Chicago students are set to return to their classrooms this week after several days at home as the city and Chicago Teachers Union have reached a compromise on new COVID-19 mitigations inside schools.

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

“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.

Talks between Chicago school leaders and the teachers' union resumed Sunday amid a standoff over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety measures that canceled three days of classes. 

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.

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.

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.

“COVID is very real, it’s merciless, and unless you are fully vaccinated, your defenses against it are pretty low,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. 

The Chicago Teachers Union announced late Tuesday that its rank-and-file members voted in favor of a measure to halt in-person work and transition to remote work Wednesday as it continues negotiating a deal with the city and school district over additional health and safety measures.

A couple of factors are at play, starting with the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Omicron is more likely to infect people, even if it doesn’t make them very sick, and its surge coincided with the holiday travel season in many places.

The president emphasized that vaccines, booster shots and therapeutic drugs have mitigated the danger for the overwhelming majority of Americans who are fully vaccinated.

Dr. David Slade, associate medical director of infection prevention control at Loyola Medicine, discusses the latest research on the COVID-19 omicron variant, FDA’s authorization of boosters for teens and more.

“I fear the climb will continue” with the surge accelerated by post-holiday gathering infections, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday.

“I am so pissed off that we have to continuously fight for the basic necessities, the basic mitigations … this makes no sense,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said Monday.

The Food and Drug Administration last week said preliminary research indicates at-home rapid tests detect omicron, but may have reduced sensitivity. The agency noted it’s still studying how the tests perform with the variant, which was first detected in late November.