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Saturday, April 18, 2020

All Illinois schools shut down for the remainder of 2019-20 school year #Pandemic

[VIDEO] Schools in this state have been closed since last month once it was clear this coronavirus is getting very serious. Now schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year. It's primarily to slow the spread of this virus.

CPS is already instituting their policy for e-learning. The families of CPS students are being given materials especially a computer to bring home. And as much as I might take this for granted this also means in order to utilize e-learning students need to have a connection to the internet.

You can learn more about utilizing e-learning or remote learning over at his CPS website.

What's terrible is many students who are graduating especially from kindergarten or 8th grade or high school will miss out on their graduations. I'm sorry that a worldwide crisis out of their control has put a damper on these students who want to celebrate their achievements.

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Coronavirus: Are we going in the right direction? #Pandemic

[VIDEO] Gov. JB Pritzker noted this yesterday in his usual daily press conferences regarding Illinois' response to coronavirus and now Mayor Lori Lightfoot is noting that Chicago is finally bending the curve with this coronavirus as you see abov. Hearing about both is great news though I realize it'll be some time before the world gets back to normal.

It's encouraging to hear that Gov. Pritzker might be talking about adjustments to his stay-at-home order which is scheduled to expire on April 30, 2020. I look forward to a gradual restart to the economy as I know some many people have suffered financially since there are a lot of people who aren't working. I would say let's gradually get back to normal.

Over at the CapFax the question of the day is whether or not it should be mandated by government that people should have to wear masks in public. I rather hope that we don't do anything that drastic and I already know it's already not very easy to wear a mask all day especially while working. At the same time we want to stop the spread of this virus.

While following the daily number of cases and fatalities with regards to coronavirus Ive mostly been following the information provided by the Illinois Dept. of Public Health. I don't always focus on whatever numbers provided by the Chicago Dept. of Public Health. I often focus on the daily numbers provided by the state. Indeed, check out this page to see all data provided by the city.

Mayor Lightfoot stated in the video above that during March 2020 cases were doubling every two or three days. According to this graph we've arrived at cases doubling every 12 days and its in part thanks to people staying at home.

The latest update by the Chicago Dept. of Public Health which was yesterday there are 9,666 confirmed cases of infections with 347 deaths. Throughout Illinois there are 23,247 cases of infection with 868 deaths and those numbers are also current as of yesterday April 14, 2020.

Monday, April 13, 2020

CTA cleaning #Pandemic

[VIDEO] Since I shared Amtrak's response, what about the response from the Chicago Transit Authority. Unfortunately many Chicagoans have a love hate relationship with their public transportation provider.

I don't often see CTA workers giving the "spit-shine" to at the very least the CTA trains especially when they get into their respective terminals. To be honest it's probably hard to do when say a train get into its final destination and it has to go right out and you have passengers coming around and taking their seats.

Another thing I've noticed on trains during the heat of this pandemic is that increasingly you see homeless people riding the trains. Unfortunately they're just as vulnerable to the coronavirus and I get the idea less likely to seek out medical help for this very dangerous illness. So unfortunately there's that the content with on CTA at all hours.

It's great to see this b-roll footage of CTA workers sanitizing even train stations from handrails to Ventra card machines. It's great to see workers get on the buses and deep clean once their in their respective garages. Indeed, this is also occurring to CTA trains once they're in the yard.

There could be more CTA could do to insure passengers are in a very clean and safe environment on public transportation during this pandemic. Perhaps make more of an effort to keep the homeless from using CTA as a shelter for example - although granted I hear a lot of the shelters are crowded right now.

Another odd thing that has been going on with CTA right now is their attempt to protect their employees, especially bus drivers. CTA riders will have to board the back of the bus now.
While this had in my mind conjured up images of the Montgomery Bus Boycott - and its not really something I've seen discussed in the media - I realize these are not those times. There are reports of CTA bus drivers being diagnosed with coronavirus and have little issue with ensuring their safety. Getting on the bus through the back doors are something we have to get used to for now for the safety of the transit workers.

Not that I advocate for this, however, at least until we get back to normal if you pay cash fare to board a bus CTA isn't collecting your fare. Reportedly, however, they plan to place Ventra card readers at the back of the bus though so far most buses don't use this feature yet.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Business Insider: How Long Will Social Distancing Last? #COVID19

[VIDEO] The purpose of social distancing is to flatten the curve and to help out our hospitals. It's to insure that our hospitals won't get overwhelmed with many cases of coronavirus, especially serious cases. Another aspect of this is to slow down the spread of this virus and many sporting events have been suspended or otherwise delayed until later.

Think about these events will be delayed or canceled

  • NBA Playoffs (Regular Season Suspended)
  • NHL Playoffs (Regular season suspended)
  • NCAA March Madness (Canceled)
  • 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games (Postponed) 
  • MLB season (Postponed indefinitely)
  • Indianapolis 500 (Postponed until September)
  • Kentucky Derby (Postponed until September)
Also noted in this video are the stay-at-home orders. It appears indefinitely in states like New York & California. In Illinois it's schedule to end April 7, 2020. Of course other states have enacted stay-at-home orders since then.

Whatever the medical professionals are trying to stem this pandemic, I hope social distancing and other efforts will make this coronavirus a memory.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Silent City

[VIDEO] I found this video via WBBM-AM's website. It shows a city in shutdown, especially since life had changed in light of the coronavirus. Social distancing has become the normal in addition to business shutting down for the protection of customers and workers.

Will the city be back to normal after that stay-at-home order is scheduled to be lifted after April 7, 2020?

Friday, March 20, 2020

Mayor Lightfoot addresses Chicago and extends CPS closure #COVID19

[VIDEO] Mayor Lori Lightfoot addresses Chicagoans on Thursday with regards to the coronavirus outbreak. She announced here that CPS schools will remain closed until April 20, 2020 in order to help slow the spread of the virus.

If you want to read a statement by CPS click here. Since Gov. Pritzker ordered all the state's schools closed last week CPS schools have become food distribution facilities for families with school age children. With that statement that policy will continue during the extension of the schools' closure during this very unprecedented period.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Plans for historic Pullman revitalization #Ward09

[VIDEO] While it seems that the newly freed Rod Blagojevich is in the news a lot right now, let's check out the revitalization taking place in Pullman. New projects for the national monument in addition to new businesses coming into that historic neighborhood.

We got former Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaking with a few nice words about the work of Pullman residents in their care of their community. We also see 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale speaking to WLS-TV's Karen Jordan about the positive developments in Pullman.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Weather forecasters: Snowstorm in Chicago will be followed by ‘coldest temps of the season’

Thankfully for most of the winter we largely escaped heavy snow and very cold temps. And then I see this in the news:
There’s a “high chance” of 3 inches of snow by Thursday morning, followed by plummeting temperatures throughout the day that could reach below zero by nighttime, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jake Petr.

“We’re forecasting the coldest temperatures of the season,” he said.

Thursday morning, temperatures will be in the 20s, dropping to the teens by 3 p.m. and falling into the single digits by 7 or 8 p.m., he said.

Chicago could have a windchill of 10 degrees below zero at its coldest, Petr said. Areas west of the metro area could see windchills as low as negative 20 degrees.

The Chicago area hasn’t seen temperatures so low in nearly a year, Petr said. The last time Chicago recorded a below zero temperature was March 4, 2019, he said.

But the “quick shot of cold air” won’t last long, Petr said.

“Temperatures will rebound quickly by Saturday, when we’ll be in the 30s,” he said. The high for Sunday is forecast for 39 degrees.
Probably time to share info on warming centers for those of you who know someone that could use this information.