Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Unveils Coronavirus Preparedness Plans
CHICAGO (CBS) -- We are learning more about what the city of Chicago plans to do to protect you from the coronavirus.
CBS 2's Marissa Parra takes a look.
A growing sense of urgency surrounding the coronavirus.
"You all heard the change in stance this week as we've seen further spread of coronavirus across the globe," said Doctor Allison Arwady of the Chicago Health Department.
Doctors will also be randomly testing people with flu-like systems at select Illinois hospitals. A "sentinel surveillance" to make sure there aren't quiet coronavirus cases slipping through the cracks.
But with fears of a shortage of coronavirus testing kits in California, CBS 2 asked how many kits Illinois has. No response. Also on the docket for Illinois coronavirus response, a new hotline: 1-800-889-3931.
The hotline gets answered by the Illinois Poison Center. The agency's spokesperson said it is the coronavirus hotline. The spokesperson said. during the ebola outbreak, they were tasked with answering calls for the state's ebola hotline too.
But there were no cases of ebola in Chicago. There have been two cases of coronavirus here. They've since recovered. But city leaders are trying to strike a balance in tone of preparedness without alarm.
"Fear can not guide us in this moment. Thoughtfulness and preparations are the rule of the day," said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Part of that preparedness the mayor mentioned was preparing for worst case scenarios. When CBS 2 asked what the plan for Chicago schools is, Lighfoot wouldn't answer that just yet.
There is what's called a 'tabletop exercise' happening next week among Chicago leaders. That's where they'll take what we know about coronavirus so far, and work through the logistics of what Chicago would do if schools and transportation shut down because of coronavirus in the city.
