CIRCUIT COURT TAKING A 30-DAY RECESS
Most Cook County criminal, civil trials affected as state hits 46 COVID-19 cases
The effect of the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow, with Cook County Circuit Court suspending most criminal and civil cases for 30 days, starting Tuesday.
Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans made the announcement Friday night.
The trial period will run through April 15.
“We are modifying court operations to protect the public, court staff and the judiciary,” Evans said in a statement issued by his office. “We will continue to identify the appropriate balance between allowing access to justice and minimizing the threat to public health.”
Courthouses will remain open, but no jury trials in criminal or civil matters will begin. People summoned for jury duty from Tuesday through April 15 should not report, and will be issued a new service date.
Evans’ decision was announced just hours after the state updated its total of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state to 46.
Nine of the new cases were reported in Chicago, four from elsewhere in Cook County and one in
Lake County, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike said at a Friday news conference.
Also on Friday, Northwestern University announced an employee in the Kellogg School of Management’s Global Hub tested positive.
Most of those afflicted in Illinois have been middle aged and older, though officials a day earlier had confirmed a young child was being treated in Chicago.
“Like it or not, this virus is here in Illinois, and it will continue to spread,” Ezike said. “We want to minimize the number of illnesses and deaths associated with it.”
About 30% of the Illinois cases are associated with travel, and 41% of the patients were in contact with someone else who had COVID-19, officials said. There’s no clear known connection for the remaining cases — almost a third of the total.
No one has died of the virus in Illinois. Ezike said one person remains in critical condition.
“Most of the people are going to fare well,” Ezike said. “There’s a higher risk for those who are older and that have pre-existing medical conditions, and those are the people that we’re really going to be focusing on.”
While most cases are in the Chicago area, Gov. J.B. Pritzker also warned people in other parts of the state the virus can affect them, too.
“I know there are people that live in central Illinois right now who feel like, well, gee, nothing’s hit my town or my county. Unfortunately, everybody is susceptible,” Pritzker said. “We’re going to have to live with it for a while. There is no vaccine yet.”
The new cases were announced as Pritzker ordered all Illinois schools closed to help contain the outbreak.
Ezike and Pritzker again urged people to stay home during the outbreak.
“We know the difficulty of these measures. We would rather, at the end of this be criticized for doing too much,” Ezike said.
Archdiocese of Chicago cancels all Masses
The Archdiocese of Chicago on Friday indefinitely suspended Mass at its churches, starting Saturday evening, in response to the pandemic.
“This was not a decision I made lightly,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a statement. The decision was based on the guidelines spelled out Thursday by Pritzker mandating the cancellation of large public gatherings.
Weddings and funerals scheduled for Saturday are not affected, but will be limited to 250 people, according to the statement. Also, churches will remain open for private prayer during times determined by each pastor.
City Colleges moving online
City Colleges of Chicago has suspended all classes, except fully online courses, from Monday through March 22, City Colleges of Chicago officials said in a statement. Faculty and staff will report next week to prepare for “remote learning.”
All classes will resume March 23, with most to be offered remotely, officials said. Spring break will be held the week of April 6 as originally scheduled.
Tollway goes all-electronic
The Illinois Tollway will temporarily implement all-electronic tolling as a precaution to prevent the spread of coronavirus, officials announced Friday.
All toll roads will remain open to traffic, but toll collection will be entirely handled via I-Pass, E-ZPass and through the tollway’s online payment portal at www.illinoistollway.com, Illinois Tollway officials said in a statement. Starting Friday evening, booths at mainline toll plazas were being taken offline.
Other developments
◆ Grubhub announced it will temporarily stop charging a delivery fee to independent restaurants as fewer and fewer people dine in during the pandemic.
◆ Rainbow PUSH Coalition is canceling all Saturday programming at its South Side headquarters, beginning this weekend.