Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday delivered a staunch defense of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and a rebuke to Republicans who fought his graduated-rate income tax in a budget address that proposed $1 billion in cuts to business tax breaks backed by the GOP and its allies.
Meanwhile, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration spent $281.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief money on Chicago Police Department personnel costs, prompting an angry response Wednesday from activists and some aldermen.
Also on Wednesday, Illinois health officials announced 1,795 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 24 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,166,717 and the statewide death toll to 20,057 since the start of the pandemic.
The 7-day rolling daily average of administered vaccine doses is 60,552, with 40,380 doses given on Tuesday. IDPH also says a total of 1,903,942 vaccines have now been administered.
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Here’s what’s happening Wednesday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
6:55 p.m.: DuPage health officials, citing ‘insufficient’ supply, decline to join state COVID-19 vaccine expansion to people with underlying conditions
DuPage County will not be expanding COVID-19 vaccinations when the state moves Feb. 25 to include younger residents with underlying conditions and those with disabilities, county health officials said Wednesday.
Citing low projected shipments of vaccine in the coming weeks, health officials said they would instead primarily focus on administering second doses and limited first doses for those already eligible.
The move comes one week after Gov. J.B. Pritzker said beginning Feb. 25, the state would open vaccinations to those between the ages of 16 and 64 who have underlying conditions including cancer, diabetes and others, and it would prioritize those with disabilities. Pritzker said the move was in line with guidance from the CDC, and was possible due to increased federal vaccine shipments.
Chicago and suburban Cook County have also opted not to join the state expansion.
Read more here. —Sarah Freishtat
5:40 p.m.: More contagious UK variant of COVID-19 identified in DuPage County
DuPage health officials have identified the county’s first case of the COVID-19 variant first identified in the United Kingdom.
The variant is among those that spread more easily and quickly than other strains of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The DuPage County Health Department did not immediately respond Wednesday evening to requests for additional information about the new variant case, including the date it was identified, further information about the person in which it was identified or how the person was believed to have contracted the variant.
Statewide, 25 cases of the U.K. strain, known as B.1.1.7, have been reported. That includes a Lake County man who traveled internationally in December.
Read more here. —Sarah Freishtat
5:35 p.m.: Pritzker defends his handling of the pandemic, attacks Republicans in budget speech
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday delivered a staunch defense of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and a rebuke to Republicans who fought his graduated-rate income tax in a budget address that proposed $1 billion in cuts to business tax breaks backed by the GOP and its allies.
The Democratic governor’s $41.6 billion budget blueprint contains no new tax increases and avoids major service cuts. Instead, it relies heavily on ending the business tax breaks, extending repayment of state borrowing, shifting earmarked revenues to the state’s general bank account and using existing federal COVID-19 relief funding to pare down a budget deficit of more than $2.6 billion.
Pritzker’s combined budget and State of the State speech, prerecorded in a new COVID-19 vaccination site at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, sets the stage for a critical year for the governor as he heads toward an expected 2022 reelection campaign. His oversight of pandemic restrictions and the distribution of vaccines and jobless benefits is expected to be a central theme.
Despite a statewide COVID-19 death toll topping 20,000, the first-term governor has faced an increasingly restless audience of voters and lawmakers over his pandemic restrictions. He sought to portray himself as an empathetic voice for residents enduring restrictions that have led to canceled public gatherings, shuttered businesses, closed schools and unshared grief over the loss of family members.
Read more here. —Rick Pearson, Dan Petrella and Jenny Whidden
5:25 p.m.: Should people wear 2 masks to lower the risk of spreading the coronavirus?
Researchers found that two masks are better than one in slowing coronavirus spread.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Feb. 16 the results of a lab experiment that spaced two artificial heads 6 feet from each other and checked to see how many coronavirus-size particles spewed by one were inhaled by the other.
The researchers found that wearing one mask — surgical or cloth — blocked around 40% of the particles coming toward the head that was breathing in. When a cloth mask was worn on top of a surgical mask, about 80% were blocked.
When both heads were double-masked, more than 95% of the particles were blocked, according to CDC’s Dr. John Brooks. However, health officials stopped short of recommending that everyone double up on masking.
More COVID-19 questions answered here. —Darcel Rocket
4:35 p.m.: Lightfoot spent $281.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief money on police payroll
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration spent $281.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief money on Chicago Police Department personnel costs, prompting an angry response Wednesday from activists and some aldermen.
The number came to light as Lightfoot seeks City Council approval to transfer about $65 million in unspent federal COVID-19 money into the 2021 budget, after the Biden administration waived Federal Emergency Management Agency local funding matches and extended the deadline to spend federal dollars until the end of the year.
Read more here. —John Byrne
4:20 p.m.: Have you used social media to find an appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine? Tell us about your experience.
The challenges facing the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Illinois have been widely reported, with some describing the process as like the “Hunger Games.”
The Tribune would like to hear from people who have been using social media platforms and other methods to get an appointment.
Fill out the form here. —Chicago Tribune staff
3:03 p.m.: US government seizes millions of fake N95 masks in COVID-19 probe
Federal agents have seized more than 10 million fake 3M brand N95 masks in recent weeks, the result of an ongoing investigation into counterfeits sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies.
The most recent seizures occurred Wednesday when Homeland Security agents intercepted hundreds of thousands of counterfeit 3M masks in an East Coast warehouse that were set to be distributed, officials said.
Investigators also notified about 6,000 potential victims in at least 12 states including hospitals, medical facilities and others who may have unknowingly purchased knockoffs, urging them to stop using the medical-grade masks. Officials encouraged medical workers and companies to go to 3Ms website for tips on how to spot fakes.
Read more here. —Associated Press
12:03 p.m.: 1,795 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 24 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 1,795 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 24 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,166,717 and the statewide death toll to 20,057 since the start of the pandemic.
Officials also reported 49,937 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 2.8% for the period ending Tuesday.
The 7-day rolling daily average of administered vaccine doses is 60,552, with 40,380 doses given on Tuesday. IDPH also says a total of 1,903,942 vaccines have now been administered.
—Chicago Tribune staff
12 p.m.: Gov. J.B. Pritzker goes after Republicans in budget, State of State speech
Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed a $41.6 billion state budget Wednesday that takes on Republicans for leading the opposition to his graduated-rate income tax plan by recommending cuts to nearly $1 billion in business tax breaks to help balance state spending amid the ongoing pandemic.
“I have always believed that our economic recovery both as a nation and as a state goes hand in hand with our recovery from the virus. I certainly had no expectation when I became governor that we would spend all of this time battling an invisible enemy together,” Pritzker said in a pre-recorded speech from the Illinois State Fairgrounds, where a new COVID-19 vaccination program is being established.
“I had bolder plans for our state budge than what I am going to present to you today. It would be a lie to suggest otherwise,” Pritzker said. “But as all our families have had to make hard choices over the last year, so too does state government. And right now, we need to pass a balanced budget that finds the right equilibrium between tightening our belts and preventing more hardships for Illinoisans already carrying a heavy load.”
All told, Pritzker’s plan is heavily reliant on curbing business tax breaks, extending repayment of state borrowing, shifting earmarked taxes to the state’s general bank account and using existing federal COVID-19 relief funding to pare down a budget deficit of more than $2.6 billion without enacting major cuts to services.
Read more here. —Rick Pearson and Dan Petrella
9:04 a.m.: V.P. Kamala Harris calls for teachers to get COVID vaccine priority
Speaking in her first sit-down network television interview since taking office, Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the importance of getting educators vaccinated since their work is so important and they work in an environment where protective measures are tough to implement.
“Teachers should be a priority,” said Harris on Wednesday. “They should be able to teach in a safe place. … So teachers should be a priority along with other frontline workers.”
Harris told Today Show host, Savannah Guthrie that only about half the states are giving vaccine priority to teachers and called on states to put educators at the front of the line.
Read more here. —New York Daily News
7:25 a.m.: COVID-19 relief bill money would help expand scientists’ ability to spot virus mutations
U.S. scientists would gain vastly expanded capabilities to identify potentially deadlier coronavirus mutations under legislation advancing in Congress. A House bill headed for floor debate would provide $1.75 billion for genomic sequencing.
The U.S. now maps only the genetic makeup of a minuscule fraction of positive virus samples, a situation some experts liken to flying blind. It means the true domestic spread of problematic mutations first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa remains a matter of guesswork.
“You’ve got a small number of academic and public health labs that have been basically doing the genomic surveillance,” said David O’Connor, an AIDS researcher at the University of Wisconsin. “But there is no national coherence to the strategy.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to shepherd those efforts, aligning with the government’s own advanced detection work, but the COVID-19 legislation would take the hunt to another level.
Besides money, the House bill that cleared the Energy and Commerce Committee last week calls for the CDC to organize a national network to use the technology to track the spread of mutations and guide public health countermeasures.
In the Senate, Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin has introduced legislation that would provide $2 billion. Baldwin says the U.S. should be using gene-mapping technology to analyze at least 15% of positive virus samples. That might not sound like much, but the current rate is believed to be 0.3% to 0.5%. Analyzing 15% of positive samples would expand surveillance by at least 30 times.
“Variants represent a growing threat,” said Baldwin. “At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing our testing capacity was essential to our ability to track and slow the spread of the virus — the same is true for finding and tracking these variants.”
Read more here. —Associated Press
7:15 a.m.: A good thing about the COVID-19 pandemic? Animal adoptions are surging; ‘A pet might be the only thing that gets them out of bed’
Animal shelters across Chicagoland are facing an interesting problem a year into life being not-so-normal: As the coronavirus pandemic keeps more people at home, animal adoptions are still surging and the high demand means more things than one.
Since the pandemic began early last spring, the Hinsdale Humane Society has seen numbers far greater than they’ve seen in previous years and securing the animals in the first place is a considerable undertaking, never mind what happens after.
“Since COVID started, it’s literally like a hunt in outreach to find new partners and new places to get dogs,” said Samantha Cheatham, Operations Manager at the Hinsdale Humane Society.
According to Cheatham, while they try to prioritize securing pets that people give up, which are referred to as “surrenders,” as well as local rescues, they’ve also been reaching out to other states and getting animals from Texas, Tennessee and Alabama.
Read more here. —Zareen Syed, Pioneer Press
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