COVID-19 in Illinois is being updated: here’s what’s happening Monday

On Monday, the Democratic House voted to increase payments from $ 600 to $ 2,000, and sent a new bill to the Senate. There, Republicans have the majority, but reject more spending and are likely to defeat the effort.

Here’s what’s happening to COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois on Monday:

17:07: House approves Trump’s $ 2,000 emergency relief checks, sent to GOP-led Senate

The House voted Monday to increase COVID-19 relief tests to $ 2,000, to meet President Donald Trump’s demand for greater payments and to send the bill to the GOP-controlled Senate, where the outcome is uncertain.

Democrats lead 275-134, the majority of whom prefer additional help. They paid with smaller payments of $ 600 in a compromise with the Republicans over the big year-end bill that Trump reluctantly signed.

The vote divides Republicans who mostly resist more spending. But many Republican House members joined in, despite running for president. Senators will return to the session on Tuesday to consider the measure. Read more here. – Associated Press

14.42: Chicago distributes COVID-19 vaccines to long-term medical care facilities, outpatients

Chicago officials on Monday began distributing vaccines to long-term medical care and outpatients, marking another milestone in the city’s fight against COVID-19, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot and Public Health Commissioner Dr Allison Arwady announced the latest stage in the distribution of vaccines during a news conference at the Southwest Esperanza Health Center. While emphasizing the importance of the event, Lightfoot and Arwady also warned residents to become complacent or let their hats down against the virus, as the spread of the vaccine is widespread.

And, they said, part of the city’s Latino community is struggling with higher cases.

“We can not afford for more Chicago residents, our neighbors, to get sick and die as a result of risky and irresponsible behavior,” Lightfoot said.

14:35: Novavax begins the final phase of testing the COVID-19 vaccine

Maryland biotechnology Novavax is launching a final, so-called Phase 3 clinical trial in the United States and Mexico for its experimental coronavirus vaccine, the company announced Monday.

The little-known firm, which has never launched a vaccine before, received up to $ 1.6 billion from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed ​​this summer to accelerate development. The company showed strong results in earlier stages of its experiment, showing that the vaccine elicited a strong immune response in monkeys and humans.

12:05: 4,453 newly confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 105 additional deaths reported

Officials also reported 51,046 new tests in the past 24 hours. The seven-day statistic wide-ranging positivity rate for business as part of the total tests was 7.2% for the period ending Sunday.

11:26 a.m .: House Democrats vote on $ 2,000 relief checks demanded by Trump

Trump seems to have achieved little, if anything, of the days of drama because of his refusal to accept the comprehensive two-party agreement. Although the president’s demands for greater control of the $ 2,000 pandemic are supposed to fail, his push provided a political opportunity for the Democrats, who supported the larger grants and forced Trump’s Republican allies into a difficult place.

On Monday, the Democratic-led House will vote to push the $ 600 payments to $ 2,000 and send a new bill to the Senate. There, Republicans have the majority, but reject more spending and are likely to defeat the effort.

10:25: While COVID-19 is on the rise in the US, violence and homicides are also on the rise in big and small cities

In Detroit, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and even smaller Grand Rapids, Michigan and Milwaukee, 2020 was deadly, not only because of the pandemic, but also because violence is tremendous.

Authorities and some experts believe that there is no clear reason for the increase. Rather, they point to social and economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 virus, public sentiment toward police following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, and a historical shortage of jobs and resources in poorer communities as contributing factors. It happens in big and small cities, led by Democrats and Republicans.

“I think the pandemic – COVID – has had a significant emotional impact on people across the country,” said Detroit Police Chief James Craig. ‘Individuals are not dealing with disputes. Or households, arguments, disputes over drugs, there is the speed of using a firearm that is carried illegally. ‘

About 7,000 guns were seized in Detroit by mid-December, with more than 5,500 arrests for illegal guns. There were 2797 similar arrests last year.

‘I have never seen such a peak. But what do we all have in common when it happens in other cities – some smaller? “Craig said of the killing and shooting. “This is when you start thinking about COVID.”

06:00: A nightmare year for Chicago restaurants and food vendors may have changed how and what we eat

An emerging year in the food industry makes way for optimism that will deliver the learned lessons for a stronger 2021. Farmers and other food producers who have turned their business models around to find new revenue streams are making these changes permanent. Grocery stores adapt to the consumer’s online shopping. Restaurants that survive the wreckage of their industry are expected to fall back into the waiting arms of a public desperate to go out.

Purely Meat Co., a commercial butcher in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago that supplies mostly upscale restaurants, fell 75 percent when the state banned indoor dining in March. It halted plans to expand to a 35,000-square-foot facility that was purchased late last year and left more than double of its current footprint, and many of its 60 employees.

The company created a website to sell Purely Meat products directly to consumers, and it soon became an important part of the business. The company’s executives deliver cases of vacuum-sealed, freeze-ready cuts on people’s suburban thresholds rather than the city’s downtown restaurants. In 2021, it also plans to help restaurants sell branded products to consumers.

Purely Meat plans to maintain its new consumer business even as it prepares for a midsummer restaurant repair, owner Joseph Musillami said. The company also introduced spicy meat, improved worker training and determined how to run the business more efficiently. It took back 70% of its regular sales and employed 40 employees.

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