Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Wednesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

“Eighteen employees at a Tootsie Roll manufacturing plant on the Southwest Side have tested positive for COVID-19 since the end of March, the company confirmed Tuesday,” the Sun-Times reports.
The paper only managed to get a statement out of the company assuring us that the health and safety of its workers is their “highest concern.”
Fuck you, Tootsie Roll.


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“El Milagro, a Chicago-based tortilla maker, told employees over the weekend it will close its facility on Western Avenue for two weeks to sanitize the plant after one worker died and others tested positive for the new coronavirus,” the Tribune reports.
“Last week, the company was notified that a longtime sanitation employee died due to complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, El Milagro said. The employee had not been at work since April 9.
“Two workers at the facility have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and four workers have shown symptoms, El Milagro said.”
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“After a worker at a [Voyant Beauty] supply factory near Chicago died of COVID-19, her former co-workers staged a protest. But they didn’t seek help from OSHA. They sought help from a new advocate: the state attorney general’s office,” ProPublica Illinois reports.
Why?
“The office is filling a void left by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has taken a largely hands-off approach to investigating coronavirus-related complaints from workers outside the health care industry, leaving employers to mostly police themselves.”
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“Chicago police announced Tuesday seven more cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of cases in the department to 421,” NBC5 Chicago reports.
“Of the confirmed cases, 401 are officers and 20 are civilian employees, police said.”
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“Downstate Jasper County has seen only three residents die of COVID-19, and Monroe County only 10,” the Sun-Times reports.
“But the two southern Illinois counties have the highest per capita death rates from coronavirus of all the state’s 102 counties, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday.

“That means you’re more likely to die of COVID-19 if you live in either of those two counties than if you live in Chicago or in Cook County,” the governor said.

Sure does. But you city folk nevermind.

“You know, I read the obituaries every day, and there’s somebody’s name in there every day, and they didn’t die from the virus,” said Bob Elmore, chairman of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. “So, it’s kind of an overreach as far as I’m concerned.”

Bless your heart, Bob Elmore, an active member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church. Jesus loves you way more than you love His people.
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“Government leaders in Jasper and Monroe counties point to outbreaks at nursing homes in their respective areas, saying the majority of deaths come from one source.

“I mean, I’m not trying to say that they’re not concerned about what’s going on at the nursing home, because they are,” said Brian Leffler, a member of the Jasper County Board. “That’s a bad deal, and everybody’s very sorry for it, but as far as keeping the whole county shut down because of it, I don’t know if that’s the answer.”

Oh, aren’t you just a lovely man, Brian Leffler. Care for a Tootsie Roll?
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Just for flavor, here’s more from the always thoughtful Jasper County Board: “Some board members . . . questioned whether this shift away from coal [to solar] as an energy source will continue because not everyday is sunny in Illinois.”
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Back to the Sun-Times:
“Newton Care Center nursing home accounts for 36 of 42 reported cases and two of the three deaths from the coronavirus in Jasper County, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. In Monroe County, Garden Place Independent & Assisted Living accounts for 29 of the county’s 64 reported cases and eight of the county’s 10 deaths from the virus.

Darrel Hickox, a member of the Jasper County Board, disputed the numbers from state public health officials, contending that “nobody” in Jasper County has died from the coronavirus.
He said that members of the media who report on the pandemic are “socialists, liberals and communists.”
“There has been some coronavirus here, but they was dying anyway,” Hickox said.

They was?
Darrel, you are just a delight!
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“On Monday, the City of Chicago says they received a complaint that Asia Nails was still open amid the coronavirus pandemic,” Fox32 Chicago reports.

On Tuesday, FOX 32 was able to swing the door of the business open with no problem. In a chair was a client getting her nails done and to top it off, there was no social distancing as another worker sat less than 6-feet away . . .
When we went back to talk to the owner, the door was locked and the client that was in the chair avoided our camera, slipping out through the back door.
Another client did too, but we were able to catch up with her. She denied being inside Asia Nails in the 2500 block of North Milwaukee.

Here’s the video:

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“Dozens of United Scrap Metal Inc. employees walked out Tuesday morning, asking the company to close the metal recycling plant for two weeks after one of their colleagues died from COVID-19,” the Tribune reports.
“Workers want the company to close the facility to deep clean and sanitize the building. They also want to be paid for the two weeks of the plant shutdown, and they want protective gear to be supplied.”
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“As companies start planning their reopenings, business groups are pushing Congress to limit liability from potential lawsuits filed by workers and customers infected by the coronavirus,” AP reports.
“They appear to have the White House’s ear. President Donald Trump has floated shielding businesses from lawsuits. His top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on CNBC last week that businesses shouldn’t be held liable to trial lawyers ‘putting on false lawsuits that will probably be thrown out of court.’ He said the issue could require legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that the issue would be a priority when lawmakers return.”
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New on the Beachwood . . .
The COVID-19 Death Numbers Are Seriously Undercounted
“One peculiar consequence of this delay-induced error in the numbers is that it distorts our perception of the progress of the epidemic. The misleadingly low numbers announced each day can make it look like we’re perpetually about to crest the peak of the epidemic – that is, as if the death rate is leveling off – even when the real toll is climbing unabated.”
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Rhetoric Of A Global Epidemic
“In the past 10 years, we have seen great changes in the ways government organizations and media respond to and report on emerging global epidemics.”
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The Revolving Door Of Disease Between Humans And Animals
“Infectious diseases don’t care which direction they go in. We’re concerned about human health because we’re humans, but they’re just as happy to go in the other direction.”
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Dennis Rodman, Tex Winter & The Bulls’ Vaunted Triangle
In case you were ever confused, here’s how it worked in all its glory, from K-State to Chicago to Los Angeles.
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Pink Floyd’s Top 10 Songs
My instinctual, not totally thought-out list.
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Seinfeld: The Video Game About Nothing
Level One: “Jerry is dating a publicist who accidentally reveals his e-mail address to Kenny Bania through a group e-mail . . . ”
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Authentic Bulls Fan
It’s not about the merch, NBC Sports Chicago.
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ChicagoReddit

[QUESTION] Does anyone have information on Chicago-based Zoom/remote Al-Anon Meetings? from r/chicago


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ChicagoTube
“Lion Funk” / Chicago the Lion

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TweetWood
A sampling of the delight and disgust you can find @BeachwoodReport.


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The Beachwood Q-Tip Line: L-M-N-O-P.

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Posted on April 29, 2020