Good morning, Chicago.
Yesterday, Illinois saw its highest one-day total of coronavirus cases since early May, with 2,082 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 recorded. The state has also seen its case positivity rate — the percentage of cases as a share of total tests — skyrocket. As of Tuesday, the seven-day average was up to 4%, a dramatic increase from the 0.9% we saw just weeks ago.
Amid rising cases across the state and in the Chicago area, the city is preparing to welcome hundreds of thousands of guests to Grant Park today for the first day of Lollapalooza. There’s been a lot of discussion this week around testing protocols and other guidance for entry. If you’re planning to attend, check out our updated guide for all the important details.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a pair of Midwesterners — a rarity on the U.S. Olympic team — sailed into some choppy waters while Wheaton’s Erin Virtue is adjusting to coaching the women’s volleyball team — which hasn’t won gold in 57 years — from Tokyo’s COVID jail. See who has won medals for Team USA so far — and keep current with Day 6 events here.
— Nicole Stock, audience editor
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Illinois’ fight against the coronavirus pandemic is headed in the wrong direction, with new daily cases on Wednesday surpassing 2,000 for the first time since early May and the share of COVID-19 tests returning positive results hitting its highest level since a spring surge was subsiding.
According to the latest data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than three-quarters of Illinois counties are now considered areas of “high” or “substantial” transmission, where masks are suggested indoors, even for those who are vaccinated. In the Chicago area, as of Wednesday, DuPage and McHenry counties are now on the “substantial transmission” list, joining Will County.
The parent company of scandal-plagued Commonwealth Edison filed plans with federal regulators to shut down two nuclear power plants for which it is seeking state subsidies that have been caught up in stalled energy negotiations in Springfield.
Data being compiled by the University of Chicago Crime Lab and shared with the Tribune suggests that the perception that violence in Chicago is as bad now as it has been in years is fair.
The lab’s analysis of Chicago Police Department information shows that the pain and harm caused by a crime spike that began in 2020 is more acute in some of Chicago’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, echoing what has been concluded in other reports and in the experience of residents alike: Those Chicago neighborhoods have borne the disproportionate brunt of gun violence.
Ride-share prices are rising. Will they ever go back down?
The number of tourists, office workers and partygoers venturing out in Chicago is ticking up, and ride-share prices are rising with them. The surge has left many riders wondering: When will prices go back down?
Ride-share users paid an average of $26.43 per trip in June, Chicago city data shows — the highest monthly average since the city began tracking data in November 2018, and nearly $10 more than the same month in 2019.
Ryan “Merf” Murphy, 42, from central Illinois, unemployed, divorced, with time on his hands, had a good idea one day that kind of got out of hand, Tribune columnist Christopher Borrelli writes. He posted a video on TikTok about a fictitious local discovery of a dinosaur bone, which racked up hundreds of thousands of views. The whole thing was a prank. But here’s the thing: It wasn’t a joke to everyone.
