By Bela “Bill” SuhaydaSugar Grove, Ill. Notably: “97.5% of scientists agree with whoever is funding them,’’ wrote Susan Capitano-Hooker. And so it goes in the marriage between science and government these days. Politicians on the left don’t miss opportunities, blaming human generated CO2 for every weather related catastrophe. We’re supposed
You’ve all most likely heard the latest virus news that hospital ERs are being overrun by antivaxxers, some of whom have taken horse medicine, or something else such as Tender Vittles to fend off COVID-19.. Let’s see, antivaxxers won’t take an FDA-approved vaccination to prevent COVID-19, but they’ll take equine
September 3, 2021Dear editor; Common sense is my basis for not getting the COVID-19 bio-weapon, which is not a vaccine, or, for not wearing a mask. We were made to breath in oxygen, not carbon dioxide. Vaers.hhs.gov has the data as of August 6 and it is what we should
By Jerry Nowicki The statewide mask mandate indoors is back, and educators and health care professionals will be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, governor JB Pritzker announced last week amid an ongoing surge in the pandemic that first arrived in Illinois in March 2020. Beginning Monday this week, indviduals
In all the news reporting about Afghanistan fiasco, the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant, and scandals on The Bachelorette, an item that quickly passed by was the death of Charlie Watts. I told my wife he’d died and she said, “Who?” Not a surprise. There are probably a lot
By Peter Hancock A capacity crowd packed into the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE)) room Wednesday, Aug. 18 and many more stood outside the building in Springfield to protest the State’s new indoor mask mandate in all public and nonpublic schools. “I’m so tired of hearing how resilient our
August 13, 2021Dear editor; Thank you Shaw Media’s Shea Lazansky for focusing on the pro-mask attitudes of our high school students during the School District 308 Board meeting August 9 (Ledger, August 12). These students stressed the importance of wearing masks to protect themselves, their friends and family, while many
By Bela “Bill” SuhaydaSugar Grove After my first microbiology class in college, I realized there were at least a thousand ways I would come into contact with microbes on a daily basis. There is an inevitability to living with germs. They are all around us, on us, and inside of
By Jerry Nowicki Hospitalizations for COVID-19 jumped by more than 13% from Sunday to Monday night while intensive care bed usage jumped 15% as the Delta Variant of the Virus continued to cause a surge nationwide. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 1,107 individuals with COVID-19-like illness were
Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, or in this case, a so-called normal life, along comes the evil stepsister of the COVID virus, the Delta Variant, which Trumpers like to call Great Hoax Number 2. LockDown Number 2 may be on its way
By Jerry Nowicki Illinois will have new COVID-19 guidance on face coverings after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance Tuesday to reflect that even individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 should wear masks while indoors in areas of the country where the virus is surging. CDC
The Kane County Health Department (KCHD) recognized its active volunteers of the Kane County Medical Reserve Corps (KCMRC) at a special event in East Dundee Saturday evening, July 24. “Our volunteers have always demonstrated a high level of commitment since the inception of the KCMRC,” said Claudia Reginato, former coordinator
Yes, I’ve finally made it to the big time. After all my years of acting on stage, as an extra in Hollywood films, or as a principle in industrial films for Bell Labs and others, I get recognized for receiving my COVID vaccination. And because I’m wearing my glasses, you
By Jerry Nowicki The wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines has changed the State’s approach for mitigating the virus’ spread statewide and in schools. For school districts, that means suggested rather than required guidance, with an emphasis on local control in imposing mitigations. For the governor’s office, that means there are
June 30, 2021Dear editor; It has been common knowledge for years that all major developing countries have possessed the ability to conduct germ warfare. The Wuhan (COVID-19) crisis is no exception. Was a virus created in the lab and deliberately leaked into the local wet markets for experimentation on the
By Jerry Nowicki Governor JB Pritzker stressed the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations Monday as positivity rates and hospitalizations continued to decline but variants of the virus have proven to be more transmissible and dangerous to those who are not vaccinated. The governor cited a central Illinois youth camp that has
The following article, with four vignettes regarding back to school comments, was published in the March 9 issue of The New York Times with an update April 3 on children’s return to school. The article was written by Ellen Almer Durston, Dan Levin, and Juliana Kim. • “Credit…Lucy Hewett for
Beginning Friday, May 14, the State of Illinois entered a new pathway from Phase 4 COVID-19 Mitigations to a full reopening in Phase 5. The “Bridge to Phase 5” will allow for higher capacity limits and increased business operations. As the public continues to get vaccinated, governor JB Pritzker announced
By Peter Hancock The Illinois economy shrank by four percent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on many of its sectors, although there were signs of a recovery taking place late in the year. Those preliminary numbers, released last week by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of
By Tim Kirsininkas COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continued to rise Tuesday as State officials announced that additional resources were being deployed in the State’s vaccination efforts. Public health officials announced 2,931 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 out of 51,625 test results Tuesday to bring the statewide seven-day rolling
