Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened May 15-16 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

Chicago Tribune staff, Chicago Tribune
·8 min read
Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what happened May 15-16 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area

Illinois public health officials on Sunday reported 1,248 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 24 additional deaths. That brings the state’s totals to 1,366,268 cases and 22,439 deaths.

There were 52,013 tests reported in the previous 24 hours and the seven-day statewide positivity rate as a percent of total test is 2.4%

Here’s what’s happening this weekend with COVID-19 in the Chicago area:

Sunday

53,335 administered vaccine doses, 1,248 new cases and 24 deaths reported

Illinois public health officials on Sunday reported 1,248 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 24 additional deaths. That brings the state’s totals to 1,366,268 cases and 22,439 deaths.

There were 52,013 tests reported in the previous 24 hours and the seven-day statewide positivity rate as a percent of total test is 2.4%.

There were 53,335 doses of the vaccine administered Saturday and the seven-day rolling average of daily doses is 66,728. —Chicago Tribune staff

Saturday

Naperville park officials concerned about dilemma new CDC face mask rules pose for parents and children

The CDC’s announcement that vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear face masks outdoors and in most indoor settings is “great news,” Naperville Park District Executive Director Ray McGury said, but also causes problems when it comes to children.

Only in the past week did COVID-19 vaccinations become available to those ages 12 to 15, but it appears unlikely they’ll be authorized for anyone under the age of 12 until the end of the year, experts say.

As a result, the park district is “smack-dab in the middle” of the mask debate, with one side wanting to their children be allowed to play without them and the other insisting everyone keep wearing them, McGury said.

”I’m hoping there will be some clarification,” said McGury.

Read more here. —Rafael Guerror, Naperville Sun

92,923 vaccine doses administered, 1,513 new cases and 47 deaths reported Saturday

Illinois public health officials on Saturday reported 1,513 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 47 deaths. That brings the state’s totals to 1,365,020 cases and 22,415 deaths.

There were 83,856 tests reported in the previous 24 hours, and the seven-day statewide positivity rate as a percent of total test is 2.5%.

There were 92,923 doses of the vaccine administered Friday, and the seven-day rolling average of daily doses is 70,658.

—Chicago Tribune staff

A niece made funeral arrangements for her uncle dying of COVID-19. Then she learned about a life-saving surgery. Now he’s ready to karaoke again.

Over the past year, doctors repeatedly told Renato Aquino’s family to say their final goodbyes. His niece, Tasha Sundstrom even began making funeral arrangements.

But each time, Aquino, 65, of Glendale Heights, held on. And Sundstrom eventually saw a news story that appeared to offer one last chance for her uncle. A double lung transplant had saved then-28-year-old Mayra Ramirez, who was near death from COVID-19.

“I did all the arrangements and the next day he proved us wrong. He wanted to live,” Sundstrom said.

Sundstrom asked Aquino’s medical team about the transplant surgery, and he was soon transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where, in February, he became the first known “COVID to COVID” double lung transplant recipient.

Improbably, Sundstrom sat next to her uncle during a news conference Friday at Northwestern, smiling while he bantered about once again singing karaoke.

After performing the United States’ first COVID-related double lung transplant last year, Northwestern surgeons have now done 20 such surgeries. In Aquino’s case, the surgeons used lungs from a person who had contracted a mild case of COVID-19 and died of unrelated causes — an important milestone because the surgery’s success greatly expands the number of lungs available for these procedures, the doctors said.

“If we said no to those patients from being donors, that means we are not going to have enough organs to save lives,” said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program, who performed the procedure. He noted that there have been more than 32 million cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in the U.S.

Read more here. —Madeline Buckley

After a year of profound grief and isolation, nursing homes across suburban Chicago seek healing

Over the past 14 months, the pandemic has brought to nursing homes and assisted living facilities illness, death, isolation and untold suffering.

The numbers tell only part of the story, but they are staggering. In the state’s long-term care facilities, 25,445 COVID-19 cases and 3,498 deaths were recorded in Cook County. DuPage County had 5,355 cases and 743 deaths, and Lake County had 4,160 cases and 558 deaths, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Then there was the isolation. Almost all facilities were closed to visitors and the public. Gone were the visits from adult children, grandkids and friends. Group activities were postponed. Residents were confined to their rooms, and, in many cases, prevented even from interacting with each other.

Mental health professionals recognize the danger in the disruption of those connections.

“Social isolation is linked to increased risk for anxiety and depression, as well as other physical health conditions,” said Jen McGowan-Tomke, chief operating officer of the Chicago chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “Connection, community and access to care are all important factors in ensuring quality of life while aging for older adults.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that “studies show social isolation significantly increased a person’s risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival those of smoking, obesity and physical inactivity.”

Now, as vaccination numbers rise, particularly among the elderly, the cloud is beginning to lift. As of May 11, more than 10 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state, while more than 3 million of those doses have been given to residents 65 years of age and older.

As residents of long-term care facilities slowly return to what might be called normal life, they’re picking up the pieces, navigating emotions ranging from gratitude to grief — and everything in between.

To try to document what the past year-plus has been like for some of the elderly in suburban nursing homes and care facilities, Pioneer Press and the Chicago Tribune spoke with the residents of those facilities, as well as their loved ones and those who have cared for them during the pandemic.

They talked about the gravity of what they had lived through, and shared just some of the ways COVID-19 affected them and their lives.

Read more here. —Chicago Tribune staff

How the CDC’s new mask guidelines made you feel — and how you told us you’d adapt your mask wearing

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its recommendations Thursday on where fully vaccinated people need to wear masks, it unleashed a range of reactions from Tribune readers.

According to an unscientific online poll, most respondents said they were feeling optimism following the change describing their feelings with words like “excited,” “relieved,” “thrilled” and “It’s about time!” On the flip side, about a third of respondents expressed concern or confusion following the eased restrictions with responses like “Too soon,” “nervous,” “very disappointed” and “It feels too early.”

And a healthy number were stuck in the middle saying they felt “happy and confused,” “relieved but nervous” and “both happy and scared.”

Those sentiments played out in what respondents said about what types of activities they plan to stay masked and others where they plan to not wear them.

Read more here. —Jonathan Berlin

Chicago companies are plotting returns to the office. It won’t be as simple as turning off Zoom.

After more than a year of cameo appearances by kids, spouses and pets, work meetings may be headed toward pre-pandemic formality.

The reemergence of downtown Chicago offices in the upcoming months could mean the window is closing on an unprecedented look into colleagues’ home lives via Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Some experts say the use of virtual platforms, forced into action by the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, unexpectedly humanized co-workers in a way that working side-by-side never did.

Now, as many large companies begin nudging employees back to the workplace, executives and human resources departments are weighing how soon, and how strictly, they should return to rigid conventions of the office.

Read more here. —Ryan Ori and Robert Channick