Nearly 400 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized in intensive care units across Illinois, more than 150 of them on ventilators, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

That’s the highest number of people receiving critical care because of the coronavirus since late June, the department said.

COVID-19 patients occupy about 10% of the state’s ICU beds and are using 3% of its ventilators. At the height of the pandemic in mid-May, Illinois ICUs were treating nearly 1,300 coronavirus patient daily, with close to half on ventilators.

On Thursday, the public health department reported 1,707 new cases of COVID-19 and 24 deaths from the virus. The new cases were confirmed from 44,510 tests, raising the statewide, seven-day positivity rate to 4.1%.

High positivity rates, an indication of how rapidly the virus is spreading, prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker to roll back bar and restaurant service last week in the downstate Metro East region, which has a 10% positivity rate.

Pritzker this week banned indoor dining in Will and Kankakee counties, where the positivity rate is at 8.3%.

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

6:30 a.m.: Illinois counties rush to finalize early voting sites amid looming election deadlines, COVID-19 concerns

Illinois election authorities are confronting higher levels of pushback from polling sites wary of hosting this year because of concerns and closures related to COVID-19. With early voting scheduled to begin Oct. 19, and the deadline to finalize sites set for early September, election administrators don’t have much time left.

“It’s been difficult,” McHenry County Clerk Joseph Tirio said. “We have received word from a number of locations — and that changes from day to day — that no longer wish to participate.”

Election authorities can order public buildings or schools in their jurisdiction to host early or Election Day voting, according to state law. Privately-owned sites, however, have more say in whether or not to participate in the election — and many are choosing to withdraw from earlier agreements, primarily because of coronavirus-related health concerns, closures or lack of adequate spacing to accommodate social distancing.

“There’s always a lot of effort that goes into acquiring voting locations and so this year it’s just an even more intense process than usual,” said Adam Johnson, chief deputy of the DuPage County clerk’s office.

6:15 a.m.: Judge orders U.S. Postal Service to turn over records on changes

A federal judge in Washington state is giving the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service 10 days to turn over records and information about service changes that critics say could undermine mail-in voting in the November election.

More than 20 states filed lawsuits last week over the changes, including 14 states that sued in U.S. District Court in Yakima.

U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian on Thursday granted the states’ request to speed up discovery in that case. The Justice Department opposed the request, saying that much of the information the states are seeking is already in the public record, including in congressional testimony, and that responding to the states’ requests within 10 days would be burdensome.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said many questions remain about the Postal Service’s actions, whether the changes such as the removal of sorting equipment are being reversed, and whether mail delays will continue. He noted the case isn’t just about the timely delivery of mail-in ballots, but also about the delivery of prescriptions, Social Security benefits and other items people depend on.

Among the information sought by the states is a list of all mail sorting machines identified for decommissioning, including their locations, and whether they will be reinstalled if they have already been decommissioned.  –Associated Press

Here are five stories from Thursday about COVID-19.

United Airlines will furlough 2,850 pilots this fall as it faces a sharp decline in travel because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The ban on evictions in Illinois has been extended until late September as public health experts warn the state is among the areas of the country facing a “perfect storm” of risk factors for transmitting the highly contagious disease this fall.

The ban had been set to expire Saturday, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order over the weekend extending the moratorium to Sept. 22. It prohibits landlords from filing eviction cases.

The action came after public demonstrations and calls from public officials like Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, whose office is responsible for evicting tenants. In a letter to Pritzker last week, he urged the ban be extended until all city and county rent relief grants are dispersed.

Earlier this summer, lawyers for the governor argued that the ban was proper because it was designed to stop the coronavirus from spreading among newly evicted residents, who would have a hard time finding a new home.

On Sunday, Illinois public health officials reported 1,893 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six additional deaths. That brings the state’s total to 220,178 cases and 7,880 fatalities.

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

9:46 a.m.: First case of coronavirus reinfection confirmed in Hong Kong

Researchers in Hong Kong are reporting the first confirmed case of reinfection with the coronavirus.

“An apparently young and healthy patient had a second case of COVID-19 infection which was diagnosed 4.5 months after the first episode,” University of Hong Kong researchers said Monday in a statement.

The report is of concern because it suggests that immunity to the coronavirus may last only a few months in some people. And it has implications for vaccines being developed for the virus.

The 33-year-old man had only mild symptoms the first time and no symptoms this time around. The reinfection was discovered when he returned from a trip to Spain, the researchers said, and the virus they sequenced closely matched the strain circulating in Europe in July and August.

9:19 a.m.: Massive outages reported for Zoom videoconferencing

The popular videoconferencing platform Zoom is experiencing widespread outages Monday as users have been unable to join calls all morning. According to ZDNet, the outages have been reported in the eastern portion of the U.S. and in the U.K.

9:08 a.m.: Will COVID-19 cancel Halloween?

This year’s calendar was a Halloween-lover’s dream: Oct. 31 falls on a Saturday, and Chicago’s costume shops, haunted houses and candy companies were gearing up for a blowout season of spooky thrills.

So what happens when the scariest thing on Halloween isn’t ghouls, witches or zombies, but the prospect of trick-or-treating in the middle of a pandemic?

“Obviously it’s not going to be what it has been,” said George Garcia, owner of Fantasy Costumes, who has been selling costumes in the Portage Park neighborhood for more than half a century. “We waited six years to get Halloween on a Saturday, and now this.”

Headed into a Halloween unlike any other, towns are weighing whether to announce trick-or-treating hours while haunted house operators determine if there’s any way to make a room packed with screaming teens safe. Costume shops are trying to adapt, by offering inflatable costumes and trick-or-treating bags that promote social distancing.

“With everything going on, people are going to be looking for a little bit of escape or relief,” Garcia said.

7:57 a.m.: Back-to-school laptop shortage hits schools nationwide. ‘You can’t have a kid do distance learning without a computer.’

Schools across the United States are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP and Dell, have told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops, in some cases exacerbated by Trump administration sanctions on Chinese suppliers, according to interviews with over two dozen U.S. schools, districts in 15 states, suppliers, computer companies and industry analysts.

As the school year begins virtually in many places because of the coronavirus, educators nationwide worry that computer shortfalls will compound the inequities — and the headaches for students, families and teachers.

6:30 a.m.: Illinois Republicans sense momentum against Democrats but uncertain how to deliver their message

In the age of COVID-19 and a variety of fits and starts, the Republican National Convention that kicks off Monday will be held largely in a virtual digital setting just as the recently completed Democratic convention.

Unlike the Democratic convention, where states’ delegates were told to stay home as former Vice President Joe Biden was nominated for president, Republicans are allowing 336 delegates to actually go to the host city, representing the 50 states, plus territories.

Illinois GOP State Chairman Tim Schneider and Richard Porter, the state’s Republican National Committeeman, will attend. Demetra Demonte, the state’s Republican National Committeewoman, had planned to go but opted out for family health reasons.

That leaves the rest of the 67-member delegation, all pledged to President Donald Trump’s renomination based on the state’s March 17 primary results, in a bit of quandary. Unlike the state’s Democrats, who met virtually for a rally session before each night’s prime-time festivities, the state GOP delegation’s schedule has become a work in progress.

“I have no idea what to expect,” said Illinois Senate Republican leader Bill Brady of Bloomington, an at-large delegate. “I’ll be getting together with some colleagues to watch the convention and we’ll talk and see. But I just have no idea what to expect out of this, given the framework.”

Other delegates said they are attempting to organize convention “watch parties” and Porter, en route to Charlotte, said “you can put together Zoom meetings in 15 minutes, so I do think at the end of the day there will be some of that.”

6:15 a.m.: Trump announces plasma treatment authorized for COVID-19, a treatment that has had inconclusive results

President Trump on Sunday announced emergency authorization to treat COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma — a move he called “a breakthrough,” one of his top health officials called “promising” and other health experts said needs more study before it’s celebrated.

The announcement came after White House officials complained there were politically motivated delays by the Food and Drug Administration in approving a vaccine and therapeutics for the disease that has upended Trump’s reelection chances.

On the eve of the Republican National Convention, Trump put himself at the center of the FDA’s announcement of the authorization at a news conference Sunday evening. The authorization makes it easier for some patients to obtain the treatment but is not the same as full FDA approval.

The blood plasma, taken from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus and rich in antibodies, may provide benefits to those battling the disease. But the evidence so far has not been conclusive about whether it works, when to administer it and what dose is needed.

Here are five things stories from the weekend related to COVID-19.

Illinois Public Health officials on Sunday reported 1,893 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six additional deaths.

That brings the state’s total to 220,178 cases and 7,880 fatalities. There were 54,351 tests reported, a day after the state set another testing record with 56,766 tests.

If Illinois doesn’t bring its steadily rising coronavirus numbers down quickly, it is among the areas of the country facing a “perfect storm” of risk factors for transmitting the highly contagious disease this fall, according to a Philadelphia medical research center that is tracking COVID-19 in hundreds of counties nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health acknowledged Friday that the agency did not investigate nursing home complaints of neglect and abuse for nearly 3½ months during the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement came a month after the the agency fire the state’s top nursing home regulator without explanation and disciplined another.

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

If Illinois doesn’t bring its steadily rising coronavirus numbers down quickly, it is among the areas of the country facing a “perfect storm” of risk factors for transmitting the highly contagious disease this fall, according to a Philadelphia medical research center that is tracking COVID-19 in hundreds of counties nationwide.

The combination of some schools returning to in-person instruction, Labor Day travel and cooler fall weather would all be piled on top of a steady uptick in Illinois’ statewide test positivity rate over the last several weeks, said Dr. David Rubin, director of the PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“What worries me is if you have that big reservoir of circulating cases and then you get some of those colder fall days that start to come, and then you’re also returning kids to universities and schools and the mixing goes up in the community, it’s just kind of like a perfect storm,” Rubin said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “You set yourself off on the wrong foot as we go into what’s going to be a difficult fall and winter.”

Rubin’s warning about the fall and winter echoes what other experts have been predicting for months. The state has endured a late summer uptick in a number of metrics, with daily case counts topping 2,000 several times in August, for the first time since late May. The statewide seven-day average test positivity rate stood at 4.3% as of Thursday, only a month after it had been whittled down to 3%.

That uptick could be particularly poorly timed heading into fall, when Rubin predicts the wave of the pandemic in the U.S. will shift back north. Read more here. —Jamie Munks

 President Donald Trump on Sunday announced emergency authorization to treat COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma — a move he called “a breakthrough,” one of his top health officials called “promising” and other health experts said needs more study before it’s celebrated.

The announcement came after White House officials complained there were politically motivated delays by the Food and Drug Administration in approving a vaccine and therapeutics for the disease that has upended Trump’s reelection chances.

On the eve of the Republican National Convention, Trump put himself at the center of the FDA’s announcement of the authorization at a news conference Sunday evening. The authorization makes it easier for some patients to obtain the treatment but is not the same as full FDA approval.

The blood plasma, taken from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus and rich in antibodies, may provide benefits to those battling the disease. But the evidence so far has not been conclusive about whether it works, when to administer it and what dose is needed.

In a letter describing the emergency authorization, the chief scientist for the FDA, Denise Hinton, said: “COVID-19 convalescent plasma should not be considered a new standard of care for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. Additional data will be forthcoming from other analyses and ongoing, well-controlled clinical trials in the coming months.”

But Trump had made clear to aides that he was eager to showcase good news in the battle against the virus, and the timing allowed him to head into his convention with momentum. He and aides billed it as a “major” development and used the White House briefing room to make the announcement. Read more here. —The Associated Press

Great Wolf Gurnee water and adventure park reopening with masks requirements, temperature checks

With a smaller staff, half the capacity and new safety measures, Gurnee’s Great Wolf Lodge is set to reopen Monday, allowing families into its water park and adventure area for the first time in five months after the coronavirus forced it to close.

“With all of the guidance that the government and CDC has given, we feel confident that we’re able to open safely to our pack and our guests,” said Nadine Miracle of Grayslake, the Gurnee location’s general manager.

In addition to the advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the resort and indoor water park can learn from the experience of sister properties and observations of other facilities in the region.

Nearby Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, an outdoor water park, opened about a month ago with thermal imaging scans and masks required outside of the pools and waterslides. The Six Flags Great America theme park remains closed. In Wisconsin Dells, where Great Wolf has another location, the well-known Noah’s Ark Waterpark, which is outdoors, closed after two employees tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a story published by The Associated Press. It will not reopen until next year, according to the park’s website.

Great Wolf Lodge Illinois in Gurnee will be limited to about 50% of its capacity, with only 208 rooms in use at the 414-room property. Read more here. —Karie Angell Luc, Lake County News-Sun

Unemployment benefits: Here’s who will get Trump’s $300 boost in coronavirus aid and when

Two weeks have passed since President Donald Trump announced that he would sidestep a congressional stalemate to deliver $400 in extra weekly benefits to tens of millions of unemployed Americans — a short-term fix meant to replace the $600-a-week emergency federal supplement that expired last month.

Since then, as more details of the plan — known as Lost Wages Assistance — have emerged, so have problems with finding the funding and getting it to the hands of those who need it. What is now clear is that the federal supplement is $300 a week, not $400. And by Thursday, only one state, Arizona, had started paying out.

The Chicago Bears pushed back Sunday’s morning practice to the afternoon after Saturday’s COVID-19 tests indicated nine players or staff members were positive — results that later proved to be false positives.

“This morning we learned yesterday’s Covid-19 testing identified nine players/staff as positive,” the club said in a statement. “We followed additional NFL-NFLPA testing protocol and confirmed all nine results as false positives. Out of an abundance of caution, we postponed this morning’s practice to this afternoon.”

The team was scheduled to begin practice at 9:20 a.m. An updated schedule indicates practice will now start at 1:30 p.m. The team is scheduled to have a day off from practice on Monday. About an hour after a security guard at the front of Halas Hall turned away media after 8 a.m., the league released a statement revealing testing irregularities for other teams. Read more here. —Brad Biggs

Shuttered during the weeks that are typically the busiest of warm weather fishing season, Lake Michigan charter boat captains are still hoping to recapture revenue lost to COVID-19 before the cool weather arrives.

“People were afraid to call,” said charter captain Rich Boren of Wadsworth who operates Renegade Charters at North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor, located in Illinois Beach State Park. “People were afraid to come fishing.”

May is typically the busiest month of their fishing season, but the pandemic created by the coronavirus changed that. And Winthrop Harbor-based captains said it was especially hard because they couldn’t even access their boats when Illinois Beach State Park closed for social distancing safety measures imposed by state order, said charter captains Josh Slawkin of Hinsdale and Caleb Weiner of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Read more here. —Karie Angell Luc, Lake County News-Sun

House approves bill to reverse USPS changes, send $25 billion to boost agency ahead of election

With heated debate over mail delays, the House approved legislation in a rare Saturday session that would reverse recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations and send $25 billion to shore up the agency ahead of the November election.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had recalled lawmakers to Washington over objections from Republicans who dismissed the action as a stunt. President Donald Trump railed against mail-in ballots, including in a Saturday tweet, and urged a no vote. He has said he wants to block extra funds for the Postal Service.

“Don’t pay any attention to what the president is saying, because it is all designed to suppress the vote,” Pelosi said at the Capitol.

Pelosi called the Postal Service the nation’s “beautiful thread” connecting Americans and said voters should “ignore” the president’s threats.

The daylong session came as an uproar over mail disruptions puts the Postal Service at the center of the nation’s tumultuous election year, with Americans rallying around one of the nation’s oldest and more popular institutions. Millions of people are expected to opt for mail-in ballots to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.

17 additional deaths and 2,356 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday

Illinois health officials on Saturday announced 2,356 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 17 additional fatalities and the statewide death toll to 7,874 since the start of the pandemic.

Officials reported 56,766 new tests in the last 24 hours. That total represents another statewide testing record. The statewide seven-day positivity rate stands at 4.3%.

Naperville reports bumps in cases, hospitalizations

Naperville had 198 active cases of COVID-19 on Aug. 19, the highest number reported since the pandemic started in March, according to data on the city’s coronavirus dashboard.

The number eclipsed the record 164 active cases registered on May 24 and had remained below that number until this month, data shows. The low point was June 28, when there were just 47 known active cases.

Since then, however, the active case numbers have been going back up, breaking the record on Aug. 14 when there were 177 cases and topping it again two days later with 198, data shows.

Active cases are those in which the person has had the virus for 14 days or less, meaning they are believed to be infectious and able to pass it to others, according to the dashboard.

The number of patients being treated for the virus at Edward Hospital in Naperville has also been slowly creeping back up. After having just four people hospitalized for treatment on July 27, the number was 14 on Aug. 21, the hospital reported.

According to the most recent data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, DuPage County is seeing a 4.4% test positivity rate and Will County is seeing 7.1% test positivity.

How Notre Dame could be a cautionary tale for other college campuses trying to reopen

As the university outside South Bend, Indiana, scrambled to shift classes online for at least two weeks in an effort to salvage in-person learning this semester, its predicament could be a cautionary tale for other colleges inviting students back this fall. Read more here.

An effective COVID-19 vaccine is the great hope. How do we get there?

As COVID-19 continues to ravage the world, much attention is focused on one great hope: a safe, effective and widely available vaccine that would allow people to again embrace friends, go back to work and ditch that lurking feeling of dread. Getting there won’t be simple. Read more here.

A COVID-19 vaccine still hasn’t emerged — but some are already wary of it

As scientists across the globe race to create a COVID-19 vaccine that is safe and effective, the American public appears sharply divided when it comes to the prospect of getting vaccinated against the new virus, which has so far infected roughly 5.5 million and killed more than 172,000 in the United States. Read more here.

Is Chicago tourism done until 2021?

Chicago’s tourism season may wrap up early as hotels and some city attractions, struggling with fewer visitors and revenue losses, consider shutting down for the remainder of the year. Read more here.

CPS fall plan includes full days of remote and live learning, but prompts CTU grievance

Chicago Public Schools had barely released its fall remote learning plan when the Chicago Teachers Union announced it had filed grievance over the guidance that union President Jesse Sharkey said was made “without imagination or input from teachers.” Read more here.

Back to school: Here’s what some kids are saying

As Chicago’s youths prepare for the upcoming school year, the Tribune asked students of all ages, from across the city and suburbs, how they’re feeling. Here’s what they said.

As Illinois reported more than 1,500 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday, the governor’s office announced that new restrictions will be imposed on several counties near St. Louis because the percentage of people testing positive there has been rising.

The restrictions are to go into effect Tuesday for Region 4, which includes Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties. The “mitigation efforts” are being taken after three consecutive days of a positivity rate 8 percent or higher, according to the governor’s office.

That means bars, restaurants and casinos must close by 11 p.m. nightly, gathering sizes will be reduced to 25 people or 25 percent room capacity, and party buses will be banned. If the numbers do not improve after 14 days, tighter restrictions such as the closing of bars and restaurants may be announced.

On Sunday, Illinois public health officials announced 1,562 new known cases of COVID-19 and 18 additional confirmed deaths. The state has now logged 206,081 cases overall, and has reported 7,744 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic

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

9:30 a.m.: Edie’s Cafe opens today, bringing a new working space and cafe to River North, a rarity these days

During a time when public gathering areas are at a premium, a new restaurant is trying to restore at least one such space in the Wells Street corridor.

Edie’s All Day Cafe and Bar opens Monday in the former Limitless Coffee space on Wells Street in River North. The project comes in part from Limitless founder Matt Matros, who approached co-founder Arturo Gomez about helping Matros convert one of his existing storefront locations to something different.

The result is an all-day cafe that follows COVID-19 safety protocols. Edie’s boasts a 55-seat outdoor patio, plus indoor seating for up to 30 socially dstanced patrons. The space boasts a flexible daytime menu featuring brunch and snacks, plus a beverage program that includes beer, wine and cocktails, plus Matros’ coffee. Read more here. —Adam Lukach

6:40 a.m.: For Illinois delegates, a ‘totally bizarre’ Democratic convention from the couch

When the 2020 Democratic National Convention gets underway Monday, no delegates will be traveling to Milwaukee Wisconsin for it, with the coronavirus pandemic still coursing through the country. Neither will any of the speakers. Not even Joe Biden will accept the party’s nomination in the key swing state’s largest city.

Instead, virtually all of the convention will be held remotely — four nights of solely -for-TV festivities, capped by Biden’s speech on Thursday night.

For the 182 Illinois delegates and 13 alternates, the social event will be attempted virtually by the state party on a nightly basis before the two-hour national prime-time festivities. There will be no raucous nightly parties, no lunches paid for by special interest groups and no morning breakfast rallies where guest speakers and surrogates from the national campaign aim to put the state’s delegates in a rallying mood. Read more here. —Bill Ruthhart, Rick Pearson

6:30 a.m.: Coronavirus brings unlikely classroom: A 56-story apartment tower in Streeterville

A 56-story apartment tower in the Streeterville neighborhood plans to convert some of its office space to small classrooms, betting that frazzled families will seek space outside the home to conduct remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 490-unit Optima Signature, a skyscraper at 220 E. Illinois St. known for its bright red lower levels, is no ordinary schoolhouse.

Yet with many parents working from home since March amid COVID-19, and with many schools planning to conduct classes virtually this fall, the building’s owner believes there will be a demand for learning pods. So-called “pandemic pods” and “micro-schools” allow small groups of kids from close-knit families to study together in person with a teacher, tutor or parent.

Glencoe-based architecture and development firm Optima, which completed the Streeterville high-rise in 2017, last week began marketing four of its 25 office suites for educational purposes. Read more here. —Ryan Ori

6:15 a.m.: Can little kids really social distance? Lessons from child care centers that have stayed open during the pandemic, and why it might not work in schools

Earlier this summer, when Chicago Public Schools still planned to reopen in September, Chicago’s top public health official said even elementary-age children are capable of following measures to fight the spread of COVID-19, such as social distancing and wearing face masks.

“I have nieces and nephews this age, and when you model this behavior for children and set it as an expectation, they actually do very well with it in my experience,” Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the city’s Public Health Department, said at a July news conference.

Some parents and teachers — otherwise the biggest believers in their kids and students — were less optimistic. They said social distancing goes against the very nature of very young children.

Although CPS has since reverted to all remote learning at least until November, the decision will undoubtedly send more Chicago children into day care or other group settings, and many private and suburban schools still intend to open their doors. CPS leaders have also said it’s likely schools will reopen before a vaccine is developed and completely rolled out.

So the question still remains: Even if kids sometimes slip up in following public health guidelines, how can we keep them safe? Read more here. —Claire Hao

Here are three stories from the weekend about COVID-19.

Illinois announced 1,772 new known cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the 8th straight day with more than 1,000 new cases. Health officials also reported 18 additional confirmed deaths. That brings the state’s total to 176,896 known infections and 7,478 fatalities.

“We’re at a danger point,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday in Peoria, warning again that Illinois could be headed for a “reversal” in its reopening as the state continues to see a resurgence in case numbers and regions see positivity rates of coronavirus tests creeping up.

Meanwhile, a deadlocked U.S. Senate left Washington for the weekend Thursday without extending a $600-per-week expanded jobless benefit that has helped keep both families and the economy afloat as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the country. Friday’s expiration of the $600 jobless benefit sent Republicans controlling the Senate scrambling to respond.

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

6 a.m.: Small clusters of flu or other ailments may be poppin up for the same reason COVID-19 is spreading: ‘Strict social distancing isn’t in place’

As Illinois continues testing for COVID-19, many people showing symptoms end up with negative results. Instead, they may have fallen ill with a common cold or the flu. While some people may wonder why they might catch a cold during this time of social distancing and hand washing, the answer is fairly simple, according to medical professionals.

Dr. Desler Javier, an internal physician at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, said that not everyone adheres to social distancing measures, contributing to cases of the flu and other respiratory illnesses.

“If everyone lived in a bubble no one would get a contagious disease,” Javier said. “Unless everyone is social distancing 100% of the time, you’re still going to get pockets of outbreaks.”

Strict social distancing measures could ultimately curb both viruses, said Dr. Ben Singer, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Read the full story here. —Jessica Villagomez

5 a.m.: Chicago parents struggle to get rid of car seats, children’s items after COVID-19 closures: ‘Recycling is really seeing a decline’

If you’re hoping to donate your child’s car seat or crib this year, many thrift stores and retailers likely won’t take it. But throwing it away may not be the best option, either.

Some Chicago-area parents say they’ve been struggling to get rid of unneeded car seats and other children’s items because of COVID-19. Most resale shops have for years limited what children’s items they’ll take, but even after reopening in recent weeks, many also have limited donations because of staff shortages.

Trashing children’s gear can harm the environment, but to limit face-to-face contact, corporations such as Walmart and Target have canceled their trade-in programs, which had allowed people to exchange car seats for a credit, discount or upgraded product.

“It stinks (the programs) are closed,” said Tory Andrews, 34, a parent from the Northwest Side who has been trying to give away her child’s car seat. “I don’t understand why they are closed, but the pandemic is affecting nearly everything.” Read the full story here. —Reporter name

5 a.m.: Online education was a mess in the spring. As COVID-19 prompts schools to stay virtual, will it get better this fall?

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chicago Public Schools to make a hurried switch to remote instruction earlier this year, Lidia Muro said it didn’t work out so well for her 5-year-old stepson Elijah, then a kindergartner at Marvin Camras Elementary.

Some of the schoolwork he was given required logins and passwords his parents didn’t receive, she said. Communication with his teacher was lacking. And while it took Elijah a single day to finish math lessons that were supposed to stretch over months, he fell behind in reading.

“The program was mostly games, I think,” Muro said. “Educational games are good, but (children) can only do games for so long.”

Contrast that with the experience of Wauconda High School junior-to-be Tori Mraz. She found her school’s online classes to be rigorous but flexible, and while a lack of face-to-face instruction created challenges, she gave virtual education high marks.

“I did really well,” said Mraz, 16, who woke at 6 a.m. each day to start her assignments. “It was on my own time, my own pace. If I had questions, I didn’t feel rushed. If I wanted to email for help, I could, or text my friends. We would FaceTime and they’d explain it to me. I feel I worked a lot harder because of all that was going on.”

Such is the varied landscape many will face when school resumes. Though some districts have pledged to return to in-person classes, many appear headed to full-time online instruction or a hybrid approach, ensuring that education by internet will remain a staple in Illinois. Read the full story here. — John Keilman

Here are five things that happened Thursday in Illinois related to COVID-19: