DePaul’s Virtual Talent Show, Online Gnome Hunt, Chicago Bending the Curve

and How to Self Isolate in Style

Apr 17, 2020

Greetings!

Can you believe we’re halfway through April and it snowed yesterday? Your Thursday newsletter team — Associate Editor Meredith Melland and Event Planners Justin Myers and Mikayla Rose Price — is back at it again for more DePaul COVID-19 Updates from 14 East, DePaul’s online magazine.

We’re hoping that you got that $1,200 stimulus check in your bank account (if you were able to get it) and didn’t freak out if you got a notification that DePaul finally graded your math placement test this week. For the record, we’re not perfect mathematicians either — Meredith scored a 86.67 percent and Justin got an 80 percent.

This week, we dive into some of DePaul’s newly announced online events and happenings, the state of hospitals amid the crisis, the added threat of COVID-19 for those in nursing homes and prisons, and more.

We do this because we think it's an important public service. But if you would like to support this work on Venmo @fourteeneastmag, or tell your friends to sign up for this newsletter — it'd be greatly appreciated.

What’s the latest at DePaul?

Never got the chance to find that last gnome lying around campus? You can now get a second chance to take place in the Office of Student Involvement’s annual gnome hunt — a challenge in which students are given a series of hints to find the locations of gnomes that can be exchanged for prizes. Student organizations, departments and offices are encouraged to apply to request a virtual gnome, which will then become part of a university-wide virtual gnome hunt. Applications for gnomes are due by April 24, and the hunt will take place May 4 through 8.

Break free from quarantine and step onto the virtual stage with DePaul’s Got Talent. This online talent competition will take place on May 7 at 7 p.m. and will feature acts in three categories: movement, music and variety. Video applications are due on April 23 and may be sent to DPAlumni@depaul.edu. Additional information on this event can be found in the latest “DePaul Connection” video.

The Theatre School’s community outreach has moved online with the Community Drama Division (CDD). The CDD provides free online drama classes on topics like imaginative play and songwriting to kids ages four through 16.

Another college you can now find online is the School of Music. They’ve begun uploading past performances from students and faculty to YouTube, free of charge.

DePaul has expanded its healthcare options for eligible faculty and staff. It is now offering virtual healthcare via MDLIVE’s telehealth services. Additionally, it will provide reimbursements for COVID-19 Out-of-Network Care not included in the Bright Horizons Back-Up Care program.

What’s happening in Chicago?

Today the state announced 125 new deaths related to COVID-19, the most deaths since the start of the outbreak. The Chicago Tribune has a memoriam in honor of the people who have lost their lives from coronavirus. There are 1,140 new confirmed coronavirus cases — bringing the state total to 25,733.

Although the death toll has risen, the increase in the number of confirmed cases has been slowing down. Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that Chicago has flattened the curve. In other words, it is taking 12 days for cases to double compared to 2. Governor J.B. Pritzker announced today that testing for the virus is expanding to anyone with symptoms and people no longer need a doctor’s request.

On another positive note, Chicago hospitals currently have enough beds and ventilators.

Pritzker announced today that Illinois will start to work with states in the Midwest in an effort to find the best way to reopen the economy. Illinois could possibly face a $7 billion deficit in the next two years due to the coronavirus. Together the state’s governors said they will work with data-driven experts to decide when and how to lift stay-at-home orders. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Illinois’ stay-at-home order will most likely be extended into May.

Inmates at the Cook County Jail are refusing to eat in hopes that their demands will be met for better living conditions. They have created a petition that will be sent to a judge. Some of the requests include cleaner living conditions, more time to call family members and reopening the courthouse to speed up their cases. A detainee told South Side Weekly that they are not receiving medical supplies. Face masks and hand sanitizer are now available. As of Wednesday evening there are 181 confirmed COVD-19 cases in the jail.

Twenty-three people died from COVID-19 complications at Symphony of Joliet, a nursing home in the southwest suburbs. This unfortunately is not an isolated case — 296 people who had lived in nursing homes in Illinois have died.

Having a hard time dealing with the global crisis? CDC provides some coping skills as well as how to take care of loved ones that are at high risk.

Other Chicago News:

Little Village neighbors sue developer Hilco over demolition dust disaster, by Block Club Chicago’s Mauricio Peña
The ice and snow on Wednesday caused a huge car pile up on the Kennedy, by Chicago Sun Times’ David Struett
A Lakeview pantry is using Wrigley Field to help feed people affected by the coronavirus, by Block Club Chicago’s Justin Laurence
Here is a running list of closing and cancellations in Chicago, by Chicago Tribune’s Staff

If you don’t want to watch the news, here are the national headlines to know:

Another 5.2 million workers filed for unemployment last week, bringing the four-week total to 22 million, according to the live update feed from The New York Times
The resource-strapped IRS will delay stimulus checks to millions of Americans, leaving companies like Intuit, which runs TurboTax, to mislead people to paid services instead of free services, from ProPublica’s Justin Elliot and Paul Keil
Amid ongoing criticism on his announcement to withdraw funding from the World Health Organization, President Trump is backing down slightly from his claim that the president has absolute authority over states and Congress, analyzed CNN’s Stephen Collinson
President Trump is preparing guidelines for re-opening the country but will leave key date decisions up to states, from The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Restuccia and Michael C. Bender. The Atlantic’s Ed Yong has a guide to what our summer of adjustments could look like.
South Korea held social-distanced elections on Wednesday with the highest voter turnout since 1992, from The Guardian’s Justin McCurry
Guatemala’s health minister claims the U.S. deported migrants who now amount for over half of the country’s cases for COVID-19, even after a week pause in deportations, from NPR’s Maria Martin
Colleges across the country (and world) are weighing their options for fall classes. Boston University announced they may not open campus until 2021 if classes aren’t safe to gather, from Forbes’s Susan Adams

On to other news: Neighborhoods are making a communal ruckus for healthcare workers.

Every night at 8 p.m. on the dot, 14 East Event Planner Justin Myers’s neighborhood erupts into a cacophony of hoots and hollers, clanging pots and pans, blaring strobe lights and fervent applause. Like any good journalist, he documented the scene for you, dear readers.

The organized outburst started as a way to celebrate and show solidarity with medical workers rotating shifts at 8 p.m. at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Hospital in East Lakeview, following an international trend out of Italy that New York labeled #ClapBecauseWeCare. As the trend popularized, some healthcare workers and observers have voiced criticism of valorizing employees required to work in virus hotspots with dangerously low levels of PPE.

"It's really loud,” Myers said. “I don't take part in it, but I support the people that do. It's a nice way to show solidarity amid all of this."

His household learned of the event through NextDoor, an app that allows users to engage in forums with people nearby based on your address. Normally used to sound off about noise complaints or organize summer block parties, NextDoor is filling a connection void for city residents isolated from their community.

The nightly cheers have been going strong for around two weeks now. Myers said the cheering lasts for approximately five minutes until one trumpet-playing resident signals a cease in noise, according to Block Club Chicago.

Self-Isolation Style Corner

This is Grace. She completed her film degree at DePaul last quarter and has since been crushing the quarantine game in the burbs with her family, especially with her style. The sunny florals, the wide-leg fit, the accessories? This chic-yet-laid-back look is radiating hope for warmer and more-public days, and for that, I salute you, Grace.

If you too are missing strutting your stuff in public, submit your favorite quarantine fit to 14 East for some light-hearted appreciation. You can reply to this email with a photo!

How are students spending their days?

Here’s what media students are consuming

📺 Amelia is watching Good Girls on Netflix

📚 Ariana is reading Audition by Ryu Murakami

🎧14 East has updated our weekly quarantine playlist.

It looks like several students this week are picking up a new instrument.

Matt is learning new guitar riffs
Holly is learning how to play the ukulele and piano
Here is a video that teaches one of the best ways to learn a new instrument.

What have you been consuming/doing to pass the time? Let us know and we’ll include it next time.

Bored?

🎵Butterfly in the sky / I can go twice as high / Just take a look / It's in a...Twitter stream.🎵 Reading Rainbow’s host LeVar Burton is back with livestreamed book readings for all ages. Tune into his Twitter page Mondays at 11:00 a.m. for children’s stories, Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. for young adult novels and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. for adult novels
Tour a Frank Lloyd Wright house without stepping foot out your own door. Find the #WrightVirtualVisits and tune in Thursdays at 12:00 p.m. on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to visit famous Wright homes like Taliesin, Falllingwater and Chicago’s Unity Temple
Who’s attending class in a pineapple under the sea? YOU are with these Zoom backgrounds from Nickelodeon. Become a member of the Paw Patrol, go live with iCarly or sit down in your thinking chair with Blue — all while earning a college degree.
Find 100 opportunities to do Zumba at home
Watch this lady and her opossums on YouTube and join her religion led by a mystic dead squirrel

Overwhelmed?

Do yoga for free online
Pritzker created new Call4Calm mental health resources. Residents can text TALK for English or HABLAR for Spanish to 552-020 and the state will put them in touch with a counselor
Call 312-747-1020 for free teletherapy services at Chicago Department of Public Health Mental Health Centers
Call 833-626-4244 for the NAMI Chicago Helpline or 833-TURN-123 for the Bright Star Community Outreach to speak to a mental health counselor
- If it’s late at night: text HELLO to 741741. Crisis Text Line is a 24-hour hotline that serves anyone, in any type of crisis

Want to help?

Lost your main source of income?

Here’s where to apply for unemployment and here’s how to apply
Here’s a list of places hiring by CBS 2 Chicago

Need financial assistance?

Need food or supplies?

Text 312-775-2391 or email LakeviewMutualAid@gmail.com for food, prescription pick-ups, caregiving, medical supplies and more – ”prioritizing folks who are sick, disabled, low-income, elderly, undocumented and Black, Indeginous and/or People of Color”
West Town Bakery is offering free meals to restaurant workers
Manny’s Deli in Little Italy is providing free meals to first responders
Chicago Food Resources

Need more information on COVID-19?

That’s a wrap on Week 3! Remember to check out 14 East’s story lineup tomorrow, and please tell us what you think of the newsletter.

As always, we hope you can get some shut eye, eat tasty food and feel the rain/sun on your skin this weekend — the rest, as Natasha Bedingfield says, is still unwritten.

Best wishes,

Meredith Melland, Justin Myers and Mikayla Rose Price