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Good morning, Chicago. Here is the coronavirus news and other top stories you need to know to start your day.
Illinois officials on Tuesday announced 4 more coronavirus deaths and 250 new cases, bringing the state’s death toll to 16 and the total number of cases since the start of the outbreak to 1,535
Coronavirus infections in the U.S. exceeded 55,000, including more than 800 deaths, on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press
More than 425,000 people worldwide have been infected and almost 19,000 have died, according to a running count kept by Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday
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Illinois would have run out of hospital beds if not for stay-at-home order, Pritzker says
The coronavirus outbreak could have caused Illinois hospitals to run out of beds about a week from now if the current stay-at-home order were not in place, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday, citing state projections.
Had the state not taken protective measures, Illinois hospitals would have needed, in the worst-case scenario, 837 more intensive care beds and 2,511 more beds of other types than they currently have, according to the governor’s office. In about two weeks, Illinois would have needed 9,407 additional intensive care beds plus 28,222 more.
Chicago scores an ‘A’ in social distancing, according to GPS project
Trump says he wants the country open by Easter. Others in the government aren’t echoing agreement.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is hoping the United States will be reopened by Easter as he weighs how to relax nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job during the coronavirus outbreak, while contradicting the warnings of public health officials on the direction of the crisis.
The artsy 21c Museum Hotel made its River North debut in February. A little over a month later, the 297-room property has gone dark.
One of the largest hotels in the city will soon follow suit. The 1,544-room Hilton Chicago at 720 S. Michigan Avenue is notifying guests that it will suspend operations as of Friday, Hilton spokeswoman Laura Ford said.
What started a week ago with a couple of luxury properties downtown has turned into a wave of hotel closures across the city. Ace, Loews, Virgin, The Hoxton, Omni, Four Seasons, Chicago Athletic Association, Park Hyatt, The Peninsula, Hotel Zachary — the list of shuttered addresses keeps getting longer, and experts predict there’s more to come.
Empty windows, boarded-up storefronts dot the Magnificent Mile during coronavirus shutdown
Illinois consumers have filed more than 700 price gouging complaints accusing stores of raising prices on household goods during the rush to stock up because of the new coronavirus. The city of Chicago received 175 price gouging complaints between March 1 and Monday. The state received 526 complaints during the same period.
Coronavirus pandemic produces the inevitable for Chicago: Malort hand sanitizer
Malort, as any good Chicagoan knows, already tastes a bit like hand sanitizer. And now the coronavirus pandemic has willed it into existence.
Yes — Malort hand sanitizer is here.
