Chicago Public Schools is planning daily in-person classes this fall, giving schools $ 225 million more than last year in an effort to meet the academic, social and emotional needs of students after more than a year of the coronavirus pandemic.
CPS also plans to pursue a remote option in the fall, stating that it “will involve families in the coming weeks to help develop specific plans for the upcoming school year.”
With the virus increasing since he revealed the plan last month, officials have said the restrictions will remain until the transmission is under control.
Additionally, a number of hospitals in northwestern and central Illinois are filling up – and at least one had no intensive care beds – amid the latest COVID-19 spike.
The seven-day average of total hospital admissions is 2,142, the highest since an average of 2,156 was recorded on February 10.
Public health officials in Illinois reported 2,765 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 28 additional deaths on Wednesday. That brings the state’s total to 1,309,552 cases and 21,722 fatalities. 140,712 doses of the vaccine were administered Tuesday. The seven-day moving average of daily doses is 122,842.
Here’s what happens to COVID-19 in the Chicago area on Wednesday:
2:11 p.m .: CPS plans for daily in-person lessons, a distance learning option, and increased school budgets for next fall
Chicago Public Schools is planning daily in-person classes this fall, giving schools $ 225 million more than last year in an effort to meet the academic, social and emotional needs of students after more than a year of the coronavirus pandemic.
Individual budgets will increase for about 94% of the 513 district schools, CPS announced Wednesday. Coupled with the as-yet-undisclosed operational budget, officials said they will be able to support plans to open schools for daily in-person classes in the fall.
CPS also plans to pursue a remote option in the fall, stating that it “will involve families in the coming weeks to help develop specific plans for the upcoming school year.”
1:36 pm: Half of Illinois residents aged 16 and older have now received at least one COVID-19 shot, but restrictions aren’t going away just yet
Another 140,712 doses of coronavirus vaccines were administered in Illinois, bringing the statewide total to 8,342,542, public health officials reported Wednesday.
The latest figure includes doses administered by Walgreens on Monday, which were not part of Tuesday’s report due to technical issues, officials said.
As of Wednesday, 50.42% of residents aged 16 and older have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, a benchmark in government JB Pritzker’s reopening plan that will allow all coronavirus restrictions to be lifted – if the spread of the virus stable or decreasing. With the virus increasing since he revealed the plan last month, officials have said the restrictions will remain until the transmission is under control.
12:13 pm: 2,765 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 28 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Wednesday announced 2,765 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 28 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,309,552 and the statewide death toll to 21,722 since the pandemic began. .
Officials also reported 81,133 new tests in the past 24 hours. The statewide positivity rate for business is 3.8%.
The 7-day daily mean of vaccine doses administered is 122,842, with 140,712 doses on Tuesday. Officials also say that a total of 8,342,542 vaccines have now been administered.
11:55 am: Chicago City Council Returns In-person Meeting, Lightfoot Approves Affordable Housing Plan
In their first face-to-face meeting since the start of the pandemic, Chicago councilors on Wednesday approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s long-promised changes to the city’s affordable housing needs for developers.
Following the mayor’s working group that studied how to improve the city statute, first introduced more than a decade ago, the council approved the mayor’s ordinance by 42-8 votes.
Under the mayor’s rewrite, developers looking for zoning change in neighborhoods that are rapidly gentrifying or where there are currently few affordable units will have to make 20% of the units in their buildings affordable. That’s up from 10% in most parts of the city.
11:49 am: White House offers new tax credit in latest plan to motivate more Americans to get vaccinated
The White House is trying to overcome declining demand for COVID-19 shots by offering companies a tax incentive to give employees paid time off to get vaccinated. The move comes because the United States will meet President Joe Biden’s goal of administering 200 million doses of coronavirus in his first 100 days in office.
With more than 50% of adults at least partially vaccinated and about 28 million doses of vaccine administered weekly, demand has eclipsed supply as the limiting factor for vaccinations in much of the country.
The pace of vaccination in the US has slowed slightly over the past week. That is partly a reflection of the distortions from the “pause” in the records of the Johnson & Johnson shot for a safety review, but also the declining interest in vaccines in many places, even now that everyone is over 16 years old.
As the vaccination program progresses, the administration believes it will only get more difficult to maintain the current rate of about 3 million injections per day. About 130 million Americans have not yet received a dose.
In a speech at the White House on Wednesday, Biden will discuss efforts to expand vaccine distribution and access in his first three months in office, and outline his administration’s latest plans to motivate more Americans to get injections.
11:30 am: Matteson, Tinley Park mass COVID-19 vaccination sites start accepting walk-ins
Two massive COVID-19 vaccination sites in Cook County’s southern suburbs are accepting walk-in appointments as of Wednesday as demand for shots declines.
The mass vaccination sites of Matteson and Tinley Park are opening access this week as part of a pilot to see if removing the barrier to booking appointments online or over the phone will increase the county’s efforts to get guns into arms , says Cook County Health CEO Israel. Rocha Jr. said in a press conference at Provident Hospital.
The change is because vaccine demand, which was acute in the Chicago area during the first few months of its release, has declined and a higher proportion of the eligible population is living in the Cook County suburbs – about one in two – received at least the first. dose, said Rocha. The Tuesday release of appointments at the county’s massive vaccination sites took a few hours to complete, rather than a few minutes, which was how long it took a week earlier, Rocha said.
11:30 am: At Rush’s new state-of-the-art molecular lab, where scientists track and trace COVID-19 variants
Amid a global race between COVID-19 vaccinations and emerging virus variants, Chicago has a new state-of-the-art molecular lab dedicated to detecting and tracing these troubling new strains of coronavirus.
Rush University Medical Center opened the Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory earlier this month under a $ 3.5 million contract with the Chicago Department of Public Health to monitor COVID-19 variants across the city. The purpose of this oversight is to help public health officials better allocate resources, prevent outbreaks and break the chains of transmission of these often more contagious strains.
Rush has started collecting random COVID-19 samples from about half a dozen local hospitals. The lab uses molecular biology tools such as whole genome sequencing to analyze specimens for virus mutations, to gain a better understanding of how many variants are circulating and where they are spreading.
“We are at a critical time,” said Stefan Green, co-principal investigator in the lab and director of the Genomics and Microbiome Core Facility at Rush. “It’s a race against time. If we get enough people vaccinated, it reduces the chance that a new variant will appear that can escape the vaccine. “
The Biden administration last week announced a $ 1.7 billion investment to combat variants by scaling up genome sequencing efforts across the country – the kind of work already underway at the new lab in Rush. Just over $ 2.3 million of that federal funding has been allocated to Chicago and another $ 6.4 million to the rest of the state.
5:00 am: Hinsdale Central Muslim Student Association keeps the mood high despite a largely virtual Ramadan
Ramadan began on April 13, and members of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at Hinsdale Central High School don’t let the largely virtual school year get in the way of coming together as a community and the true essence of the Muslim holy month.
For 30 days, Muslims who are able to do so will begin their fast every day before sunrise with a morning meal suhoor and break into a sunset meal known as iftar. The fast can take anywhere from 10 to 9 hours, depending on where in the world you live, but in most parts of the United States, it is around 3 to 4 hours. While experiencing loss and discomfort, the focus shifts to renewing the faith and delving deeper into spirituality.
Previous pre-pandemic Ramadans were different in all the ways that make Ramadan what it is. Large family gatherings, communal prayers, iftar parties – and for high school students in MSA a chance to share the month with their non-Muslim counterparts.
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