Coronavirus in Illinois updates: 6,717 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 101 additional deaths reported Saturday
Chicago Tribune
Jan 09, 2021 1: 32 PM
Also on Friday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago Public Schools will move forward with plans to reopen schools on Monday, despite ongoing objections by the teachers union and a large group of aldermen. Further, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said staff members who don’t show up — as about half failed to do this week — will be deemed absent without leave “and ineligible for pay going forward.”
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union took issue with assertions that schools are adequately equipped and ready to open, with one calling Jackson’s comments about docking pay “heartless.”
Here’s what’s happening this weekend with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:
6,717 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 101 additional deaths reported
Illinois health officials on Saturday announced 6,717 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 101 additional fatalities, bringing the total number of known infections in Illinois to 1,024,039 and the statewide death toll to 17,494 since the start of the pandemic.
Officials also reported 102,903 new tests in the last 24 hours. The seven-day statewide rolling positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 8.3% for the period ending Friday.
With CPS students returning to schools starting Monday, parents weigh kids’ safety against educational needs: ‘It’s a horrible situation to be in’
The first in-person classes since CPS schools abruptly shut last March are due to happen on Monday for preschool and some special education students. But with the pandemic still surging — and many teachers refusing to report to in-person work because of fears of COVID-19 — parents remain divided, and in some cases conflicted, about sending their children back for some masked, socially distanced classes.
Less than 40% of prekindergarten through eighth grade families in CPS have chosen to send their children back to school buildings in the coming weeks.
But city and CPS officials have stressed that it’s time that parents had that choice, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot saying Friday that to deny families the option “is irresponsible and wrong.”
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