Here’s what happened Saturday in coronavirus-related news.
News
1:56 p.m. 66 more Illinois coronavirus deaths, two-month low of 3,293 new cases as testing dips on Christmas
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The coronavirus has killed an additional 66 Illinois residents and spread to 3,293 more, state public health officials announced Saturday.
That’s the smallest number of new COVID-19 cases announced in a day by the Illinois Department of Public Health since Oct. 19, mostly because laboratories processed only 54,462 tests on Christmas — far below the state’s daily testing average of more than 91,000 over the last month.
Despite the holiday testing dip, the two-month low case count kept Illinois’ pandemic numbers trending downward following a record-breaking autumn resurgence. The average statewide positivity rate, which indicates how rapidly the virus is spreading, has fallen to 6.8%, its lowest point since Oct. 29.
Mitchell Armentrout has the full story...
Dec. 24, 6:22 p.m. In the time of COVID-19, Kwanzaa goes virtual
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In any other year, Kwanzaa events would be packed with performances and workshops.
But 2020 is not just any year, and this year’s Kwanzaa events will be virtual, if they are happening at all. The celebration started by Black Americans to celebrate African culture and heritage, starts Saturday, and runs through Jan. 1.
“Every year around Kwanzaa I see the same people in the city of Chicago and it’s like a family reunion every time,” said D’Sheadra Benford, a volunteer consultant with the Africa International House, a nonprofit organization that serves as a center to expose and educate people to the individual works and collective contributions of African cultures.
In solidarity, Benford says she and a group of close friends would go from one Kwanzaa event to the next to support them all. “It’s really us just trying to make sure that people have the opportunity to enjoy life and culture together,” she said.
Each day commemorates one of seven principles: unity, self determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. A different candle of the kinara is lit every day.
Grace Asiegbu has the full story...
New Cases
- The coronavirus has killed an additional 66 Illinois residents and spread to 3,293 more, state public health officials announced Saturday.
- The average statewide positivity rate has fallen to 6.8%, its lowest point since Oct. 29.
Analysis & Commentary
Dec. 25, 5 a.m. She loved kids, and kids loved her, but COVID-19 ended her teaching dreams
For the families of COVID-19 victims, the heartbreak of losing a loved one is often compounded by the pain of not knowing how they contracted the virus.
The Alonzo family of Gage Park is finding it doubly difficult.
On the day before she was hospitalized, Raquel Alonzo worked from home as usual, serving as a translator for online parent-teacher conferences at the charter school where she taught.
Alonzo, 34, had felt tired the previous few days and had started coughing that morning, but her father Rafael, 72, had been suffering similar symptoms, and the family just thought she was coming down with a cold.
It made no sense to the Alonzos that it could be anything more serious because they had been taking extreme precautions against the coronavirus for months, rarely venturing outside their multigenerational family household.
