Good morning, Chicago.
Coronavirus case numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction for Illinois, with the state reporting 2,364 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 yesterday. That puts the average number of daily cases over the past week to 2,099. A month ago, it was just over 300 hundred cases per day.
Meanwhile, as cases, a majority of which are being fueled by the delta variant, continue to surge across the country, doctors are seeing another trend arise in hospitals: The variant seems to be making unvaccinated young people “sicker, quicker.”
And in Tokyo, an Illini contingent has the U.S. women’s volleyball team flying into the semifinals and an Itasca decathlete is in medal contention with 2 events to go this morning. Other notables: The U.S. women’s soccer team won bronze, while the U.S. men’s basketball team will play for gold on Saturday. See who has won medals for Team USA so far, keep tabs on our 60-plus local Olympians and stay current with Day 13 events here, including the U.S. baseball team.
— Nicole Stock, audience editor
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday issued a new mask mandate for preschool through high school students and staff statewide, and a vaccine mandate for employees in state prisons, veterans homes and other congregate settings as Illinois tries to blunt a fourth spike of the coronavirus pandemic.
Universal masking also will be required in long-term care facilities statewide. Pritzker called on unions representing state workers to come to the bargaining table to negotiate the specifics of the vaccine mandate, which takes effect Oct. 4.
Masks required for indoor high school sports in Illinois
Advocate Aurora hospital system mandating COVID-19 vaccines for its 75,000 workers
Commentary: Mask mandates are back again. Here are 7 to try.
A family who lives in the Austin neighborhood says Chicago police barged into their home in August 2019 without a warrant and in search of a Black man with a gun of whom they had a vague description.
According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, the officers pointed their guns at the family — including two young girls — traumatizing them and violating their Fourth Amendment rights. The suit also alleges the person they were seeking had not been in the family’s home.
Pritzker mask mandate for Illinois schools unlikely to quell COVID-19 battles at suburban districts
At first glance, the hurling of F-bombs, menacing threats and burly security guards whisking away unruly members of the crowds packing suburban school board meetings in recent weeks seem straight out of a reality TV show.
But the scenes are unfolding in real time across the Chicago suburbs, where concerned parents and beleaguered school district officials on Wednesday greeted Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mask mandate with everything from anger and sadness to relief and appreciation.
Masks back in demand as Illinois announces statewide mandate in schools. ‘We are going to be selling masks like crazy.’
Is it ethical to offer prize money to people who waited to get vaccinated?
After the first three days of NBA free agency, one thing is clear about these Chicago Bulls: They aren’t operating like the old Chicago Bulls.
What the Bulls pulled off in the opening 48 hours of free agency is unlike any other team in franchise history before it.
Cecily Strong has been busy. The Oak Park native is co-starring and coproducing “Schmigadoon!” a new series for Apple TV+ about a backpacking couple trapped in a musical. She also just wrote her first book, “This Will All Be Over Soon,” a memoir, decidedly less funny, about a cousin’s death, a relationship souring and a pandemic year spent adrift. Tribune columnist Christopher Borrelli caught up with Strong to talk about her new book, her tenure on “SNL” and the big question: What’s next?
