The Cook County Medical Examiner has added two early 2020 deaths to its COVID19 register, one on 1/4/2020 & the other on 2/24/2020. Both nursing home residents.
Unless an error, this changes the documented timeline for virus' presence in Illinois considerably (Thread)
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Both deaths - one in Chicago & one in Skokie - list incident dates of 12/22/20, but death dates in Jan & Feb 2020, respectively.
Last week, CDC added Jan 2020 COVID deaths to its data. The week-ending 1/4/20 now shows 1 death from IL, as does the week ending 1/18/20. Perhaps latter was in another county? h/t @RHSCoachGoetz
You may recall that the "first known person-to-person transmission of COVID19" was a Chicago-area woman who returned from Wuhan on Jan 23, 2020 & became sick, and infected her husband, who also become sick. thelancet.com/journals/lance…
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Chicago media reported these cases on January 30, 2020.
So with the addition of 1 COVID-attributed death in Cook County on 1/4/20, and another COVID-attributed death in January elsewhere in Illinois, we need a new narrative about when the virus was actually in the city/state.
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Reminder that one recent study found SARS-CoV-2 reactive antibodies in blood samples taken from patients in states like California, Oregon, and Washington as early as December 13–16, 2019. wsj.com/articles/covid…
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Anecdotally, my spouse & I were sick with "not the flu" in mid-January 2019 - first my spouse, then me. (I recall the timeframe b/c we were on a trip when he was fighting the crazy cough part.)
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I've also spoken with numerous Chicago-area doctors, nurses, and regular folks who believe "not the flu" was here in October/November 2019 - either b/c they were sick and tested negative for flu, or b/c they treated patients who had "not the flu"
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As time goes on, more evidence of COVID being here much sooner than we're now willing to admit will undoubtedly be unearthed (exposed?).
Some folks say deaths didn't rise like crazy til spring b/c the virus was seeding til then. Ok.
I’m told by an employee of Lake Forest High School (IL) that this LFHS English teacher has been too scared to come into the building—yet here she is, celebrating the New Year in Miami. (Bravo to the joyful, maskless faces, despite the hypocrisy)
.@LFHS_LakeForest is requiring students to be tested for COVID as a condition of returning for hybrid in-person instruction. No such requirement teachers.
Re: ?s about CDC's stance that testing students against their/parents will is unethical, Supt says, "Too bad, so sad."
Regarding the Supt's claim that IL school code permits viral testing of students...
The only provision I see is for IDPH to test for TB in instances of community outbreak. Code is specific to that virus. TMK, TB is more threatening to children than COVID ilga.gov/legislation/il…
This is a sad story about the Covid-related death of a HS senior in the Chicago burbs. Timeline is somewhat unclear, but I'll attempt to clarify based on available details. Unlike the LaGrange teen, this death IS in the Med Examiner’s COVID reg 1/6
Per her mom, Sarah tested positive for COVID on a Saturday. Initial symptoms unclear.
No date is given, but I assume - perhaps wrongly - the test was Dec 19. Mom took S. to Silver Cross Hospital on Dec 23 after “worsening symptoms” like vomiting, body aches, & chills.
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Article says she was airlifted to UChicago “later.”
Per the mom, Sarah went into cardiac arrest, had a brain bleed, and “deteriorating” kidneys.
Vaccination distribution across age groups in Chicago is...puzzling. COVID deaths of elderly sick folks have been used to justify business & school closures, while the same population is evidently not a vaccination priority.
Still hovering at/below 70% "full," like they have been for months. My understanding is 85%-90% is optimal capacity for individual hospitals in terms of profit/burden ratio. No idea how this compares to prior yrs
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Total number of COVID-pos patients has leveled off, as have COVID-pos admissions. Remember, these aren't necessarily folks who are hospitalized or are being treated for/because of COVID. That data isn't reported.
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Around 40 hospitals are reporting critical staffing shortages. That too has remained fairly level. No idea how these numbers compare to spring, or to a typical December.
THREAD: Who's being hospitalized* for COVID19 in Chicago? Not too many people (see y-axis). Largely older folks, as we'd expect. Decrease across all age groups since March/April/May. data.cityofchicago.org/Health-Human-S…
*ICU bed capacity = ~1,300 | Non-ICU=~8.500
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COVID19-related deaths in Chicago have been down and steady for months. Largely older folks with other conditions. Individual deaths can be viewed here: maps.cookcountyil.gov/medexamcovid19/
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Rise in Chicago cases is driven by positive tests in younger groups. Reminder that mask-wearing in Chicago is near 100%. Hope it's obvious that deaths & hospitalizations have not followed the rise in cases. 3/4