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Citizen SOUTH SUBURBAN Week of April 1, 2020 | Vol. 39 | No. 19 | www.citizennewspapergroup.com
Congressman Bobby Rush, along with Dr. Terry Mason, of the Cook County Department of Public Health and Dr. Brian Monahan, acting physician of the US Congress, hosted a telephone town hall to answer constituents’ questions about the coronavirus. Photo courtesy of Congressman Bobby Rush
CONGRESSMAN RUSH HOSTS TELE-TOWNHALL ON CORONAVIRUS United States Congressman Bobby Rush, D-Dist. 1, hosted a telephone Town Hall meeting with his constituents to hear their concerns about the coronavirus, COVID-19. PAGE 2
BUSINESS 5 Financial Tips for Teens PAGE 4
NEWS 7 Steps to Prepare for a Home Remodel PAGE 5
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EDUCATION MEASURES ASSIST LICENSEES AND EDUCATION PROVIDERS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has announced several proactive measures to help professional licensees and education providers in light of the challenges confronting all Illinoisans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the limitation of in-person course availability and to further reduce contact between individuals, the department has issued a series of variances that provide relief from the provisions of certain administrative rules pertaining to license renewal terms and to continuing education requirements.
Any professional licenses issued by the department that have renewal dates between March 1, 2020 through and including July 31, 2020, are granted an automatic extension to renew to September 30, 2020. Additionally, all current licensees under the department’s jurisdiction whose license renewal deadlines fall within the period beginning March 1, 2020 through and including July 31, 2020, shall have up to, and including, September 30, 2020 to complete their continuing education coursework. The department is also allowing licensees to complete their continuing education coursework without requiring live attendance and permit for interactive webinar and online distance education courses in addition to currently permitted methods. These and all departmental licensees must continue to comply with all pertinent provisions of their respective licensing acts.
HEALTH DENTAL CARE HABITS OF AMERICANS REVEALED IN HONOR OF WORLD ORAL HEALTH DAY
Weave, one of the fastest-growing companies in tech, recently announced new research detailing the dental habits and preferences of Americans to help bring attention to World Oral Health Day. Weave commissioned an independent study of over 1,100 people to learn more about their dental care hygiene habits and their preferences for interacting with their dental care providers. The data show that most patients prefer more “modern” dental practices--those who send both appointment reminders and payment requests via text messages. Other key points from the study showed that 70% of patients would gladly leave an online review if their dentist sent them a link to do so and 53% of patients have gone over 3 years without getting their teeth checked. To learn more about Weave’s complete business toolbox, including solutions for dental care providers, please visit www.getweave.com.
LAW & POLITICS RAOUL: BERWYN MAN CHARGED WITH IMPERSONATING ILLINOIS SECRETARY OF STATE EMPLOYEE TO STEAL THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS
Attorney General Kwame Raoul recently announced that a Berwyn man was arrested and charged with posing as an employee of the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, offering government jobs and other favors for cash payments and ultimately defrauding four Cook County residents of at least $15,000.
Hugo Torres, 47, was arrested and charged with one count of theft by deception over $10,000, a Class 2 felony, punishable by three to seven years in prison, and one count of theft by deception over $500, a Class 3 felony, punishable by five to 10 years in prison. According to a press release, Torres was previously convicted in a similar scheme in which he posed as a supervisor for the Illinois Secretary of State and made phony promises of jobs with the Secretary of State’s office. Torres has never been an employee of or affiliated in any capacity with the Secretary of State’s office.
BY TIA CAROL JONES
United States Congressman Bobby Rush, D-Dist. 1, hosted a telephone Town Hall meeting with his constituents to hear their concerns about the coronavirus, COVID-19.
Dr. Terry Mason, chief operating officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health, and Dr. Brian Patrick Monahan, attending physician for the United States Congress, were also on hand to answer questions.
Questions during the Telephone Town Hall ranged from where to get a coronavirus test, what is being done to produce more masks, how are families being helped, as well as how long the virus can stay on surfaces.
Rush said the simple ways to stop the spread of the virus include washing hands with soap and water, avoid touching your eyes, nose and your mouth, stay home when you are sick, except when you are receiving medical care.
“Practice social distancing by avoiding mass gatherings and maintaining proper distance from others, especially from those who are sick; six feet is the recommended distance you should try to implement,” he said. “Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throw the tissue in the trash; use your elbow, even better than tissue; clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces Continued from page 1
by using a regular household cleaning spray or wipes.”
One caller asked about how Congress is helping people who are unable to work or have to stay at home to take care of family members. Rush said Congress introduced the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, HR6201, which was passed on Thursday, March 18.
“This bill expands the eligibility criterium and coverage for family medical leave, for unemployment insurance and for nutrition assistance programs like SNAP and WIC. I also wrote a letter to the major credit card companies urging them to stop collecting interest and late fees during this pandemic. Additionally, negotiations are currently on the way for a third package to ensure our health care workforce has what it needs to continue to work and ameliorate service to our constituents,” he said. “Moreover, I am committed to ensure that all workers are protected from the loss of a paycheck and no family falls into financial ruin because of this pandemic. We will achieve this by putting money directly into individuals’ hands who need it the most.”
One caller asked about where to get a free coronavirus test. Mason said to his knowledge, there was not a place to get a free coronavirus test by just walking in and asking to get one. In most cases, he said, you need a doctor’s order or a doctor’s permission to get the test ordered for you. Rush said under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, there would be coronavirus testing for everyone who needs one, including the uninsured, free of charge.
Another caller talked about the shortage of masks and rubber gloves and asked where to find these supplies. Rush said the federal government and President Trump have been working to make sure that these items will be manufactured on a larger scale. Mason added that at one time, people could find the N95 masks in paint stores but now, N95 masks and surgical masks are in short supply.
Monahan addressed a caller’s question about how long the virus can stay on surfaces and if the kind of surface makes a difference. On porous surfaces, like carpet, fabric on chairs or cardboard, the virus “lasts only a short time,”
Monahan said, “perhaps one to two days at the most.” On hard surfaces, such as countertops or on cell phones, the virus “could persists, in some instances, for many days,” he added. He said one study showed where the virus could last for 7 to 8 days. Monahan also suggested using cleansing wipes, like the kind you find in the store, to wipe down common surfaces in your home.
For more information, contact the Cook County Department of Public Health hotline 708-633-3319. The hotline is open for questions from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Pilot Launched to Connect SNAP Recipients to Jobs
The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) has announced a partnership with private philanthropy and the National Able Network that will expand the number of organizations who can provide work and training resources for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) recipients in Illinois.
The SNAP to Success program is part of IDHS’ SNAP Employment & Training resources and it leverages federal funding to partner with community providers who help SNAP participants find employment or advance in their careers.
The SNAP to Success program provides these services at little to no cost to the State of Illinois with 50% of the program resources provided through the federal government and the remaining 50% provided by the community agency. “SNAP to Success focuses on sustainable results for our customers. These programs give our customers the tools they need to not only find jobs, but build long-lasting careers,” said IDHS Secretary Grace B. Hou. “At little to no cost to the state, this program will expand over time, and participating community agencies can grow their programs by reinvesting the federal reimbursement they receive into future services.”
In partnership with the Chicagoland Workforce Funders Alliance, IDHS has expanded the SNAP to Success program to launch a new pilot in Chicago to better engage and support small and medium based providers to participate in the SNAP to Success program.
National Able Network will serve as the intermediary and centralize provider selection, monitoring, reporting and fiscal/program accountability requirements for the SNAP to Success program in Chicago. This will significantly expand the number of agencies who typically are unable to partner with the state.
“To make the greatest impact in our communities, we serve job seekers both directly through our own programming but also indirectly by helping small- to medium-sized nonprofit organizations build a stronger back office infrastructure. As an experienced provider of SNAP to Success, we are uniquely posi
www.citizennewspapergroup.com tioned to help nonprofit partners navigate the complex administrative requirements of the program so that they can focus on offering exceptional career training to SNAP recipients,” said Bridget Altenburg, National Able Network President & CEO. “We are thrilled to partner with IDHS and look forward to building a network of nonprofit partners who all share a common vision of lifting Cook County’s most vulnerable residents into self-sufficiency.”
The pilot launches soon after federal changes were enacted that will require certain SNAP recipients, called Able Bodies Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs), to meet 80 hours of work requirements a month to continue to receive SNAP benefits.
The expansion of SNAP to Success through this pilot represents both a short- and long-term strategy to help alleviate the ABAWD crisis by immediately providing more meaningful opportunities in the community for skills training and to meet the ABAWD work requirement.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Commits Millions to Speed Treatment Research and Development
All Vehicle Emissions Testing Stations Closed Until April 7
BY STACY M. BROWN NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Th e Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has joined two other companies to commit as much as $125 million in seed funding to speed-up the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Th e Gates Foundation has joined forces with Wellcome and Mastercard in hopes of identifying, assessing, developing, and scaling-up treatments.
Th e Gates Foundation and Wellcome are each contributing up to $50 million, and the Mastercard Impact Fund has committed up to $25 million to catalyze the initial work of the accelerator.
Th e Gates Foundation’s funding is part of its up to $100 million commitment to the COVID-19 response announced last month.
Th e partners are committed to equitable access, including making products available and aff ordable in low-resource settings, according to a news release from Th e Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Currently, there are no broad-spectrum antivirals or immunotherapies available for the fi ght against emerging pathogens, and none approved for use on COVID-19.
“Viruses like COVID-19 spread rapidly, but the development of vaccines and treatments to stop them moves slowly,” Mark Suzman, chief executive offi cer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, mentioned in the news release.
“If we want to make the world safe from outbreaks like COVID-19, particularly for those most vulnerable, then we need to fi nd a way to make research and development move faster. Th at requires governments, private enterprise, and philanthropic organizations to act quickly to fund R&D.”
Th e COVID-19 Th erapeutics Accelerator will work with the World Health Organization, government and private sector funders and organizations, as well as the global regulatory and policy-setting institutions.
Offi cials at Th e Gates Foundation noted that the COVID-19 Th erapeutics Accelerator will play a catalytic role by accelerating and evaluating new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients with COVID-19 in the immediate term, and other viral pathogens in the longer-term.
As noted in the news release, the Accelerator will have an end-to-end focus, from drug pipeline development through manufacturing and scale-up.
By sharing research, coordinating investments, and pooling resources, these eff orts can help to accelerate research. Offi cials said this kind of collaboration was a key lesson from the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
By providing fast and fl exible funding at key stages of the development process, the Accelerator will de-risk the pathway for new drugs and biologics for COVID-19 and future epidemic threats, ensuring access in lower-resource countries. Th e COVID-19 Th erapeutics Accelerator will operate jointly as an initiative of the funders, drawing on expertise from inside and outside their organizations.
Th e Accelerator will pursue several aspects of the development cycle to streamline the pathway from candidate product to clinical assessment, use, and manufacturing. To identify candidate compounds, the Accelerator will take a three-pronged approach: testing approved drugs for activity against COVID-19; screening libraries of thousands of compounds with confi rmed safety data; and considering new investigational compounds and monoclonal antibodies.
Drugs or monoclonal antibodies that pass initial screening would then be developed by an industry partner. Th e biotech and pharmaceutical industries will be critical partners, bringing their compound libraries and clinical data to the collaboration and lending commercialization and other expertise that will be required to scale up successful drugs and monoclonal antibodies.
In parallel to the development of the COVID-19 drug pipeline, the Accelerator will work with regulators to align criteria and develop manufacturing capacity with industry.
An accelerated pathway to bringing eff ective treatments to patients is around one year for products that have current regulatory approval or candidates with existing clinical data.
Th e timeline would be longer for compounds further upstream in the pipeline that have limited existing clinical data.
“Th is virus is an unprecedented global threat, and one for which we must propel international partnerships to develop treatments, rapid diagnostics, and vaccines,” Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome, noted in a statement.
“Science is moving at a phenomenal pace against COVID-19, but to get ahead of this epidemic we need greater investment and to ensure research co-ordination. Th e Th erapeutics Accelerator will allow us to do this for potential treatments with support for research, development, assessment, and manufacturing. COVID-19 is an extremely challenging virus, but we’ve proved that through collaborating across borders we can tackle emerging infectious diseases.
“We must strive to strengthen eff orts in the face of COVID-19, and in doing so, continue to make sure advances are accessible and aff ordable to all. Investing now, at scale, at risk and as a collective global eff ort is vital if we are to change the course of this epidemic. We welcome others to join us in this eff ort.” Illinois EPA Director John J. Kim recently announced the temporary closure of all vehicle emissions testing stations in Illinois.
In the interest of safeguarding the health of all Illinoisans, including motorists that bring their vehicles in for emissions testing and the workers that perform these tests, the Illinois EPA will temporarily suspend vehicle emissions testing, including at all centralized and decentralized inspection station locations.
The steps are being taken to aid in the state’s efforts to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The suspension is effective now through April 7, 2020, and may be extended depending on circumstances, according to a press release.
The Illinois Air Team Call Center will remain open and available to address motorist emissions testing inquiries. Motorists with questions may call 844-258-9071 Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Saturday from 7:30 AM to 1:00 PM or visit the Illinois Air Team website at http://illinoisairteam.net.
Vehicle registration expirations dates have been extended by 30 days allowing motorists to wait to have their vehicles tested and renew vehicle registrations. The Illinois EPA is working closely with the Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) regarding vehicle registration extensions to ensure the two agencies are aligned in implementing their respective duties.
The Illinois EPA will continue to monitor the COVID-19 crisis and will rely on public health experts to help evaluate the re-opening of vehicle emissions testing stations.
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