CHICAGO _ A Chicago Public Schools special education classroom assistant has tested presumptively positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in Illinois to six, state and city officials announced late Friday.
The patient was a Chicago woman in her 50s who works at Vaughn Occupational High School, officials said at a City Hall news conference hosted by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Classes at the school are canceled next week, officials said.
The patient is currently hospitalized and had been on the Grand Princess cruise ship, which has been associated with 20 cases, officials said. She returned the week of Feb. 25, and her last day at work was March 2, Lightfoot said.
Vaughn is a specialty school for students with disabilities, school district CEO Janice Jackson said. It has 212 students, officials said.
News of another coronavirus case comes after two major conventions have canceled big events at Chicago. Hours earlier, South by Southwest was canceled in Austin amid growing concerns over the spreading disease.
Meanwhile, the fifth Chicago-area patient to test positive for coronavirus was released from the hospital Friday to recover under quarantine at home, according to Rush University Medical Center officials.
Pritzker reiterated that while the state the "risk is low to the public" and noted that there have only been six cases in Illinois.
"At least so far we're in a good place and doing everything we can," Pritzker said.
City officials said Friday night that publicized the information about the Vaughn case swiftly after learning of the test result.
But Mary Hughes, a CPS parent and Special Education Parent Liaison with Raise Your Hand, a group that advocates for public education in Illinois and to eliminate inequities in schools, said she learned of the case from the news. As of 6:30 p.m., Hughes said had not yet received communication from CPS.
"It's super alarming that it's at Vaughn High School that this aide was found to have had the coronavirus because a school like that might have several students with compromised immune systems," Hughes said. "There aren't very many answers except to say that 'we've got it under control.' Given that they're releasing this so late on a Friday, I have very little trust that they have it under control."
While the fifth patient is still showing symptoms of the virus, medical providers said in a news release that hospitalization is no longer required.
"Rush is built for this _ treating affected patients in complete isolation without compromising the safety and well-being of anyone receiving care at Rush," said Dr. Omar Lateef, CEO of Rush University Medical Center. "Being able to have coronavirus patients safely recover in quarantine outside of the clinical setting will help us reduce spread and protect the public."
Rush hospital did not name the patient there. But WGN-TV reported that a 21-year-old Vanderbilt University student was the latest Illinois resident to test positive for the new disease, which originated in Wuhan, China, and has sickened more than 100,000 across the globe.
Upon landing at O'Hare International Airport earlier this week, the student suspected his respiratory symptoms were more than an ordinary cold, describing the disease as "worse as than a cold or flu, but not as bad as pneumonia," according to WGN.
The student and his family did not respond to requests for comment from the Tribune. The student told WGN that he was studying in Florence, Italy, but flew back to Chicago on Tuesday after his Nashville university told him and his classmates to return to the United States. As soon as he arrived at his Chicago-area home, he told his parents he didn't feel well.
"I told my parents I wanted to get tested," he told WGN. "So we came down to Rush Wednesday morning. Got tested and they had the results back early evening. By nighttime, I really wasn't feeling well. So I wanted to come check in and be in isolation here."
The student was discharged from the hospital on Friday and recovering under home quarantine, WGN reported.
Vanderbilt Provost Susan Wente issued a statement confirming that a student who had been studying abroad tested positive for coronavirus, but did not name the student or say if he was being treated in Chicago.
"That student has not returned to Nashville and is currently undergoing treatment in their hometown," Wente said. "We are working with public health officials to take appropriate precautions."
President Donald Trump on Friday signed an $8.3 billion emergency measure to fight coronavirus, providing federal public health agencies with money for tests and potential treatments, as well as aid state and local governments in preparing and countering the viral outbreak.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he hopes Illinois will receive funds from the measure "as soon as possible."
"We've been making sure that we're keeping an accounting of all the expenditures that we've made that are specific to dealing with novel coronavirus," Pritzker said at a news conference Friday. "And so we were very glad."
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Friday addressed the state's coronavirus response _ from airport screenings to the availability and affordability of testing kits _ at a roundtable with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health departments.
"Be prepared, don't be scared," said Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC's deputy director for infectious diseases. "Panic driven by fear is rarely a way to be able to protect health."
Health experts say the risk of contracting the virus locally remains low.
"That doesn't negate the fact that there will be additional cases," said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. "We know that viruses fly. They can come from wherever they are to new locations. ... We have to anticipate that we will see more."
Local health officials say they take part in various drills to prepare for this kind of health epidemic _ and one large-scale, federal exercise held last year was eerily similar to the recent coronavirus outbreak.
"Here's how this exercise was designed: A new virus emerging in China with the first cases seen in Chicago," said Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner. "The work that we've been doing has absolutely been in line with what those plans look like."
She added that local officials evaluate everything from protocols for the city's airports to hospital readiness to the potential for school closures, taking into account residual problems such as feeding children who are typically provided two meals a day at school. They also practice delivering supplies to local hospitals and setting up mobile care units, she said.
"I am confident that we are one of the most prepared cities and one of the most prepared states in this country," Arwady said. "We never want to see something like this happen, but when we see it happen, we're not starting from scratch."
Ezike said she was encouraged by recent news that commercial labs have also begun testing for coronavirus, which might help "ease the burden" for public health agencies.
Illinois was the first state to have on-site coronavirus testing at its public health laboratory and now can test at three sites: Chicago, Springfield and Carbondale. Ezike said another shipment of test kits went out earlier this month.
"I still think it will fall short of the kind of rampant testing that we would like to do, but with the availability of some commercial testing, that would help share the burden," she said.
She also encouraged the public to get a flu shot. While the flu vaccine doesn't protect against contracting coronavirus, "there's a definite intersectionality," she said.
"If we have (fewer) people getting sick with the flu, that increases the resources, the health care workers, the hospital beds that are available to take care of coronavirus patients, should those numbers increase," she said.
