Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

Illinois on Wednesday recorded its highest daily coronavirus-related death toll since June, as the state continues to see increases in metrics on deaths, daily cases and test positivity rate.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 69 newly confirmed deaths of people with COVID-19, bringing the state-reported COVID-19 related death toll to 9,345 people in Illinois since the pandemic began. The last time the statewide death toll for a single day surpassed 60 was June 24, when the number of deaths reported was 64.

Officials also announced 4,342 newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, resulting from a batch of 66,791 tests conducted during a 24-hour period. The state is reporting a 5.7% test positivity rate for the seven-day period that ended Tuesday.

Meanwhile, state officials for the first time said that they will begin to make public data about coronavirus outbreaks in schools. The decision comes two weeks after a story by ProPublica Illinois and the Tribune detailed the lack of information available to school officials and parents as they try to decide whether in-person learning is safe. Illinois public health officials had told reporters there had been outbreaks in at least 44 school buildings across the state but declined to say where.

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Here’s what’s happening Thursday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:

7 a.m.: Southern Illinois goes back under COVID-19 restrictions

Southern Illinois goes back under more stringent coronavirus restrictions Thursday, joining the northwest part of the state, after hitting an area-wide positivity rate of 8% as COVID-19 cases surge across the state and country.

When regions reach a positivity rate of 8% or higher for three consecutive days, Pritzker’s administration has ordered indoor dining and bar service shuttered, and gathering limits set at 25, down from 50 in the state’s reopening plan.

Kane, DuPage, Will and Kankakee counties will also go under restrictions starting Friday.

— Chicago Tribune staff

6 a.m.: Some restaurants in Illinois are defying closure orders as ban on indoor service spreads to Chicago suburbs

Despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s recent order to shut down indoor service at bars and restaurants in northwest Illinois due to the coronavirus, Fozzy’s Bar and Grill near Rockford was among those that stayed open.

Owner Nick Fosberg said he had to leave the doors open to keep his employees working, pay his bills and stay in business. He says the workers wear masks, and customers wear masks on their way in and out, while tables are spaced 6 feet apart, at 25% capacity.

“We’re sticking to what we were doing and being safe about it,” he said. “We’re getting a ton of support. People are happy someone finally stood up and said, ‘I’m not closing.’”

The Oct. 3 closure order covering the northwest region of Illinois has the same restrictions coming Friday to DuPage, Kane, Kankakee and Will counties. Four regions of the state have exceeded 8% rate for positive COVID tests, which is one of the state-imposed thresholds for such restrictions, and the rest are trending in that direction.

Now other restaurant owners are declaring they, too, will stay open. The Facebook page of Lockport Stagecoach in Will County, a western-style saloon, states that it will remain open for indoor dining and stand by more than 30 employees who depend on the restaurant for their livelihoods.

“We are NOT trying to be rebellious or are anti-masks, anti-people’s health or any of the other nonsense,” the post stated. “This is a decision out of survival.”

Read more here. —Robert McCoppin

6 a.m.: Chicago has a goal of preschool for every child. Will COVID-19 set that effort back?

When the coronavirus hit Chicago, the city was approaching the halfway point of its four-year rollout of universal prekindergarten.

By the 2021-22 school year, if all went according to plan, every 4-year-old could have a spot in a free full-day, pre-K program. As classrooms were phased in, the plan sought to prioritize communities with the greatest need for full-day options.

Policy changes leading up to the universal pre-K rollout seemed to be paying off, according to a study released Wednesday by researchers at the University of Chicago and Start Early, the early childhood education nonprofit formerly known as Ounce of Prevention. Once dominated by white children from higher income families, full-day pre-K enrollment tripled among Black students and students living in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods during the six years studied.

But before the study was even published, schools had to close. After a spring of remote learning struggles and a summer defined by the pandemic, some parents held off on having their children start school for the first time, and CPS has seen a huge drop this fall in pre-K enrollment, particularly among Black children.

Chicago Public Schools leaders acknowledge that COVID-19 1/4 u2032s disproportionate impact on Black and Latino communities is threatening their progress — a reality district leaders are citing to support arguments for bringing the youngest students, along with children in some special education groups, back to more than 400 schools next quarter.

Read more here. —Hannah Leone

6 a.m.: 7,500 children get free winter coats in COVID-19-adjusted CHA event: ‘Every little thing counts for me’

For Louis Johnson, 51, this week’s gift of a new pink winter coat for his 5-year-old daughter, Laniyah, came at just the right time.

With Chicago’s winter nearing, Johnson had known Laniyah needed a new coat after outgrowing her old one, he said. But in the economic fallout of COVID-19, funds were hard to come by, complicating the situation.

“Every penny counts now,” Johnson said Wednesday in a phone interview after picking up the new coat, adding that Laniyah would have “a big smile” on her face upon seeing it.

Laniyah was one of about 7,500 children in Chicago public housing or discounted, rented housing who will be given a free winter coat this week at the Credit Union 1 Arena on the city’s Near West Side. The giveaway is part of the Chicago Housing Authority’s partnership with Operation Warm, a national nonprofit that distributes new coats to children in need.

Though this week marks the CHA’s 13th year distributing the coats, the COVID-19 pandemic required significant adjustments. Rather than being held over four hours in one day, as it was in previous years, the coat distribution spans four consecutive days, starting Wednesday. The 3,000 families who signed up had to preregister, and one person per family signed up for a specific time to pick up the coats.

Read more here. —Kelli Smith

In case you missed it

Here are five stories from Wednesday related to COVID-19:

After refusing to release the information since the start of the pandemic, Illinois health officials said they will start sharing data about COVID-19 outbreaks in schools.

Illinois officials issued a plan for vaccine distribution.

As a second wave of COVID-19 roils Illinois, here are 5 updated ways doctors say you can stay healthy.

The CDC redefined what counts as close contact with a person who has COVID-19, adding some brief encounters.

How college freshmen are coping as the pandemic upends campus life in a pivotal year.

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