The first confirmed case of COVID-19 / Coronavirus was reported January
21st with a man returning from China,and three months
later, Americans were still not taking the “Pandemic” seriously. A Harris Poll
survey conducted between March 14th and March 15th of 2, 500 adults revealed
that eighty-nine percent of the population was still going to coffee shops with
58% of society not changing behavioral “Social Interaction” in any way. Enter
the concept of “Social Distancing” and “Shelter in Place” the “New Normal” as
the virus has exploded upon the land with an increasingly higher infection rate
than previously perceived. This makes it everyone’s duty as a “Citizen” to come
together and fight this “Invisible” enemy that is relentless in its
aggressiveness, especially to those that have pre-existing health conditions. New
York City has become the epicenter of the contamination in the country.
Here are the statistics on the infections and deaths for 3/24/2020 as 42,
663 in cases across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico
and the US Virgin Islands. (Bear in mind that these statistics change minute by
minute.)
Alabama: 196 Alaska: 22 Arizona: 235 (including two deaths) Arkansas: 197
California: 1,733 (including 32 deaths) Colorado: 591 (including six deaths)
Connecticut: 415 (including 10 deaths) Delaware: 87 District of Columbia: 116
(including two deaths) Florida: 1,237 (including 18 deaths) Georgia: 800
(including 26 deaths) Guam: 27 (including one death) Hawaii: 77
Idaho: 50 Illinois: 1,285 (including 12 deaths) Indiana: 259 (including
seven deaths) Iowa: 105 Kansas: 82 (including two deaths) Kentucky: 124
(including four deaths) Louisiana: 1,172 (including 34 deaths) Maine: 107
Maryland: 288 (including three deaths) Massachusetts: 777 (including nine deaths)
Michigan: 1,328 (including 15 deaths) Minnesota: 235 (including one death)
Mississippi: 249 (including one death) Missouri: 183 (including three deaths)
Montana: 45 Nebraska: 50 Nevada: 245 (including four deaths) New Hampshire: 101
(including one death) New Jersey: 2,844 (including 27 deaths) New Mexico: 83
New York: 20,875 (including 157 deaths) North Carolina: 297 North Dakota: 30
Ohio: 442 (including six deaths) Oklahoma: 81 (including two deaths)
Oregon: 191 (including five deaths) Pennsylvania: 644 (including six deaths)
Puerto Rico: 31 (including two deaths) Rhode Island: 106 South Carolina: 298
(including five deaths) South Dakota: 28 (including one death) Tennessee: 615
(including two deaths) Texas: 352 (including eight deaths) US Virgin Islands:
17 Utah: 257 (including one death) Vermont: 75 (including five deaths) Virginia:
254 (including six deaths)
Washington: 2,221 (including 110 deaths) West Virginia: 16 Wisconsin: 416
(including five deaths) Wyoming: 26 with 46 Repatriated infected cases from the
Diamond Princess cruise ship from Japan and 21 from the Grand Princess cruise
ship moored off the California Coast for three days. As part of a plan that
monitors America’s commitment to respond to the increasingly fast infection
rate of the virus the “15 days to Slow the Speed” Initiative was enacted by the
President Trump on 3/16/ 2020 which aims to reduce the transmission of the
disease.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker called up 60 service members, 43 airmen from the
Peoria-based 182nd Airlift Wing’s Medical Group with 17 planners and liaison
officers from Army and Air National Guard respectively. He also got approval of
low-interest loans of up to $2 million dollars for restaurants from the Small
Business Administration and postponement of sales tax payments from the state
of Illinois for restaurants that paid less than $75,000 dollars in sales tax
last year without having to pay penalties.
Saturday at 5 p.m. March 21, 2020 Gov. Pritzker decreed the stay at home provisions
which keeps those behind in rent domiciled and restricts gatherings of more
than 10 people. He stated, “We are doing all that we can to maintain as much
normalcy as possible while taking the steps we must to protect our
residents,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I fully recognize that in
some cases I am choosing between saving people’s lives and saving their
livelihoods. But ultimately, you can’t
have a livelihood without a life. This will not last forever, but it’s what we
must do to support the people on the front lines of this fight, and the people
most vulnerable to its consequences.”
Turning to Chicago, Mayor
Lightfoot formed a $ 100 million dollar fund to give low-interest loans to
small businesses to help ease state unemployment claims and plans to keep the
Chicago Public Schools closed until April 20th while the Governor
issued a directive to close schools until the end of March. Mayor Lightfoot
expressed her goals for school children by saying, “The health and safety of
our children are of paramount importance. The City is finalizing a contingency
plan that will meet the needs of vulnerable populations and ensure all our
children are safe and engaged, but it is critical employers are flexible as
parents seek childcare.” Online classes are now what most children are
facing. City Hall itself is open only to workers vital to city operations and
alderman to prevent further extending the virus to city residents.
“More than ever before, Chicagoans will rely on us to deliver critical
services and supports during this disruption, while we help navigate these
uncharted waters” said the Mayor as Forty-six people at Chateau Nursing and
Rehabilitation tested positive for the virus. It was 33 residents and 13
staffers with six being hospitalized and Certified nurse Tonya Davis, working
at the nursing home through an agency said
she’s not coming back. She claims it is overwhelmed by inadequate staffing and not
enough supplies, and the mayor says it “could have happened anywhere.”
Mayor Lightfoot is also being asked by petition to give relief to
restaurants by foregoing zoning/permit restrictions; letting them become boutique
food and beverage markets thus giving them an opportunity to maintain staff and
stay afloat by paying their employees and farm suppliers. The petition boasts nearly
155,000 signatures presently and may be successfully used to offset the
restaurateur’s financial problems as they are forced to limit their operations.
Change.org: is where you may find the petition.
In addition to assisting with hourly and salaried workers grievances
about lost wages and unemployment, it addresses rent and loan reduction for
employees and the opportunity to work with state liquor authorities to take out
and deliver and sell beer wine and cocktails by the bottle. On the national
level, the U. S. Senate has endorsed a piece of legislation that will provide financial assistance to those that
are being laid off and have to be out of work due to the restrictions put in
place by the federal state and county governments that is still up in the air
and being debated. It will pass by all indications, but the terms are still
being hammered out as Congress itself deals with some of its members becoming
positive in tests for the virus. The Illinois Department of Public Health
(IDPH) today announced 236 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in
Illinois, including three deaths in Cook County; two men in their 80s and a man
in his 90s bringing the total to 1,285 cases in 31 counties, ages range from younger
than one to 99 years of age with a a list of local health departments on the
IDPH website. For all personal protective equipment (PPE) donations, email
PPE.donations@illinois.gov. For health
questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
The world now is being made painfully aware of the preciousness of life with
something you cannot see that has taken the attention of the world, a
“Pandemic” according to experts, that will get worse before it gets better.
COVID- 19/Coronavirus is presently menacing the planet causing
extraordinary damage to several sectors of society. As we talk about it, we
realize this is an ongoing story that will play itself out eventually, but who
can say the time, and the toll it will take.
196,940,000 square miles of our living habitat is being affected by this
“Virus” as we here at the North Lawndale Community News, offer this information
to our readers to help educate inform and cultivate an understanding of what is
happening and how it is affecting not only Chicago, Illinois, and America, but
the entire globe.
Reports suggest that it was a nocturnal creature that is part of a diet
of “Chinese” people and a report filed by NPR, with “Ecologist” Kevin Olival
established the fact that, “Bats are known for carrying some dangerous ones,
particularly viruses that have the potential to kick off global outbreaks
through what’s called “spillovers.” EcoHealth Alliance the nonprofit
research group with Olival recognized the similarity of the current coronavirus
outbreak in China where an animal virus jumped into a human about three years
ago.
In addition, to studying “Bats” in a Malaysian Borneo rainforest, they
looked at them in caves in China. “We found evidence for, in total, from
all the sampling we did in China, about 400 new strains of coronaviruses,” he
further states. Everyone agrees that it was a coronavirus that cause the SARS
or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002 which impacted greatly on China.
He continues by saying, “What we showed was that SARS-related viruses in
these bat populations have the potential to go directly into human cells and do
not need that extra mutational step [of] infecting another host.”
And this current outbreak is from a SARS-related coronavirus which as
researchers, they began to study those villagers in China. ecologist Hongying
Li with EcoHealth Alliance, stated, “In some places you could find bats
roosting in people’s homes,” adding
more she said, “A lot of people reported, ‘Once a bat flew into my house
and I killed it’ or ‘Bats ate the fruits in my backyard. “
Even more interesting was her comment about how some villagers go into
the caves to escape the heat. Her observations are recorded thusly, “When
we went to the caves for sampling, we’d usually see people’s beer bottles and
water bottles,” said Li. The indication that the virus went from the
nocturnal animal (Bat) directly to humans is very plausible. “The signal
is there that these SARS-related viruses were jumping into people even if they weren’t
causing any noticeable disease,” said Olival, the principal researchers at
the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital) compared the
new virus with the bat samples they’d collected. They found an extremely close
match, which suggests this current outbreak may have come directly from bats.
This is called a “Spillover”.
New Research: Bats Harbor Hundreds Of Coronaviruses, And Spillovers
Aren’t Rare
February 20, 20205:15 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered NURITH
AIZENMAN- National Public Radio
Dennis Michael Hood was born December 8, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois to Isaac and Corrine Hood. He was the 2nd of 6 children born to this union. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Michael.
Denniswas
known by many as Hood and was raised in the ABLA community on the westside of
Chicago. Dennis received his primary education at John M. Smith Elementary and
graduated from Crane High School and furthered his education at Malcolm X
College. Later in life he enlisted in
the United States Army where he received an Honorable Discharge.
Dennisworked
for the Post Office, Streets of Sanitation, Sheriff Department and for the
Chicago Housing Authority. For thirty years plus Dennishas
been under the pinions of his mentor, U S Representative, State of Illinois,
Danny K Davis. He has always been a headstrong person breaking barriers to
achieve his lot in life. His biggest
achievement was in 2011, and became a proud Resident Own Businessman of Hood
Construction Inc.
After a short term of illness; Dennis
unexpectedly felled asleep in death on Monday, February 24, 2020.
In
1978 Dennismet and married Ramona Graham, from this union three
children was born, Terry, Mandy, and Tee.
Dennis loved people, he opened his heart and doors to those of need. He was a jokester, his favorite saying was “Move around Clown.” He also possessed many talents one of which was singing, playing the piano, playwriting and acting. His favorite group he himself would mimic is the Whispers and Ron Isley. He had the privilege of singing with the legendary Stillers who wrote and sang a song during the inauguration of Congressman Danny K. Davis.
Dennis Hood (in trench coat) along with his construction crew and the General contractors at the worksite
He leaves to cherish his memory: one son; Terrance Hood; two daughters, Ramanda Matthews and Tawanda Hood; three brothers Alan Hood; Isaac Hood; David (Robin) Hood; one sister, Delores Hood-Falkner (Melvin); nine grandchildren; Delontae, Brian, Tierra, Jamal, Traon, John, Keith Jr, Terrance Jr, and Keyshawn; one uncle, Robert Ivens; extended family members Beatrice Jones (mom); brothers, Dennis and Glenn Howell and sister; Rita Howell- Gill and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Of
Dennis Michael Hood was born December 8, 1953 and passed away on February 24, 2020. Visitation is Wednesday March 4 from 6:00 pm to 9:00pm at Leak and Sons Funeral Home. The funeral will be on Thursday 10:00 am at Holy Family Catholic Church in St. Ignatius High School at 1080 W Roosevelt Rd. Burial will conclude at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery 20953 W Hoff Rd, Elwood, IL 60421
Former Aldermen Isaac Carothers (far left), Attorney Deidre Baumann (middle right), Entrepreneur & Educator Michelle Helen-Clark (top middle), Miss Carothers (right), and Educator Donna Moss (far right).
Attorney Deidre Baumann held a Social Justice Forum at the Oak Park Library to discuss laws concerning discrimination at the workplace, marijuana, and community policing.
Attorney Baumann announced during the forum that she is also running for Cook County judge in the upcoming election. Baumann has 20 years of law practice and is a lead attorney on the Burr Oak Cementary causing a receiver to take over the cementary and to improve and maintain its integrity.
The Chicago Westside Branch of the NAACP, whose mission is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination held a forum to question all 14 candidates who want to become the new mayor of the City of Chicago. It was held at Malcolm X College auditorium on Saturday. Eight of the 14 candidates showed up which were Dr. Willie Wilson, LaShawn Ford, Lori Lightfoot, Paul Vallas, Toni Preckwinkle, Amari Enyia, John Kozlar, and Bob Fioretti.
Westside NAACP president Karl Brinson opened the forum and introduced the Political Action Chair and 2nd Vice-President Remel Terry who spearheaded the logistics of the forum. The Westside Branch NAACP has been conducting these political forums for over 20 years stated President Brinson. Vice president Terry has been spearheading them for over 11 years.
The candidates were given the chance to introduce themselves and state why they should be elected mayor before questions began. Then candidates were asked questions from a panel of four community partner representatives, which were Rebecca Raines, chair of the Westside NAACP’s Environmental and Criminal Justice committees, Dr. Phalese Binion, President of Westside Ministers Coalition, Casandra Norman of the South Austin Neighborhood Association, and Isaac Lewis Jr., Publisher of the North Lawndale Community News (the North Lawndale Community News).
The audience was given index cards to write their questions down for the candidates to respond after it was read by the moderator and Westside Branch 1st Vice President Phyllis Logan. Each candidate was given a chance to answer the same questions. One minute responses were allowed by each candidate because of the number of candidates in this election.
LaShawn Ford was selected to introduce himself first then the question answered by the candidate to his left which was Lori Lightfoot, then to her left. Ford stated how he was born in Cabrini, to a mother of 15, not ever knowing his father and was blessed to be adopted and raised by his grandmother to attend private schools graduating from Loyola University becoming a teacher and owning a business and becoming the State Rep of the 8th District. He is now looking to become the mayor of Chicago backed by the Westside Black Elected officials.
The first question was asked by Dr. Binion. She stated “Chicago is one of the most corrupt cities in the US, full cronyism. What structural reforms will you implement to change this bad behavior?” Paul Vallas was the first candidate designated to answer this question. “He stated, “there’s no substitution for term limits. That means term limits for the mayor, that means term limits for the aldermen, No. 1….
To listen or see video of the forum and hear how the candidates responded to questions, go to www.nlcn.org select video for the Westside NAACP Mayoral Forum. Some parts of the forum are also facetimed on the Westside NAACP’s facebook page.
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