Public transit systems nationwide are grappling with a new reality — drastically plummeting ridership and revenue caused by a stealthy virus that’s also sickening and killing transit workers.

The plume of dust that coated homes in Little Village after the demolition of a smokestack included mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other pollutants, according to a lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

A plan is in place to reopen Illinois, even as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise. “We have to figure out how to live with COVID-19 until it can be vanquished,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday.

Researchers are studying the use of convalescent plasma therapy — and it’s already showing positive results at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown.

Health officials on Monday reported 46 deaths in Illinois from the coronavirus. “When I saw that number today, I was hopeful that this is the beginning or continuation of a trend I’ve been praying for,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.

Those who have died are parents, grandparents, cousins, friends and loved ones — not just statistics, Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters on a conference call Monday. The coronavirus death toll in Chicago now stands at 1,014 people.

Italy started stirring Monday, with millions of people allowed to return to work as Europe's longest coronavirus lockdown started to ease, while the U.S. took halting steps to lift some restrictions even as tens of thousands of new cases were reported every day.

Flowers are sprouting and migrating birds are overhead, but even as nature is doing its thing, the coronavirus pandemic has put a dent in a traditional spring rite of passage: graduation.

Illinois labs ran 19,417 coronavirus tests during a 24-hour period from Saturday to Sunday – a state record that nearly doubles the 10,000 per day goal Gov. J.B. Pritzker set in early April that took nearly all of last month to reach.

“Don’t make us treat you like a criminal,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Saturday, “but if you act like a criminal and you violate the law and you refuse to do what is necessary to save lives in this city during a pandemic we will take you to jail, period.”

The steady rise of cases is “really is a function of doing more tests,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Saturday as labs processed 15,208 specimens in a single day – more than double the tests that were being processed a month ago.

The FDA said in a statement that Gilead Science’s intravenous drug would be specifically indicated for hospitalized patients with “severe disease,” such as those experiencing breathing problems requiring supplemental oxygen or ventilators.

“Today, we are pleased to report that the curve is flattening, and our local hospitals and health care systems continue to operate with capacity,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a joint statement.

The operation will begin with a slow rollout, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that at its peak, there could be about 30 workers per 100,000 Illinois residents – a total of more than 3,800. The governor estimated the cost could reach $80 million.

Several hundred protesters swarmed the Thompson Center in the Loop and the Capitol in Springfield on Friday, calling for Gov. J.B. Pritzker to end the stay-at-home order he says is necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The decision to cancel the season was made with the “health and safety of the festival’s artists, staff and neighbors,” in mind, Ravinia’s President and CEO Welz Kauffman said in a statement.