Cook County officials are urging suburban municipalities to apply for $51 million in CARES Act funds before the Sept. 30 deadline. “This is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition,” said Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Starting Friday, Chicago’s quarantine order will apply to 21 states, but visitors from California and Puerto Rico will no longer be required to quarantine for two weeks, officials announced Tuesday. 

In a bid to keep restaurants open once cold weather hits, the city has launched a competition aimed at generating creative, yet feasible, ways to extend outdoor dining into Chicago’s winter. 

The Lost Summer of 2020 drew to a close Monday with many big Labor Day gatherings canceled across the U.S. and health authorities pleading with people to keep their distance from others.

Some college campuses are seeing alarming spikes in the number of COVID-19 cases. Many schools have launched widespread testing efforts, but reports of student parties and gatherings have led to increased restrictions.

Painted fridges stocked with free, fresh food and drinks have been popping up across Chicago for the past two months. Find out how the Love Fridge project is helping those in need during the pandemic.

More than 2,800 new cases of the coronavirus and 23 deaths were reported Saturday by state health officials, bringing totals to 248,177 cases and 8,166 deaths since the first confirmed infection was reported in the state in late January.

The fear is that backyard parties, crowded bars and other gatherings will cause the coronavirus to come surging back. “I look upon the Labor Day weekend really as a critical point,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported thousands of new cases of the coronavirus after fixing an issue that affected the reporting of tests and created a backlog, which has now been cleared.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted both the importance of access to health care and disparities in access to it, which is why residents who live near Mercy Hospital and Medical Center say they’re furious about its plans to close next year.

A letter from federal health officials instructing states to be ready to begin distributing a vaccine by Nov. 1 — two days before the election — has met, not with exhilaration, but with suspicion among some public health experts.

Spurred by a surge in vaping by teens, the measure set for a vote by the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations would ban the sale of all flavored nicotine products — except those that taste and smell like tobacco, according to the proposal.

A group of medical experts advising the National Institutes of Health says there is not enough evidence to recommend for or against the use of plasma therapy for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Mental health therapists’ caseloads are bulging. Waiting lists for appointments are growing. And anxiety and depression are rising among Americans amid the coronavirus crisis, research suggests. 

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois health officials are stressing the need to wear masks properly, covering the mouth and nose, and social distance during gatherings this weekend as positivity rates continue to rise throughout the state.

In Cook County, Black people are 26% more likely to get colon and rectum cancer than white people, according to the CDC. “Screening rates a bit lower, but they’re not that much lower,” said Dr. Ed McDonald, a gastroenterologist. “There’s something else going on.”