For the second time in its history, the Chicago Marathon has been canceled before runners cross the starting line. Organizers Monday announced the 43rd running of the race, scheduled for Oct. 11, will not proceed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Also on Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration closed a West Loop bar and cited a handful of other venues over the weekend for flouting COVID-19 capacity or social distancing rules, part of her promised crackdown on violators aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus cases throughout the city.
The state announced 883 new known cases of COVID-19 on Monday, as well as 6 additional fatalities. The tally brought the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois to 154,799 and the death toll to 7,193 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, debate over the risks the virus poses, and how best to fight it, were spotlighted in Florida after it shattered the record among U.S. states for the largest single-day increase, with more than 15,000 newly confirmed cases.
Here’s what’s happening Monday regarding COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
8:07 p.m.: 5.4 million Americans have lost health insurance in coronavirus-driven recession, analysis finds
The coronavirus pandemic stripped an estimated 5.4 million American workers of their health insurance between February and May, a stretch in which more adults became uninsured because of job losses than have ever lost coverage in a single year, according to a new analysis.
The study, to be announced Tuesday by the nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Families USA, found that the estimated increase in uninsured workers from February to May was nearly 40% higher than the highest previous increase, which occurred during the recession of 2008 and 2009, when 3.9 million adults lost insurance.
“We knew these numbers would be big,” said Stan Dorn, who directs the group’s National Center for Coverage Innovation and wrote the study. “This is the worst economic downturn since World War II. It dwarfs the Great Recession. So it’s not surprising that we would also see the worst increase in the uninsured.”
Families USA is one of a number of groups trying to estimate the number of people who have lost insurance during the pandemic; definitive data will not become available until mid- to late 2021, when the federal government publishes health insurance estimates for 2020. The analyses vary, but all reach the same grim conclusion: More people lack insurance than ever before.
Read more here. —The New York Times
7:27 p.m.: Lawsuit aims to lift IHSA’s pandemic-related restrictions on high school sports
A southern Illinois lawyer who has tangled with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration over pandemic-related shutdown measures is suing the Illinois High School Association, claiming the group exceeded its authority by placing new limits on sports participation.
Thomas DeVore, who practices in the St. Louis area, sued on behalf of his two children, athletes who will be seniors in Hillsboro Community School District No. 3. He claims they will be irreparably harmed by participation rules the IHSA introduced this month.
The organization announced July 3 that athletes could return to summer practice and competition if schools followed a detailed plan of social distancing and sanitizing. But less than a week later, it announced drastic changes it said the Pritzker administration had required, including an end to scrimmages in basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
The lawsuit claims that change came after a COVID-19 outbreak at Lake Zurich High School.
According to a July 7 email included in the filing, the school saw positive tests among 10 students who participated in Lake Zurich sports camps, along with one parent who was hospitalized.
Jesse Ruiz, Pritzker’s deputy governor for education, sent IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson a note the next day, saying the Illinois Department of Public Health would now require all sports participants to wear masks — it was later clarified that the measure doesn’t apply to people outside following social distancing — and would ban any physical contact among athletes.
Read more here. —John Keilman
5:35 p.m.: Why the pandemic might be an opportune time for millennials to buy a home
Hayk Ghazaryanwas eager to purchase his first rental property and start his real estate portfolio. The 28-year-old senior mortgage broker began his house hunt in February, and a month later, he bought a diamond-in-the-rough studio in a Buena Park mid-rise.
His goal was to “fix it up” and lease the unit. He put down $5,000 in earnest money, a percentage of his 25% down payment that solidified he would follow through with the purchase, he said.
Shortly after, Illinois started moving closer to a total shutdown, and Ghazaryan started to “freak out.”
“What if I lose my job security? What if I get furloughed? What if I don’t have income coming in?” he said he thought at the time. “And then I also bought this to make it a rental. So my next question to myself was, ‘Am I going to find a tenant, and how am I going to look for a tenant? How do I know their job is going to be secure in the coming months?”
It was too late to back out. He went through with the purchase, renovated the unit and put it back on the market. It sold on June 30, he said. He didn’t make a profit.
“I’d rather not have any losses,” Ghazaryan said. “It was a stressful moment.”
Ghazaryan, who owns the apartment he lives in, is among the group of millennials and first-time homebuyers looking to buy property during the coronavirus pandemic. But unlike many of his peers, Ghazaryan didn’t receive help for the biggest hurdle facing millennials in property purchasing: a down payment. He emptied his savings instead.
Read more here. —Christen A. Johnson
4:35 p.m.: OPRF to offer e-learning this fall, with more rigorous classes than last spring
When students “return” to Oak Park and River Forest High School next month, they will again be engaged in virtual learning. However, administrators are promising a much different curriculum this time around.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school abruptly shifted to online learning for students in mid-March to finish out the school year. Administrators said during the July 9 school board meeting that virtual courses and interaction will continue when classes resume Aug. 17.
“We know people are looking at how remote learning was in the spring when we were thrust into that,” superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams said. “We learned from that and this is an entirely different plan. The remote instruction we propose for this fall will be very different from the spring experience.”
Among the changes proposed for the fall 2020 e-learning curriculum include a set schedule of class periods, mandatory student attendance, weekly minimum and maximum time requirements for courses to meet online, issuing letter grades and providing academic support services.
Read more here. —Steve Schering
3:45 p.m.: Alinea’s rooftop popup cancels two dinners after employee tests positive for COVID-19; plans to reopen Wednesday
For those diners hoping to dine at Alinea’s temporary outdoor popup — dubbed AIR, for “Alinea in Residence” — the email marked URGENT delivered bad news.
“We are sorry to inform you that AIR — Alinea in Residence — will be closed for service on July 11th and 12th,” the email read. “Unfortunately, we are unable to meet the standard of service we require and you respect.”
The email went on to detail rebooking or refund options, and apologized for the short notice.
So what happened? Read more here. — Phil Vettel
3:44 p.m.: Veteran Chicago alderman announces she has coronavirus
Veteran Far South Side Ald. Carrie Austin has contracted the coronavirus, she announced Monday.
In a letter on her 34th Ward Website, Austin said she has been “stricken by COVID-19? and is “currently progressing toward full recovery.”
Austin, who then-Mayor Richard Daley appointed to the City Council in 1994 to succeed her husband after his death, did not return calls seeking comment about her diagnosis.
Currently the council’s longest-serving Black alderman, Austin did not take part in the City Council meeting last month. She is the first city elected official to announce having gotten the virus.
FBI agents raided Austin’s Far South Side ward office in June. According to a subpoena obtained by the Chicago Tribune, federal agents had been looking into the circumstances surrounding the construction and sale of a West Pullman home to Austin by a developer in the ward.
Austin, 71, has not been charged with wrongdoing.
For years under Daley and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Austin chaired the powerful City Council Budget Committee. Mayor Lori Lightfoot removed her from that post after she took office last year, but created a new Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity and put her in charge of that. Read more here. — John Byrne
3:33 p.m. (updated at 5:51 p.m.): Illinois health officials report 883 new known COVID-19 cases, 6 more fatalities
State health officials reported 883 new known cases of the coronavirus Monday, the first time in six days that fewer than 900 cases were confirmed.
Officials also reported six additional fatalities, bringing the death toll from COVID-19 to 7,193 since the pandemic began. In all, there have been 154,799 known cases across all 102 counties in Illinois.
The daily figures for new cases and deaths tend to be lower on Mondays because of how the data are reported, officials have said.
Last week, Illinois saw the daily number of new cases surpass 1,000 for three straight days for the first time since late May, when the state was coming off a peak of virus transmission.
Illinois officials have noted that many more tests for the virus are being conducted each day than earlier in the outbreak, with more than 2 million screenings conducted overall, including more than 30,000 reported Monday. But officials they say they are watching the data closely as other states grapple with new surges.
Florida, for example, reported 15,300 new cases in a single day on Sunday, far surpassing the previous record of 12,274 cases reported on April 4 in New York. California on Monday rolled back major portions of its reopening statewide as cases there continue to rise.
“We remain concerned that cases are rising and positivity rates are inching up,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Now more than ever, we must rely on what the science is telling us. Wearing a face covering is an effective tool in the fight against #covid19. Join me.”
Indeed, the positivity rate — the percentage of tests that detect the presence of the new coronavirus — has been creeping up in recent days. The seven-day average for the period ending Sunday was 3%, up from 2.5% a week earlier. The seven-day average had been as low as 2% as recently as the week ending June 22.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases in Illinois, which officials say is a more reliable indicator than the daily total because it smooths out day-to-day fluctuations, also is on the rise, hitting 991 on Monday, up from 772 a week earlier, according to an analysis of preliminary Illinois Department of Public Health data. The measure hit a post-peak low point of 596 for the week ending June 18.
Illinois moved into phase four of Pritzker’s five-phase “Restore Illinois” reopening plan on June 26, which allowed limited indoor services to resume at restaurants and bars, among other loosened restrictions. Pritzker has said would tighten restrictions once again if the virus resurges. — Dan Petrella
3:06 p.m.: Respiratory health is vital to fight off COVID-19. Here’s how to keep your lungs healthy on low-quality air days.
In the midst of a pandemic that affects the respiratory system, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified Chicago’s air quality for the first nine days of July as “unhealthy” or “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” With more days of poor air quality on the horizon, experts say it’s important to remember that healthy lungs can help fend off COVID-19.
“If your respiratory system — your nose, esophagus, lungs — aren’t healthy, you can’t fight against the pandemic. And you need everything you have to fight against COVID-19,” said Angela Tin, national senior director of the American Lung Association. Read more here. — Lauren Leazenby
2:55 p.m.: Illinois attorney general, universities challenge new visa rule on foreign students that could keep them out of the U.S.
Several Illinois-based universities are joining dozens of others from across the country in a legal challenge of a new immigration rule they say could keep international students from attending their schools.
They cite a DePaul University student who they say was denied entry into the U.S. from South Korea last week.
Separately, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has announced he is joining another lawsuit that also takes aim at the new ICE rule.
Read more here. —Elyssa Cherney
1:48 p.m.: Loyola University Chicago will be mostly online this fall, school announces
Loyola University Chicago announced Monday that most classes for the upcoming fall semester will be online.
A few exceptions will be made for classes, labs and research that require face-to-face interaction, according to a letter from released Monday by President Jo Ann Rooney and Provost Norberto Grzywacz.
The announcement comes as the daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Illinois has seen a recent uptick, with 954 new confirmed cases reported Sunday.
Loyola had previously announced a plan for both on-campus and virtual instruction depending on a student’s preference, with only some online courses to keep the numbers of students on campus down. University officials also announced students on campus would be housed under a single-occupancy plan, and officials were creating lists of students who would need to quarantine when arriving on campus in the fall.
With its change of plans made public Monday, the university also said both domestic and international students would be taught in-person if necessary, an announcement that comes on the heels of ICE’s new policy requiring international students taking online courses to leave America and banning visas for new students under virtual instruction.
To prevent COVID-19 exposure, the university plans to implement precautionary measures including frequent testing for the virus, contact tracing, staggered work schedules, reduced class sizes, restricted gathering spaces and mask and social distancing requirements. School officials launched a Return to Campus website Monday delineating more guidelines for community members returning to campus.
The release said more details would be announced in the coming weeks.
—Kelli Smith
1:02 p.m.: City closes West Loop bar for violating Chicago’s coronavirus crowding rules
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration closed a West Loop bar and cited a handful of other venues over the weekend for flouting COVID-19 capacity or social distancing rules, part of her promised crackdown on violators aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus cases throughout the city.
Wise Owl Drinkery & Cookhouse was shut down because it was over capacity and groups of patrons weren’t at least 6 feet away from each other, wearing masks or seated, according to the city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
In all, six businesses were issued citations for failing to meet the city’s current guidelines to operate during the pandemic.
Read more here. —John Byrne and Louisa Chu
New York & Company could close many — if not all — stores in bankruptcy
Women’s apparel chain New York & Company expects to close many, if not all, of its stores after parent company RTW Retailwinds filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.
RTW Retailwinds has started a store closing and liquidation process and is “evaluating any and all strategic alternatives,” including selling its online business, the company said in a news release Monday.
New York & Company has 16 stores in Illinois and one in Merrillville, Indiana. Stores will continue to operate as usual in the short term, and some stores that temporarily closed during the pandemic will reopen, the company said.
Read more here. —Lauren Zumbach
1 p.m.: The Chicago Marathon, scheduled for Oct. 11, is canceled for just the 2nd time in its history
For the second time in its history, the Chicago Marathon has been canceled before runners cross the starting line.
Organizers Monday announced the 43rd running of the race, scheduled for Oct. 11, will not proceed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bank of America Chicago Marathon typically draws about 45,000 runners and wheelchair athletes to the city, with a record 45,786 finishers from 50 states and more than 100 countries in 2019. Organizers estimate about 1.7 million spectators annually line the 26.2-mile course that starts and ends near Grant Park and travels as far north as Wrigleyville and as far south as Bridgeport.
Registered participants can receive a refund for their race entry or defer their place and entry fee to a Chicago Marathon in 2021, 2022 or 2023. Registered runners for the International Chicago 5K will have the same options.
Read more here. —Shannon Ryan and Colleen Kane
11:50 a.m.: Millennials and boomers: Coronavirus pandemic has smacked America’s two largest generations at a pivotal time in their lives
Millennials, you’re taking a big hit — again. And you’re not OK, either, boomers.
Sometimes at odds, America’s two largest generations now have something to agree on: The coronavirus pandemic has smacked many of them at a pivotal time in their lives.
For baby boomers, named for the post-World War II surge of births, that means those who are retired or are nearing retirement are seeing their 401(k) accounts and IRAs looking unreliable while their health is at high risk.
Millennials, who became young adults in this century, are getting socked again just as they were beginning to recover after what a Census researcher found were the Great Recession’s hardest hits to jobs and pay.
“The long-lasting effects of the Great Recession on millennials, that was kind of scarring,” said Gray Kimbrough, a millennial and an economist at American University in Washington. “And now when the economy had finally clawed back to where we were before the Great Recession, then this hit at a particularly bad time as well for millennials in particular.”
Read more here. —Associated Press
11:37 a.m.: Molson Coors stops production of Saint Archer Gold light lager after pandemic disrupts rollout
Brewer Molson Coors said it will stop production of its light craft lager Saint Archer Gold, which began rolling out nationwide earlier this year, due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a memo to distributors and employees sent July 10, Molson Coors Chief Marketing Officer Michelle St. Jacques said “the effects of the coronavirus on our industry caused an immediate loss of momentum for the brand.”
At the same time, the company said it is increasing investment in hard seltzer brands like Vizzy and its Blue Moon LightSky ale. Molson Coors also is focusing on the national launch of its Coors Seltzer brand later this year.
Molson Coors, the nation’s second largest beer company, began introducing Saint Archer Gold to other markets earlier this year to compete with Anheuser-Busch’s Michelob Ultra after initially launching in four test markets last year.
Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez
10:13 a.m.: Black mental health patients hit hard by COVID-19, social injustice: ‘We were already at a breaking point’
Dr. Brandi Jackson, a psychiatrist at Rush University Medical Center, said the COVID-19 pandemic has been her most difficult period as a psychiatrist. With an uptick in anxiety and depression in her primarily Black clientele, she’s seeing patients who have been clean for years relapsing on drugs — and citing the coronavirus as pushing them over the line.
Health disparities were prevalent in the Black community before COVID-19. Life expectancy for residents on the North Shore was 30 years longer, on average, than that for residents of Englewood.
Suicide attempts that were self-reported by Black teens have spiked since 1991, even as their peers in other groups have experienced a downward trend or remained unchanged, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Another study found that Black teens experience several forms of racial discrimination each day, which can lead to short-term depression. All this research was conducted before the pandemic.
Now with COVID-19 hitting Black communities extra hard and the added stressor of social injustice (George Floyd, police brutality, et al.), Jackson believes we’re only seeing a small fraction of what the real mental health fallout will be, especially in the Black community.
Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
7:30 a.m.: As COVID-19 cases surge nationwide, we asked Chicagoans: Why are you getting tested?
Some patients felt sick, nervously ticking off potential COVID-19 symptoms. Some cited possible exposure to the highly contagious disease. Others were there out of an abundance of caution.
All had made an appointment for a test Friday at Heartland Health Centers on Devon Avenue in the Rogers Park neighborhood. In interviews, they expressed common fears of becoming ill or unwittingly spreading the new coronavirus, which has already sickened more than 150,000 and killed more than 7,000 statewide. Illinois on Sunday set a new daily testing record, with 38,894 COVID-19 tests performed.
Read more here. —Angie Leventis Lourgos
7:30 a.m.: The NBA is considering a 2nd bubble in Chicago for its bottom 8 teams, including the Bulls. The mayor’s office is on board — but Illinois’ recent COVID-19 uptick is only 1 potential hurdle.
During a conference call with reporters shortly after the Chicago Bulls’ 2019-20 season ended abruptly last month, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas expressed both concern about his new team facing a near nine-month layoff between games and confidence that the NBA would find a way for the eight teams not invited to Orlando, Fla., to participate in some sort of basketball activities.
That idea began to take shape last week, when reports surfaced that the league was in advanced considerations about creating a “second bubble” in Chicago for those eight teams, with Wintrust Arena emerging as the favorite to host the event because it is connected to a hotel. It would allow the teams left out of the league’s official restart to create a summer-league-style environment with training camps and scrimmages against other teams.
Read more here. —Jamal Collier
7:15 a.m.: A neighborhood photographer gives a voice to Latino essential workers during the pandemic: ‘We need to tell our own stories’
When the pandemic hit the Chicago area, Mateo Zapata was worried. Not necessarily for himself, but for the people in his community. He knew “that Black and brown people would be left behind.”
For many Latinos, staying home was never an option. Some live paycheck to paycheck and many more have jobs that are considered essential. But Zapata saw a lack of focus from the government and mainstream media on Latinos’ stories, even after COVID-19 cases began to spike in majority-Latino neighborhoods throughout the country.
Zapata, a freelance photographer who lives in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood near Pilsen, wanted to make sure the lives of his neighbors and fellow Latinos become a part of history by being “genuinely” documented, allowing their voices to be elevated, he said. So he put on his face mask and gloves, grabbed his camera and began to document “the experience of Latinos during the pandemic.”
Read more here. —Laura Rodríguez Presa
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