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.

The federal Bureau of Prisons announced it will resume visits for inmates at its 122 facilities beginning Oct. 3, though these meetings will include several safety precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

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.

Antibodies that people make to fight the new coronavirus last for at least four months after diagnosis and do not fade quickly, as some earlier reports suggested, scientists have found.

Visitors to Chicago from Hawaii, Nebraska and North Carolina will be required to quarantine for two weeks starting Friday, city officials announced Tuesday. Indiana is also on the verge of being added to the quarantine order that includes 21 states and Puerto Rico.

As summer nears its end, Chicago is seeing COVID-19 cases rise, and suburban Cook County is showing warning signs of increased risk of transmission of the virus, according to state officials. We check in with Chicago Department Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.

Monday is Overdose Awareness Day, an annual event aimed at reducing drug-related deaths and the stigma of substance use disorders. And it comes this year amid a dramatic spike in opioid-related overdoses and deaths in Chicago.

Those whose deaths were reported Sunday ranged in age from their 30s to their 80s, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. They were residents of Cook, Bureau, Lake and Madison counties.

State health officials on Friday reported another 10 counties, including suburban Cook, are showing warning signs of increased risk for COVID-19. And on Saturday, the state passed a grim milestone: more than 8,000 virus-related deaths.

As more and more schools and businesses around the country get the OK to reopen, college towns are moving in the opposite direction because of too much partying and too many COVID-19 infections among students.

Chicago health officials will continue to recommend that anyone exposed to someone diagnosed with the coronavirus be tested for COVID-19, despite new guidance from the CDC that ignited a firestorm of controversy.

Eight Cook County residents were among the 24 deaths reported by Illinois health officials Thursday as the state nears 8,000 virus-related deaths and more than 227,000 cases of COVID-19.