Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area
With federal approval for two coronavirus vaccines expected soon, Chicago officials said Wednesday they hope to vaccinate all city adults in 2021 as they laid out their plans to roll out the vaccine.
But even as city officials celebrated the news of imminent vaccine approval, Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned residents to follow public health guidance and not grow complacent because widespread community vaccination is still “many months away.
The city’s announcement came as Illinois health officials on Wednesday reported 8,256 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 179 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 812,430 and the statewide death toll to 13,666 since the start of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday as an advisory committee is set to meet and discuss Pfizer’s request for emergency-use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s what the FDA approval will mean for Chicago and the rest of Illinois.
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Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
7:15 a.m.: University enrollment up at Illinois state schools despite pandemic
Despite a decline nationally, enrollment for students of all backgrounds at Illinois public universities is comparable and in some cases higher than last year, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
Data released this week shows overall enrollment is up by 0.2% compared to 2019, with 182,586 students enrolled at public universities in the state.
Undergraduate enrollment is down about 1%, but graduate enrollment is up about 4% from last fall.
Black student enrollment is steady, up 0.6% overall. Latino student enrollment is up more than 6% overall.
—Darren Iozia, Jacksonville Journal-Courier
7 a.m.: The year that was in Chicago music was one that, because of a pandemic, was like no other
The show must go on, even if there are no shows. That is the greatest lesson of Chicago music in 2020. In a year where culture as we’ve known it was seemingly shut down overnight, Chicago’s music scene continued to survive, albeit in a different manner than we’ve come to expect.
Despite the promise of our pre-pandemic world, the state of Chicago music was already in a confusing place. Long simmering issues plagued the city’s music scene, from potential closures of independent music venues to a mass exodus of young musicians seeking greater fame, fortune and opportunity on the coasts. However, much like how the pandemic shined a light on society’s racial and economic troubles, it also revealed the fragility of the city and the country’s entertainment community as a whole.
One can not underestimate the social, economic and cultural ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the city’s music scene. Unlike restaurants and retail stores which found ways to bounce back (however temporarily) as lockdown restrictions eased in the summer months, music venues remain closed for the foreseeable future.
Read more here. —Britt Julious
5 a.m.: Pandemic, civil unrest drive record-shattering increase in firearm permits, gun shopping in Illinois in 2020
Illinois residents shopped for more guns and applied for more firearm permits in 2020 than at any other time in history, according to statistics released Wednesday by state police.
With events during this unprecedented year driving the demand, there had been more than 500,000 serious inquiries to date about purchasing guns, authorities said, representing a 45% increase over 2019.
The state also has received a record 445,945 applications for firearm owner’s identification cards as of November 2020, a 167% jump from the 166,649 applications in 2017. The Illinois State Police did not release numbers for any other years but said the 2020 applications “blew past” a previous surge in 2013 after concealed carry licenses were first offered.
“It’s a reflection of the great deal of unease and a reflection of the tension we have in this state and across the country,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said. “It’s undeniable.”
Read more here. —Annie Sweeney and Stacy St. Clair
5 a.m.: Tenants’ advocates, real estate industry gear up for clash over proposed Cook County residential tenant, landlord ordinance
A simmering debate between tenants’ advocates and the real estate industry in Cook County is set to boil this month when a Board of Commissioners panel is expected to vote on a proposal to toughen suburban renters’ rights amid the pandemic-sparked housing crisis.
The proposal, dubbed the Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance, brought by county commissioners Scott Britton and Kevin Morrison, would cement heightened landlord regulations throughout the suburbs, where about 245,000 households are renters not covered by such codes that only exist in three cities in the county: Chicago, Evanston and Mount Prospect.
It is based on the city of Chicago’s own code that has guided leases since 1986, much to the ire of some landlords who say it overreaches and stifles the market.
During a virtual news conference on Tuesday, supporters of the proposed Cook County ordinance said while the need for suburban renters to have such protections always has existed, the feared eviction wave from the coronavirus pandemic makes the stakes all the more drastic.
Read more here. —Alice Yin
In case you missed it
Here are five things that happened Wednesday related to COVID-19:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was “deeply disappointed” in Wrigleyville Ald. Tom Tunney after his Ann Sather restaurant breaks pandemic indoor dining rules.
A Lightfoot-backed plan to let Cubs defer infrastructure payment to city advanced.
A poll by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago’s NORC found only about half of Americans want to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Chicago officials outlined their initial coronavirus vaccine distribution plans.
British regulators said those with a “significant history’’ of allergic reactions should hold off getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
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