Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times file
High school teachers and staff returned to in-person work Monday but could revert to remote teaching this week if a deal isn’t reached with CPS.
Chicago Public Schools officials say they are “firmly committed” to reopening high schools next week for the first time during the pandemic despite a plan by the Chicago Teachers Union to have high school teachers and staff work remotely Wednesday in an attempt to pressure the district into a reopening agreement.
The district has held “productive discussions with CTU leadership to ensure a smooth transition back for our students and staff,” and the two sides are working to reach an agreement “as soon as possible,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson and the district’s education chief, LaTanya McDade, wrote in a letter to high school families Monday.
“Over the weekend we made progress on a number of areas and have general alignment on topics including the scheduling models schools will use and safety protocols to keep students and staff safe in high school buildings,” they wrote.
“We have also agreed that high school staff will be able to work [remotely] on Wednesdays, which is a remote day for all students, and we will work to support vaccinations for students when they are eligible and doses are available.”
The union’s House of Delegates, however, “told the leadership of the CTU in no uncertain terms that we’re not simply reopening schools without more progress at the bargaining table and without a return agreement in high schools,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey said during a virtual news conference Monday.
“We’re asking for some basic safeguards and some reassurances that we’re not pouring gasoline onto a fire, that we’re not making an unsafe situation worse,” Sharkey said.
“We expect to see progress at the table. … If we do not see that, the members of the CTU are not going back into buildings under those conditions.”
Asked if the potential walkout would extend past Wednesday, Sharkey said the union would hold another meeting this week to discuss the latest bargaining updates and figure out what to do moving forward.
A CTU document sent to members over the weekend shows progress has been made on several key issues.
In response to the union’s demand for a student vaccine program, the district plans to create a student and family vaccination plan by the end of the school year, according to the CTU document. All staff have been eligible for vaccines since late January.
CPS also agreed to provide more technology for simultaneous instruction, add two hours of teacher preparation time each week, implement new safety protocols for lunchrooms and designate staggered start and end times and one-way hallways and stairs when needed, the document shows.
Under CPS’ current plan, of the district’s 96 high schools, 36 (most of which have fewer than 100 students returning) would have students in school four days each week, while the rest would put each in-person student in classrooms two days a week, the CTU update said. The union is demanding some of the largest high schools where hundreds of students opted to return split into one-day-a-week cohorts to maximize social distancing.
The union document showed CPS asked to change the number of positive COVID-19 cases required to shut down an individual school from three to six, which CTU has so far rejected.
In an afternoon update livestreamed on Facebook, CTU chief of staff Jennifer Johnson said there hadn’t yet been “adequate progress” in negotiations.
“We should be talking to each other about what Wednesday will look like in the high schools if we still need to walk out,” Johnson said. “We have to be prepared to refuse on Wednesday.
Get the latest news on how COVID-19 is impacting Chicago and Illinois. Follow here for live updates.
The state’s coronavirus caseload metrics continue trending in a worrisome direction as officials hurry to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Here’s the latest news from today.
News
TOP STORY: Illinois’ COVID-19 positivity rate jumps to highest level since late January; 2,433 new cases
Officials on Monday announced that Illinois’ coronavirus test positivity rate has reached its highest point since late January, when a previous surge in cases was tapering off.
The seven-day positivity rate — a crucial figure for measuring the virus’ spread — jumped to 4.4% and continued an incremental upward trend that could lead officials to again place stronger restrictions on businesses. The statewide positivity rate had dipped to 2.1% on March 13.
Chicago’s numbers are even more alarming. On Monday, the Chicago Department of Public Health reported that the city’s positivity rate now sits at 5.6% — up from 5.1% just a week earlier.
Last week, CPDH spokesman Andrew Buchanan said that figure and other important metrics, including case numbers and hospital data, would factor into any decision to implement stronger mitigations and restrictions, including barring fans from baseball games.
The World Health Organization has advised governments that test positivity rates should remain at or below 5% for 14 days before reopening.
6:25 p.m. Cook County to release 35,000 more vaccine appointments at 3 p.m. Tuesday
Cook County health officials will release 35,000 new appointments Tuesday afternoon for any individuals to receive a single dose or first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The appointments will be released online at 3 p.m. and will be available to any person 16 years old and up, according to a statement from Cook County Health.
This is the largest block of appointments released since the beginning of the vaccination rollout in January.
Appointments will be offered for all three currently approved vaccines; Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
6:07 p.m. Ceremony honors essential workers, Brown and Black communities affected by pandemic
“Taps” echoed across Daley Plaza Monday at a ceremony to remember the Black and Brown communities devastated during the pandemic, and the essential workers who put their lives on the line to keep others safe.
The bells of First United Methodist Church tolled during a moment of silence, followed by a performance of “Ave Maria,” and then a wreath was laid at the plaza’s eternal flame.
“As the coronavirus shut down the nation, our streets were silent, yet our essential workers continued to report to their jobs,” said Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez.
“Over the past year, death has hit hard in nearly every community, but the most affected have been our Latino neighborhoods — Brighton Park, Pilsen, Little Village, Hermosa, Humboldt Park, Belmont Cragin, Berwyn, and Cicero, just to name a few.”
This was partially due to a lack of inclusion, gaps in data collection, and segregation of social demographic information on the local and national level, she said.
Illinois Unidos, also known as the Illinois Latino COVID-19 Initiative, organized the ceremony.
4:50 p.m. Suit against COVID-wracked nursing home can continue despite Pritzker’s immunity order
A lawsuit against a west suburban nursing home where 12 people died last year from coronavirus can go forward despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order last year granting privately owned nursing homes broad protection against being sued over COVID-19 illnesses, a federal judge has ruled.
Westchester Health and Rehabilitation Center — which had 46 reported coronavirus cases last year — is being sued by the families of Rita Saunders and Lottie Smith, who contracted the virus while living there in March 2020.
Saunders, 64, was hospitalized March 23, 2020, and died about a week later.
Smith, 83, entered the hospital a day earlier and recovered. She says she suffered falls that the nursing home allowed to happen because she’d complained about conditions in the facility.
According to the lawsuit, Westchester knowingly exposed residents to employees who had tested positive for the coronavirus. The suit says nurses with symptoms of the illness were ordered to keep working, and the facility failed to provide them with personal protective equipment.
Westchester wanted a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit because the governor’s March 9, 2020, coronavirus disaster proclamation gave nursing homes immunity over negligence and didn’t create liability for “willful and wanton” misconduct.
But U.S. District Judge Manish Shah said the lawsuit can continue, quoting a Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that found that “an immunity defense usually depends on the facts of the case.”
4:46 p.m. Luke Bryan tests positive for COVID-19, sidelined from ‘American Idol’
LOS ANGELES — Luke Bryan says he’s tested positive for COVID-19, which sidelined him from the season’s first live “American Idol” episode on ABC.
Paula Abdul, an original judge on the talent show when it aired on Fox, was announced as Bryan’s replacement for Monday’s show, joining Lionel Richie and Katy Perry on the panel.
“I’m sad to say I won’t be a part of tonight’s first live @AmericanIdol show,” Bryan tweeted earlier Monday. “I tested positive for COVID but I’m doing well and look forward to being back at it soon.”
2:23 p.m. CPS ‘firmly committed’ to reopening high schools next week despite CTU’s threat to stay remote
Pat Nabong/Sun-TimesCTU members voted for high school teachers and staff to work remotely, starting Wednesday, if a reopening deal with Chicago Public Schools isn’t reached by then.
Chicago Public Schools officials say they are “firmly committed” to reopening high schools next week for the first time during the pandemic despite a plan by the Chicago Teachers Union to have high school teachers and staff work remotely Wednesday in an attempt to pressure the district into a reopening agreement.
The district has held “productive discussions with CTU leadership to ensure a smooth transition back for our students and staff,” and the two sides are working to reach an agreement “as soon as possible,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson and the district’s education chief, LaTanya McDade, wrote in a letter to high school families Monday.
“Over the weekend we made progress on a number of areas and have general alignment on topics including the scheduling models schools will use and safety protocols to keep students and staff safe in high school buildings,” they wrote.
“We have also agreed that high school staff will be able to work on Wednesdays, which is a remote day for all students, and we will work to support vaccinations for students when they are eligible and doses are available.”
The union’s House of Delegates, however, “told the leadership of the CTU in no uncertain terms that we’re not simply reopening schools without more progress at the bargaining table and without a return agreement in high schools,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told reporters during a virtual news conference Monday.
1:42 p.m. Muslims navigate restrictions in the second pandemic Ramadan
CAIRO — For Ramadan this year, Magdy Hafez has been longing to reclaim a cherished ritual: performing the nighttime group prayers called taraweeh at the mosque once again.
Last year, the coronavirus upended the 68-year-old Egyptian’s routine of going to the mosque to perform those prayers, traditional during Islam’s holiest month. The pandemic had disrupted Islamic worship the world over, including in Egypt where mosques were closed to worshippers last Ramadan.
“I have been going to the mosque for 40 years so it was definitely a very, very, difficult thing,” he said. “But our religion orders us to protect one another.”
Still, “It’s a whole other feeling, and the spirituality in Ramadan is like nothing else.”
Egypt has since allowed most mosques to reopen for Friday communal prayers and for this Ramadan it will let them hold taraweeh, also with precautions, including shortening its duration.
12:35 p.m. US colleges divided over requiring student vaccinations
BOSTON — U.S. colleges hoping for a return to normalcy next fall are weighing how far they should go in urging students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, including whether they should — or legally can — require it.
Universities including Rutgers, Brown, Cornell and Northeastern recently told students they must get vaccinated before returning to campus next fall. They hope to achieve herd immunity on campus, which they say would allow them to loosen spacing restrictions in classrooms and dorms.
But some colleges are leaving the decision to students, and others believe they can’t legally require vaccinations. At Virginia Tech, officials determined that they can’t because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only allowed the emergency use of the vaccines and hasn’t given them its full approval.
The question looms large as more colleges plan to shift back from remote to in-person instruction. Many schools have launched vaccination blitzes to get students immunized before they leave for the summer. At some schools, the added requirement is meant to encourage holdouts and to build confidence that students and faculty will be safe on campus.
“It takes away any ambiguity about whether individuals should be vaccinated,” said Kenneth Henderson, the chancellor of Northeastern University in Boston. “It also provides a level of confidence for the entire community that we are taking all appropriate measures.”
9:14 a.m. CTU members vote to work remotely starting Wednesday if high school reopening agreement isn’t reached
With thousands of high school students expected to return to the classroom next week for the first time in over a year, the Chicago Teachers Union is putting pressure on Chicago Public Schools to finalize a reopening agreement early this week.
CTU members Sunday voted for high school teachers and staff to work remotely, starting Wednesday, if a reopening deal with Chicago Public Schools isn’t reached by then, the union said in a statement.
CPS officials have directed 5,350 high school teachers to return to buildings Monday with or without an agreement in preparation for about 26,000 students in grades 9-12 to resume in-person learning next week.
Teachers and staff are planning to honor that request and report in-person Monday and Tuesday while CPS and CTU officials work to solidify a final high school reopening agreement, sources said. That means that staff will be present when juniors at some high schools are scheduled to take the SAT in person Tuesday.
But if a deal isn’t struck or there isn’t “adequate movement at the table” by Wednesday, high school teachers and staff will begin to work remotely, the union said.
8:21 a.m. After Kamala Harris visit, business jumps at Brown Sugar Bakery on Chicago’s South Side
GettyVice President Kamala Harris chats with the staff of Brown Sugar Bakery as she receives a piece of German Chocolate Cake on April 6.
Since Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Brown Sugar Bakery on the South Side last Tuesday to throw a spotlight on small Black female-owned businesses, in-store retail sales jumped 21% overall and online sales increased 88%, according to owner Stephanie Hart.
Harris made a brief stop outside the bakery at 328 E. 75th en route back to Midway Airport after she toured a COVID-19 vaccination center at 2260 S. Grove St., organized by the Chicago Federation of Labor.
She picked up a slice of German chocolate cake – her favorite – and the bakery staff presented her with two trays of caramel, strawberry and lemon cupcakes.
Something meaningful happened as a result of those few minutes. It resulted in a real time positive economic impact for a business that had to shut down for a few months last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state has also seen an increase in coronavirus hospitalizations over the last month. As of Saturday night, 1,834 beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients — up 23% from last week. Of those, 409 were in intensive care units and 173 were on ventilators, officials said.
The state injected 131,285 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, marking the fifth consecutive day Illinois has inoculated more than 130,000 in a single day. Over the last week, Illinois has reported three record-setting vaccination days, including Friday when the state administered an all-time high of 175,681 shots.
Loretto Hospital at 645 S Central Ave. serves the Austin community. | Anthony Vazquez, Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
A Trump Tower event and shots given at hospital executive George Miller’s suburban church raised questions and led to a suspension of vaccine supply from the city.
Some community organizers in Austin are calling for the firing of The Loretto Hospital President and Chief Executive George Miller over his handling of COVID-19 vaccines.
As of Monday, an online petition had almost 250 signatures and the lead organizers say they are asking for a video-conference meeting with the hospital board members, a request the directors so far are not granting.
“The documented inappropriate use of our vaccines, the lack of accountability/respect of our vaccines by President Miller and his team during the pandemic have and continue to disgrace Loretto Hospital and the community it serves,” said an April 5 letter from organizer Mary Russell Gardner and a dozen other women.
Miller is being disciplined by his board, receiving a two-week suspension, following vaccine events at the Trump Tower, the CEO’s South Suburban church and elsewhere that led Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Administration to cut off vaccine supplies until the hospital can show that it has a plan to make sure shots are going to the Austin community.
The hospital is conducting an inquiry and audit to present to the city. The hospital’s No. 2 executive, former Chief Operating Officer Anosh Ahmed, resigned last month in the wake of the controversy.
Austin is one of the hardest hit communities by COVID and Loretto was entrusted to make sure its residents were getting vaccines. But last month a number of reports by Block Club Chicago and other media outlets described events that took the vaccine shots to a Gold Coast watch store, the Trump Tower and other sites outside Austin.
“Leadership at Loretto is focused on completing the internal audit process for the city, delivering critical health care services to the community and its future,” the hospital said in an emailed statement.
Gardner, an Austin community organizer and former aldermanic candidate, started the online petition drive calling for Miller’s ouster.
“We realized this story is not done yet — it’s one thing after another, after another, after another,” Gardner said in an interview. “We want to get Loretto back to where it can be administering the new doses.”
Gardner called the situation “a mess” and said the board has a duty to restore the trust of the community and the city, which controls vaccine supplies for small hospitals like Loretto.
“We were just outraged that they did not fire the executives at the hospital,” said Austin resident Tara Stamps, who also signed the letter. She said the actions were disrespectful to the community.
“The behind-the-scenes jockeying to retain Miller … reeks of arrogance and disrespect of the community and the professionalism to lead this institution,” the women said in their letter.
Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.
One-year-old Kayden Swann | Legal Help Firm | Legal Help Firm
Kayden Swann took another promising step in his recovery this week and has started to move his extremities, Dr. Marcelo Malakooti said.
A 1-year-old boy who was shot on Lake Shore Drive last week continues to make “slow but steady progress” and has started to move his extremities, his doctor said Monday.
Kayden Swann remained on a ventilator at Lurie Children’s Hospital, but Dr. Marcelo Malakooti said his medical staff is “hopeful” that the toddler may be taken off the machine “at some point in the future.”
“The entire Pediatric Intensive Care Unit team, including nursing, social work, family services, respiratory therapists, physicians, and surgeons have provided the best care and support for Kayden and his entire family,” Malakooti said in a statement.
Though Kayden’s initial prognosis seemed grim, his health has gradually improved since the April 6 shooting. Doctors removed Kayden from a medically-induced coma Saturday.
Kayden was shot in the temple while he rode in the back seat of a car on Lake Shore Drive during an apparent road rage incident. The driver of an SUV shot at the car Kayden was traveling in while both vehicles traveled north, Cook County prosecutors said. The altercation started when the SUV tried to merge near Soldier Field and nearly struck the car Kayden was riding in, prosecutors said.
Contrary to initial police reports, there was no evidence, that Jushawn Brown — the driver in the car Kayden was in — fired his weapon or displayed it during the incident, prosecutors said.
After Kayden was shot, a bystander rushed him to Northwestern Hospital before he was transferred to Lurie.
Brown, 43, is out on bond for a felony gun charge in connection with the shooting.
Brown, of Englewood, is in a relationship with Kayden’s grandmother, prosecutors said.
The driver of the SUV has not been taken into custody.
The Silver Room is a Hyde Park-based boutique specializing in creative jewelry and accessories and also hosts arts shows and music parties. | Sun-Times file
Eric Williams, the owner of the Silver Room in Hyde Park, made the announcement Monday.
One of the main events on summer’s social calendar for many Black Chicagoans — particularly South Siders — is gone for 2021.
The Silver Room Block Club Party, which normally takes place in July, is canceled for consecutive summers amid COVID-19 and business concerns.
Eric Williams, the owner of the Silver Room in Hyde Park, made the announcement Monday on the podcast “Randomly Selected.”
He attributes the 2021 cancelation to rising COVID-19 cases and the lack of business due to the pandemic, which slowed the preparation for the Block Party down to a halt.
On Sunday, state health officials announced 2,942 new and probable COVID-19 cases, bringing statewide pandemic totals to 1,279,772 cases.
“These events take about a year to plan,” said Williams, adding he didn’t want to rush an event so many Chicagoans look forward to. “Usually, I’ll start thinking about the Block Party in September; it’s always the third Saturday in July. Come September, you’re thinking about the following year. You have to think about who’s performing, start trying to secure equipment and all the logistics — it’s too much to do in two months.
“And because we were closed — the retail store — for almost three months, my focus was getting my store back open, and getting that business going. So many retail stores have closed especially the ones that are in the Black community.”
Rohan AyindeEric Williams, founder/owner of the Silver Room.
Later in the podcast, host Mario Smith asked Williams if the popular event intends to stay in Hyde Park after the previous iteration was hosted in Wicker Park.
Williams’ reply: “I don’t know.”
And what can longtime fans of the annual Block Party do to possibly ensure an event for 2022?
Williams encourages them to schedule their COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
“I think we have to get through this pandemic first and foremost,” said Williams. “For those who want to get vaccinated, go ahead and do that. For those who don’t, let’s make sure that we would be safe. I think we’ll be in a lot better place next year. We’re still in a place where some people don’t feel comfortable going out. And, also, there’s no way you can have social distancing at the Block Party — it’s just impossible. Because of the increased crowd size the last several years, there’s going to be even more people coming, so let me take the year off and really think about how this can look the next year.”
The ChicagoBlackhawks were a busy franchise over the last week. They made two trades with the Florida Panthers in the days leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline and did very well in both. Then the actual trade deadline came and went. They were one of the most active teams on that day as […]
Police work in the area of Austin-East Magnet High School after a reported shooting Monday, April 12, 2021. Authorities say multiple people including a police officer have been shot at the school. | AP
No one else was killed or wounded at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, a city about 180 miles east of Nashville, police said. A male has been detained.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Police faced gunfire as they responded to reports of a possible gunman at a Tennessee high school Monday, leaving one person dead and an officer wounded, authorities said.
No one else was killed or wounded at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, a city about 180 miles east of Nashville, police said. A male has been detained. Police said they responded to the school around 3:15 p.m. and when they encountered a male with a gun, shots were fired.
“Upon approach of the subject, shots were fired,” Knoxville Police Department posted on Facebook. “A Knoxville Police officer was struck at least one time and transported to the hospital with injuries that are not expected to be life-threatening.”
Speaking from outside a hospital, Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon told WATE-TV that she spoke with the wounded officer and that he was conscious and in good spirits.
The police post said a male died at the school, which is not far from the city’s zoo and Interstate 40. A map of the neighborhood shows the school is in a residential area near some churches.
Three students from Austin-East Magnet High School have been shot to death away from the campus less than three weeks apart this year, police said. Administrators have said students felt the arts magnet school was a safe space, according to a story in the Knoxville News Sentinel.
State Rep. Sam McKenzie, who represents the district and went to the school, said in a statement, “I am at a loss to describe my sadness as yet another horrific act of gun violence has happened in my community,” urging the community to “reclaim the sanctity of our beloved neighborhood.”
“This is the fourth unnecessary shooting involving the Austin East community this year and we must make sure we take every step and make every effort to prevent these tragedies from continuing to occur,” McKenzie aid.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said it was sending agents to the school.
Gov. Bill Lee mentioned the shooting at a news conference but said he had little information.
“I just wanted to make reference to that and ask, for those who are watching, online or otherwise, to pray for that situation and for the families and the victims that might be affected by that in our state,” he said.
Last week, the Republican governor signed legislation that will make Tennessee the latest state to allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns — openly or concealed — without first clearing a background check and training. Lee backed the legislation over objections from law enforcement groups, who argued that the state’s existing permit system provided an important safeguard for knowing who should or shouldn’t be carrying a gun.
The law, which does not apply to long guns, will take effect July 1. The new measure also increases certain penalties. For example, theft of a firearm — now a misdemeanor that carries a 30-day sentence — will become a felony with a mandatory six month incarceration. It also makes exceptions for people with certain mental illnesses and criminal convictions.
When asked earlier this year whether recent mass shootings in Georgia, Colorado and others gave him any concern about timing, Lee has previously said the increased penalties mean that “we in fact will be strengthening laws that would help prevent gun crimes in the future.”
People lined up outside the COVID-19 vaccination site outside the United Center on March 9, the opening day for that mass vaccination site. | Pat Nabong / Sun-Times
That’s the case nationally even as more men are dying of the disease.
Mary Ann Steiner drove 2½ hours from her home in the St. Louis suburb of University City to the tiny Ozark town of Centerville, Missouri, to get vaccinated against COVID-19. After pulling into the drive-thru line in a church parking lot, she noticed something.
“Everyone in the very short line was a woman,” said Steiner, 70.
Nationally, more women than men are getting coronavirus shots even as more men are dying of the disease.
KHN examined vaccination dashboards for all 50 states and Washington, D.C., in early April and found that each of the 38 that listed gender breakdowns showed more women had gotten shots than men.
Public health experts cite many reasons for the difference, including that women make up three-quarters of the workforce in health care and education, which were prioritized for initial vaccines.
Women’s longer life spans also mean that older people in the first rounds of vaccine eligibility were more likely to be female. But, as eligibility expands to all adults, the gap has continued. Experts point to women’s roles as caregivers and their greater likelihood to seek preventive health care in general as factors.
In Steiner’s case, her daughter spent hours on the phone and computer, scoping out and setting up vaccine appointments for five relatives.
“In my family, the women are about a million times more proactive” about getting a COVID shot, Steiner said. “The females in families are often the ones who are more proactive about the health of the family.”
As of early April, the vaccine breakdown between women and men generally was close to 60% and 40%. States don’t measure vaccinations by gender uniformly, though. Some break down the statistics by total vaccine doses, for example, and others report people who have gotten at least one dose. Some states also have a separate category for nonbinary people or those whose gender is unknown.
A handful of states report gender vaccination statistics over time. That data show the gap has narrowed but hasn’t disappeared as vaccine eligibility has expanded beyond people in long-term care and health care workers.
In Kentucky, for instance, 64% of those who had received at least one dose of vaccine by early February were women and 36% were men. As of early April, the figures had shifted to 57% women and 43% men.
In Rhode Island — one of the states furthest along in rolling out the vaccines, with nearly a quarter of the population fully vaccinated — the gap has narrowed from 30 percentage points (65% women and 35% men) the week of Dec. 13 to 18 points (59% women and 41% men) the week of March 21.
A few states break the numbers down by age as well as gender, revealing that the male-female difference persists across age groups. In South Carolina, for example, the gender breakdown of vaccine recipients as of April 4 was slightly wider for younger people: 61% of vaccinated people ages 25-34 were women compared with 57% female for age 65 and older.
Washington UniversityDr. Elvin Geng: Women generally use health services more than men.
Dr. Elvin Geng, a professor at the medical school at Washington University in St. Louis, said women of all age groups, races and ethnicities generally use health services more than men — one reason they live longer.
Arrianna Planey, an assistant professor who specializes in medical geography at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said it’s often women who manage medical appointments for their households so they may be more familiar with navigating health systems.
Decades of research have documented how and why men are less likely to seek care. A 2019 study in the American Journal of Men’s Health examined health care use in religious heterosexual men and concluded that masculine norms — such as a perception that they are supposed to be tough — were the main reason many men avoided seeking care.
Attitudes about the pandemic and the vaccines also affect who gets vaccinated.
University of MinnesotaDr. Rebecca Wurtz on COVID: “Women are ready for this to be done even more than men are.”
Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, director of public health administration and policy at the University of Minnesota, said women have been more likely to lose jobs during the pandemic, and in many cases bear the brunt of teaching and caring for children at home.
“Women are ready for this to be done even more than men are,” Wurtz said.
Political attitudes also play a part in people’s views on coping with the pandemic, experts say. A Gallup Poll last year found that, among Democrats and Republicans alike, women were more likely to say they took precautions to avoid COVID, such as always practicing physical distancing and wearing masks indoors when they couldn’t stay six feet from others.
In a recent national poll by KFF, 29% of Republicans and 5% of Democrats said they definitely wouldn’t get the shot.
Paul Niehaus IV of St. Louis, who described himself as an independent libertarian with conservative leanings, said he won’t get a coronavirus shot. He said the federal government, along with Big Tech and Big Pharma, are pushing an experimental medicine not fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and he doesn’t trust those institutions.
“This is a civil liberties issue,” said Niehaus, 34, a self-employed musician. “My motto is: ‘Let people choose.’ ”
Steiner, who plans to retire at the end of the month from editing a magazine for the Catholic Health Association, said she was eager to be vaccinated. She has an immune disorder that puts her at high risk from COVID and hasn’t seen some of her grandchildren in a year and a half.
But she said some of the men in her life were willing to wait longer for the shots, and a few nephews haven’t wanted them. She said her brother, who’s 65, got the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine in early April after her daughter arranged it for him.
Steiner, who has received both doses of the Moderna vaccine, said she doesn’t regret taking the more difficult step of traveling five hours round trip to get her first shot in February. She found a closer location for her second dose.
“It’s for my safety, for my kids’ safety, for my neighbors’ safety, for the people who go to my church’s safety,” she said. “I really don’t understand the resistance.”
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues.
In this image from video, Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, becomes emotional as he testifies as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides over court Monday, April 12, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, in the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. | AP
Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, judged Chauvin’s actions against what a reasonable officer in the same situation would have done, and repeatedly found that Chauvin did not meet the test.
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors’ case against former Officer Derek Chauvin drew toward a close Monday with tender memories from George Floyd’s younger brother and damaging testimony from a police use-of-force expert who said no “reasonable” officer would have done what Chauvin did.
Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, judged Chauvin’s actions against what a reasonable officer in the same situation would have done, and repeatedly found that Chauvin did not meet the test.
“No reasonable officer would have believed that that was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force,” Stoughton said of the way Floyd was held facedown with a knee across his neck for up to 9 minutes, 29 seconds.
He said, too, that the failure to roll Floyd over and render aid “as his increasing medical distress became obvious” was unreasonable.
He said it was unreasonable as well to think that Floyd might harm officers or escape after he had been handcuffed to the ground. And in yet another blow to Chauvin’s defense, Stoughton said a reasonable officer would not have viewed the yelling bystanders as a threat.
The matter of what is reasonable carries great weight: Police officers are allowed certain latitude to use deadly force when someone puts the officer or other people in danger. But legal experts say a key question for the jury will be whether Chauvin’s actions were reasonable in those specific circumstances.
On cross-examination, Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson questioned Stoughton’s opinion that putting Floyd on his stomach was itself unreasonable and excessive.
“Reasonable minds can disagree, agreed?” Nelson asked.
“On this particular point, no,” the witness said.
Prosecutors are expected to rest their case on Tuesday, after which the defense will begin presenting its side. During 11 days of testimony, prosecution experts, including the Minneapolis police chief and medical professionals, said that the now-fired white officer violated his training and used excessive force and that Floyd died from a lack of oxygen because of the way his breathing was constricted.
Earlier in the day Monday, Philonise Floyd, 39, took the witness stand and lovingly recalled how his older brother used to make the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches, how George drilled him in catching a football, and the way George used to mark his height on the wall as a boy because he wanted to grow taller.
He shed tears as he was shown a picture of his late mother and a young George, saying, “I miss both of them.”
His testimony at Chauvin’s murder trial was part of an effort by prosecutors to humanize George Floyd in front of the jury and make the 46-year-old Black man more than a crime statistic. Minnesota is a rarity in allowing “spark of life” testimony during the trial stage.
Philonise Floyd described growing up in a poor area of Houston with George and their other siblings.
He said Floyd played football and deliberately threw the ball at different angles so Philonise would have to practice diving for it. “I always thought my brother couldn’t throw. But he never intended to throw the ball to me,” he said, smiling.
Earlier Monday, Judge Peter Cahill rejected a defense request to immediately sequester the jury, the morning after the killing of a Black man during a traffic stop triggered unrest in a suburb just outside Minneapolis.
Chauvin’s attorney had argued that the jurors could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.
But the judge said he will not sequester the jury until next Monday, when he expects closing arguments to begin. He also denied a defense request to question jurors about what they might have seen about Sunday’s police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.
In the wake of the shooting, hundreds of protesters broke into about 20 businesses, jumped on police cars and hurled rocks and other objects at officers in Brooklyn Center, about 10 miles from the heavily fortified Minneapolis courthouse.
The Brooklyn Center police chief later called the shooting accidental, saying the officer who fired apparently meant to draw a Taser, not a handgun.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher argued against sequestering the Chauvin jury and also apposed questioning the jurors, saying: “We can’t have every single world event that might affect somebody’s attitude or emotional state or anything be the grounds to come back and re-voir dire all the jurors.”
The judge previously told the jury to avoid news during the trial.
Stoughton, the use-of-force expert, said the officers who subdued Floyd should have known he was not trying to attack them when he struggled and frantically said he was claustrophobic as they tried to put him in a squad car.
“I don’t see him presenting a threat of anything,” Stoughton said, adding that no reasonable officer would conclude otherwise.
Stoughton also pointed to instances when Chauvin should have been aware of Floyd’s growing distress: After one officer suggested rolling Floyd onto his side, Chauvin said no. The 19-year police veteran ignored bystanders who were shouting that Floyd was not responsive. And when another officer said Floyd didn’t have a pulse, Stoughton said, Chauvin’s response was “Huh.”
Stoughton’s testimony is similar to that offered by previous witnesses but it is framed from the perspective of what a reasonable officer should have done.
Mike Brandt, a local defense attorney closely watching the case, said Philonise Floyd’s testimony was irrelevant to whether Chauvin caused Floyd’s death, “but it certainly plays on the sympathy of the jury.” He said Stoughton’s testimony gave prosecutors an opportunity to leave the jury “with one more image of the video” of Floyd pleading for his life.
“It was the parting shot by the state,” Brandt said.
Earlier Monday, Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiology expert from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, echoed previous witnesses in saying Floyd died of low oxygen levels from the way he was held down by police.
He rejected defense theories that Floyd died of a drug overdose or a heart condition. Floyd had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system, high blood pressure and narrowing of the heart arteries, according to previous testimony.
“It was the truly the prone restraint and positional restraints that led to his asphyxiation,” Rich said.
In fact, the expert said, “Every indicator is that Mr. Floyd had actually an exceptionally strong heart.”
On cross-examination, Nelson tried to shift blame onto Floyd, asking if Floyd would have survived had he “simply gotten in the back seat of the squad car.”
But Rich rejected that line of argument: “Had he not been restrained in the way in which he was, I think he would have survived that day. I think he would have gone home, or wherever he was going to go.”
Chauvin’s attorney is expected to call his own medical experts to make the case that it was not the officer’s knee that killed Floyd. The defense has not said whether Chauvin will testify.
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman was busy on NHL trade deadline day Monday. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
The Hawks traded Mattias Janmark for second- and third-round picks, Carl Soderberg for a prospect, Madison Bowey for a pick upgrade and Matthew Highmore for Adam Gaudette.
The Blackhawks were the NHL’s busiest team on deadline day.
General manager Stan Bowman swung four trades Monday to accompany his two trades over the past few weeks, all designed to accumulate asprospects and draft picks as possible.
“We did what we set out to do,” he said. “It’s really consistent with what we’ve been trying to do going back to the offseason: we’re trying to rebuild our asset pool.”
The Hawks received two high draft picks — a 2021 second-rounder and 2022 third-rounder — in exchange for Janmark and a 2022 fifth-rounder. The Soderberg trade netted prospect forward Ryder Rolston and minor-leaguer Josh Dickinson.
Bowman also traded twice with the Canucks, swapping bottom-six forwards Matthew Highmore and Adam Gaudette and using defenseman Madison Bowey to upgrade a 2021 fifth-round pick to the fourth round.
Adding in the two earlier trades with the Panthers — which used some depth players and cap space to acquire an intriguing prospect in Henrik Borgstrom as well as three possibly useful NHL guys — Bowman adeptly if quietly improved the Hawks’ future without giving up anything of long-term significance.
“We’re trying to build our team back up,” he said. “We’re taking steps this year by giving young players larger opportunities, and many have really run with it… [And] we’ve brought in some other young players that are not in the league, who are still in juniors or in Europe, but will be trending into the league pretty soon. We want to see how that sorts itself out.”
Blackhawks trade recap. Very impressive work by Bowman.
The Janmark trade was Bowman’s biggest and best move Monday.
Janmark had been a decent producer for the Hawks this year, scoring 19 points in 41 games, but his on-ice shot-attempt ratio was the worst on the team. He was never expected to be more than a brief visitor to Chicago.
His value seemed roughly equivalent to a third-round pick entering the day, so to receive a third-round pick and have it be not even the highest selection involved was impressive.
“Mattias has had a very good year for us, so there were a number of teams that were calling on him,” Bowman said. “Ultimately, we found the best deal with Vegas.”
Gaudette is the one asset the Hawks added Monday who fans will see this season. The Hawks view him as the superior player in the like-for-like exchange. He’s one year younger, has played 47 more NHL games and has much more offensive upside than Highmore.
The 24-year-old tallied a sizable 33 points for the Canucks last season, and his struggles this season made him an appealing buy-low candidate. The Hawks also like that he’s a right-handed center — all of their other centers besides Kirby Dach are left-handed.
“We certainly see the potential in what he brings to the table,” Bowman said. “He had a really good year last year. We’re trying to recapture some of that.”
A serious COVID-19 case disrupted his season, but he’s now healthy and should be “all systems go” upon arrival, Bowman said. He will be a restricted free agent this summer but the Hawks will likely re-sign him.
Rolston, meanwhile, is a project prospect. Drafted in the fifth round by the Avs last year, he just finished his freshman year at Notre Dame, where the Hawks saw him often while scouting existing prospect Landon Slaggert.
The son of longtime NHL forward Brian Ralston, he scored only six points in 28 games this season but has raw attributes, especially speed, that fit the NHL prototype.
“When you go to watch Notre Dame play, you’ll notice him,” Bowman said. “He’s a pretty good-sized kid who really can skate. As far as putting the whole game together…there’s more there.”
‘Strange’ NHL market
The Hawks were part of four of the mere 17 trades — the fewest since 2013 — processed around the NHL on Monday. This year’s flat salary cap and relative lack of playoff “bubble” teams reduced the urgency and activity.
Most interestingly, returns didn’t seem to match up from one trade to the next.
The Sabres moved this year’s biggest fish, Taylor Hall, to the Bruins on Sunday for the underwhelming duo of a second-round pick and Anders Bjork. Yet the Red Wings made a late splash Monday by dealing Anthony Mantha to the Capitals for a huge package that included Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik and first- and second-round picks.
“It was a little strange in the sense that some deals didn’t match others,” Bowman said. “And that’s because the teams in [contending] situations were really focused on one or two players.”
Bowman didn’t take on another team’s bad contract (beyond Connolly) for a sweetener, although that could still happen this summer. He also didn’t trade defenseman Nikita Zadorov, whose reported availability created some buzz.
And looking ahead to the summer, Bowman foresees more of this maneuvering for the future — but is pleased by the progress made over the past year.
“We have more NHL players today than we did eight months ago,” he said. “Some players that are here now might not be here as we move forward, if we can turn them into something even better or turn them into something we don’t have enough of. This process is ongoing. We’re not moving onto a different stage of our team [evolution]. But I like the direction we’re headed.”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22437821/FIRSTWEEK_011621_20.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22437809/AFP_97H3Z2.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22438496/merlin_92067099.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22439507/Geng.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22439541/Wurtz_copy.jpg)
