The Chicago Department of Public Health on Tuesday removed Iowa, Kansas and Utah from the city’s travel quarantine list. Currently visitors or residents returning from 20 states and territories are ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in the city to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The announcement came as Illinois public health officials on Tuesday announced 1,549 new confirmed case of COVID-19 and 20 additional deaths. The state has now reported 196,948 cases overall and 7,657 confirmed deaths.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the state’s request for a stay in a downstate legal challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s coronavirus-related executive orders. The state’s highest court also indicated it would consider the state’s request that it determine whether Pritzker has the power to issue continued emergency orders due to the pandemic.
Also on Tuesday, the Big Ten became the first Power Five conference to postpone its fall season because of concerns about competing during the pandemic. The move likely will reverberate throughout sports as conferences and universities grapple with the financial fallout of a canceled sports season and the risk of coronavirus breakouts on campuses.
Here’s what’s happening Tuesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:20 p.m.: Pritzker’s rule to penalize businesses that don’t enforce face mask rule withstands GOP challenge in legislative panel vote
A panel of state lawmakers on Tuesday let stand Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency rule that would fine businesses up to $2,500 for not enforcing mandatory face mask rules.
Pritzker’s emergency rule first survived by a 6-5 vote by the bipartisan rule-making panel to block it, which would have required eight votes. The legislative panel then adopted a certification of no objection to the rule Pritzker’s administration filed on Friday.
“We think as we’re seeing (coronavirus case) numbers tick up now, it’s a very critical moment and it’s important to have this in place,” Pritzker’s top attorney, Ann Spillane, told lawmakers before their vote.
After the vote by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Pritzker issued a statement saying the rule “will help ensure that the minority of people who refuse to act responsibly won’t take our state backward.”
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
7 p.m.: What’s keeping Washington from a coronavirus relief deal, explained
Hopes that talks on a huge COVID-19 relief deal would generate an agreement soon are fizzling, with both the Trump administration negotiating team and top congressional Democrats adopting hard lines and testy attitudes.
Now that President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive edicts and the national political conventions are set to begin, consuming the attention of both Trump and top Democrats, the talks seem to be on an indefinite pause. The urgency has evaporated now that rank-and-file lawmakers have been set free for the August recess, and while both sides still want an agreement — and pressure is likely to remain high — it’s looking more like a September legislating effort than an August one.
The impasse leaves millions of jobless people without a $600-per-week pandemic bonus jobless benefit that has helped families stay afloat, leaves state and local governments seeking fiscal relief high and dry, and holds back a more than $100 billion school aid package. Money for other priorities, including the election, may come too late, if at all.
Still, it’s not like Washington politicians to leave so much money on the table. No one is giving up on an accord, though near-term prospects aren’t promising.
Based on weeks of reporting on the talks, here’s a look at the key obstacles to an agreement. —The Associated Press
6:13 p.m.: ‘A smoking gun’: Scientists have confirmation of infectious coronavirus retrieved from hospital air
Skeptics of the notion that the coronavirus spreads through the air — including many expert advisers to the World Health Organization — have held out for one missing piece of evidence: proof that floating respiratory droplets called aerosols contain live virus and not just fragments of genetic material.
Now a team of virologists and aerosol scientists has produced exactly that: confirmation of infectious virus in the air.
“This is what people have been clamoring for,” said Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne spread of viruses who was not involved in the work. “It’s unambiguous evidence that there is infectious virus in aerosols.”
Read more here. —The New York Times
5:47 p.m.: Cook County clerk’s Loop office to reopen Wednesday after employee tests positive for COVID-19
A Cook County clerk’s office employee tested positive for coronavirus, shutting down the Loop office on Tuesday.
The employee last worked on the 5th floor of 69 W. Washington St. on Aug. 6, according to clerk’s office spokesman John Mirkovic. As the employee quarantined after the test result, cleaning crews swept through the floor to prepare it for reopening on Wednesday, Mirkovic said.
The office, which was closed starting early morning Tuesday, will open its lobby back up to visitors Wednesday morning.
—Alice Yin
5:15 p.m.: Gary to reopen beaches Friday at reduced capacity
Gary will partly reopen beaches starting Friday, Mayor Jerome Prince said.
Marquette Park’s shelters and parking lots are limited to 75% capacity, he said. Gary Police and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies will turn away crowds over the limit, he said.
“I’m confident we have developed a plan to provide access to our beautiful beaches and parks while still controlling the number of people visiting the sites, which is important in our fight against the spread of the virus,” Prince said in a statement.
This phase goes through at least Labor Day, he said. The city announced a temporary two-week closure July 28, citing some crowding and public health concerns.
However, the move faced some criticism on social media as Marquette Park remained a popular spot to get outdoor exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other posts appeared to show some Miller residents using the beach.
Read more here. —Meredith Colias-Pete
4:23 p.m.: Growth of new COVID-19 cases trending downward in some suburbs, increasing in others, new data shows
Some north and west suburban suburbs are seeing the growth of COVID-19 cases trending downward, though new cases are still being reported, according to new data from the Cook County Department of Public Health.
In addition to reporting cumulative cases of COVID-19 within suburban Cook County on its website, the health department has added a “recent percent change” in new cases by municipality. According to the health department, the percentage change is calculated “by comparing counts from the past 14 days to the 14 days preceding that …. Negative numbers mean a town is likely trending down in new cases reported. Positive numbers mean a town is likely trending up.”
The communities of Park Ridge, Niles, Des Plaines, Glenview and River Forest saw percentage decreases under this calculation, while the communities of Morton Grove, Lincolnwood, Franklin Park, Harwood Heights, Norridge, River Grove and Northlake saw increases, according to the health department.
Not included in the county’s percent change calculation are Evanston, Oak Park and Skokie, which are monitoring COVID-19 cases through their own health departments.
Read more here. —Jennifer Johnson
4:09 p.m.: New Trier High alumni ask school to move to remote learning, say in-person classes are ‘too great a gamble’ given COVID-19 risk
With just weeks before the first day of classes at New Trier High School, a group of alumni say teachers’ COVID-19 safety concerns demand that the school board “immediately reverse course” from plans to start the new school year with in-person instruction.
In a letter addressed to New Trier High School Superintendent Paul Sally and the school board, members of a grassroots organization “Trevs for Teachers” said they stand in “solidarity” with the high school’s teachers union “and in total opposition to the administration’s suggested hybrid opening format for the 2020-2021 school year.”
The school board is expected to report on the fall reopening plans at a special meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Read more here. —Karen Ann Cullotta
3:55 p.m.: Despite the coronavirus, the Blackwell family reunion continues — 112 years and counting
BBQ and family reunions are to summer as fruitcake and carols are to Christmas.
The Blackwell family reunion celebrated its 112th event last weekend. Determined not to let the tradition go by the wayside due to COVID-19, Chatham resident and Chicago host Theresa Wearring held the first virtual reunion, where relatives reveled in seeing one another, catching up, breaking bread and playing games. Family members from five states made an appearance.
For 111 years, they’d celebrated with the smell of various dishes wafting over banquet halls or parks (desserts like banana strawberry pudding and blackberry dumplings), the cacophony of voices of family members being heard over music playing in the background. Young cousins running around tables playing with cousins they only get to see once a year. Nieces and nephews going around getting reacquainted with their aunts and uncles from around the country.
The Blackwell family rotates locations where different chapters exist: Georgia, Maryland, California, Ohio and Chicago/Detroit. Then coronavirus came on the scene, and the gathering that started in 1908 was threatened. Some Blackwells were thinking “uh-oh.” But Wearring, president of the Chicago/Detroit chapter, was not having it.
Read more here. —Darcel Rockett
3:22 p.m.: Pritzker’s rule to penalize businesses that don’t enforce face mask rule withstands GOP challenge in legislative panel vote
A bipartisan panel of state lawmakers on Tuesday let stand Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency rule that would penalize businesses with fines of up to $2,500 for not enforcing mandatory face mask rules.
A move to suspend the rule was voted down 6-5 by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules after Republican lawmakers detailed their concerns and contended the issue should be handled legislatively, rather than through the rule-making process.
That motion would have needed eight yes votes to pass. The divided legislative panel ultimately adopted a certification of no objection to the emergency rule Pritzker’s administration filed on Friday.
Pritzker issued a mask mandate May 1 for people over the age of 2 in most public settings, but enforcing it has proved to be a challenge. The rule sets out a three-step process, with the third step ultimately being the fine.
“We think as we’re seeing numbers tick up now, it’s a very critical moment and it’s important to have this in place,” Pritzker’s top attorney Ann Spillane told lawmakers before their vote on Tuesday.
Businesses that don’t enforce a mask mandate in their establishment will first be given a written notice. If they don’t then voluntarily comply, they will be ordered to have patrons leave their property in order to come into compliance with public health guidance.
If businesses still do not comply, they can be given a Class A misdemeanor, subject to a fine of $75 to $2,500.
State Sen. Paul Schimpf, a Republican from Waterloo, questioned whether the rule would have the intended effect for people who continue to refuse to wear masks in public.
“Honestly, having talked with some of the Illinoisans who refuse to wear masks, passing this administrative rule is not going to make people more likely to wear a mask,” Schimpf said.
“What is going to make people more likely to wear a mask is if the governor says ‘you know what, this really is an emergency. This is something that is appropriate for a special session,’ ” Schimpf said. “And then if you have a mask mandate that is put in place, subject to the legislative process that has the full support of the rule of law, then I believe people will take this much more seriously.”
—Jamie Munks
2:12 p.m.: Big Ten postpones the 2020 football season — becoming the first Power Five conference to suspend fall sports
The Big Ten became the first Power Five conference to postpone its fall season because of concerns about competing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move likely will reverberate throughout sports as conferences and universities grapple with the financial fallout of a canceled sports season and the risk of coronavirus breakouts on campuses.
The Big Ten reportedly plans to move its season to the spring.
Read more here. —Shannon Ryan
1:05 p.m.: State Supreme Court grants Pritzker a stay in downstate legal challenge to COVID-19 orders
The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the state’s request for a stay in a downstate legal challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s coronavirus-related executive orders.
The state’s highest court also indicated it would consider the state’s request that it determine whether Pritzker has the power to issue continued emergency orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pritzker’s emergency orders have been subject to legal challenges by religious groups, businesses and state lawmakers. In the Clay County case, Republican Rep. Darren Bailey, of Xenia, sued Pritzker over his statewide mandates related to COVID-19, alleging they are an overreach of his powers under state law.Courts have largely upheld Pritzker’s executive actions, with the exception of Clay County Circuit Judge Michael McHaney, who ruled last month that the governor’s powers to issue emergency orders ended on July 2.
Read more here. —Jamie Munks
12:35 p.m.: How Chicago chefs, even Michelin-starred ones, are embracing the walk-up window during pandemic
Even in a year when the word unprecedented has been used so much it’s starting to lose meaning, who could have predicted that a Michelin-starred chef would open a pizza joint with no indoor seating?
Yet, the recently opened Pizza Friendly Pizza (1039 N. Western Ave.) features the talents of Noah Sandoval, who landed two Michelin stars at Oriole and picked up accolades as the executive chef at Kumiko.
Sandoval certainly isn’t alone in making the transition to this kind of restaurant. After the coronavirus pandemic upended Chicago’s restaurant scene earlier this year, chefs have been trying to figure out how best to pivot. And street food, where dishes are served through a walk-up window to patrons standing outside, suddenly seems like a good bet. From bagels to Korean food to fried chicken, chefs and restaurant owners are offering foods Chicagoans crave, all from pass-through windows.
Read more here. —Nick Kindelsperger
12 p.m.: Summer jobs for teens, college students vanishing during the pandemic
The iconic summer job for high school and college students has been on the wane for nearly 20 years. But the pandemic is squeezing even more young people out of the workforce.
Some are borrowing more money. Others have turned to pick-up jobs like Instacart, only to compete with older people who are similarly sidelined.
“They’re at the very bottom of the labor queue. And when things get tough, they get pushed out very quickly,” said Paul Harrington, a Drexel University education professor and director of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy. “And that’s why we expect a historically low unemployment summer jobs rate.”
The unemployment rate for people ages 16 to 24 was 18.5% in July compared with 9.1% the same month last year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers released Friday.
A fuller picture will emerge on Aug. 18 when the bureau releases figures on 2020 summer youth employment. But it’s already clear that many jobs have vanished.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
10:50 a.m.: Iowa, Kansas, Utah removed from Chicago’s travel quarantine list
The Chicago Department of Public Health on Tuesday removed Iowa, Kansas and Utah from the city’s travel quarantine list. Currently visitors or residents returning from 20 states and territories are ordered to self-quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in the city to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The states and territories currently affected by the order are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Officials said Wisconsin and Nebraska could be removed from the order next week if their case numbers remain low.
—Chicago Tribune staff
10 a.m.: The ‘summer slide’ was tough before COVID-19, but getting kids in back-to-school mode is extra tough this year. Here are some tips to get you started.
Even before the pandemic prompted school closures in the spring, education researchers were concerned about the so-called “summer slide,” a term used to describe skills and knowledge lost in the break between school years.
A study published last month in the American Educational Research Journal found 52% of U.S. students experience learning losses in the five summers between the first and sixth grades. The typical student loses 17% to 28% of school-year gains in English language arts and 25% to 34% of school-year gains in math during the following summer, according to the study, which analyzed more than 200 million test scores recorded between 2008 and 2016.
It’s too early to tell what this year’s summer slide numbers will look like, especially as Chicago-area schools, libraries, museums and other places kids may have gone to continue learning have been closed for at least part of the summer. Education specialists suggest a number of ways to prepare children for the new school year, including frequently reading with them, incorporating math into their everyday activities and practicing skills they should already know.
Read more here. —Tracy Swartz
8:50 a.m.: After weighing the COVID-19 risks, these college students are heading to campus. ‘I hope it doesn’t get worse.’
Elmwood Park resident Natalie Maite said she’s “not nervous” about living on campus at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisc., despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maite, who graduated from Trinity High School, said she will live in the campus dorms, which require her to wear a mask when walking through the hallways.
She’s one of several local college students who weighed the risks of COVID-19, which lurk in cramped college dorm rooms, communal bathrooms, enormous lecture halls and big dining hall buffets, and decided that learning on campus was worth the gamble.
Read more here. —Steve Schering, Pioneer Press
8:40 a.m.: Wisconsin holding another primary election today, with about 900,000 voters requesting absentee ballots
Wisconsin’s second statewide election since the coronavirus began came with far more time to prepare than the first, with election officials hoping for a correspondingly smoother result in Tuesday’s primary.
The state’s presidential primary in April was a messy affair, with municipalities forced to shut down polling sites after workers refused to show up out of fear of contracting the virus. The postal system was overwhelmed with absentee ballots.
Absentee voting has again been intense, with some 900,000 such ballots requested by people looking to avoid in-person voting. That compares with around 123,000 in the primary two years ago.
Gov. Tony Evers has activated the National Guard to help staff polling sites. Officials in Milwaukee expected to be able to run about 170 polling sites after offering just five in April. They offered poll workers an additional $100 and launched a recruiting effort, said Julietta Henry, director of the Milwaukee County Election Commission.
Read more here. —The Associated Press
8 a.m.: Goose Island’s 2020 Bourbon County lineup announced — but amid coronavirus, crowds for release may be less than stout
The Bourbon County show must go on.
Exactly how it will go on during the coronavirus pandemic is unclear. But as it has for the past 10 years, Goose Island Beer Co. will release its flock of barrel-aged Bourbon County beers the day after Thanksgiving across Chicago and beyond.
The release can attract long lines and thick crowds, both at stores and at Goose Island’s Clybourn Avenue taproom, where the beers are typically tapped throughout the day and the brewery hosts pricey guided tastings.
But if the COVID-19 pandemic persists into November — which seems likelier than not — those crowds may become a public health hazard. With more than three months until the Nov. 27 release, Goose Island president Todd Ahsmann said it was too soon to predict what tweaks may be made to the release.
Read more here. —Josh Noel
Breaking coronavirus news
Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are four things that happened related to COVID-19 on Monday.
As fall classes began at Notre Dame, campus saw its first case of COVID-19 and school president apologizes for social distancing error in group photo.
A Highland Park High School worker tested positive for COVID-19 days before freshman orientation, school year starts.
CPS will reduce funding for school resource officers by half and won’t pay for police while schools are closed for remote learning.
‘This has been our busiest year’: Crowded Lake County beaches have struggled to maintain social distancing.
