Thread by @BauerJournalism

Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health: We're now a week and a day into reopening. There were 21 states ahead of Illinois for reopening and are now seeing increases in cases

Arwady: People should still wear face coverings, keep 6 feet apart and wash their hands. Stay home if you're sick. But things are still looking better here — there were fewer than 200 new cases for today.

Arwady: Chicago needs to get fewer than 20 new cases a day to have a "low" rate. We're very far from that.

Arwady: "We have bent the curve; we absolutely have. The question is whether it will stay on that decline."

There will be a press conference at 1 p.m. Friday with data. (I'll live tweet that.)

Chicago cases here

Arwady: Tests being done is down, partly because of unrest, bad weather, etc. It could also be good in a way — maybe fewer people are coming in for tests.
But the city does want to test more people daily.

Arwady on protests: "Those remain risky here in Chicago and we would like people" to get tested if they've participated.

Arwady: They want to maintain a certain level of testing to ensure they don't miss surges.

Arwady: She's also concerned people aren't getting tested because they think the pandemic is over. "Although we would love to think COVID is over, it is not over."

Death data from coronavirus in Chicago.

Arwady: More than 600 people hospitalized with COVID, nearly 300 in ICUs and nearly 200 on ventilators in Chicago.

Arwady: A Latina woman in Chicago with coronavirus got a double lung transplant.

Arwady: Doctors tried to do everything they could, including using a ventilator, when the woman was going through acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Arwady on double lung transplant: "If people don't know, it is one of the most serious interventions you can have. ... It's not common at all." She'll be on immunosuppressants and medications.

WARNING: Next tweet will have graphic image of lung.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE.

Right shows the Chicago's woman's lung with COVID-19. It's her actual, removed lung.
Left is a healthy lung.

Surgeon said it was some of the worst damage he'd seen, Arwady says.

Arwady: "We can't give lung transplants to everybody with severe COVID. That's not possible."
"Really some congrats to the folks at Northwestern" and well wishes to the woman and her family as she recovers.

Arwady: Broadly, we know being outside is safer than being inside to limit the risk of spreading coronavirus. "Sunlight does not 100% but it kills a lot of the virus. Having better airflow is clearly good."

Arwady: It's probably not summer that's driving the decline in cases here, though. Warm places — like Brazil and India — are still getting big surges.

"Most of what is driving this is individual behavioral changes and less opportunities for infection."

Arwady: "We think, broadly, most viruses, if people have a mild illness and they recover, there are not longterm consequences. Even that's true for most coronaviruses."

Arwady: People with more severe cases can have longterm effects.