Finals week, vaccine news and a Stay-at-Home Advisory
And two recommendations for media to enjoy this week
Hey everyone! Welcome back to 14 East’s COVID-19 updates newsletter. We’re back with some newsletter regulars – Francesca, Justin, Robin and Paige – as well as a few new members to the newsletter team: Julián Martinez, creative editor of Pueblo, and Aneesah Shealey, associate editor at 14 East. In addition to the news, Julián and Aneesah have some great entertainment recs for you as many of us in the Chicagoland area head back into quarantine.
Chicago, COVID-19, Stay-at-Home Advisory
A new record for the number of COVID-19 cases reported in a single day was set on Friday with 15,415 new cases. On Sunday alone, there were 84,831 tests reported. The positivity rate statewide is 14.8 percent.
On Friday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced he will be extending certain COVID-19 related executive orders, such as an eviction moratorium, and extending previous other COVID-related executive orders to December 12.
“I don’t know [how long this will last],” Pritzker said in a press conference this afternoon. “I really wish I could tell you. I don’t know. Nobody I’ve talked to thinks this is ending in the next four to six weeks. This is going to be a very rough… it’s going to be a rocky next few months.”
The state has also begun reaching out to those diagnosed with COVID-19 encouraging them to quarantine for two weeks as well as relay their diagnosis those they have been in contact with. Today, a stay-at-home advisory went into place in Chicago. It mandates that gatherings must be under 10 people and urges people to work at home if they can, cancel Thanksgiving plans and only leave the house for necessities such as groceries or pharmaceuticals. The advisory will last for 30 days and could be followed by further restrictions.
Other Chicago news:
U.S. Rep Lauren Underwood won the 14th Congressional District, but her Republican challenger is refusing to concede, by WBEZ’s Mariah Woelfel
It’s unlikely that there will be enough doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to go around initially, public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said, so it’s important to double down on COVID-19 tactics that work like wearing masks and social distancing, by the Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Pratt
One of the state’s largest hospital systems, Advocate Aurora Health, plans to delay half of elective surgeries amid the COVID-19 surge, by the Chicago Tribune’s Lisa Schencker
Here’s what WBEZ learned from 11 days of Virtual Chicago Budget Hearings
East Side activists held a demonstration this past weekend near Lori Lightfoot’s house to fight the move of notorious polluter General Iron from the North Side to the Southeast Side, by Block Club Chicago’s Ariel Parella-Aureli and Maxwell Evans.
The original star projector of the Adler Planetarium has been found and returned to Chicago! It will soon be restored and hopefully fully functional, by Chicago Sun-Times’ Stefano Esposito
DePaul News
In response to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s new stay-at-home advisory, the university is doing their part to lessen the amount of foot traffic on campus to further prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Several changes to campus building hours and accessibility are now in place:
All classes and final exams originally planned as face-to-face are now online
The Ray Meyer Fitness Center is now closed until further notice
The Lincoln Park Student Center will be operating under the following list of reduced hours:
November 16-20: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
November 21-22: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Please check the Student Center’s website for building hours after November 22.
University buildings can be accessed with a DePaul ID Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
While campus buildings remain open, the university is strongly encouraging students to stay home or spend as little time as possible on campus.
Struggling to keep up in your online classes? The results of DePaul’s Institutional Research & Market Analytics division’s survey on issues students faced during Spring Quarter amid the COVID-19 pandemic have been released. The survey represents 1,600 students, about 75 percent of whom say that they, too, struggled with time management because of the online shift. In those classes, just 55 percent were satisfied with their interactions with faculty members, and 28 percent were satisfied with their interactions with class peers.
Last week, we reported on the SGA’s push to address student stress over COVID-19 and the 2020 presidential election and reimplement a policy passed in Spring Quarter to make final exams effectively optional for students. Upon reviewing the SGA’s resolution calling for this reimplementation, the Faculty Council has issued a response against its consideration, saying that the timing was too late into the quarter and that there was significant faculty resistance to reimplementing the policy, “let alone as a result of the election outcome.” The Faculty Council informed the SGA that the earliest they’d respond to its resolution to cancel finals would be next month — i.e., after all finals have been completed. The SGA had approached the Faculty Council earlier this quarter about the resolution but was told that it was too early for it to be considered.
This December, DePaul is offering several event opportunities to bring the university together during the holiday season. From Bingo to a virtual tree lighting ceremony, DePaul has a lineup of holiday events geared towards educating and engaging the campus community during a traditional time of gathering that’ll take on a new face this year due to continued social distancing guidelines.
Don’t want to read the news? Here are other headlines to know:
The New York Times reports that a vaccine created by the drugmaker Moderna was 94.5 percent effective. The vaccine won’t be widely available for months, with April being the earliest projection. It’s expected that the U.S. government will buy the vaccines and provide them to the public for free.
Businesses across the country are fighting the coronavirus restrictions as virus cases soar. Companies in the movie, retailer and hospitality industries are lobbying to stay open citing revenue loss as the holiday season approaches. Some groups like The Illinois Restaurant Association took to social media to get support against the measure, with its president, Sam Toia, saying that thousands of workers would be unemployed, according to The Washington Post.
President Trump finally conceded but walked it back. In a tweet, Trump said “He won,” then he followed up that tweet by saying he will not concede. Ultimately, Trump’s efforts to reverse the decision of the election have failed, but his decision to fight the results has had a lasting impact on the electoral process like resisting President-elect Biden once in office, according to Vox.
COVID-19 Testing
All of these testing sites can be accessed for free and without insurance.
Howard Brown offers free, walk-in COVID-19 testing at multiple locations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, in addition to mobile testing sites that are updated weekly, which you can access here.
The Illinois Department of Health and the City of Chicago have opened more free COVID-19 testing sites in the city and surrounding counties, which are listed with more information here.
In the spring, the City of Chicago partnered with CORE response to set up free drive-thru and walk-in testing sites in the city, primarily on the South and West sides, with appointments available Monday through Friday. Register here.
The city has also updated its COVID-19 testing program with more mobile sites, which change weekly. More info here.
Mental Health Resources
At Open Counseling, there’s a list of people and nonprofits with counseling services available for free or low cost.
This website compiles mental health resources, including therapist/counselor directories and other online resources.
The Center on Halsted offers behavioral health, anti-violence and educational resources for LGBTQIA+ people.
Howard Brown Health offers anti-racism resources and sliding scale counseling specializing in the LGBTQ+ community.
This document is a resource for Black people experiencing racial trauma. This master list includes specific resources as well as protesting tips and donation links.
This link is a directory of Black therapists in Chicago.
This link is a directory of Black therapists in Chicago who provide services for under $75.
Here’s 7 virtual mental health resources supporting Black people right now, including Chicago-based community organization Sista Afya’s support groups
And the Trans Lifeline’s Peer Support Hotline is a resource operated by transgender and nonbinary staffers for the trans community: 877-565-8860.
The Center for Religion and Psychotherapy in Chicago is a nonprofit that provides affordable, sliding-scale counseling. Call (312) 263-4368 extension 9081 to schedule an intake appointment (counseling is not religious-centered).
What to read, watch, stream, play:
This past summer, I was enthralled by two works by author Hanif Abdurraqib, both released in 2019: a collection of poems entitled A Fortune for Your Disaster and a music biography/personal narrative entitled Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest. Abdurraqib writes with a reverence not only for music but for human relationships and the reprieves from aloneness that they can allow us. His telling of A Tribe Called Quest’s story, and that of the development of hip-hop, is intertwined with moments from his own life that make for an impactful, breathless read. A Fortune For Your Disaster is more to digest, composed of over 50 poems that showcase Abdurraqib’s reflections on human fragility, pop culture, Blackness, passion and grief. While I read Go Ahead in the Rain in a flash of a week, I have found myself coming back to A Fortune For Your Disaster for months, and probably will for a long time. They are both brilliant books that I recommend you buy if you’re looking for something to floor you.
In October, Netflix announced that they were placing several classic Black sitcoms from the early 2000s onto their platform. I’ve spent the past two months slowly working my way through Girlfriends, a heartwarmingly relatable show about a group of professional Black women from Los Angeles and their struggles and triumphs in life and love. The show stars Tracee Ellis Ross as Joan, Golden Brooks as Maya, Jill Marie Jones as Toni and Persia White as Lynn — they each bring a special spark to their roles. I recommend Girlfriends to anyone who loved Insecure or Broad City, as it puts the realities and complexities of womanhood into an incredibly witty and fun way. Happy watching!
And that brings us to the end of this newsletter. With finals incoming next week, our team will be taking next Monday off (wish us luck!), but we’ll be back November 30 with all the updates you need to start your week. Until then, stay safe, stay home, and have a nice week!
Francesca, Justin, Robin, Paige, Aneesah and Julián