Coronavirus in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening Friday

While all four regions of Illinois move into the next phase of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan today, Chicagoans will have to wait a little longer. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday the city won’t advance to the next phase until June 3, when retail, hotels and restaurants will be allowed to open under the city’s new guidelines.

Here’s what’s happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois:

10:20 a.m.: Six Flags Great America preparing to reopen soon with attendance caps, mandatory face coverings

Six Flags Great America officials say they don’t yet know when the park will reopen, but when it does welcome back guests this season things will look a lot different.

The park is implementing extensive new safety measures and hygiene protocols, including several new advanced technology systems to protect guests and employees against the spread of COVID-19.

“We have developed a comprehensive reopening safety plan that includes best practices from theme park and water park industry experts, along with top destination parks from around the world, which will allow guests to experience our parks in the safest possible way,” said Mike Spanos, Six Flags president and CEO.

“This ’new normal’ will be very different, but we believe these additional measures are appropriate in the current environment,” Spanos said.

The first difference guests will notice is the park’s new reservations system to manage attendance.

The park has established attendance caps that will be well below the park’s theoretical capacity in order to allow for proper physical distancing.

Six Flags spokeswoman Caitlin Kepple said at first, the park may operate at 25 percent capacity or lower, but that will be a fluid percentage.

Upon entering the theme park, guests can expect to walk underneath a canopy-like area where contactless Infrared thermal imaging technology will be used to screen temperatures of guests and employees. —Yadira Sanchez Olson

7:55 a.m.: Law firm Jenner & Block sued for $3.8 million in unpaid rent, in first big Chicago office space leasing lawsuit of COVID-19 pandemic

One of Chicago’s largest law firms is itself getting sued after skipping rent payments on its sprawling riverfront office during the coronavirus pandemic.

Jenner & Block failed to make April 1 and May 1 rent payments and is in default on its lease at 353 N. Clark St., alleges a lawsuit filed by its landlord, an affiliate of Chicago-based real estate investment manager Heitman. The suit seeks to collect more than $3.8 million.

The lawsuit, filed May 20 in Cook County Circuit Court, is the first known major legal spat between commercial landlords and tenants in Chicago since companies began sending workers home in the wake of the health crisis. Read the story here. –Ryan Ori

7 a.m.: The state tried to test for COVID-19 in every nursing home. It’s now ordering homes to do it themselves

Citing the devastating toll COVID-19 has taken in nursing homes, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday ordered all long-term facilities to figure out how to test residents and staff for the virus.

The new emergency rule for the first time pushes the testing responsibility to the facilities themselves, and it signals the Pritzker administration’s most confrontational stance to date against an industry that increasingly had been pressuring the government to lead and expand testing efforts.

In announcing the rule, Pritzker told reporters that some privately run facilities had refused state help, forcing the state to impose rules “to counteract any heel-dragging” in efforts to stem the spread of a virus that’s already killed more than 2,400 residents and staffers, nearly half of Illinois’ total fatalities from the virus. Read more here. — Joe Mahr

6:55 a.m.: South and west suburbs see 8%-15% decrease in home values amid coronavirus pandemic, Cook County assessor says

The Cook County assessor’s office has estimated double-digit home value declines for property owners in the south and west suburbs this year as the brutal economic impact from the coronavirus rages on.

The region, part of Cook County due for a reassessment in 2020, saw values for single-family homes and condos fall between 8% to 12.2%, while the value of multifamily apartments ( two to six units) plummeted between 10% to 15.2%, according to a report the assessor’s office released Thursday. Read more here. — Alice Yin

6:45 a.m.: U. of I. study says Illinois can expect more than half-million full-time job losses, tens of billions of dollars in production and income due to pandemic

Illinois will lose the equivalent of 550,000 yearlong full-time jobs due to the pandemic, with 40% of them concentrated in trade, transportation, leisure and hospitality services and the professional sector, according to a new study from the University of Illinois.

The study by the university system’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs also warned that more than $28.5 billion in income will be lost to Illinois citizens and businesses, along with $76 billion in economic output representing the value of goods and services produced due to stay-at-home and business closures. Read more here. — Rick Pearson

Here are five things that happened Thursday that you need to know:

Here are five things that happened Wednesday that you need to know:

Here are five things that happened Tuesday that you need to know: