As Chicagoans hunker down amid the pandemic, we check in with some familiar faces on how they’re weathering the storm and celebrating the holidays this weekend.
Sharing a meal, attending a funeral and celebrating a birthday. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, these otherwise innocuous activities can result in the spread of the highly contagious virus, according to a new report.
Blood tests for the coronavirus  could play a key role in deciding whether millions of Americans can safely return to work and school. But public health officials warn that the current “Wild West” of unregulated tests is creating confusion.
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New statewide totals: 19,180 cases, 677 deaths

Three weeks into a mandatory statewide order to stay at home, Illinois is offering two new programs to help people reeling from the coronavirus, whether physically fighting the disease or fighting off the mental demons it has unleashed.
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Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Saturday introduced Dr. Rachel Rubin as incident commander and Dr. Kiran Joshi as the assistant incident commander of the Cook County Department of Public Health’s operations
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As large American cities try various strategies to keep people home to limit the coronavirus's spread, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has balanced a blend of stern – and occasionally scolding – news conferences with lighthearted social media to drive home her point.
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus briefly overtook Italy's for the highest in the world Saturday, according to the running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Deaths have been declining in recent days in Italy while rising rapidly in the U.S.
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Interim Superintendent Beck: Coronavirus a ‘difficult murderer to trace’

CPD Sgt. Clifford Martin, a father of three, died this week. He first experienced symptoms on March 20, stopped working on March 22, and that he’d then been hospitalized for two weeks.
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While the COVID-19 death toll is nearing 600 in Illinois, officials are hopeful that the state is starting to flatten the curve, but leaders are urging residents to celebrate the Easter holiday from home.
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New statewide totals: 17,887 cases, 596 deaths

Black residents in Illinois are five times more likely to die of COVID-19 than their white counterparts, according to state officials, who continue to see a “huge disparity” in the number of both COVID-19 cases and deaths based on race.
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Apple and Google launched a major joint effort to leverage smartphone technology to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus hit 100,000 as Christians around the globe marked a Good Friday unlike any other and some countries tiptoed toward reopening segments of their battered economies.
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Wednesday that the federal cupboard is officially bare at least through this month after it was able to fulfill just a sliver of states’ requests.
Howard Brown Health’s clinic in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood provides a wide range of health care services with a special focus on LGBTQ communities. Like other health care providers, COVID-19 has forced it to make some changes.
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The coronavirus has effectively shut down what locals describe as the world’s largest contiguous LGBTQ neighborhood. How businesses, social service agencies and others are dealing with the pandemic.
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Cook County is bracing for a surge in coronavirus-related deaths. We check in with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is not sick but chose to self-isolate after a member of her security detail contracted the virus.
 

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