Dr. Ngozi Ezike breaks down the latest Illinois COVID-19 numbers and says the debate over the safety of in-person learning is nuanced. 

The leader of a Chicago nonprofit focused on homelessness says the demand for their services has skyrocketed. "We are getting inundated with calls, emails and walk-ins from people that never imagined they would ever need help like this before.”

A common indicator of COVID-19 is the loss of taste and smell, which can last for months after infection, according to recent research.

Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for people on their plans. 

“Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted Sunday.

 Students briefly returned to class for the first two days of this week, but since Wednesday, classes have been outright canceled as teachers refused to work in person and CPS refuses to go remote, leaving families in limbo once again.

Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union have been battling all week over whether it’s safe to have kids in the classroom as COVID-19 cases rise. The dispute has led to classes being canceled for three days as teachers refuse to work in-person, and the district refuses to go remote.

In the lawsuit, parents claim the union’s action is actually an “illegal strike” — language that’s also been used by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. They want a judge to order teachers to return to their schools and resume in-person learning.

Fully vaccinated and mostly masked, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical Friday of the Biden administration’s authority to impose a vaccine-or-testing requirement on the nation’s large employers. 

U.S. regulators on Friday shortened the time that people who received Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine have to wait for a booster — to five months rather than six.

The Clearing community on the Southwest Side of Chicago is home to many city employees and families and the southern portion of Midway Airport. We spent the day talking to people about how the neighborhood is adapting to all the changes throughout the pandemic.

Staff absences and the omicron variant-driven surge have led some big districts including Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee to switch temporarily to virtual learning. Where schools are holding the line on in-person learning, getting through the day has required an all-hands-on-deck approach.

Knowing that most teachers wouldn’t show, even with the warning that they would therefore not be paid, CPS canceled class for Wednesday, and now Thursday too.

Illinois is setting record highs for the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalization rates with more than 6,800 now in hospitals due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, hospitals across the state are working to maintain the ability to take patients, and are delaying certain procedures amid a bed shortage.

COVID-19 hospitalizations for children have reached a record high in Chicago. The city is currently seeing a daily average of about seven hospitalizations. Despite these numbers, some data suggest the omicron variant is causing a milder illness in kids.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisers voted that a booster was safe for younger teens and should be offered to them once enough time — five months — has passed since their last shot.