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Suburban Cook County issues stay-at-home advisory to curb spread of COVID-19

By Adam Zielinski
Updated  November 13, 2020 9:16pm CST
Coronavirus
FOX 32 Chicago

Suburban Cook County issues stay-at-home advisory to curb spread of COVID-19

Cook County issued a stay-at-home advisory on Friday, urging all suburban residents to only leave home for essential reasons to help curb the increased spread of coronavirus.

CHICAGO - Cook County issued a stay-at-home advisory on Friday, urging all suburban residents to only leave home for essential reasons to help curb the increased spread of coronavirus.

The guidelines are in alignment with the State of Illinois, and come one day after Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a similar stay-at-home advisory for the city of Chicago.

“Now more than ever, we must come together to stay apart,” said Dr. Rachel Rubin, Cook County Department of Public Health Senior Medical Officer. “We know limiting gatherings with friends and family can be hard, but we also know that virtual celebrations will save lives.”

ILLINOIS BREAKS ANOTHER COVID-19 CASELOAD RECORD ON FRIDAY

The advisory is as follows:

  • STAY HOME: As much as possible, please refrain from any non-essential activities and stay home. If you must go out for essential activities, such as work, to attend school, get tested for COVID-19, get a flu shot, or to shop for groceries: Wear a mask consistently and correctly over your nose and mouth. Avoid close contact with others and maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from others who do not live with you. Wash hands often with soap and warm water.
  • LIMIT GATHERINGS: As much as possible, please refrain from attending or hosting gatherings with people who do not live in your household. This includes recommendations to postpone holiday gatherings or host virtual celebrations to limit the spread of COVID-19.
  • LIMIT TRAVEL: As much as possible, do not engage in any non-essential travel, including vacations or trips to visit relatives or friends.
  • WORK FROM HOME: As much as possible, CCDPH is calling on employers in suburban Cook County to re-establish telework protocols for staff who are able to work from home.

The Cook County stay-at-home advisory will take effect Monday, November 16 at 6 a.m. and will last at least 30 days, according to officials.

The announcement from the county came as Illinois set a record for confirmed and probable cases for the fourth straight day. The single-day total of 15,415 shattered the record set Thursday by more than 2,700 and brings the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 551,957, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The state agency also reported an additional 27 coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 10,504.

“It’s gaining on us and getting ahead of us,” said the director of the state’s health department, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, who repeatedly referred to the virus as “the enemy” as she urged the public to continue to take precautions such as wearing masks. “If we let our guard down we will let the enemy take us over.”

Cook County’s health department said that in all more than 99,000 people in suburban Cook County have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and the rate of positive tests has surpassed 15%.

A month ago, Chicago was reporting 500 daily cases on average. Now, the nation’s third-largest city is averaging roughly 1,900 daily cases. In the same time period, the rate of positive tests has nearly tripled to 14%.

Chicago officials have advised against travel to states with high infection rates for months.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has made similar pleas for Illinois residents to stay home, saying he could step up restrictions if things don’t change.

But already, things are changing, as school districts in the Chicago area and across the state are either delaying plans to bring students back to school for in-class instruction, or sending students who are have been coming to school home for online learning at least until the end of November. Some are being told they won’t return to class before Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.

At the same time, funeral homes in Chicago are notifying families that the maximum people allowed for services is being reduced from 50 to 10.

“We can’t say how it’s going to work or what the response to be, but we are getting the word out now,” said Spencer Leak Sr., whose father started what is now Leak & Sons Funeral Homes in 1933 on the city’s South Side.

“People grieve by participating in the funeral service, and my concern is that if they can’t participate because of these numbers that can impact their grief,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is in the process of bringing back refrigerated trailers to various hospitals to handle the increase in dead bodies.

Associated Press contributed to this report.