Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker will extend his stay-at-home order through the end of April as part of the state’s effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, the governor said on Tuesday. The new order means that public and private schools across the state will remain closed for another month.

The news comes as state officials announced 937 additional coronavirus cases and 26 more deaths. There have been 5,994 known cases of COVID-19, including 99 deaths, in 54 of the state’s 102 counties since the outbreak began in Illinois in late January.

Here are the latest updates Tuesday on the new coronavirus in the Chicago area and Illinois:

10:16 p.m.: Gov. Pritzker: Without more ventilators, Illinois will be unprepared for coming ‘onslaught’ of coronavirus cases

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday evening if the state doesn’t receive a significant shipment of additional ventilators within the next week, Illinois won’t be ready “for the kind of onslaught we’re going to see,” as coronavirus cases continue to rise and officials project the state will reach the peak of the outbreak in April.

Pritzker made those comments Tuesday evening on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” program, where he said he spoke to Vice President Mike Pence earlier on Tuesday. Pritzker said he told Pence Illinois needs 4,000 more ventilators.

“When I said that, and repeated that to him, he said ‘well, our models show that maybe you need 1,400 ventilators.’ Well, I hope he’s right. But I said to him ‘well give me the 1,400 ventilators then, because we’re only a couple of weeks away from the peak,” Pritzker said. “Truly, if we don’t have those ventilators delivered in the next week, we’re not going to be prepared across the state for the kind of onslaught that we’re going to see.”

At a White House briefing earlier on Tuesday, Pence also mentioned his call with Pritzker, and said “in the last week and in the week ahead” the federal government will have sent 450 ventilators to Illinois.

On Monday, Pritzker said that in the state’s most recent shipment of personal protective equipment from the federal government included surgical masks, and not the N95 masks Pritzker said he requested from President Donald Trump directly last week and was later told the state would receive from the federal government.

Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement Tuesday Illinois has received 300 ventilators since the governor called the president, “and there are another 150 coming for the Chicago area, we’re told. But this is still not enough and less than we asked for.”

“The federal government has acknowledged the mistake in our recent delivery of masks and is working to remedy the situation,” Abudayyeh said.

Pritzker said at his daily briefing Monday that he expects that by the end of the week the state will have received 5.5 million n95 masks and nearly 5.6 million surgical masks from state-executive contracts, with more on the way beyond that, he said.

“I’m looking all over the world looking for ventilators, I’m purchasing every ventilator that I can find, but we’re buying them in hundred-lots and 200-lots and frankly, I’m taking them 50, 20, 10 – wherever I can get them,” Pritzker told CNN Tuesday. “We’re going to run out of ventilators and the federal government really isn’t helping at all.”

Pritzker on Tuesday extended a statewide stay-at-home order through April 30, and state officials reported the known coronavirus case count in Illinois was 5,994 Tuesday, including 99 deaths. — Jamie Munks

10 p.m.: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot join to create an emergency fund for the arts and artists in Illinois

In an attempt to boost the battered arts and cultural communities in the Land of Lincoln, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago will join with philanthropies to create a new emergency fund. Dubbed Arts for Illinois, the fast-tracked initiative will be seeded with at least $4.5 million in unrestricted support for artists and artisans, many of whom now find themselves out of work. It will also support nonprofit cultural organizations across the state, most of which are now bereft of income, with some staring total ruin in the face.

“We want artists to know that they have a broad base of support in Illinois,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Read more here. — Chris Jones

6:50 p.m.: Illinois might have 19,000 COVID-19 cases about a week from now, according to one analysis. But it could have been worse.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Illinois could exceed 19,000 a little more than a week from now, according to a new analysis by experts at Rush — but that’s far less than the 147,000 cases the state could have seen by then if residents had not retreated to their homes.

The projections from Rush — related to a new forecasting tool being offered to hospital officials — add to efforts by academics and experts across the country to estimate how bad the outbreak might get and how best to prepare. The White House discussed several models at a briefing Tuesday, including one that projected 100,000 to 200,000 deaths nationally if mitigation measures are in place to slow the transmission of the illness.

Illinois officials have not publicly released predictions about the number of cases in coming days and weeks, other than saying that they expect cases to peak in April and that the state would have run out of hospital beds by now without the governor’s stay-at-home order. As of Tuesday, Illinois had 5,994 confirmed cases statewide. Read more here. —Lisa Schencker and Joe Mahr

6:28 p.m.: Panel charged with revising lobbying and government ethics law blames coronavirus for missing deadline

A legislative panel charged with revising the state’s lobbying and government ethics law has blamed the coronavirus for missing its March 31 deadline to produce a draft report.

With legislators confined to their homes like everybody else in the state, the bipartisan Illinois Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform hasn’t convened in nearly a month.

Democratic House Majority Leader Greg Harris, a co-chairman of the commission, said a new deadline for the panel’s report has not yet been established, but that he believes the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the House and Senate will be eager to take action when the legislative session resumes.

“Hopefully when we get back into session we can get right back onto this as a priority as well,” Harris said. “Lots of things are going to be naturally limited, but I hope this one will be one of the ones that will be, you know, elevated during that time.”

The commission was formed in 2019 in response to the federal corruption investigation that has touched a number of state legislators including former state Sen. Martin Sandoval and former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, both of whom resigned in light of the investigation. Both face federal criminal charges -- Sandoval has pleaded guilty, Arroyo has pleaded not guilty.

Republican State Sens. Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods, and John Curran, of Downers Grove, who both serve on the commission, released a statement Tuesday attributing the missed deadline to the COVID-19 public health crisis.

"Illinois residents should know that this delay in no way negates the critical work our commission was doing, nor does it mean our need for ethics reform has fallen on the wayside. Rather, we look forward to the time when we can all meet again and fulfill our goal of submitting recommendations to bring real ethics reform to Illinois,” they said.

The Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform last met March 5 and had planned to meet one more time before today’s deadline. —Antonia Ayres-Brown

5:52 p.m.: Aurora youth pastor on ventilator in Michigan hospital battles coronavirus

An Aurora youth pastor is on a ventilator battling coronavirus in a Michigan hospital, but his family says they are holding onto their faith that God has a bigger plan for him.

Andrew Coffield, 29, has been working as a youth pastor for First Apostolic Church of Aurora since 2015. He grew up in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and has been living in Aurora with his wife Chelsea and his son Carson, who turns 2 years old on Thursday.

After the couple heard about the shelter in place order in Illinois, Coffield’s older sister Rachelle Huff said they traveled back to Michigan to be with family, including Coffield’s mom, who is a nurse.

“They didn’t want to quarantine with a 2-year-old and wanted to be with family, so they came here,” Huff said.

The couple arrived in Michigan on March 20, not realizing Coffield had been exposed to the virus. Huff said she doesn’t know where that happened.

“It could have been from a grocery store shopping cart, which is essential,” Huff said. Read more here. —Megan Jones

5:37 p.m.: Pritzker promises state doing all it can to see more prisoners exit system

The state has made a concerted effort to release prison inmates early to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 behind bars, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday, pointing to an Illinois’ prison population that sits at its lowest count since the 1990s.

In his daily coronavirus press briefing the same day a Tribune story raised questions about the Illinois Department of Corrections’ response to the virus, Pritzker said nearly 300 more inmates have recently been released and the state is continuing to review case files to potentially send more out of harm’s way.

“We’re working hard to balance the need to free up as much space in our prisons as possible with making sure we’re not releasing those who may pose a risk to their communities,” Pritzker said at his press conference.

Jails and prisons — where effective “social distancing” is nearly impossible — have the potential to become hotspots for the virus’ spread.

There are 32 inmates in state prisons who have tested positive for COVID-19, and 18 staff members with confirmed infections, Pritzker announced. One of the state’s 99 confirmed COVID-19 fatalities was an inmate at Stateville prison in Joliet. Read more here. —Megan Crepeau and Annie Sweeney

4:58 p.m.: Suburban newspaper chain folds amid coronavirus ad drought

Days after suspending print publication of its suburban Chicago newspaper chain, 22nd Century Media ceased operations Tuesday amid a coronavirus-spawned advertising drought.

The end was sudden and the downfall swift, as businesses closed shop and advertising dried up, cutting off the key revenue stream for the weekly newspapers, Joe Coughlin, 22nd Century’s publisher, said Tuesday.

“We were having a great year, and then...March,” Coughlin said. "Advertising and revenue collection just stopped.”

The decision ends a 15-year run for the hyperlocal publisher, whose 14 Chicago-area weeklies ranged from the north suburban Highland Park Landmark and Northbrook Tower to the Orland Park Prairie and Lockport Legend in the southwest suburbs.

The newspaper chain had about 50 employees. A handful will stay on to help wind down operations over the next few weeks, Coughlin said. The rest have been laid off as of Tuesday. Read more here. —Robert Channick

4:57 p.m.: Coronavirus prompts feds to change renewal system for DACA work permits

From his Gage Park home, 24-year-old Francisco Rafael Peralta-Cerda is busy developing lesson plans and coursework to keep his middle school students focused on daily assignments amid a public health crisis sweeping the nation.

In addition to the stresses of teaching remotely, Peralta-Cerda, who immigrated with his parents from Mexico more than two decades ago, also is worried about his ability to keep working in the country.

Peralta-Cerda is among the more than 32,000 immigrants in the Chicago area who are enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shields young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation. Because the future of the program is uncertain — the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on whether the Trump administration can end it — immigrants like Peralta-Cerda are anxious to keep their work permits up date and maintain their jobs.

But with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices closed because of the new coronavirus, work permit renewals have been a concern in the immigrant community. Read more here. —Abdel Jimenez

4:57 p.m.: Should Illinois expand mail-in voting for November election? ‘We’re looking at it,’ Pritzker says, but ultimately it’s up to the General Assembly.

Given fears over a resurgence in the fall of COVID-19, politicians and elected leaders have been talking about whether states need to expand or even pivot to total mail-in ballot voting systems.

“I’ve been an . . . advocate for mail-in ballots for a long time anyway,” Gov. Pritzker said this afternoon, when asked about expanding Illinois’ mail-in system. “I do think we’re going to have to look at for the general election the idea that we may have to move to a significant amount or all mail in ballots or at least giving people the opportunity to do that. But it’s something we’re going to look at,” he said.

The legislature would have to make that decision, Pritzker said. And that brings about another complication: Bringing 177 members of the General Assembly together, not to mention smaller committee hearings, at a time when crowds and gatherings are being discouraged to avoid the spread of the disease.

Over the weekend, NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Vice President Joe Biden, front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, about whether the November election might need to be done via mail-in ballot.

Biden offered a similar response as Pritzker: “I think we should be looking to all-mail ballots across the board to begin with, because it’s an easier way for people to vote. But whether or not that’s required across the board in all 50 states and territories I’m not sure yet. ... But we should be beginning to plan that in each of our states,” he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a question about whether President Donald Trump favors such a plan. Read more here. —Lisa Donovan

4:57 p.m.: Another patient from Willowbrook nursing home has died

Another victim of coronavirus at a nursing home in Willowbrook has died, officials announced Tuesday.

The woman was in her 70s and had underlying medical conditions. Her death is the 10th from the virus in DuPage County, officials said. Six were from the Chateau Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in the southwest suburb. Read more here. —Robert McCoppin

4:41 p.m.: Northwestern, U. of I. hospitals part of global trial of the drug remdesivir

Two Chicago hospitals are participating in a global trial of an experimental anti-viral drug to treat coronavirus.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital and University of Illinois Hospital are testing the safety and efficacy of remdesivir, which has been found to have anti-viral activity against coronaviruses in the lab and in animals, officials said Tuesday.

An 89-year-old man in intensive care was the first patient at Northwestern Medicine to participate, and his family was very excited about it, according to a news release.

Four patients have quickly enrolled at University of Illinois since Thursday, with possibly as many as 30 to be enrolled, said Dr. Richard Novak, chief of infectious diseases.

The drug was promising when used against the Ebola virus, and has worked well with minor side effects in laboratories and in animals, including monkeys, Novak said. It works by blocking the virus from reproducing itself, so if it works it should also help patients be less infectious to others.

High demand for remdesivir developed after President Donald Trump called the drug “promising” in a news conference in mid-March. Another drug the president called a “game-changer,” the anti-malarial hydroxychloraquine, has also not yet been proven in such a clinical trial.

The study should take a couple of months, but could be ended sooner if the drug proves to work or causes problems. Read more here. —Robert McCoppin

4:38 p.m.: State emergency alert issues plea for health care workers

An emergency alert was issued across cell phones in Illinois asking health care workers in the state Tuesday to sign up to be deployed to help fight COVID-19.

The alert blared around 4 p.m. Tuesday with the text: “State needs licensed healthcare workers to sign-up at IllinoisHelps.net to fight COVID-19.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has asked licensed Illinois medical professionals to sign up for a new alert system “that when activated will ask you to deploy to assist in our response to urgent needs during this public health crisis.”

Pritzker also asked retired professionals, such as doctors, nurses and technicians, to volunteer to help. The state is expediting license renewals. More than 500 former health care workers have answered the call.

The cell phone emergency alert system was also used last week after Mayor Lori Lightfoot closed the Lakefront and 606 trails. —Madeline Buckley

4:25 p.m.: ‘Our vacation was stolen’: VRBO guests fume over refunds on trips

When Erin Haughton planned her family’s spring break getaway to Mexico earlier this year, she booked a place to stay with VRBO, a popular vacation home rental site she’d used in the past.

The Frankfort woman is supposed to be on that trip in Playa del Carmen right now, enjoying a sunny week with her husband and three kids.

Like other would-be travelers, the coronavirus pandemic means she’s stuck at home. And like other VRBO customers, she’s fighting a bitter battle to get her money back.

Expedia Group’s VRBO is hardly the only travel company dealing with incensed customers as a result of COVID-19 and the chaotic swirl of closures and cancellations trailing in the new coronavirus’ wake. But compared with rival platform Airbnb, which mandated the option of cash refunds for a wide swath of customers, VRBO’s approach has been more hands-off, ultimately leaving it up to guests and hosts to work out the details of compensating for dashed travel plans. Read more here. —Lori Rackl

3:55 p.m.: The Illinois school shutdown has just been extended through April 30. Now what?

The governor’s latest announcement extends not just Illinois’ stay-at-home order for another month but also the statewide school closure. What will that mean for students, parents and teachers?

How will remote learning work? Will students be graded? We explain it all here. —Hannah Leone

3:53 p.m.: Lake Bluff woman, 11-year-old son home from Peru after international borders closed

After 54 hours of straight travel, the first thing Kelly Gross and her 11-year-old son did when they got home was hug.

The Lake Bluff woman and son had been stuck in Peru under the Peruvian government's strict quarantine measures that closed international borders and banned most travel within the country starting March 17.

They worried that they wouldn’t be able to make it home, her son telling her he wished he were the superhero Dr. Strange so he could create a portal to get them home.

The two are among the scores of Americans that the U.S. government has repatriated from Peru and other countries as international borders around the globe began to close, a process that Gross found isolating, frustrating but also managed by State Department staff who were obviously working incredibly hard. Read more here. —Emily K. Coleman

3:51 p.m.: Glenview pastor remembers usher who died of coronavirus and responds to backlash over fateful gathering

The Life Church of Glenview, where leaders previously said dozens of members were experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, held a virtual service Sunday where a member who recently died of the disease was remembered and the pastor spoke on the criticism received over holding a recent in-person gathering.

Prayers were offered for the health of the congregation.

"This church is in need of a touch from the holy ghost,” Pastor Anthony LoCascio said in prayer at the start of the service that was livestreamed on YouTube.

Forty-three people who attended a March 15 service at the church, located in Glenview, are displaying symptoms of the illness, including LoCascio, his wife Layna LoCascio wrote in a Facebook post March 25.

Ten members tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Anthony LoCascio confirmed in an email Monday to Pioneer Press. Read more here. —Anna Kim

3:15 p.m.: Staffer at LaRabida Children’s Hospital tests positive, 6 patients isolated as precaution

A staff member at LaRabida Children’s Hospital on Chicago’s South Side has tested positive for coronavirus, and six patients have been isolated as a precaution, the hospital said Tuesday.

The staffer was last in the hospital last Thursday, according to hospital spokeswoman Michele Wysoglad. The person began experiencing symptoms Friday and tested positive for the virus over the weekend.

On the last day at work, the staffer had interacted with six patients and they have been placed in special respiratory isolation, Wysoglad said.

Wysoglad said the staff member was wearing proper PPE at work, limiting the possibility of patients being exposed to the virus. “We feel like we mitigated this person exposing anybody else,” she said “We are pretty confident the risk is minimal.”

As of Tuesday, no patients have contracted the virus, she said.

Wysoglad said the hospital has been cleaning and disinfecting on an ongoing basis. The hospital has also implemented additional safety protocols, ensuring all staff have washed their hands and are wearing protective equipment before they enter a room with a patient. —Sophie Sherry

3:07 p.m.: Coronavirus forcing the state’s marijuana industry to adapt

Employees at Illinois marijuana dispensaries worked tirelessly during the first weeks of recreational weed sales, attempting to meet insatiable demand for the newly legal product.

Three weeks ago, everything changed.

As the new coronavirus pandemic spread and Illinoisans were ordered to stay home, dispensaries — which are deemed essential by the state and allowed to stay open — suddenly had to figure out how to enforce social distancing in their stores. Protecting medical marijuana patients, many of whom have compromised immune systems, became a pressing concern. And plans to open new dispensaries were put on the back burner as city approvals for new sites ground to a halt. Read more here. —Ally Marotti

2:44 p.m.: Officials announce 26 more deaths, 937 new known cases as Pritzker says he will extend stay-at-home order

State officials on Tuesday announced 937 additional cases of the new coronavirus and 26 more deaths as Gov. J.B. Pritzker extends his statewide stay-at-home order through April. That brings the statewide totals to 5,994 known infections and 99 deaths since the start of the outbreak.

The deaths announced Tuesday include 17 people in Cook County: two men in their 50s, one man and two women in their 60s, five men and two women in their 70s, three men and one woman in their 80s, and one man in his 90s.

The other dead are two DuPage County women in their 70s, a Kane County man in his 80s, a Lake County woman in her 60s, a McLean County man in his 70s, a Morgan County man in his 80s, a St. Clair County woman in her 30s, and a Will County man and woman in their 80s.

After the death of an inmate at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet was announced Monday, Pritzker also outlined the steps the Department of Corrections is taking to combat the virus.

The department has been reviewing the case files of low-level offenders and releasing those who pose a low risk, including about 300 released Tuesday afternoon, Pritzker said.

2:30 p.m.: Preckwinkle says coronavirus likely to have ‘profound impact’ on Cook County’s hospital system

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle expects “a profound impact” on the county hospital’s system’s budget as doctors stop performing profitable elective procedures in order to make more room for coronavirus sufferers.

The number of people without health insurance who need expensive intensive care is also expected to go way up in coming weeks, further hurting the bottom line for the Chicago area’s safety net health system, Preckwinkle said Tuesday.

“For our health and hospital system, we receive the most compensation for the elective surgeries that we do,” Preckwinkle said. Those are being halted because beds at Stroger Hospital and elsewhere are going to be needed as the number of patients with COVID-19 spikes.

How much it will hit the budget is unclear, Preckwinkle said. “I can’t tell you how much of a financial impact it will have, because we don’t know how long the pandemic will prohibit us from doing elective surgeries,” she said.

Meanwhile, Preckwinkle said the county medical staff remains concerned about the number of virus cases at the Cook County Jail, where a field hospital has been set up in an area where boot camp sentences used to be carried out.

“The jail’s a petri dish,” Preckwinkle said, adding that she continues to work with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Chief Judge Tim Evans to lower the head count in the jail so fewer people inside are exposed to the disease. There are about 5,000 inmates now, Preckwinkle said, and there could be about a thousand more non-violent offenders eligible for release soon. —John Byrne

12:58 p.m.: Pritzker expected to extend stay-at-home order through April 30, source says

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is expected to extend his stay-at-home order through the end of April as part of the state’s effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, a source said.

The new order would run through April 30 and bring Illinois in line with the latest recommendations from the federal government.

The governor’s order also means that public and private schools across the state will remain closed for another month. On Tuesday, districts were required to begin offering remote learning for their students.

Pritzker’s initial order went into effect March 21 and requires people to stay home except to go to work at “essential” jobs and to run errands like trips to the grocery store or pharmacy, was set to expire after April 7.

Pritzker has said projections suggest that the number of known COVID-19 cases — which topped 5,000 on Monday — will peak sometime in April.More to come. –Dan Petrella

12:33 p.m.: Muslim-American charity donates much needed gloves to Franciscan Health, South Side hospitals

The Bridgeview-based Zakat Foundation last week donated thousands of pairs of much needed medical gloves to Franciscan Health Hospital in Olympia Fields and hospitals on the South Side.

“We have a shortage of (personal protective equipment, just like every other hospital,” said Yvonne McCauley, internal medicine program coordinator for Franciscan Health. Read more here. —Frank Viasvilas

12:30 p.m.: City to put first responders up in downtown hotel rooms

The city will provide 274 hotel rooms for Chicago’s paramedics, firefighters and police officers as a respite for those who may have been exposed to people with the coronavirus, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday.

The rooms will be provided by the Hotel Essex, at 800 S. Michigan Ave., the mayor said, speaking at graduation for new Chicago Fire Department paramedics.

“These rooms aren’t for first responders who are themselves sick," Lightfoot said. “We have hospitals for that. However, the reality is that they are coming in contact with the virus everyday and working long, hard hours. And some of them may prefer to stay downtown rather than going home to their spouse, kids or friends.”

Jim Tracy, president of Local 2 of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union, said the new accommodations were a relief.

“Everybody’s got a different situation that they live with, whether they’ve got young children, whether they have somebody with an autoimmune deficiency, whether we have senior citizens or parents that we’re taking care of, grandparents,” Tracy said.

Lightfoot spoke at a ceremony honoring 34 newly-minted paramedics, which was held at the Fire Department’s headquarters and not in its normal place in the ballroom of Navy Pier.

The families and friends of graduates could not attend due to restrictions put in place as part of the city and state’s response to the coronavirus. Graduates sat several feet from one another to adhere to social distancing restrictions.

And when it was time for them to cross the podium after their names were called, graduates traded forearm bumps with Lightfoot and Fire Commissioner Richard Ford II, instead of traditional handshakes. Read more here. —Jeremy Gorner

12:16 p.m.: Criminal court hearings schedules changed due to coronavirus

Hearing schedules at the Leighton Criminal Court Building will change significantly beginning Wednesday as the court extends its massive shutdown through mid-May to try to slow the virus’ spread.

On weekdays, bond hearings in murder and sex-crime cases will be heard at 11 a.m. daily instead of noon. Central Bond Court - where most other felony bond hearings are conducted - will begin two hours early, at 11:30.

The building is closed to the public, so defendants’ loved ones can check the results of bond hearings on a list that will be posted in the courthouse’s entryway every afternoon. In addition, the Public Defender’s office will post bond information on their website.

Anyone seeking information about the results of a bond hearing also can call the sheriff’s office at 773-674-7833 and 773-674-5200; or the circuit clerk’s office at 773-674-5882.

The new schedule is expected to be in effect for the duration of an emergency order signed by Chief Judge Timothy Evans that mandated the postponement of non-essential court operations. On Monday, that slowdown was extended until at least May 18. —Megan Crepeau

11:26 a.m.: No plans for city worker layoffs, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says

Mayor Lori Lightfoot doesn’t expect the city to have to lay off any workers due to the coronavirus’s impact on the budget, she said Tuesday.

Asked if the city is expecting to do layoffs, Lightfoot said no.

“Our economy in this region is incredibly diverse, and if you look at how we have fared in other economic downturns, whether it’s 9/11 the Great Recession of 2008 or 2009, we’ve had some impact of course, but (we’ve) rebounded back very very strong and well,” Lightfoot said. “For our city revenues, no one revenue stream is more than 13% and what we call the economically sensitive revenue streams, none of them in the aggregate add up to more than 25%.”

The budget anticipated an economic downturn, Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot also said she doesn’t anticipate a large naval vessel on Lake Michigan, similar to what’s happening in New York, and that’s partly why officials are working to transform McCormick Place into a coronavirus hospital. —Gregory Pratt

11:22 a.m.: Elmhurst Hospital caregivers get gift of meals from local catering company

Market Table Catering & Events of Elmhurst is helping the fight against coronavirus by donating meals to Elmhurst Hospital to feed caregivers and other staff as they work to care for those affected by the pandemic.

Market Table, 130 N. York St., has pledged to provide 1,700 individually prepared meals twice a week for the foreseeable future. The business, which describes itself as an event venue and catering business, began deliveries last week. Providing sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies that hospital food service staff are arranging on platters for delivery to staff working in units all over the hospital.

The donations benefit anybody and everybody working in the hospital, according to Keith Hartenberger, system director, public relations for Elmhurst Hospital parent Edward-Elmhurst Health. Read more here. —Greydon Megan

11:20 a.m.: Newest crime stats show continued drop in Chicago during COVID-19 emergency

Chicago continued to see significant decreases in major crimes during the first full week of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus pandemic.

From March 23 through Sunday, the city saw a 23% single-week dip in its seven major crime categories, including homicides, burglaries and major thefts, compared to the same stretch in 2019, official city data shows.

Last week’s major crime numbers were also down by about 7% from the previous week, March 16 through March 22. During that week, Pritzker closed schools across Illinois, bars and restaurants were shuttered and his stay-at-home directive went into effect March 21.

It has only been a few weeks since the spread of COVID-19 led many Chicagoans to adhere to social distancing restrictions and avoid large gatherings — all the more reason for crime experts to caution against reading too much into the lowered crime numbers over such a short time frame.

Violence continued to persist last week, though just slightly lower than the same week in 2019. Only three homicides were reported in Chicago from March 23 through Sunday, 10 fewer than the same week last year, the data shows. There were, however, 41 total shootings, just one below the same week in 2019. Read more here. —Jeremy Gorner

10:49 a.m.: United Center to serve as a storage facility for the Greater Chicago Food Depository

The United Center has been transformed into a satellite storage facility for the Greater Chicago Food Depository as the home of the Bulls and Blackhawks begins to play its role in the emergency relief efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Lines of boxes sat atop the ice at the arena, which initially was scheduled to host the Blackhawks home finale on Tuesday night. Instead, the venue began being put to use following last week’s announcement that it would be transformed into a logistics hub to assist with aid.

“By alleviating space in the food bank’s warehouse, the Food Depository can bring additional volunteers into their facility to build more family food boxes in an environment that adheres to social distancing protocols,” a United Center statement said. “These boxes will continue to be distributed to those in need by the Food Depository’s partner network throughout Chicago and Cook County.” Read more here. —Jamal Collier

10:04 a.m.: Lake County, Ind., sees first fatality jump from COVID-19 with 4 more dead, officials say

Lake County, Indiana, saw four new reported deaths from coronavirus overnight, officials said Tuesday.

Locally, it was the first major fatality spike since cases hit Indiana March 6. In total, Lake County now has five deaths from COVID-19. The State Department of Health earlier reported a death in Jasper County.

Both Lake and Porter counties continued to see new coronavirus cases Tuesday. With Indiana’s second-highest number of infected persons, Lake County cases grew by 49 to 146. Porter County now has 24 cases, up from 19 the prior day. LaPorte County reported eight cases. Read more here. —Meredith Colias-Pete

6:40 a.m.: Lightfoot, fire commissioner hold Chicago Fire Department graduation ceremony, announce new support for emergency crews with unions

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Fire Commissioner Richard C. Ford II were scheduled to hold a Fire Department graduation ceremony and congratulate new paramedics Tuesday morning, then join union leaders to announce new supports for emergency workers, according to the mayor’s office. City fire and police graduations are usually massive affairs, held often at Navy Pier’s historic Grand Ballroom, at the east end of the pier. Tuesday’s event looked to be a scaled-down version of the ceremonies, to be held at the city’s Public Safety Headquarters on the South Side. —Chicago Tribune staff

6:30 a.m.: Struggling to keep the homeless safe and sheltered during outbreak: ‘I don’t think we can paint a really rosy picture’

Missy Lee’s nerves are shot.

She’s had bronchitis for about a month and is feeling increasingly helpless as the coronavirus outbreak grows wider and wider. Unlike a lot of people, she can’t isolate herself at home. She doesn’t have one.

She lives with about 40 other women in a shelter in Chicago. Their beds are about 2 feet apart, even after many residents, including Lee’s partner, were moved to comply with the 6-foot social distancing guidelines.

Lee has trouble sleeping.

“There’s so many women that are coughing,” she said. “We don’t know if any of them have the coronavirus because nobody’s been tested. One breathes, we feel it.”

The Tribune interviewed Lee and a dozen other homeless people in the Chicago area who are struggling through a health crisis that threatens the services they rely on to survive. Read more here. —Cecilia Reyes

5 a.m.: Cook County, state struggle with what to do with incarcerated in the face of the new coronavirus

Officials knew two weeks ago just what kind of crisis loomed outside the front doors of the sprawling Cook County Jail.

COVID-19 had just been declared a pandemic. More than 5,500 detainees were housed in close quarters inside the Southwest Side facility, with new arrivals coming daily from all corners of the county. Conditions were ideal for the new disease’s unchecked spread.

A potential disaster, as Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli put it. A huge problem, Sheriff Tom Dart added, noting, “there is no playbook here.”

In the Illinois Department of Corrections, too, alarms were sounding. Advocates, attorneys and loved ones of the system’s 40,000 inmates watched anxiously, wondering what could be done to protect a population with nowhere to shelter.

And so authorities were quickly confronted with the challenge to strike a balance. Which would better protect public safety: keeping people behind bars, or letting them out to join the public in isolation efforts to try and slow the escalating coronavirus emergency?

Some expedited releases have begun, but advocates say neither the state nor the county has pivoted fast enough in the face of the growing public health crisis. Instead, COVID-19 has highlighted flaws they have been complaining about for years — mass incarceration, massive bureaucracy, and poor health care and conditions behind bars. Read more here. —Annie Sweeney and Megan Crepeau

5 a.m.: Neighbors worried about pollution from troubled North Side scrap shredder during pandemic

Much of Chicago is shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a North Side company with a long history of pollution problems is still shredding flattened cars, twisted rebar and used appliances every day.

Neighbors are livid.

They have been complaining for years about metallic odors from General Iron Industries, a scrap yard sandwiched between the densely populated Bucktown and Lincoln Park neighborhoods. With Chicagoans under orders to stay home until at least April 7, many are worried their exposure to air pollution could make people more susceptible to a dangerous coronavirus that attacks the lungs and upper-respiratory tract. Read more here. —Michael Hawthorne

Monday, March 30

Here’s a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Monday:

Sunday, March 29

Here’s a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Sunday:

Saturday, March 28