Chicago -
Just got back from an errand in Wicker Park and let me tell you something, folks there were awfully lax with the masks *and* social distancing. Apparently they didn't get the meme.
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) May 22, 2020
Posted on May 23, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
“The city has not disconnected water service to any households since Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a moratorium on water shutoffs last year. But the city has not created a plan to restore water services to the estimated thousands of households that had their water shut off before the moratorium,” WBEZ’s María Inés Zamudio reports.
Those are folks, apparently, who fell behind on their bills. But isn’t it now a public health issue that everyone be able to, you know, wash their hands?
Posted on May 21, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
“A day after resuming operations at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant on the city’s Southeast Side, the U.S. automaker temporarily closed its facility Tuesday for disinfection because two employees tested positive for COVID-19,” the Tribune reports.
Oy. Welcome to the World of Reopening.
Posted on May 20, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
Today got away from me. I don’t know how, I don’t know why. It’s just . . . gone.
Still . . .
Posted on May 19, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
“University of Iowa researchers provide empirical data and analysis showing that stay-at-home orders may reduce the rate of coronavirus,” the South Dakota Free Press reports.
“Wei Lyu and Dr. George Wehby studied COVID-19 spread in the Mississippi River border counties of Illinois and Iowa. In mid-March, Illinois’s western border counties had a cumulative coronavirus cases rate of 0.026 per 10,000 people; Iowa’s eastern border counties had a case rate of 0.024 per 10,000. Illinois implemented a stay-at-home order on March 21; Iowa issued a variety of business and school closure orders from March 17 through April 6 but never a stay-at-home order. What happened to coronavirus rates?”
You’ll have to click through to find out, but I think you already know the answer. (And yes, I know the methodology may not necessarily be lock-solid; I do not know how they controlled for variables, though if I have time to read the actual study instead of the report about the study, I may find out.)
Posted on May 18, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
TRUMP: “When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing we would have very few cases.” pic.twitter.com/tEX1uXQbmp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 14, 2020
Posted on May 15, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
“Weeks of clear skies over Los Angeles, New Delhi, Wuhan and other smoggy, soot-choked cities are signs of how the coronavirus lockdown improved air quality around the planet,” the Tribune reports.
“Animated satellite maps and daily reports from monitoring networks back what people see with their own eyes. In city after city, levels of lung-damaging, life-shortening pollution dropped abruptly as COVID-19 restricted daily commuting and grounded national economies to a halt.
“But for reasons that have yet to be fully explained, people in Chicago and its suburbs aren’t breathing dramatically cleaner air during the pandemic.”
Wow. That’s weird and sad and disappointing. I’d ask why – what is wrong with us? – but the Trib just told me that the reasons have yet to be fully explained. Theories?
Posted on May 14, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
Boom.
In Roseland, we met resident Darran Chambliss – recently laid off from his job as Sous-chef at a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant. He says he’s tried unsuccessfully for 4 weeks to access IL’s troubled unemployment system. “I’m trying to take care of my family.” @wttw pic.twitter.com/SWO3yMfhmJ
— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) May 12, 2020
Posted on May 13, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
“Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues defending the state’s unemployment system. But the cries for help appear to be getting louder,” CBS2 Chicago reports.
I can personally attest to the veracity of this report. (See also the item Illinois’ Amazingly Awesome Unemployment Office.)
Posted on May 12, 2020
By Steve Rhodes
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re doing. When you gather like this, you are putting yourself and your loved ones in serious danger. https://t.co/rNIwDJlo1i
— Mayor Lightfoot #StayHomeSaveLives (@chicagosmayor) May 11, 2020
Posted on May 11, 2020
