Pandemic alters south suburban life in 2020

Masks, shutdowns move from temporary to long-term strategy

On March 11, when Illinois had reported 25 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, dozens of people filed into the Robbins Community Center, greeted by a woman who gave each a quick squirt from a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Elbow bumps replaced handshakes, and inside the building’s gymnasium the mood felt like a pep rally, with about 60 Robbins residents being told “we will beat coronavirus, we won’t let coronavirus beat us.”

Earlier that day, the World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 a pandemic, but on that evening things such as wearing masks and social distancing were not yet part of the routine.

Terry Mason, at that time chief operating officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health, told the audience that public health officials were “in sort of uncharted waters” as far as how to respond.

Mason, who a month later would be relieved of his duties with the county, said it was that unknown that is “kind of scarin’ the devil out of everybody.”

Two days later, Gov. J.B. Pritzker would order all public and private schools to close their doors, a pause that was initially thought to be temporary then extended through the end of the school year.

In the weeks and months to come residents of the south and southwest suburbs would see daily life upended in myriad ways.

Clergy at local houses of worship had to, at least early in the year, rely on Facebook and YouTube to deliver sermons. As Holy Week approached, pastors considered the very real possibility of not having parishioners in the pews.

“It would be a stunning thing for our people to lose Easter,” said the Rev. William Corcoran, pastor at St. Elizabeth Seton in Orland Hills.

Easter wasn’t lost, but the tradition of the faithful gathering together went by the wayside.

It would be the same for annual tributes such as Memorial Day

and Veterans Day, celebrations of our nation’s independence and commemorations of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Concerts, both indoor and outdoor, such as at Tinley Park’s amphitheater, and summer festivals that would typically draw thousands of people had to be called off. Park districts closed playgrounds and swimming pools.

With older people and those with chronic medical conditions being identified early on as being more susceptible to the virus, nursing homes and congregate care centers became hot spots for the virus.

In early May, the Illinois Department of Human Services had reported that more than half the 344 residents at the Elisabeth Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest had tested positive for COVID-19.

With older adults, particularly those with other health issues such as diabetes or high blood pressure, at higher risk of suffering severe symptoms, nonprofits such as the PLOWS Council on Aging changed operations.

The organization provides services for seniors in Palos, Lemont, Orland and Worth townships, including delivering meals on a daily basis.

At a March 9 event at Moraine Valley Community College sponsored by PLOWS and intended to provide those working in health care an insight into what was then known about the virus, Michael Ison, professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said that as the virus spread it would be disruptive.

There would come times, Ison said, when schools and day care centers would be forced to close, which could boost employee absences as parents have to stay home to care for children, Ison said. Businesses, he said, would need to prepare for absences by offering telecommuting where possible.