normal times — tentatively reopens.

5:45 p.m.: After a year of pandemic losses and civil and political unrest, CPS launches new effort to address trauma in students

A $25 million Chicago Public Schools initiative announced Monday aims to “expand” behavioral health teams to all schools by training educators already working there.

Rather than hire more mental health specialists, the “healing-centered framework” makes a three-year commitment to better support students’ mental health by providing training for educators, along with resources for staff and families to support their own wellness.

Each school is supposed to have a behavioral health team responsible for coordinating services and at least one staff member trained in group interventions for topics such as trauma, depression and anger. More schools will also be partnered with community groups that provide relevant services.

“Experiencing trauma is not the result of random chance or individual life choices. Trauma is an equity issue for our students, families and staff who are facing serious challenges in their lives,” CPS Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said.

3 p.m.: Loretto Hospital won’t get new COVID-19 vaccine doses ‘any time soon,’ Mayor Lori Lightfoot says amid continue fallout over its distribution practices

Loretto Hospital won’t be receiving first doses of COVID-19 vaccines “any time soon,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, as the small West Side hospital faces new questions about connected people receiving shots from the provider.

The move comes amid an uproar over the hospital having improperly administered vaccine doses, and the city of Chicago’s move to withhold first doses of coronavirus vaccines from the facility while it conducts a review to ensure it is complying with distribution rules.

Loretto Hospital last week acknowledged improperly vaccinating workers at Trump Tower downtown while also saying it improperly gave shots to Cook County judges. The stories, first reported by Block Club Chicago and WBEZ, have drawn negative attention to the hospital, which has said it was mistaken about the rules.

1:09 p.m.: University of Illinois eyes extension of ACT-SAT test moratorium for admissions

Last year, the University of Illinois waived the requirement that prospective students submit an ACT or SAT test score as part of their applications.

Nearly half of all applicants took advantage of the rule change, and now the schools is eyeing its extension for another two years, citing continued disruptions from COVID-19, and, ”We were able to make what I think are good, sound decisions with or without test scores, and we worked really hard not to penalize the students if they elected not to submit a test score,” said Andy Borst, director of undergraduate admissions.

The Faculty Senate has also called for the creation of a task force “to evaluate the efficacy and fairness of entrance exams.” Other schools have also moved to make the tests optional.

12:10 p.m.: 1,220 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 22 additional deaths reported

Illinois health officials on Monday announced 1,220 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,223,083 and the statewide death toll to 21,103 since the start of the pandemic.

Officials also reported 47,374 new tests in the last 24 hours. The statewide positivity rate for cases is 2.6%.

The 7-day daily average of administered vaccine doses is 92,148, with 41,343 doses given on Sunday. Officials also say a total of 4,747,845 vaccines have now been administered.

—Chicago Tribune staff

10:46 a.m.: Illinois’ latest mass coronavirus vaccination site to open Friday in Forest Park

A new mass vaccination site will open Friday in a former home improvement store in west suburban Forest Park, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Monday.

The Illinois National Guard will run the site, which will be capable of administering 1,000 doses per day at the start. The site will be open to all Illinois residents who are eligible to be vaccinated.

As of Monday, that group expanded to include government and higher education workers and members of the media. On March 29, vaccine eligibility will expand to include food and beverage workers, construction trade workers, and religious leaders.

The groups are being added to the previously eligible categories of front-line workers, people 65 and older and those 16 and older with certain preexisting health conditions.

10:38 a.m.: Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s vaccination progress lauded during ‘Morning Joe’ appearance, despite setbacks

After a shaky start to Chicago’s COVID-19 vaccinations, Mayor Lori Lightfoot appeared on a national news program Monday morning to tout the city’s improved rollout and was lauded by the hosts as an example of a leader who’s doing it right.

Lightfoot made a brief appearance on MSNBCs “Morning Joe,” to discuss the local vaccine rollout. Hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, along with the Rev. Al Sharpton, said that under Lightfoot’s leadership Chicago deserves recognition for how well things have gone, with little said about the city’s shaky start to vaccination efforts.

Brzezinski began the interview by asking Lightfoot how she would assess how Chicago is doing getting shots in arms.

”The biggest mountain left to climb is making sure that we get enough vaccine to really meet the need,” Lightfoot said. “We’re now seeing a huge demand for vaccine. People have been watching their family and neighbors and friends get the vaccine and, as a consequence, people are now recognizing that it, in fact, is safe and want to get this lifesaving vaccine themselves.”

9:26 a.m.: Ramova Theater revival was stalled by COVID, but developers now say the project will be a full historic preservation

If nothing else, being stuck in a state of pandemic paralysis over the past year has provided plenty of time to reflect on the future.

For developers of the Ramova Theater, that meant reexamining plans to revive a 90-year-old, dilapidated movie theater — widely applauded by a receptive Bridgeport neighborhood keen to get new life into a beloved community anchor — and see how they could make it better.

Originally set to break ground in early 2020, the theater project, like most everyone’s plans, halted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal cleared an early hurdle through City Hall, but still needs to go before City Council to secure the city-owned theater, an adjoining parking lot, and millions of dollars in tax-increment financing.

In the year since, development company One Revival Chicago has on-boarded historic preservation specialists at Baum Revision as co-developers to assist with restoration that would be in line with National Historical Landmark restoration guidelines, said developer Tyler Nevius.

7 a.m.: Pritzker, Preckwinkle to join National Guard and legislators for mass vaccination news conference

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and legislators were scheduled Monday morning to join members of the Illinois National Guard at a site in Forest Park to discuss mass vaccinations.

The event was scheduled to discuss the expansion of mass-vaccination sites supported by the state, according to Preckwinkle’s office. Further details weren’t immediately released.

Check back for updates. —Chicago Tribune staff

6 a.m.: A year after his coronavirus shutdown, Gov. J.B. Pritkzer will continue to face questions over the ‘signature issue’ of his first term

Gov. J.B. Pritzker entered his second year in office in 2020 with a list of successes any Democrat eyeing another term in a deep-blue state would be thrilled to tout:

The first statewide infrastructure plan in a decade, a minimum wage hike set to hit $15 per hour in 2025, legal recreational marijuana, and even a bipartisan budget that Wall Street ratings agencies gave fair marks for taking small steps toward addressing some of the state’s chronic financial problems.

Then came the coronavirus.

Governor J.B. Pritzker speaks about the first year of COVID-19 response in Illinois on March 15, 2021 in his office at the Thompson Center in Chicago. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

As the pandemic took hold in Illinois last spring, the rookie governor won praise from officials on both sides of the aisle as well as political observers and public health experts for his decisive early steps to slow the spread of the deadly disease. Most notably, he issued an unprecedented statewide stay-at-home order that went into effect one year ago Sunday.

In the months since, however, Pritzker has had to fend off a barrage of criticism from industry leaders and lawmakers — Republicans and some fellow Democrats — over his evolving plans for reopening segments of the economy as state weathered two waves of the pandemic.

The 2022 election is still more than a year away, and Pritzker on Thursday laid out a new path to normal for Illinois as more residents are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

But the lasting impacts of the pandemic on voters’ lives and the state government are sure to be central themes of next year’s race for governor.

6 a.m.: Pandemic batters middle school sports association in Illinois; no state tournaments means no revenue, $1.5 million budget hole

The basketball game had all the trappings of a state championship: two teams battling in a noisy downstate gym, both hungry to better their prior seasons when they came oh-so-close to winning it all.

It wasn’t a title game, though — just the last game of a season condensed by the pandemic. And that was bad news for the Illinois Elementary School Association.

The organization is the equivalent of the Illinois High School Association for middle school sports and activities, putting on state tournaments for everything from cross-country to chess. Its $1.6 million budget is funded primarily from selling tickets to those events, but since COVID-19 arrived last year, there have been no events to attend.

That has put the group in a $1.5 million hole, Executive Director Steve Endsley said (the IHSA, meanwhile, projects a $1.4 million deficit). The organization has tried to raise money through a GoFundMe, bringing in nearly $40,000 of a $500,000 goal, but otherwise, he’s not sure when it will be able to pull itself out.

5 a.m.: AstraZeneca says COVID-19 vaccine 79% effective in US study

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection against disease and complete protection against hospitalization and death across all age groups in a late-stage U.S. study, the company announced Monday.

AstraZeneca said its experts also identified no safety concerns related to the vaccine, including a rare blood clot that was identified in Europe. Scientists found no increased risk of clots among the more than 20,000 people who got at least one dose of the AstraZeneca shot.

Although AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been authorized in more than 50 countries, it has not yet been given the green light in the U.S. The U.S. study comprised more than 30,000 volunteers, of whom two-thirds were given the vaccine while the rest got dummy shots.

In a statement, AstraZeneca said its COVID-19 vaccine had a 79% efficacy rate at preventing symptomatic COVID and was 100% effective in stopping severe disease and hospitalization. Investigators said the vaccine was effective across all ages, including older people — which previous studies in other countries had failed to establish.

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