It’s not only the younger ages driving the increase in cases in Cook County. Cases in the 20s-60s all above the overall mark:
https://ccdphcd.shinyapps.io/covid19/
FWIW my cook county suburb leadership made a statement that policing indoor dining is the responsibility of the state as the village police dept doesn’t have the manpower to do that, so this weekend all the local restaurants and bars were open for inside dining, and were Crowded, with a capital ‘C’.
Its not the younger crowd that is just getting it, they are the ones who are getting in and spreading it. In Boulder county, they have banned gatherings of more than 3 people…but only for the specific age group…18-22 years old. Hmmmmm, darn college kids.
JBS, yes and my point about the medical experts is the broad brush they have been painting with, by now the contact tracing should be good enough to get a sense of exactly where the problems are. In Boulder, its 18-22.
So, @CU123, you think Dr. Landon was directly speaking to that age group? Like perhaps she was telling them in a sense to grow up and put on their masks and understand why indoor dining is now closed? While I can see why someone would want to send that message if warranted, she didn’t identify the college crowd in her remarks. Sounded to me like it was addressed more to some dissenters in a peer-age group - perhaps old enough to be working and socializing but not old enough to worry much about the virus. Per @85bears46 it was addressed to small business owners and perhaps some of the village mayors surrounding Chicago. I didn’t hear who was speaking immediately beforehand - from her remarks it sounded like it was Pritzker. Did he say something like “and now Dr. Emily Landon will address some remarks to the college crowd?”
Edit to add: Given what @Mwfan1921 is saying, sounds like there might be a bit of a standoff between the state and surburban Cook county.
Just found this article which provides a ton of context:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-suburban-restaurants-defy-shutdown-20201030-4iwta36ycjckfiycuulz63giwy-story.html
After reading about the legal challenges, I am simply appalled even to speculate that Dr. Landon might have been addressing her snippy remarks at the end to small business owners who are simply trying to survive. That would be so very out of touch.
And to put dire situation in IL/Chicago in perspective, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported that there were 1,888 new cases in Chicago on Sunday. That number is more or less equal to the daily total of the entire state of IL in late September. In other words, IL has a big COVID problem on hand now. Public officials are desperately looking for ways to level off the rapid spread of COVID.
This is not the thread to discuss public health policy of IL/Chicago. I only want to delve into the implications of this new health crisis relative to UChicago Fall Quarter. Situation in HP and on campus seems to be worsen as compared to the beginning of the quarter but so far it is still under control. As of now I don’t see a repeat of the Winter Quarter when dorms were closed down abruptly and everyone was sent home. I think with some luck and a certain degree of self control from university students we should be able to finish the quarter in the current format.
No exactly the opposite, she was IMO painting with too broad a brush, although with further context its even worse…small businesses? Maybe if we’re talking about bars with a young crowd…still, personally, I found her speech to be somethinbg like listening to a sermon in church.
Situation on campus has actually NOT worsened. Positivity through 10/30 is .18% and very few students from campus are in isolation housing. (Edit to Add: Off-campus isolations are 3 more than prior week.) Also, most of the new student cases off-campus are apparently sporadic, unrelated instances so not connected to any super-spreader event.
https://goforward.uchicago.edu/covid-19-dashboard/
https://goforward.uchicago.edu/weekly-updates/#oct30
The following was shared very recently by a well-connected parent on another site who spoke to some of the RH’s: They are considering opening up some residence hall common areas depending on how Halloween went, whether students made good choices, etc. UChicago is encouraged by low Covid numbers at the university, despite the spikes around the city. They will be looking at what the test numbers show from Halloween weekend and making a decision from there. They want to see positivity remain flat. More will be known this week. I am not aware at this time which common areas will be opened up; I’m thinking dorm music practice rooms, etc. It would be great if my son’s house lounge were allowed to re-open but that might be hoping for a bit too much.
It turns out there were some minor incidents in HP on Halloween. But I left before the trouble started.
https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/11/1/halloween-2020/
Unfortunately, our friends up in Evanston got it worse:
https://abc7chicago.com/evanston-rally-protest-news-northwestern/7540524/
Stay at home order for Chicago for the next 30 days.
I think schools are excluded? I haven’t heard anything from UChicago regarding in-person classes other than that they end on Friday of next week.
This is not an order - it’s an advisory. They are urging families not to gather in the traditional numbers for Thanksgiving etc and they are putting significant number restrictions on public gatherings. In all honesty, Lightfoot’s ability or willingness to mandate movement restrictions is questionable at this point which probably explains why she’s ordering what can be ordered and urging for the rest of it. From what I can see she hasn’t shut down non-essential businesses ('85 please post if this is incorrect). It’s very possible of course that businesses shut themselves down voluntarily or perhaps under peer pressure or even silent pressure from the government.
As we can see from the Chicago Maroon article, UC is not planning to alter the schedule for next week and will go online as originally planned following Friday’s classes. A good number if not most will be leaving by that Sunday 11/22 anyway. I don’t believe there are classes scheduled for Thanksgiving week, and they are starting one week “late” for Winter Quarter. So basically, it’s like they are starting to transition to the new academic calendar one year early. I guess they have a chance to figure out ahead of time what the transition costs are and fix those ahead of time.
More worrisome is the hospitalization rate and ICU availability rate.
https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/hospitalization-utilization
I won’t be surprised at all by the middle of next week Governor Pritzker will put a stay at home order all over Illinois.
As for the impact on U of C, I think in person will be cancelled. But everyone probably can still stay at dorm. The positive case number is most certainly higher. Same for our friends up in Evanston.
https://goforward.uchicago.edu/covid-19-dashboard/
https://www.northwestern.edu/coronavirus-covid-19-updates/university-status/dashboard/
They just came out with an e-mail about winter quarter today, pretty much telling departments to have everyone work from home whenever possible. Currently there are only 50 in-person sections of a Core class and this might well change after registration closes this afternoon. Not sure what my D is registering for other than her BA seminar. My son’s courses are 100% remote anyway.
If Pritzker imposes a stay-at-home order it’s not at all clear that it would be quite the same as last spring. Among other things, UChicago has done an excellent job - despite the rising Covid cases - of preventing a breakout on campus. The increase is part of the overall regional increase, per the e-mail. They hopefully should be able to continue dorm living, etc, although anyone from a less-impacted state and/or with fewer restrictions will probably break their housing contract and go home. If they come back in the spring and are not allowed in the dorm (which seems like an odd thing to have to worry about) they can just rent.
https://provost.uchicago.edu/announcements/precautions-holiday-travel-and-reinforcement-remote-work
“The precautions we have implemented in campus classrooms, residence halls, laboratories, and workplaces have been essential in limiting the spread of the virus so far, and accordingly the schedule for the remaining in-person Autumn Quarter classes will proceed as planned. Since November 6 the number of cases among members of the campus community, including those who have not been coming to campus, has risen to 68 (excluding medical center personnel). Contact tracing efforts indicate that these cases are a result of the overall regional increases, rather than spread on campus. The cases in the last week have resulted in 53 close contacts (less than one close contact per case), reflecting general compliance with social distancing requirements in the University community.”
This is essentially what Provost Lee said: we have been doing a good job in limiting COVID spread. Don’t screw it up.
https://goforward.uchicago.edu/weekly-updates/#nov13
36 students and 32 staff.
I have been very impressed by how this Autumn Quarter has played out with so few Covid cases. I’m surprised that my S still has a couple of online classes next week; I thought the week was ‘vacation’
Can anybody elaborate in why the week long delay in returning to instruction in January?
My son just told me that his Civ course is still scheduled for next (9th) week, @momo2x2018. He plans to zoom in at the time because he says they need those classes to get through all the planned material.
Interesting @JBStillFlying. Then maybe it’s a good thing this Quarter is on Zoom, otherwise, how would they have completed the material in time? BTW, and for clarity, S is not complaining, he mentioned it in passing and I was surprised. As it happens, he is really enjoying the class, which again surprises me; I looked at his book and I could not get beyond the first sentence without falling asleep!
@momo2x2018 - best guess on why they have delayed the quarter by a week is that they need to give everyone at least 10 days to self-quarantine, and it’s much harder to implement that with the original start date because it means you’d have to arrive on or before New Year’s Day. Everyone in the dorms are allowed back as early as Jan 8 which gives them 10 days before in-person classes start in week 2. Those in a 14-day quarantine situation will need to make sure their instructors understand the need to continue remote instruction for a few more days, assuming it’s an in-person course. However, my guess is that the vast majority of courses this winter will be taught remotely anyway.