District 153 Superintendent Scott McAlister said schools will reopen on Monday after a three-day “adaptive pause” that closed Homewood schools due to high COVID-19 numbers among students and staff. Staffing became a serious issue as more teachers tested positive for the virus upon return from the two-week holiday break. McAlister,[Read More…]
Tag: COVID-19
Here First | Thursday, Jan. 6 (free content)
Trivia Who built the kinara that was used in Flossmoor’s first community Kwanzaa celebration? (Answer below.) Predicting the future Prognostication is a pasttime fraught with peril, but we’re going to go out on a limb and confidently predicting that … Ice skating will be back. The H-F Ice Arena is[Read More…]
IDPH director urges caution when choosing COVID-19 testing site (free content)
As the Omicron variant adds gasoline to the COVID-19 fire, access to testing is becoming a challenge, with home kits scarce and some testing sites overwhelmed with people. During a media briefing on Monday, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike urged people to get tested if they have[Read More…]
COVID-19 shots offered Friday at Hart School
On Friday, Jan. 7, Homewood District 153 will provide students, parents and residents COVID-19 vaccines. The shots are free and will be offered from 3 to 6 p.m. at James Hart School, 18220 Morgan Ave. in Homewood. Vaccines are safe and effective and free for all regardless of insurance and[Read More…]
Homewood library adjusts hours because of COVID-19 surge
The Homewood Public Library board voted to adjust hours of operation as a safety precaution as COVID-19 numbers are spiking. According to a post to the library’s website, the library’s drive-thru service will be offered from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays.[Read More…]
Homewood, Flossmoor village offices to remain closed through Jan. 18 in response to COVID-19 surge
Flossmoor officials announced on Jan. 2 that village hall at 2800 Flossmoor Road and the Public Works office at 1700 Central Park Ave. would remain closed until Jan. 18 “in an attempt to continue mitigation efforts against the current COVID-19 surge, and to protect members of the public and village[Read More…]
Franciscan Health Olympia Fields limits visitors in response to recent surge of COVID-19 (free content)
Franciscan Health Olympia Fields officials announced Thursday that visitor restrictions were implemented in response to the dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases in the region. Hospital visitors, healthy or otherwise, will not be allowed access to hospital visitor waiting areas. Instead, visitors must now wait outside the hospital until the accompanying[Read More…]
Ingalls temporarily closes Flossmoor urgent aid service in response to COVID-19 surge
UChicago Medicine at Ingalls – Flossmoor 19550 Governors Highway, will temporarily close its Urgent Aid location on Wednesday, Dec. 29, at 7 a.m. The closure is due to unprecedented demand across the health care provider’s network because of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. The health care system is consolidating[Read More…]
Walmart closes Olympia Fields store until Thursday for COVID cleaning
The Olympia Fields Walmart, 21000 Western Ave., closed at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec, 28, to give a special team time to sanitize the store and to give store associates “additional time to restock shelves and prepare the store” for its reopening at 6 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 30. The Homewood Walmart[Read More…]
COVID-19 resurgence causes partial return to remote learning
A snapshot taken on Dec. 17 showing the COVID-19 case trend since the pandemic began in suburban Cook County. Click to see a larger version. (Provided graphic) Two schools resorted to remote learning in December as the area, and the world, experienced the second-worst spike in COVID-19 cases since the[Read More…]